We've had to endure the embarrassing shenanigans of Vic "the Brick" Jacobs, who has taken buffoonery to new heights; the insufferable homerism of Geoff Witcher, who is so bad his co-workers cruelly ridicule him on the air, and the antics of "Ben and Dave"--whoever they are and wherever they came from.
And now comes word that Joe McDonnell and Doug Krikorian, the original bad boys of L.A. sports-talk radio, are making a comeback.
They will begin doing a 1-5 p.m. show for the One-On-One network's KCTD (1540) in Burbank on July 19. The Chicago-based national network recruited them to give its Southern California station an L.A. presence.
The first thought is, oh no, do we really need these guys polluting our airwaves again? Isn't L.A. sports talk bad enough?
But then you think about the cast of mindless talk-show hosts at Dodger flagship station KXTA (1150)--some, not all--and you realize maybe it's not such bad news after all.
At least McDonnell, a radio veteran, and Krikorian, a columnist for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, know the L.A. scene, have sources and understand how to go get a story. They're journalists, a rarity in L.A. sports-talk radio.
At one point in the early 1990s they got a 2.8 share in men ages 25-54 at KMPC (710) and ranked 13th in the market in that demographic category.
If Krikorian, who doesn't take himself too seriously, can soften up McDonnell--Krikorian was the one who tabbed him "the Big Nasty"--these guys may be all right. McDonnell doesn't have John Robinson and Del Harris to kick around any more, and that's a plus.
It's OK to be tough, but McDonnell was savage. He has been doing sports news spots for KFWB (980) since February, after being fired by KXTA in November.
Will we see a new and improved, a kinder and gentler McDonnell? It should be interesting.
AWARD SHOWS
The 33rd Victor Awards show at the Las Vegas Hilton will be nationally televised by Fox Sports Net and shown locally by Fox Sports West Saturday at 5 p.m.
As usual, athletes in professional and amateur sports, voted on by a Sport magazine panel of journalists, will be honored. And "living legend" awards will be presented to John Wooden, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Carl Lewis and Kathy Whitworth.
What's different this year is that a special award will be presented to Dr. Elias Ghanem, chairman of the Nevada Athletic Commissioner. The Duke Medical School graduate who at one time was Elvis Presley's personal physician, is being honored for his contributions to the sport of boxing.
