At least an objective reporter who has a talk radio show on WQAM.

Got it on now.

 

Thanx.

Howard and Goldie are pretty objective too. . . .

Howard with the Dolphins, and Goldie for the Panthers, but Joe is the only one on that station who doesn't call Marlins games and understands baseball economics.

At least Howard and Goldie aren't calling the D Lee trade a fire sale.

 

And they have been saying that 2 or 3 years at best for Pudge. You don't give Pudge what he and Boras want (5/50M)

I think QAM's planning on putting Goldie together with Joe Rose, two-thirds of the old morning team back together. Good move, I like both guys, & neither of them are typical overreacting sports radio jerks.

I think QAM's planning on putting Goldie together with Joe Rose, two-thirds of the old morning team back together. Good move, I like both guys, & neither of them are typical overreacting sports radio jerks.

Perfect morning mix eludes WQAM

BARRY JACKSON

bjackson@herald.com

 

 

Barry Jackson

 

 

 

 

With all the tumult and turnover of the past 22 months, WQAM is proving what people in radio already knew: It's a challenge for all-sports stations to find the right mix for a morning talk show.

 

In January 2002, Joe Rose left his gig at WQAM. Two weeks after that, co-host Jeff DeForrest was fired after pleading guilty to paying kickbacks to a Miccosukee Indian Gaming marketing director.

 

Now, after experimenting with Ron Hersey, Howard David, Scott Ferrall and others, WQAM general manager Greg Reed still is looking for something with staying power.

 

Reed would be happy with Rose, but the former Dolphins tight end isn't sure he's willing to juggle WQAM's 8-10 a.m. slot with his lead anchor duties at NBC 6. Rose, who would work alone or be paired with Steve Goldstein, said he will make a decision shortly.

 

Why has finding a long-term replacement for The First Team taken longer than the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?

 

''I just want the most entertaining show we can have and no going into the gutter like Ferrall did,'' Reed said.

 

Reed believed David, and then, Ferrall, would be capable replacements for the Rose-DeForrest-Goldstein troika that ended in January 2002.

 

But Reed said David's show was not entertaining enough, and he and Goldstein were shifted to 5-8 a.m. Reed was happy with Ferrall's ratings, but he continued to cross the line of good taste, forcing Reed to dump him.

 

DeForrest, who does a 4-7 p.m. show for WFTL (850) in West Palm Beach, worked well with Rose. But he hasn't heard from WQAM and doesn't expect to.

 

DeForrest and Goldstein were fired by Reed in 2001, but Reed changed his mind, only to fire DeForrest again after legal problems surfaced.

 

''No one is ever satisfied with what they have,'' DeForrest said this week.

 

``WQAM was always giving us scrutiny over our show, even when our ratings were higher than what they're doing back flips over now. We were running too many commercials. They blamed the talent, like they usually do in this business.''

 

Reed and DeForrest agree it's more difficult to find talent for morning drive than other day-parts. ''It's the most competitive day-part and to cut through that clutter, you have to be pretty entertaining,'' Reed said.

 

Said DeForrest: ``You need to appeal to a broader base in the morning. You can't just throw someone on and tell them to be funny.''

 

NFL ON TV

 

? The Dolphins will get full national exposure twice in five days, with ESPN televising the Washington game Sunday and CBS airing the Thanksgiving game at Dallas.

 

The dialogue figures to be far more lively on the ESPN telecast. After NBC lost the NFL in 1998, ESPN wisely added Paul Maguire, whose humor and candor have spiced a booth that was average when it featured only Mike Patrick and Joe Theismann.

 

CBS, on the other hand, has allowed its lead team to grow stale. Phil Simms, a solid analyst, was at his best when he teamed with Maguire and Dick Enberg on NBC.

 

A third voice would add some life to the CBS broadcasts, especially because Greg Gumbel doesn't convey much emotion.

 

Enberg has a more animated delivery than Gumbel but makes more mistakes -- such as confusing players and mispronouncing Adewale Ogunleye's name on last week's Dolphins-Ravens game.

 

CBS Sports president Sean McManus remains committed to the two-man booth, but he would be wise to use Dan Dierdorf with Gumbel and Simms on the Thanksgiving game, plus the playoffs and the Super Bowl. As it is now, the CBS lead team, to quote Jim Mandich, hardly makes your toes tingle.

 

? Despite the large number of transplanted New Yorkers in South Florida, it's difficult to justify Channel 4 airing the Jets-Jaguars game Sunday instead of Indianapolis-Buffalo (which will be on Channel 12 in West Palm Beach).

 

? All season, Sunshine Network has been sending about six tapes a week of Florida and Florida State games to troops in Iraq and Kuwait.

 

Tapes are passed between battalions.

 

TV TIDBITS

 

? On Thursday, ABC hired former TNT analyst Doc Rivers, who was fired as coach of the Orlando Magic on Monday, as its lead NBA analyst. Rivers, who was candid and witty on TNT, will team with Al Michaels on regular season and some playoff games, including the NBA Finals.

 

? Channel 7 promoted Steve Shapiro to lead sportscaster. He will replace Ducis Rodgers, who left Sept. 1 for the CBS station in New York.

 

? Joe Angel, dropped by the Marlins after the 2000 season, last week lost his radio job with the San Francisco Giants. Angel, who keeps a home in Weston, was replaced by 27-year-old Dave Flemming, who has no big-league broadcasting experience.