Talk Radio

Johnny Manziel Hits Batting Practice Home Run At Petco Park (w/ VIDEO)

In the game of "Bucket List," Johnny Manziel is officially running up the score on all of us. Over the weekend, the Texas A&M Heisman Trophy winning quarterback capped off a round at Pebble Beach with his parents by knocking in a birdie on 18 to break 80. About the only surprising thing about that ... More >>

Oklahoma City Twitter Thugs Go In On Patrick Beverley After Thunder Season Ends (LOTS of NSFW)

It must hurt to go into a season with the highest of hopes, dreams of a championship, go through the grind of an 82 game regular season to secure a one seed, and then have it all go up in smoke in a matter of about a week. It's been so long since I had a team I was emotionally invested in head int ... More >>

Boston Red Sox' David Ortiz: "This Is Our Fucking City"

When real tragedy like the bombings at the Boston Marathon last Monday occurs, one of the phrases that gets uttered seemingly every time is that "sports helps the healing process." Now, most of the time we hear this, it's uttered by someone who makes their living in sports, so the statement may b ... More >>

Awesome National Anthem From Boston To Start Your Day Off Right

Back in the day, before there were 800 channels on television that all went around the clock every day all year long, television stations would actually have a beginning and an end to their programming day. On the air at 6:00 a.m., off sometime shortly after midnight, with a few hours of static duri ... More >>

Clanton Lands on His Cleats at 790 After Being Fired from 1560

All-in-all, it didn't end up so bad after all. Nearly two weeks ago, Adam Clanton was fired from his position at 1560 AM as the station shuffled its lineup yet again. Clanton had only been on the air with broadcast partner John Wessling for a few months when the hammer fell. Wessling has been fairly ... More >>

What Did Dennis Rodman Do To Piss Off North Korea?

To say the United States' relationship with North Korea is less than cordial would be a bit of an understatement. A draconian cesspool of a society with nuclear weapons perpetually aimed our way, North Korea and its leadership (Kim Jong-un, yo!) represent the antithesis of everything the United Stat ... More >>

R.I.P. Paul Bearer, 1954-2013: The Definitive Video Anthology Of His WWE Career

In news that when transcribed sounds like some sort of weird mix between a scene from Inception and a webcam installed in Vince McMahon's brain, William Moody, an actual trained mortician turned wrestling manager by the name of "Paul Bearer" and longtime WWE manager of the legendary Undertaker, died ... More >>

JaMarcus Russell's Quest To Become The First 350-Pound Quarterback Is Full Steam Ahead

My co-host John Granato and I have a standing breakfast bet (which I just now realized will have to be amended to something else at stake because we're moving from mornings to afternoons on 1560 Yahoo! Sports Radio) and it goes like this: True of false: Out of these three quarterbacks -- Tim Tebow, ... More >>

Sports Radio Fantasy Draft: Filling Out the Lineups of Two Local Stations with Talent from the Existing Four

One of the arguments against expansion in pro sports leagues is that it dilutes the talent pool. There are enough great players to fill out the lineups for 30 teams, but are there enough for 32? It's an important factor to consider. On Monday, 1560 KGOW fired Adam Clanton and John Wessling, hosts o ... More >>

Not Buzzworthy? Rockets Winning Games, but Not Hearts and Minds

Tuesday morning, a friend of mine asked a question on Facebook: "Which championship do you most want to see next in Houston, football, basketball or baseball?" Not surprisingly, for most the answer was simple: football. The Houston Rockets are a young, dynamic, offensive-minded team. They have one ... More >>

Super Bowl Beat: Geeking Out At Radio Row, Running Into Bob McNair

On Thursday afternoon I shook Houston Texans owner Bob McNair's hand here near Radio Row inside the convention center. I sorta remember saying something about being here from Houston and thanking him for everything. What "everything" means I do not know. Later on during an interview with local Hou ... More >>

Twitter's Homage to Jeff Van Gundy After Bryan Braman's Touchdown Against the Colts

It's always kind of fun when worlds collide in the professional sports world, when we get crossover of a sports personality commenting on or participating in some way in another professional sport. It's like Reese's peanut butter cups -- "Hey, you dipped your NBA into my NFL!!"..."No, you spilled yo ... More >>

Comcast SportsNet Houston Debacle Keeping Buzz-Worthy Rockets from Getting Buzz

What if the Rockets won in a forest and no one was there to see it? These are the kinds of philosophical questions many fans must ask themselves this year because the vast majority don't have access to games on TV thanks to an apparent impasse between Comcast SportsNet Houston, the official home of ... More >>

KCOH, Houston's Last AM Bastion of Old-School R&B, Is Sold

This post also appeared on our sister blog Hair Balls -- ed. Radio is generally in a constant state of upheaval. Witness the lineup changes throughout sports radio and the rise of News92 FM from the ashes of formerly all-news KTRH. There are two FM music stations playing the exact same stuff every ... More >>

How to Speak Republican

Leaked document reveals the secrets of the GOP's coded language.

Comment of the Day: Sports-Talk Radio Shows

We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involving wit ... More >>

A Rush Limbaugh Playlist: What Else Could Upset Artists Like Peter Gabriel?

There are a lot of people upset with Rush Limbaugh. If you've heard what Limbaugh had to say about Georgetown student Sandra Fluke, then you can guess which parties are upset with him. Even a professional troll faces repercussions for calling a 30 year old college student "a slut". It's not surpr ... More >>

The Five Most Annoying Tweeters During a Sporting Event

When the Texans were putting it to the Bengals on Saturday, the streams of twittering Houstonians were likely filled with posts about the game. Like people who tweet during any live event, there were insightful moments, irritating moments and downright stupid moments. Reading Twitter was like going ... More >>

Wednesday Was the Best Night of Baseball Ever, and We Have Dan Shaughnessy to Thank (w/ VIDEO)

Well, they say that if you're playing in a game that matters on the final game of the season, that's all you can hope for. The Astros were playing in a game that mattered last night; unfortunately, it mattered only for the opposition. For the Astros, last night's two-hit shutout was the final kick ... More >>

College Realignment Talk Is The New NFL Lockout Talk

More a-holery from Ken Starr​During this past summer of sports talk radio, our insatiable appetite for any topic football-related, our perennial need to talk about minutiae at all times, and the usual summer content-related radio doldrums met at a tedious midpoint -- a no man's land that left ... More >>

KTRH All But Says Goodbye to News, Welcomes More Right-Wing Blather

The Houston Chronicle's David Barron just reported that longtime KTRH news anchors J.P. Pritchard and Lana Hughes are leaving the station in favor of new hosts Mike Patrick and Lois Melkonian. In case you need an introduction to Mike Patrick, check out the above video where he personifies the term ... More >>

My 2011 Texans Schedule Analysis -- Praying For A Long Work Stoppage

Skip this if you can. (The movie AND the Texans' opening schedule)​Destination programming. It's the lifeblood of any organization whose goal is to entertain the masses. It doesn't matter if you're a television network, an independent radio station, or a professional sports league. If you ... More >>

Five Best Glenn Beck Freakouts: We'll Miss You, Dude

​As he hinted at his Houston appearance, Glenn Beck, the face of Fox News to so many Americans who recoil in horror at Fox News, will be ending his TV show. He'll still do occasional specials, and tour, but your daily dose of Beckensian madness will no longer be on TV. We'll miss the freakou ... More >>

Cover Story: For Love of the Game

​When working on this week's feature story, I was surprised at just how much help my background as a musician would help me, especially since I was writing about a sports radio station. Over the last 25 years, I've spent a lot of time in bars, recording studios and rehearsal spaces with other ... More >>

Stevens & Pruett Vs. The FCC: Beer Cans And Hershey Kisses

Rocks Off is in the process of collecting stories about legendary Rock 101 KLOL morning team Stevens & Pruett as a tribute to Mark Stevens, who passed away Tuesday morning from complications of Alzheimer's disease at age 76. We're especially interested in hearing from the duo's colleagues at KLOL, ... More >>

Mark Stevens Of KLOL's Stevens & Pruett Show Passes Away

​Rocks Off just got word via ABC13.com that former Houston radio personality Mark Stevens, half of KLOL's popular Stevens & Pruett morning-show team from the 1980s until 2000, has passed away. Houston blogger Mike McGuff says close friends told him Stevens died in his sleep early this morning; ... More >>

15th Annual Festival of Greece

And you thought there was only one Greek festival in town

Game Time: Gary Kubiak's Contract Extension -- Move Along, There's Nothing To See Here

​A couple of years in, I'm finally starting to get the hang of this sports talk radio thing.  Basically, what you do is you fill four hours a day making issues in the sports world seem as though the fate of mankind rests on the outcome, choose the side which you think will save mankind, defen ... More >>

Suicide Notes Movie Sneak Peek Party

So, the deal is I'll be dead but really famous?

2009 Mug Awards

Web exclusive!

The Upstart Sports-Talk Station Is Making Some Strides

Photo by Daniel Kramer​We've been hearing this since 1560 The Game went on the air, but the time is finally coming.Pending one last final approval from the FCC, come some time next month, the station should be broadcasting a booming 15,000-watt signal from Katy that will cover the entire city. Th ... More >>

How The Hell Can You Be Optimistic About The Astros?

Photo by Aaron M. SprecherI was listening to sports talk radio yesterday -- the past couple of days actually -- and it appears that there are people out there who think the Astros still have a chance to make the playoffs. As far as I could tell, these people weren't on the Astros payroll. And I just ... More >>

Cool Out on Your Commute

2009 is only a few days old, and Houston's radio climate is already improving. Not on the FM dial, which remains a wasteland north of 91.7 (same as it ever was), but starting at 4 p.m. today, commuters can immerse themselves in the swinging sounds of Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, B.B. Kin ... More >>

What the Hell. Go Texas Tech!

I hate the BCS. I hate the bowl games. I want there to be playoffs in major college football. I write this because, normally, I would be pulling for Oklahoma to defeat Texas Tech this weekend for the purpose of screwing up the BCS. But I can’t do that this time out. I just can’t. And ... More >>

Stupid Media Personalities: Jemele Hill, Johnny Miller, Dick Enberg and Don Imus

A Few Words for Brad Davies and Jose de Jesus Ortiz

New Year's Resolutions

Drenched In Blog: Avenged Sevenfold and Right-Wing Screamo Metal

From Mumbai, with Drums

It's Official

Blizzard of Oz

Dubya, Ashlee and Bill O'Reilly have spun Racket's mind into the twilight zone; also, two local retro-cool institutions bite the dust

Best Original Show

Best Play-by-Play Announcer

Clash Course

Warriors of the right take their battle against the left to the streets of New York

Best Coach

Van Chancellor

Rome in a Day

The Jim Roma World Tour

Big Talker

From the Geto Boys to his new nationally syndicated radio show, Willie D has kept his mouth moving. But where his rap was once down and dirty, not it's--gasp!--respectable. Has the gangsta of love sold out, or just grown up?

Letters

The Insider

Round One to the Host