Shertenlieb Show? Rich Radio? - mornings on ZLX

dlauderdale

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Sep 8, 2024
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Long-time Toucher & Rich listener.Was really curious as to how it would go with Rich on his own.Surprised by how bad it's been. Rich doesn't let anyone talk. He clearly doesn't know much about sports and ends up not doing sports because of it. Wasting someone like Giardi. Barely utilizing Ted. The third guy, I never heard of him but he sounds like he's Rich's younger brother. The two of them together is ROUGH. Big disappointment.
 

Rusty13

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Nov 3, 2007
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Long-time Toucher & Rich listener.Was really curious as to how it would go with Rich on his own.Surprised by how bad it's been. Rich doesn't let anyone talk. He clearly doesn't know much about sports and ends up not doing sports because of it. Wasting someone like Giardi. Barely utilizing Ted. The third guy, I never heard of him but he sounds like he's Rich's younger brother. The two of them together is ROUGH. Big disappointment.
I was a long time listener as well and still overall like tuning into Rich's show but can't say I'm loving it. I definitely would not characterize it as bad as you do though. Also the "third guy" you are referring to is Michael Hurley, who was a frequent guest on Toucher and Rich.

Having said that, if they don't have any ratings growth during the football season, I could easily see the show getting scrapped or maybe HEAVILY altered. It's scary to think that they could probably stick two interns in there to run an all music morning show with minimal talking, and it might do better ratings than Rich. But that's the reality. Hillman continues to do decent as the number 2 sports radio option in the morning. Tough to squeeze out any more ratings within that demo, especially in a shrinking market. ZLX might have to go back to it's bread and butter to get their older listeners to tune back in.
 
Jul 24, 2024
59
I think the show has started to settle down, a bit, not a lot, but a bit. The first few weeks of Rich launching everything all at once were bad. He was trying too hard. I'm not always a fan of how all over he is or how many albums or movies are "perfect...just perfect." Or how he tends to bulldoze over hosts. I listened to the shows when Rich was out and it was fine. Nothing special, nothing bad, just there.

They should have them do more music stuff. I enjoy hearing about new bands or music to explore.

But they also need to dial back Can You Handle the Hurley? having it happen every day, sometimes twice a day, is burning it out.
 

Granite Sox

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Yup. Imo, they need to have a handful of recurring bits to rotate in, and they also need to have at least 1 regular sports interview a couple of times a week so they can better leverage Giardi. I think the guys they’ve had on (Howe, Callahan, etc.) have seemed like one-time favors to Hurley and/or Giardi. I think they need a regular beat reporter for each of the teams. Karalis has been on multiple times, so I’m expecting he’ll handle the Celtics. They need BSJ or MassLive folks for the other sports.

I like Ted more than I thought I would; he’s been good at surprising Rich/Michael with personal stories (e.g. dating and being briefly engaged to author Sandra Brown’s daughter) that were pretty interesting and/or funny.

A little more music and music talk, some more bits besides Handle Hurley to rotate through given current events, and at least one regular sports interview a couple of times a week would give them a more solid foundation.

P.S. One (of the many) things I dislike about Fred is that he tells the same stories over and over and over (and changes some of the facts so you know they’re total bullshit). I’d hate to see Rich get into this ditch, but he’s getting close with his drunk double-DoorDash Taco Bell/McDonalds story. It was funny… once. I’ve heard it about six other times over the past week or two and it needs to stop. And Emerson needs to go. He’s an unfunny idiot.
 
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Rusty13

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And Emerson needs to go. He’s an unfunny idiot.
He's an absolute zero. I'm not even sure what he brings to the table. He works for Draft Kings but doesn't really offer any gambling advice or tips.

Rich would be better off reaching out to Carrabis and his crew for some appearances. At least they would bring something to the table, including a following.
 

jsinger121

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Jul 25, 2005
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He's an absolute zero. I'm not even sure what he brings to the table. He works for Draft Kings but doesn't really offer any gambling advice or tips.

Rich would be better off reaching out to Carrabis and his crew for some appearances. At least they would bring something to the table, including a following.
Doubt that Carrabis would give up his 98.5 platform on the baseball hour to go to a competitor especially when Milliken works for 98.5 and Section 10.
 

Commander Shears

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Jul 24, 2005
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Long-time Toucher & Rich listener.Was really curious as to how it would go with Rich on his own.Surprised by how bad it's been. Rich doesn't let anyone talk. He clearly doesn't know much about sports and ends up not doing sports because of it. Wasting someone like Giardi. Barely utilizing Ted. The third guy, I never heard of him but he sounds like he's Rich's younger brother. The two of them together is ROUGH. Big disappointment.
I was a long time listener as well and still overall like tuning into Rich's show but can't say I'm loving it. I definitely would not characterize it as bad as you do though. Also the "third guy" you are referring to is Michael Hurley, who was a frequent guest on Toucher and Rich.
I suspect they meant Emerson, not Hurley. The latter is good and the former is - we seem to all be on the same page here - an enormous mistake to have on the air.

I listened this morning and am I nuts or should the sports news bits come after the songs, not before? Going from commercial to sports news to song to sports talk seems like an interruption, rather than having a song be the transition from ads to sports. Maybe I'm nitpicking. Also, Rich's jokingly announcing the wrong songs makes it seem like he really hates playing them.
 

Myt1

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I suspect they meant Emerson, not Hurley. The latter is good and the former is - we seem to all be on the same page here - an enormous mistake to have on the air.

I listened this morning and am I nuts or should the sports news bits come after the songs, not before? Going from commercial to sports news to song to sports talk seems like an interruption, rather than having a song be the transition from ads to sports. Maybe I'm nitpicking. Also, Rich's jokingly announcing the wrong songs makes it seem like he really hates playing them.
He also joked yesterday about talking over them the entire time.
 
Jul 24, 2024
59
Rich is quickly becoming the type of radio guy he constantly mocks. The voice modulation (that at first was him mocking the voice is fast becoming his voice) for when he gets excited reminds me of the wacky arm-waving things you see outside car dealerships and vape shops.

The segment about the debate, starting with the voice modulation shtick about "talking politics," was lame in that it wasn't funny. If you're going to bring that stuff in, MAKE IT FUNNY. Not just dumb commentary about it and then dragging it out with Swift. It almost sounded more like filling space than a well thought out break.
 

Granite Sox

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Gary Tanguay on as a special guest this morning. He's been great. Rich spent a segment discussing Tanguay's support in the early days of T&R. It was nice. As expected, Tanguay has been goofy/weird and funny.

I thought Giardi was gone for good, as he hasn't been on in two weeks, but he called in this morning (presumably from Met Life)...

Apparently, Jon Gruden has his own YouTube channel, and Rich has lifted a couple of great sound bites that I'm sure will be added into the rotation.
 

Patriot_Reign

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Gary Tanguay on as a special guest this morning. He's been great. Rich spent a segment discussing Tanguay's support in the early days of T&R. It was nice. As expected, Tanguay has been goofy/weird and funny.
Tanguay was a great listen this morning. Rich wouldn't confirm but Gary said the original morning show concept was Fred/ Rich/ Zolak.
Some honest talk about the genesis of 98.5 without the usual nonsense of muting someone the instance another station is mentioned.
 

Andy Merchant

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Tanguay was a great listen this morning. Rich wouldn't confirm but Gary said the original morning show concept was Fred/ Rich/ Zolak.
Some honest talk about the genesis of 98.5 without the usual nonsense of muting someone the instance another station is mentioned.
Interesting, guess I'll have to track down the podcast from yesterday.

It would have been great if T&R had tricked Zolak into doing a fake commercial like the Rogue House Leather Dojo.
 

dlauderdale

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Sep 8, 2024
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Show misses Giardi, IMO.Much better than Ted. Tanguay was a breath of fresh air, largely because he's a weird dude
 

Commander Shears

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Listened to it this morning and enjoyed it. Pretty interesting how they openly discuss the 98.5 launch on a competing radio station.
Rich seems to be leaning hard into the idea that it's difficult to launch a show and it's a slow process. I think he's missing the difference in quality between his current launch and the one however many years ago.
 

hube

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Apr 4, 2010
294
Is it a sports show?

Every time I switch over it’s another overplayed classic rock song or yet another round of Stump Hurley or whatever they call it with a caller trying to win tickets to something, and those are always pop culture based.

I prefer T&H and I’m not rooting against Rich - options are good - but the show stinks.
 

NewInTown

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May 16, 2023
77
I mean the cast members have been exclusively sports people: rich, Hurley, Ted Johnson, giardi, wilder, has there ever been a host who is not a pure sports person?

Edit: it's obvious they want to be a sports show based on the casting choices, they're just really bad at it
 

dlauderdale

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Sep 8, 2024
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I don't think Giardi does the show anymore. Wilder doesn't do the show anymore. Lotzia? Good lord, is that bad radio
 

Granite Sox

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Surprisingly, I enjoy Ted Johnson more for his non-sports contributions vs. his sports/Patriots commentary. He's quirky and has a lot of "wait... wut?!" life experiences.

TRSS has moved swiftly away from sports (other than the execrable presence of Lotzia/Draft Kings).

At this point, it's 80-20 (or more) non-sports. Hurley is also very versatile re pop culture. Danielle Murr co-hosted one day last week; I never listened to her at EEI but she was good with Rich. So they're trying different things to see how they can grab an audience.

To my ears, it seems (now) that the only time they talk sports outside of Ted's weekly Pats recap is on the 2-3 times a week they have a member of sports media call in for 15-20 mins. Today it was Tom Caron, and that was a great segment.

So they're really trying to lean into music and pop culture, but they haven't clawed back the ZLX morning diehards; the people that enjoy non-stop SPORTZ! still listen to T&H and EEI.

P.S. Giardi calls in "on demand", which as been once a week for the past couple of weeks.
 

NewInTown

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May 16, 2023
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It's funny to describe T&H as non-stop SPORTZ because everyone always complains how they don't do enough sports lol.

But if Rich is trying not to do a sports show why don't they hire some people who aren't sports people? Surely there are people out there they could bring in
 
Jul 24, 2024
59
I might have to go back and listen to this. I missed her day on the show. She might be a good fit.
It was ok but she disappeared into the background a lot because of all the other voices, mostly Emerson.

Emerson is the anti-Wallach. He's the third chair that is constantly talking or having topics orbit around him.
 

Rusty13

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It was ok but she disappeared into the background a lot because of all the other voices, mostly Emerson.

Emerson is the anti-Wallach. He's the third chair that is constantly talking or having topics orbit around him.
That's disappointing. It seems like he's on almost every single day, and they almost use him as a crutch for content. As soft spoken as he is, I enjoy listening to the other assistant producer on there, "Jo Jo" FAR more than Emerson.
 
Jul 24, 2024
59
But that is part of the problem, too. The show sometimes feels like it is careening from topic to topic without any direction. Shertenlieb needs a counter to his exuberance; Toucher’s quick-witted cynicism was the perfect balance for so many years.

Hurley is smart and funny, but understated, and he gets overwhelmed by Shertenlieb — who himself might be proving beyond a doubt that he is best suited to being the No. 2 voice on a show — dominating full segments. Lotzia’s hype-man style is similar to Shertenlieb. The show would benefit from some decaf in its coffee maker.
At least we are all in agreement...
 

Patriot_Reign

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Apr 21, 2011
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Chad nailed it with the decaf comment.
The show feels so sped up, with Rich stuck in HAHAHAHAHA EVERYTHING IS SO WACKY mode while pinballing from topic to topic. And the flow is so odd when one moment they're all talking and then a song just starts.
Hate to say it but the only time I've tuned in (granted not very often) and thought the show was compelling was when Tanguay was on.
 

Andy Merchant

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Aug 2, 2010
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Man, I wonder how much rope Rich has before ZLX cuts bait and moves on? It certainly seems like he miscalculated and didn't realize how much he needed to feed off of Fred.
 

HarvardSqr

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Dec 18, 2023
32
Man, I wonder how much rope Rich has before ZLX cuts bait and moves on? It certainly seems like he miscalculated and didn't realize how much he needed to feed off of Fred.
I bet the good ratings for T&R while Fred was out fooled him(and some other people in the radio business...) into thinking that most potential listeners would accept a Rich hosted show. I was surprised the ratings were as good as they were while Fred was out, as I always thought Rich was bad at being the main host. He didn't sound like a radio professional, and didn't manage time right at all. Despite that, I myself would often listen while Fred was out, but there's a difference between that, and actually switching to Rich.

Also, in terms of cutting bait. There were suspicions that giving Rich this sports show on ZLX was the first step to flipping the station to sports, and that seems impossible now. So, if that was the corporate plan, then there's maybe no point in giving Rich much more time.
 

Patriot_Reign

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Apr 21, 2011
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Not that the ratings don't lie, but having the top story on boston.com being about how your show failed has got to be a helluva gut punch.
 

Rusty13

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Chad nailed it with the decaf comment.
The show feels so sped up, with Rich stuck in HAHAHAHAHA EVERYTHING IS SO WACKY mode while pinballing from topic to topic. And the flow is so odd when one moment they're all talking and then a song just starts.
Hate to say it but the only time I've tuned in (granted not very often) and thought the show was compelling was when Tanguay was on.
The article also inferred that they decided to push MORE of Emerson, who has become an immediate channel changer for me. I really wanted this show to work, but it’s not happening.
 

dlauderdale

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Sep 8, 2024
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The article also inferred that they decided to push MORE of Emerson, who has become an immediate channel changer for me. I really wanted this show to work, but it’s not happening.
I tried with Emerson. Can. Not. Do. It. Chad mentions Rich needs someone to counter him. Does he ever. Also, the Can't handle Hurley thing is already old. I wanted this thing to work. It hasn't.
 
Jul 24, 2024
59
They've had a few months now to test some different things but haven't really done so.

The show launched out of the gate like explosive diarrhea. Rich took all the best bits from T&R and tried to throw them at the audience all at once those first two weeks. Realizing it wasn't landing the same, he stopped. The show has since then settled into this spastic pinball session, bouncing around with Rich's voice pushing out the others...save for Emerson who they let talk, and talk, and talk...I could not care less that he sends them texts of him taking a dump. I couldn't care less about his stupid experiences. I don't understand why he's from draftkings never to give out betting stuff. He's that one friend who even when 10 people are talking you somehow can just hear him over it all.

Hurley is ok, and improving. He's getting his footing but even he must be bored of getting handled two times a show.

Ted has turned out to be really interesting when he opens up about his experiences. The story about his engagement and romance novelist was great.

The problem is Rich hasn't ever really tried anything else save doing his normal T&R routine when Fred wasn't on the air. It's the same over the top reactions (there are other levels besides the extremes of "Just perfect," "it stinks") and repackaging takes from the day's sports stories. Along with the same 15 stories he's told forever.

Do more music stuff, bring in people touring, etc. The sports stuff isn't working and should be more of a segment instead of the focus.

I agree with the others. I wanted it to work because I enjoy entertaining radio but this isn't it.
 

dirtynine

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I also want it to work to validate how great Rich is at his niche. There’s just nobody he can elevate (as he did with Fred). He’s a point guard who can’t pass to himself right now.
 

yeahlunchbox

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Jan 21, 2008
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Flipping back and forth between Toucher and Hardy and the Shertenlieb Show this morning, and both shows referenced this clip within about 10 minutes of each other, with the Toucher show doing it first.

View: https://youtu.be/-RVyoAVgeyI?si=5fBbkECdFgA3r04N


I'm sure it was just a coincidence, but it felt jarring to have Rich go into referencing this clip after hearing it on the Toucher and Hardy show. Also, when Rich was talking about the Jane's Addiction break up it certainly felt like he was talking some veiled shots at Toucher.
 

sharts

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Dec 22, 2023
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Did rich bring it up after referring to the tomlin quote? Because it makes sense when someone says stomping grapes you think of that gem

if not that’s a very obscure video and a HUGE coincidence.
 

NDame616

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Jul 31, 2006
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Has that clip been making the rounds on socials and I missed it? Would make it less of a coincidence
 

yeahlunchbox

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Did rich bring it up after referring to the tomlin quote? Because it makes sense when someone says stomping grapes you think of that gem

if not that’s a very obscure video and a HUGE coincidence.
No, it also came up when Rich was covering the Jane's Addiction breakup.