I'm glad things are going well for you but I don't like hearing people being mistreated. I find it revolting. I don't think you're any dumber or more immature than the rest of us here. Anyone who has anything to say about how you can't talk should try cracking a mic and speaking extemporaneously for 15 minutes while being heckled by their bosses and post the audio.
Toucher and Hardy: The new 98.5 morning show
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
- Start date
The intro needs to go. It sucks. Rest of the show has been very good, save for the weird sexual talk a lot of days.
You have a lot of opinions on a show you said you stopped listening to a while ago.
You know what I didn't like about Rich? Everything was "wildly" this or that and everyone was "BS'd" about something and "blawlahlawlahwlah" (didn't quite execute the plosive on the 3 subsequent "blah"s). Ohhh, eww-In the blah blahs, I could, like, hear the saliva in the the back of his throat. He would also do a little Beavis giggle in the background for no apparent reason fairly often. I really like Hardy; I just can't listen to Fred anymore. "I'd win a street fight with a boxer I'd just bite his nuts". I would pay to see him try.
I liked Keefe back in the day. I would listen to Hardy and Keefe.
I liked Keefe back in the day. I would listen to Hardy and Keefe.
That's an astute observation, but it's mostly the same opinion over and over again.
I think if it was more serious it’d be cringeworthy. Like if it was all Natalie Portman vs Kiera Knightly etc.
The fact they have Mary Lou Retton, Janet from Threes Company, the Toyota lady etc makes it funny.
I disagree, Fred making it weird is making it more funny. I really don't get the fascination by Fred on Hardy's women choices. Maybe because I have almost the exact same as Hardy (well not from the 1970's) but the fact Fred finds it so bizarre and interesting is compelling radio. Give me Katie Holmes vs Michelle Williams in Dawsons Creek, Julie Bowen vs Sophia in Modern Family any day of the week and so on.
He's always had this take, and he's not really wrong...
"everyone has a podcast"
"most are garbage, no broad audience wants to listen to you"
"for it to be successful you need a traditional platform (like a radio show)"
The flaw in his argument is most of the people who do podcasts aren’t doing it to make a living and any money they get is a bonus. Sure the top podcasts make money but the dopes doing the 312 podcast I’m guessing aren’t doing it for money. It’s a hobby.
Not even Joe Murray’s voice has gotten me to turn off the show faster than this tournament. Taking a mildly amusing conversation point and formally turning it into the bulk of the show was certainly a choice.
To be fair, Fred did say that you'd be rolling in cash if you had a dominatrix business in Brookline.
It's so forced and cringy. And I don't even know half of the women they are referring to. Toyota lady? The "other" Progressive ad lady? Poor Hardy just seems to be doing his best to play along to appease Fred. Meanwhile, it's Opening Day -- and granted the Sox look to be not so good this year to say the least -- but they haven't mentioned baseball once in the time I've tuned in.
To be fair, nobody on either station mentions baseball very much. It's one of the byproducts of not investing in a team, your fans aren't invested either.
For the longest time when you loaded up TSH on Alexa you'd hear Rich saying "thank you for listening to Toucher and Rich and the Sports Hub" or something like that. Just started playing it today and they finally switched it to Zo. I thought it was really weird how long they kept it as Rich
Hardy's been doing great with this, imo. His commentary and explanation for the winners is very clever. I think one of the issues with this is that his contestants may largely be unfamiliar for the "target demo". Mary Lou Retton? Andie McDowell? Harley Jane Kozak? Your average guy in his late 30's is probably scratching his head about these people (one of the "tells" is that Kendra was unfamiliar with many of these ladies and has basically passed on reacting to this stuff).
As for Fred, he's really lost his fastball. I give him credit for making a noticeable attempt at being less of an intentional asshole, but these days he just defaults to boobs, poop, and diarrhea to try and get a laugh. He's a guy who has almost aged out of the target demo himself, and by trying to act like a young, perverted man he just comes off really kinda gross and pathetic. That's my reaction to his participation in this little contest. More and more, when Fred has gone on one of his (unfunny) rants, Hardy is more likely to let him hang out there alone than to come and rescue him.
As for Fred, he's really lost his fastball. I give him credit for making a noticeable attempt at being less of an intentional asshole, but these days he just defaults to boobs, poop, and diarrhea to try and get a laugh. He's a guy who has almost aged out of the target demo himself, and by trying to act like a young, perverted man he just comes off really kinda gross and pathetic. That's my reaction to his participation in this little contest. More and more, when Fred has gone on one of his (unfunny) rants, Hardy is more likely to let him hang out there alone than to come and rescue him.
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I hear you, man. If I have to listen to one more minute of draft talk, I’m going to blow my brains out.
I have not listened, but if I'm reading the thread correctly this is a bit where they are ranking the attractiveness of women, but exclude women with large breasts, right? If so, I think part of the humor is supposed to be how specific and obscure these references are.
That's not to say that such a juvenile and mean-spirited premise can be rescued by any level of comedic scaffolding.
Kind of. They're excluding traditionally "hot" women. Hardy likes the plain jane type. Sally Field and such. But as people mentioned, people don't know who the contestants are. I was googling them as I was listening and I have no idea how to even look up some.
The bit would've been fine for one segment MAYBE 2. But stretched our over however many days is a big swing and a miss.
+1. I launched the stream this morning and it was Breer talking about JJ McCarthy. Turned it off. Tried again a half hour later... Drake Maye.
I mean, I'm a huge Pats fan and the draft is interesting and all. But its draft talk EVERY DAY. And the damn thing is still four weeks out.
Another +1 to the dislike of the "tournament". It's so awkward and boring. But they say 50K voted in it, so I guess it's working for them.
I keep trying with the show and there are definitely some entertaining stretches. To me it's still floundering a lot though.
I didn't hear the segment but I mean for three months it's been the same circular conversation: Who will the Pats pick? Is that the right pick? What if it's not the right pick? Should they take a quarterback? Should they take quarterback a, b or c? What if those quarterbacks stink, then what? Will the Pats trade down? What if that doesn't work? It's the same eight questions based on the same information over and over and over and over again. And there are, and won't be until three years from now (at the earliest), any answers. It's just audio masturbation and it's so stale.
The Celts are (until recently) burning towards the postseason. The Bruins are in the running for the President's Cup. The Sox are kind of a mess, but they also have a chance of being pretty good. There are things to talk about -- and I know that the first two subjects aren't in the wheelhouse of hosts being all negative all the time. But I'm not sure how many people can have the same conversations every day for eight hours. It's ponderous, man.
The station basically launched itself on the Bruins, but they might get a segment or two per week now.
I guess they're calling it "march plainness" now, which doesn't make any sense as a relation to march madness. The premise of the bit is still "let's rank how attractive these women are."
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The one thing that I liked about the Hub when it first launched was good B's talk and they had a couple segments on the World Cup, which was pretty cool too. There was also a segment when the Felger was talking about trading the first round pick the Bruins had in the Seguin/Hall draft for someone to make a postseason run. Caller after caller told him how good both players were going to be and it was insane for the Bruins to trade the pick for anyone, even if they didn't go far in the playoffs. Felger actually apologized for his take, said that he was convinced and the Bs should keep their pick.
I don't think either semi-serious World Cup talk or Felger apologizing for anything would ever happen today on TSH. Felger would double and triple and quadruple down on trading the pick and then he'd shit on soccer. But I guess when you're an upstart, you'll do anything to get listeners.
to your point about the World Cup and non-big 4 things BC and BU are the 2 best teams in college hockey and the tournament just started. Wallach did the scores of last night's games (which included UMass) on one of the headlines and Fred ripped into him. Then got all defensive and "well do what you want" when there was some push back. Then he asked the guest who was the Globe Sports editor or something if he would have covered it and he said emphatically yes, it's a big deal locally. And then Fred was all mrnmmrm grumpy miserable mrmn.
I didn't hear that segment, but to me that's weird. Is college hockey a huge ratings draw? Of course not. But three Massachusetts teams are in the tourney and last night's UMass game went into double OT. It takes what 45 seconds to talk about it in a four hour show? That's not worthy of a mention? But Fred talking about the Lions or the Jets is edge-of-your-seat radio? Okay.
If Fred is a sports guy of any kind, which he hasn’t really shown me, he’s not a Boston sports guy
Yeah. I know that. But it seems to me, and again I didn’t hear the segment, he was pissed at Wallach for bringing up the UMass hockey game.
I’d wager there are plenty more UMass hockey fans in the audience than Lions or Jets fans. How is his incessant bitching about these teams any more interesting than the UMass NCAA hockey playoff game that went into 2OT?
And I’m saying this not as a UMass alum or fan.
I’ll say this: the only segments I really tune in for now are Breer and Reiss. Maybe Gorman. IMO NFL draft talk is more interesting than anything that’s happened since the Super Bowl (I mean, I’m a huge soccer fan but they’re not going to break down the EPL). Once B’s and C’s playoffs start that will change. The Sox should get at least a few segments a day, but since they’re not on 98.5, and have generally gotten stale, that naturally puts a damper on things. If they start 20-6 that will change.
I just wish they would get the comedy right. The terrible “tournament” and Fred reading emails are not working.
I just wish they would get the comedy right. The terrible “tournament” and Fred reading emails are not working.
He ripped Wallach for talking about scores on the headlines that took up about 5 seconds of airtime?! Fred has become such a miserable person. Good Lord. I'm hanging by a thread on this show,
I understand the Detroit and Atlanta references, based on Fred’s history, don’t really understand why he grumbles about Boston local lesser sports.
But if we have to go far afield , I’d like to hear some stories about his time in the Florida Keys. That’s kind of a unique place and not much of a sports scene there. It’s where I learned to sail, and of course now there’s the legend of Roadhouse 2 too. betcha he’s got a unique perspective on the crocodiles and manatees
I imagine he’d just talk about Garden of Eden, (the nude bar) or Keys prostitutes, etc. Don’t think you’d be getting fishing with Ted Williams type stories.
I get that. Just mentioning that they talk about the draft endlessly every day. And they’re re-re-re-retreading the same ground.
Look, I know you can never go wrong talking about the NFL. So I get it. It’s an easy ratings play for them. I’m just burnt out on it.
In some ways, all Boston sports are stuck in hamster wheels.
The Bruins have been on theirs for a few years. “Good to great regular season, but are they built to win in the playoffs?” This is year, what 4 of that storyline?
The Celtics are on the “they have a highly talented roster but is Tatum ‘the guy’ to take them over the top?” hamster wheel. That, similarly, has been multiple years
The Red Sox are on the “should they spend or wait for prospects to develop and contribute?” hamster wheel.
This Patriots discussion, while mundane in the moment, is something “we” haven’t had since spurts radio really blew up in this region.
The Bruins have been on theirs for a few years. “Good to great regular season, but are they built to win in the playoffs?” This is year, what 4 of that storyline?
The Celtics are on the “they have a highly talented roster but is Tatum ‘the guy’ to take them over the top?” hamster wheel. That, similarly, has been multiple years
The Red Sox are on the “should they spend or wait for prospects to develop and contribute?” hamster wheel.
This Patriots discussion, while mundane in the moment, is something “we” haven’t had since spurts radio really blew up in this region.