I remember a few years ago, I arranged a phone interview for Radnich to talk to Jim Brown. Brown can be stiff and withdrawn if you don't know him, (among other things) but Gary was able to connect immediately and the interview brought out twenty minutes or so of information, laughs, and was talked about in many Bay Area media circles, (Bruce Jenkins of the Chronicle highlighted it in his three-dot lounge.)
Which brings to mind an idea: Radnich should do the weekly interview of 49ers coach, Mike Singletary.
I've never met Singletary, but behind the tough persona, I believe, is a guy that is far more complex and compelling and under the right circumstances, would be far more revealing with someone who had the moxie to ask the right questions.
I'm not a big Brian Murphy fan and I have said that one of my biggest gripes, (among many) is his weekly q and a with Singletary. It's obvious that Singletary isn't comfortable with Murphy and rarely, if at all, says anything worthwhile.
I acknowledge that the gist of the interview is mostly a back and forth effort regarding the last game and the one upcoming. It's mostly x's and o's with a bit of fan-board material and football minutiae. There's been a few laughs but that's very rare; sure, Singletary doesn't exude 'warmth and may be a real jerk, I really don't know, but I'm betting he'd be a bit less statue if he had a good interviewer to engage with.
Radich knows his sports and I'm sure he'd be able to ask the more mundane, meat-and-potato questions while also mixing in his own sense of humor. I'm not necessarily saying that Singletary is suddenly going to become Jimmy Johnson, but clearly, Radnich' technique in that area just might get him to open up.
Let's put it this way. It can't hurt. Singletary says nothing to Murphy and Murphy doesn't have the ability, its pretty obvious, to get anything out of the coach. Maybe Singletary is a total stiff--I don't think so. I think he could and would say a lot more, but he's not really comfortable with Murphy, that's obvious.
Couldn't agree with you more... as a lifelong 49er fan since 1956 I am interested in the team no matter what the record... Murphy and Singletary are hard to listen to...Singletary views it as a necessary task he's saddled with and Murphy seems openly exasparated...the result is bad radio...no worthwhile information...just a bunch of cliches beginning with the words "going forward."
ReplyDeleteMurph is a stinker, he's going to be the Barry Bonds of KNBR someday. L&T do an awesome interview with Coach every monday.
ReplyDeleteBrian Murphy just seems timid with Singletary - you can tell he is intimidated by him. I agree with the first comment here - the weekly Singletary show is all around bad radio. I never feel like I've learned anything after Murphy's Singletary interviews. They're weak, and yes, Radnich would probably do a better job.
ReplyDeleteMurphy was a newspaper guy who transitioned to radio. He's adequate, I suppose, but you can tell he's not a natural as a broadcaster. It's no big deal, but there is definitely a difference between somebody with talent on the radio and somebody without it. Doesn't mean he's not a smart guy, or wasn't a good newspaper reporter, but he seems out of place on the radio and he doesn't have a good feel for managing an interview or for pacing. These things are hard and not everybody is great at it. But hey, big time radio talent costs money, right? And KNBR probably thought - "we can throw anybody in this job." You know what? I kinda miss Frank Dill, although he's been gone for many years now. He was a real broadcaster and was great at all of the things that Murphy and Mac suck at. And nobody was better at interviewing John Madden.
Hmm,my original post didnt make it past post.Glitch, or I hit the wrong button.
ReplyDeleteBut,again,Murphy has said when he talks to Singletary he "wears a dress" he's so intimidated-that's a quote too.. Radnich? no way. He would only faun over Singletary as he does all African American stars. Would he call Singletary a liar to his face about the headsets as he did to LaRussa on steroids? Never.
The last angry host who might ask Mike the tuff questions is Ralph. Unless it's a talk with Don Nelson, he sometimes still has it.
@Annon 12:41 I totally disagree with you. Ralph is the one to drool over athletess and coaches all the time. The only time he gets at anyone it's Sabean and 90% he is wrong when he tells Saben things. Remember Ralph is the guy that said he hated B Bonds and if they signed him he'd no longer be a fan, Bonds signs and they are best buddies. Can he ever not drool over Joe Thorton, or just about any Shark? He is the biggest hipocrite around. He bashed a certain Bay Area sports writer for doing a story when Ralph had his umpteenth DUI and the writer called Ralph and told him he had to run the story his paper demanded it. Ralph called him out over the airwaves saying he was so bad etc. Some athlete gives his son something and Ralph will not say a bad word about them or call them out.
ReplyDeleteGary will call just about any athlete out (exception probably would be Ronnie Lott) when they do wrong. He alawys says he's not friends with athletes for a reason. Ralph is about the worst interviewer out there, he goes on and on and on and on before he actually asks a question then he'll turn around and cut Tom off if he asks a question.
As for the morning show I don't mind Brian Murphy, the issue is he has a sorry excuse for a sidekick. Mac doesn't know anything except Beatles, Stones, and The Dead. The worst was when Murph was out of town and Mac was interviewing Peter Gammons, Gammons was talking about a HUGE baseball story and Mac had no idea about it. It was FREAKIN' Peter Gammons the best BBALL writer around and Mac came off as a 2nd grader who doesn't know jack about Baseball...on a station that carries Baseball!
I've lost count of how may times I've heard the term "going forward" in Singletary interviews
ReplyDeleteGary would be an excellent choice; he would respectful but ask the hard questions.
The only thing Radnitch is interested in is himself; he's awful.
ReplyDelete