The Athletic's Steve Berman reported the news, first.
Rumors were abundant that The Game was going to cut and carve its SF workforce, particularly its high-price talent, like Bruce and Ratto.
This is not entirely shocking news.
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Damon Bruce and Ray Ratto are OUT at 95.7 FM (Sports) The Game
I WAS informed late today, (Wednesday) that Damon Bruce and Ray Ratto were OUT at 95.7 FM, (The Game) --Because I don't listen to The Game, I'll carry on.
The Game is Audacy's FM all-sports Bay Area radio outlet. It has never made a firm imprint in its attempt to unseat KNBR, (AM 680/FM 104.5) and while in recent months it beat KNBR, its Audacy owner had a stock price around 14 cents per share.
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Sad news. Bruce is one of the best sports talk guys on the west coast.
ReplyDeleteNo, he’s horrible and always has been, going back to his sorry tenure at KNBR. Unlistenable, both of them. Good riddance!
DeleteCompletely predictable. More cuts across all sports stations are likely as podcasts continue to destroy terrestrial radio when it comes to sports talk.
ReplyDeleteRay Ratto, the most sour, negative, bitter talk show host ever is fired again? Why is this news? He has been fired ten times now from every show he has even been on. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Some fool will hire him again, bet on it.
ReplyDeleteBout time someone put a harpoon in the miserable walrus. Fatboy was a legend in his own mind.
DeleteFatto fired.
ReplyDeleteHe always looks like he’s about to belch
DeleteThey’re not great but better than most of the dead weight at KNBR. When is the day some of those AM hacks leave the airwaves?
ReplyDeleteWrong. The hosts on 95.7 are HORRIBLE, across the board! If you love wallowing in their pigshit, be my guest. I suggest you get a good book to read to clear out the shot between your ears.
Delete@10:28. Double Wrong for you caping up for those clowns! Mornings yes men absolutely unlistenable followed by bloviating Papa and man servant Lunkhead. I suggest a set of encyclopedias for you and maybe a dictionary to look up “good radio “ cause you don’t know....and you never will!
DeleteAgreed, the KNBR hacks are lame on their best days. At least Bruce and Ratto actually discussed sports, while the KNBR yackers will discuss music, vacations, beer, restaurant reviews, car choices, and man crushes. How pathetic is that baloney?
DeleteBay Area sports talk radio has to be the worst in the nation. The removal of Bruce and Fatto the Hutt helps the ears but then there's the two butt kissers in the AM on KNBR. So glad I have satellite radio.
ReplyDeleteNone of these rubes would be coffee fetchers in the NY or Phillie market. Damon Bruce is just plain terrible.
DeleteNobody wants to hear national radio on Sirius.People want talk about their local teams.
DeleteMan, really bummed out about Damon being let go. I thought for sure he would be one of the mainstays at 95.7 since he got an extension not too long ago. Damon will be missed. Been following him since his Sportsphone days. Not sure where Damon goes from here, but it will be interesting to see if KNBR brings him back, even though some on here mentioning the podcast game, it will be interesting to see if he looks into that.
ReplyDeleteI really hope Damon wasn't let go because of the Kerr interview. It was kind of bizarre that Damon went on vacation and then was off today the past couple of weeks when Kerr was interviewed on 95.7. Drew Shiller, who used to be on the Warriors Outsiders Show on NBC Sports Bay Area after the Warriors TV postgame show, wasn't brought back to NBC Sports Bay Area the season after he was in hot water with Kerr over misconstruing his comments on Twitter about KD's last season with the Warriors. I'm not saying that Kerr has any say on who covers the Warriors on radio and TV, but you never know.
I also appreciated Damon's shoutouts on Youtube. I normally comment on 95.7's Youtube chat on their livestream, and it was also cool getting a shoutout from Damon!
But yes, bummed that Damon got let go.
I like Damon and his work, and I think he will be missed. No one misses Shiller. He was in the wrong profession.
DeleteHe should back to Indiana because no one likes him around here. Same with Ratto. Like Biff from Back to the Future said... Make like a tree and disappear.
DeleteI'm pretty sure Steve Kerr has more important things on his mind then chiming in on personnel moves on the Warriors flagship station..he gets paid by both stations,knbr and 95.7 for his weekly appearances and Bruce did it I would guess because he was on in drive time..
DeleteRegarding Ratto, eh. To be honest, it was time for him to go. He never liked being on the air. Yeah, part of it might've been schtick, but Ratto always appeared miserable and his act was getting tired. With that being said, I felt he did a good job when they gave him a chance to lead the show when Damon was on vacation a couple of weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see where Ratto goes from here, but I think he writes for The Defector website, so he at least has that to fall back on, I guess.
But yes, shocking news today. I honestly thought 95.7 would stay put with this lineup.
I only disagree with your statement that Ratto was "getting tired". I stopped listening to him on KNBR more than a decade ago whenever he would come on...his 'grumpy' persona was terrible.
DeleteAudacy been cutting back all over. Most stations that have the "HD Radio" thing they cut those out too. Might be non-stop ads 24.7 on that channel soon.
ReplyDeleteThe fact Bruce and Fatto are out of a job while the son of not a genuine black man still has a job tells me the rapture is near
ReplyDeleteAffirmative Action at its best.
DeleteRich where do you find The Game beating KNBR? From what I can tell in the last year they came close in one month. Other than that, it is not even a contest.
ReplyDeleteDamon Bruce is terrible. He’s not ready for prime time.
ReplyDeleteHe may get a job in Tulsa.
Been listening to sportstalk for 30+ years. Damon is one of my top 4 hands down. The others are Scott Ferrell, Razor, and Ted Ramey.
ReplyDeleteI'll Pray for you........
DeleteI remember Barbieri being interviewed on The Game after KNBR canned him. They were very respectful, but he was not hired. As I recall, he had a persistent wheeze.
DeleteScott Farrell was horrible. The over the top sound effects were idiotic, especially the sound of beers popped open and poured. I was in high school in his heyday and thought he was a buffoon.
Delete@10:17- Yeah, I think Brandon Tierney and Eric Davis had Ralph on back in like 2011, 2012 from what I remember. It was not too long after KNBR let him go. I remember Ralph's voice wasn't the same that day. He sounded tired, but not sure if he had a cold or maybe other health problems around that time. It was kind of tough to listen to the interview because of Ralph's voice, but at the same time it was nice to hear Ralph for a few minutes on 95.7 at that time as that was his first public appearance on air since KNBR let him go.
DeleteNot sure if that was an audition for Ralph though, as maybe 95.7 was probably trying to stick it to KNBR by having Ralph on after KNBR let him go, even though I think there was some discussion/speculation that Ralph would maybe go to 95.7 at that time. Gary Radnich was trying to go to 95.7 when him and Damon Bruce were paired up and the pairing didn't work out.
Regarding Ralph, kind of sad that interview with Brandon Tierney and Eric Davis ended up being the last time we heard Ralph on Bay Area airwaves.
Now Damon Bruce can take photos of women at the Stockton Ports locker room celebration. Stockton is his speed.
ReplyDeleteI'll miss Ratto,smart guy and authentic, but couldn't listen because I couldn't stand Bruce; they should now terminate Willard, absolute worst.
ReplyDeleteDamon Bruce thought having high blood pressure gave him an edge until he had a stroke in his early 40’s. He said that. I’m not making up his idiotic thinking. Glad he’s gone.
ReplyDeleteNo one listens to ‘The Game’ because their signal is so weak, you can barely pick up the station outside of SF. Why the Warriors decided to move from KNBR, which is heard over the entire western region of the US to an obscure FM outfit that is virtually invisible is a great mystery. Warriors’ longtime radio PBP announcer Tim Roye can’t be too happy about that! But who’s listening to the Warriors, or for that matter, ANY sports radio these days? The internet, greedy, predatory companies such as Cumulus and Audacy and the deregulation of radio-TV have destroyed terrestrial radio.
ReplyDeleteI'm late to the party in leaving a comment, but I came here to confirm that Damon and Ratto are off the air, which is a real shame. As someone who's listened to local sports talk for 30+ years, I feel that Ratto was incredibly knowledgeable and I appreciated his genuine opinions and his excellent use of language, and I liked that Damon could always roll with Ratto's style and similarly engage with intelligence and readiness. The only guys now around with really deep sports knowledge are Marty Lurie, Bill Laskey, and Greg Papa (although Papa's loquaciousness makes him unlistenable to me).
ReplyDelete