Gary Radnich is a quietly giddy man this Wednesday as the leading protagonist with Damon Bruce, his now ex-adversary at KNBR, where Bruce has now left and about to work the afternoon drive at 95.7 FM The Game.Both Radnich and Bruce couldn't stand one another and at one point nearly came to blows in the Cumulus elevator one day after Radnich ripped into the younger Indiana Hoosier in a newspaper article.
Bruce's departure to rival The Game was not centrally directly to his wrath with Radnich but set in motion and may have accelerated his move out of the KNBR 1050 Siberia into The Game.
Bruce openly ripped Radnich on the air on several occasions and mocked his frequent non-sports interest. In short, the two couldn't stand each other. The war was most evident during and immediately after both men were paired into a team in August of 2011 on 680. The show suffered from the start with no chemistry whatsoever and turned into a disaster when it was abruptly cancelled. Radnich took an immediate two-week "vacation" and according to several station sources, offered a mild ultimatum to management: It's either me or Bruce.
At that point, Larry Krueger was reunited with KNBR; re-hired to work with Radnich from 9-Noon and Bruce was given his own show to KNBR's secondary outlet, "KNBR 1050 AM", in the middle of the dial with a considerably weaker signal and virtually no promotion from the station. In other words, radio Death Valley. Although Bruce's show picked up a loyal listener base and delivered respectable ratings he was never able to gain any traction into the 680 fortress and Radnich's presence played a part in that dynamic and was chief among Bruce's desire to seek work elsewhere.
Radnich was not the only individual figure Bruce didn't get along with; in fact, I was told by a current KNBR staffer who once worked with Bruce that he had virtually no friends at KNBR. "Nobody liked working with him; producers, interns, staff people, salespeople--he was very difficult. Everybody hated him." This matter probably probably was in the forefront.
When news of the Bruce move to The Game broke late Tuesday morning both Radnich and Krueger didn't mention the transaction, (naturally), but I'm told, privately, Radnich was elated. And to be fair, I'm guessing Bruce was feeling much the same.
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