I knew Bob Agnew fairly well.
We first met back in 1981 at a Cal game in the Press Box at Memorial Stadium, when he was a reporter at KCBS. Nice enough guy with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, but not too surprising, given the fact that he had bigger things on his mind.
Agnew was let go the other day at the CBS radio affiliate in Vegas. He's been back and forth through the broadcasting mill with a variety of jobs since he was unceremoniously fired by his KNBR boss, Tony Salvadore, back in 2005.
At his best, Agnew was a real innovator. He transformed the old KNBR, (Susquehanna-owned) into a sports talk-radio powerhouse. He changed the format here in 1989 when KNBR was mostly SF Giants and some various local DJ's spinning 70's and 80's tunes, (minus Frank Dill and Mike Cleary) into an all-sports talk entree.
He tried to make KNBR the WFAN of the Bay Area and largely suceeded. He hired Pete Franklin out of Cleveland, who many believe began sports-talk radio in its infancy. He gave Gary Radnich a shot at subbing and subsequently made him a full-timer on radio. Agnew had a good thing going and if you didn't know it, he'd tell you.
Along the way he also built up a long list of enemies with his in-your-face ego and a personal style that wasn't well-received by all. His penchant for stirring up the shit for ratings sake was legendary. Ironically, it was that source of bravado that got his ass out the door at KNBR by his boss in August, 2005.
It was Agnew that insisted to a KNBR reporter at the time to try to get 100% PR ammo from the notorious Felipe Alou-Larry Kruegar imbroglio. That reporter was asked to stir the pot with Alou over Kruegar's ill-fated remarks. Both the reporter and Agnew are no longer employed at KNBR.
I don't know where Agnew is headed. There was word that he might be trying to hook up at the new FM, (95.7 All_sports) radio outlet, but I tend to doubt that. I'm sorry that Agnew got canned, but I know a lot of people who aren't that bummed. They are of the sort that "you reap what you sow."
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That's not how Gary Radnich tells the story..he mentions nothing of a reporter or Agnew. He says that Alou heard the remark-and that Alou is a bitter angry guy so pushed it to where he called for Krueger to be fired...and Radnich says,Krueger offered to apologize to Alou-and Alou refused to accept it.
ReplyDeleteI never heard anything about KNBR itself bringing the problem to a boil by reminding Alou, or other players then Kreuger,essentially forcing the issue with comments.
Gee,I wonder who's telling the whole story?
I had the misfortune to work, ahem, with Bob Agnew at CC. You have to give him credit for success at KNBR, but he was absolutely CLUELESS at Clear Channel. His biggest talent seemed to be endurance. He showed up at 5am and left 6pm. He looked lost at CC, though.
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