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What happened to WKNR?


SJ_Browns

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WKNR is almost unbearable nowadays. I don't listen to hacks like Aarron Goldhammer, LeCharles Bentley, Chris Fedor, etc anymore. This station has way too many pessimistic talk show hosts who don't have the ability to be objective. And they constantly fire the people that everybody seems to like (ex. Josh Sabo, Jeff Thomas). Some of these guys have absolutely no respect for their callers (customers). It's a regular thing now for WKNR hosts to hang up on a caller without justification.

 

Aarron Goldhammer strikes me as a guy who got picked on when he was in school so now that he has some kind of "authority and power" with WKNR, he misuses it because he knows he can get away with it. The owner, Cris Karmazac(sp?) is his best friend and he basically made a bunch of excuses for Aarron and tried to downplay the things he does. Aarron is just downright negative 95% of the times and is real disrespectful to the callers.

 

LeCharles is just a biased athlete who let's emotion overule logic. It's his way or the highway.

 

Gregg Brinda is a Debbie Downer. He's negative most of the time. He hates the fact that Cleveland fans like football more than baseball and he thinks all Cleveland fans are homers, unrealistic and lacking in sports knowledge and understanding.

 

Tony Rizzo is okay, but he comes off as a "whoa is me, we're doomed" fan a little too much. I believe a paid proffessional should be, well, proffessional and not some knee-jerk reaction fan.

 

Chris Fedor is a bandwagon fan. He cheers for all of the best teams in sports (he's a big time Kobe homer) and he's always hating on Cleveland teams.

 

While Kenny Roda can be amusing and informative, his allegiance is to a Cleveland rival and according to someone I know who used to be a producer for his show, Kenny loves pouring salt in the wound of Cleveland fans. On a side note, I was glad when Reghi checked him a few weeks ago about that "bad things only happen in Cleveland" crap. Kenny is always trying to force feed that to Cleveland fans.

 

Sabrina Parr is just damn annoying and that bootleg movie critic RJ is a joke. I know more about movies than he does. They really aren't main people on WKNR, but I thought I would just throw them in anyway.

 

I like listening to Michael Reghi. He's informative and objective. I know people criticize him for saying what he's done and how long he's been in the game, but that's a small thing to me. Reghi is one of the few people I listen to on there. I like to listen to Darryl Ryder to. He's a good up and coming talk show host. Too bad he doesn't get much air time.

 

I have no problem with a talk show host being realistic or telling things like it is. I just have a problem with people on that station who are being outright pessimistic. Just negative all of the time. There's nothing wrong with having a little balance with your opinion. I don't want to listen to a homer, but I don't want to listen to someone who's the complete opposite of a homer either. I also feel that the callers and listeners are the reason these guys have jobs, so they should be treated accordingly (unless they deserve to get dissed or hung up on).

 

I was curious as to what the rest of you think about this station and it's on air personalities (for those of you that listen to WKNR).

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Brinda is one of the reasons I had to totally avoid WKNR a long while back.

 

He's basically a poorly talented, Steeler fan wannabe girly man.

 

just no fun to listen to at all. @@

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Brinda is one of the reasons I had to totally avoid WKNR a long while back.

 

He's basically a poorly talented, Steeler fan wannabe girly man.

 

just no fun to listen to at all. @@

 

:lol:

 

brinda is a bitter old man. he seems to hate his job because it requires him to talk to cleveland fans. he often falsely accuses people of things before he even listens to what they have to say. one thing he's notorious for doing is accusing fans of wanting a qb in the 1st rd. what a sour puss! he should've retired a long time ago.

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I have had a very hard time with that entire station since the time when Holmgren was deciding whether to keep Mangini. Literally everyone at WKNR was so confident that Mangini should go, and their arguments were terrible. I mean really terrible. How many times did Brinda say something like: "For me it comes back to the mishandling of the quarterback situation." Do you mean trying to decide between two ineffective QBs? Yeah, let's just forget that he actually handled that brilliantly: once it was clear that neither QB could hit a running target, he put a halt to the passing game and started winning.

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I have had a very hard time with that entire station since the time when Holmgren was deciding whether to keep Mangini. Literally everyone at WKNR was so confident that Mangini should go, and their arguments were terrible. I mean really terrible. How many times did Brinda say something like: "For me it comes back to the mishandling of the quarterback situation." Do you mean trying to decide between two ineffective QBs? Yeah, let's just forget that he actually handled that brilliantly: once it was clear that neither QB could hit a running target, he put a halt to the passing game and started winning.

 

Unfortunately, like many fans, I had made a choice between the 2 QBs we had last year...My choice was Quinn. The bad part was that, after observing, he also was unable to hit a receiver in stride, even WHEN he wasn't rushed. It then became obvious that BOTH had to go, something Mangini apparently KNEW. In reality, I don't think there was any way Mangini (or ANY Coach) could have "handled" the QB situation last year, given what QBs were in place.

Too bad, but WKNR seems to be a shadow of it's former self.

Mike

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I have had a very hard time with that entire station since the time when Holmgren was deciding whether to keep Mangini. Literally everyone at WKNR was so confident that Mangini should go, and their arguments were terrible.

 

First, i agree 100% with the above.

 

i'm having a hard time finding any sports radio that is worth listening to (and i have satellite radio). There was a time when Mike and Mike was entertaining. i can't listen to them anymore. It seems like they play 5 minutes of commercials for every 3 minutes of air time. Everyone else at ESPN seems to fall in line with the ESPN corporate topics (Favre, James, etc.)

 

Is Andre Knott the best that WTAM can do after a Browns game?

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First, i agree 100% with the above.

 

i'm having a hard time finding any sports radio that is worth listening to (and i have satellite radio). There was a time when Mike and Mike was entertaining. i can't listen to them anymore. It seems like they play 5 minutes of commercials for every 3 minutes of air time. Everyone else at ESPN seems to fall in line with the ESPN corporate topics (Favre, James, etc.)

 

Is Andre Knott the best that WTAM can do after a Browns game?

 

 

Guys like us got spoiled with Pete Franklin. Pete was the best then and the best that will ever be.

 

 

We have some locals who do a really good job, though it is decidedly Vols, Braves, and Titans slanted....but they do a good job of talking all SEC football, golf, NASCAR(if you are in to that), minor league baseball since we have the AA club of the Dodgers here, and also do a crack job of talking local sports....both prep and the UTC Mocs football, basketball, and softball....they even plug UTC wrestling in depth.

 

 

For a big small town or a small big town, those guys do a good job of covering the bases and seems pretty balanced...at least until they start talking VOLS....if it goes on a while, it turns in to a VOLS lovefest.

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I have had a very hard time with that entire station since the time when Holmgren was deciding whether to keep Mangini. Literally everyone at WKNR was so confident that Mangini should go, and their arguments were terrible. I mean really terrible. How many times did Brinda say something like: "For me it comes back to the mishandling of the quarterback situation." Do you mean trying to decide between two ineffective QBs? Yeah, let's just forget that he actually handled that brilliantly: once it was clear that neither QB could hit a running target, he put a halt to the passing game and started winning.

 

brinda was the biggest da homer in the universe. he was probably mad that mangini benched his favorite qb.

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Is Andre Knott the best that WTAM can do after a Browns game?

 

andre is one of the few people that i listen to. as a matter of fact, he's probably my favorite. he knows his sports, he's really informative and he respects the callers to. i wish he was on more, but wtam doesn't really have sports programs any more (other than the games and pre/post game shows).

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On WKNR:

 

1.Though I like him, Mark Munch Bishop is so ADHD it is hard to follow the guy. He can't keep a thought in his head for more than 2 seconds.

2. Mike and Mike are good, but yea, as with all radio and TV these days, the commercials are daunting

3. Rizzo can be OK, but that show is fully 3/4ths their own esoteric circle jerk. Half the comments are either where he is pushing his products or they are talking about what they did last night. Goldhammer is basically a whiny rich kid who sees his job as to be anti-Cleveland/Ohio. That is one thing, except he is too misinformed on facts and history.

4. Rome can be tiring as his act gets old after a while.

5. Reghi is more knowledgeable than any of the others, but he tries to be so bombastic it can be ridiculous

6. Roda has improved. His pro-Steeler stance is fairly muted now, and I think he really is a true fan of the Cavs and OSU.

7. Bentley and Cherry were brought in solely to have a minority presence on the station. Cherry seems a reasonable man, but Bentley is all about Bentley or all about the players. He has no clue how to relate to his audience who are merely fans.

8. Despite what you all say, I still think Brinda is the most knowledgeable, experienced and capable of the broadcasters they have.

9. People that some of you have mentioned, like Fedor or Sabrina or whoever, are simply minor characters who can be ignored, or they are on on weekend mornings when very few are listening.

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WKNR is almost unbearable nowadays. I don't listen to hacks like Aarron Goldhammer, LeCharles Bentley, Chris Fedor, etc anymore. This station has way too many pessimistic talk show hosts who don't have the ability to be objective. And they constantly fire the people that everybody seems to like (ex. Josh Sabo, Jeff Thomas). Some of these guys have absolutely no respect for their callers (customers). It's a regular thing now for WKNR hosts to hang up on a caller without justification.

 

Aarron Goldhammer strikes me as a guy who got picked on when he was in school so now that he has some kind of "authority and power" with WKNR, he misuses it because he knows he can get away with it. The owner, Cris Karmazac(sp?) is his best friend and he basically made a bunch of excuses for Aarron and tried to downplay the things he does. Aarron is just downright negative 95% of the times and is real disrespectful to the callers.

 

LeCharles is just a biased athlete who let's emotion overule logic. It's his way or the highway.

 

Gregg Brinda is a Debbie Downer. He's negative most of the time. He hates the fact that Cleveland fans like football more than baseball and he thinks all Cleveland fans are homers, unrealistic and lacking in sports knowledge and understanding.

 

Tony Rizzo is okay, but he comes off as a "whoa is me, we're doomed" fan a little too much. I believe a paid proffessional should be, well, proffessional and not some knee-jerk reaction fan.

 

Chris Fedor is a bandwagon fan. He cheers for all of the best teams in sports (he's a big time Kobe homer) and he's always hating on Cleveland teams.

 

While Kenny Roda can be amusing and informative, his allegiance is to a Cleveland rival and according to someone I know who used to be a producer for his show, Kenny loves pouring salt in the wound of Cleveland fans. On a side note, I was glad when Reghi checked him a few weeks ago about that "bad things only happen in Cleveland" crap. Kenny is always trying to force feed that to Cleveland fans.

 

Sabrina Parr is just damn annoying and that bootleg movie critic RJ is a joke. I know more about movies than he does. They really aren't main people on WKNR, but I thought I would just throw them in anyway.

 

I like listening to Michael Reghi. He's informative and objective. I know people criticize him for saying what he's done and how long he's been in the game, but that's a small thing to me. Reghi is one of the few people I listen to on there. I like to listen to Darryl Ryder to. He's a good up and coming talk show host. Too bad he doesn't get much air time.

 

I have no problem with a talk show host being realistic or telling things like it is. I just have a problem with people on that station who are being outright pessimistic. Just negative all of the time. There's nothing wrong with having a little balance with your opinion. I don't want to listen to a homer, but I don't want to listen to someone who's the complete opposite of a homer either. I also feel that the callers and listeners are the reason these guys have jobs, so they should be treated accordingly (unless they deserve to get dissed or hung up on).

 

I was curious as to what the rest of you think about this station and it's on air personalities (for those of you that listen to WKNR).

 

 

I do like Rizzo. Goldhammer drives me nuts, as does LeCharles Bentley, who I'm really growing tired of with his support for Lebron James. I personally think he sucks as a talkshow host. Brinda, no doubt is a Debbie Downer, but I don't mind him. I like Reghi. He is very informative, and I especially love listening to him on "Browns React." As for Rhoda, while he is very informative, it blows my mind (and only in Cleveland would this happen) that we have a Pittsburgh Steelers fan on a Cleveland sports talkshow! :mad: That certainly wouldn't happen down there. I really wish they would bring back Bruce Drennan. "I LOVE YA CLEVELAND!" :)

 

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I do like Rizzo. Goldhammer drives me nuts, as does LeCharles Bentley, who I'm really growing tired of with his support for Lebron James. I personally think he sucks as a talkshow host. Brinda, no doubt is a Debbie Downer, but I don't mind him. I like Reghi. He is very informative, and I especially love listening to him on "Browns React." As for Rhoda, while he is very informative, it blows my mind (and only in Cleveland would this happen) that we have a Pittsburgh Steelers fan on a Cleveland sports talkshow! :mad: That certainly wouldn't happen down there. I really wish they would bring back Bruce Drennan. "I LOVE YA CLEVELAND!" :)

 

Well, you can always watch him on STO.

 

Also, there is a sports talk station at 1350 if you can get it.

 

Where I am I cannot get KNR2 at 1540. In fact, I have like been inside Cuyahoga County a few times and couldn't get that station.

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Well, you can always watch him on STO.

 

Also, there is a sports talk station at 1350 if you can get it.

 

Where I am I cannot get KNR2 at 1540. In fact, I have like been inside Cuyahoga County a few times and couldn't get that station

.

 

 

I do occasionally watch All Bets Are Off. I don't like the fact that when the sun goes down (literally) WKNR's signal gets weaker. I can't get a clear signal in my neck of the woods during the evening hours.

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I do occasionally watch All Bets Are Off. I don't like the fact that when the sun goes down (literally) WKNR's signal gets weaker. I can't get a clear signal in my neck of the woods during the evening hours.

 

True here too. I can seem to get it Ok on my radio at home, but I can't pick it up in my car.

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Well, you can always watch him on STO.

 

Also, there is a sports talk station at 1350 if you can get it.

 

Where I am I cannot get KNR2 at 1540. In fact, I have like been inside Cuyahoga County a few times and couldn't get that station

.

 

i just found out about 1350 last week. what's up with that station? are they local or national? are there any good stations (sports related) for us clevelanders to listen to other than the usual suspects?

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oh yeah, i forgot to comment on rizzo's show. while he can be ok at times, his show is like a wannabe jim rome show. plus they talk about a bunch of girly soap opera drama type trash that's annoying. i usually turn on the beginning of the show to see if they're interviewing someone worthwhile. other than that, i won't listen to his show.

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On WKNR:

 

6. Roda has improved. His pro-Steeler stance is fairly muted now, and I think he really is a true fan of the Cavs and OSU.

 

- roda became a cavs fan after lebron was drafted. what a coincidence. and he loves osu because they're a winning orginization. simple and plain, roda is a bandwagon fan. and roda loves pouring salt in cleveland fans wounds. he's force feeding people his dumb only bad things happen in cleveland rant. he even pushes it on people he talks to from the national media. he's a steeler fan and you can hear that if you read between the lines. he's way too negative.

 

7. Bentley and Cherry were brought in solely to have a minority presence on the station. Cherry seems a reasonable man, but Bentley is all about Bentley or all about the players. He has no clue how to relate to his audience who are merely fans.

 

- i disagree with this. both bentley and cherry started out by being interviewed on a wknr show like alot of athletes/former athletes have been. from that they were invited to come in on different shows as a guest host, esp. during football season. i think them getting a daily show (which originally started out as a weekly show) grew out of this and not a minority move.

 

bentley seemed to become obnoxious when him and cherry first started doing x's and o's with the pros on a once a week basis. cherry is the more logical out of the two.

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i just found out about 1350 last week. what's up with that station? are they local or national? are there any good stations (sports related) for us clevelanders to listen to other than the usual suspects?

 

 

1350 is out of Akron, but it too has limited range or else its direction is away from where I am. I am mainly southwest of Akron. Their signal may be pointed northwest and northeast to pick up more of Cleveland area. They do a lot of national alternatives to ESPN, like Dan Patrick, Stephen A. Smith, some Foxsports, but they also have some local talkers, especially in the afternoon. They broadcast Aeros games and I think they do a lot of Akron U football and basketball as well.

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same deal with the Fan in Columbus. It was already hard enough to listen to with Chris Spielman marblemouthing his way through one holier than thou diatribe after another. All anyone on that station does is badmouth Cleveland and praise Ohio State unendingly. I stopped listening months ago because I couldn't handle the contant negativity they spew.

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Here is something you may not have known about WKNR: It is the successor to WJW AM radio.

 

Why is WJW AM radio important in broadcasting history? It is the station that Alan Freed worked at when he invented the term "Rock n' Roll". Freed of course played a lot of Rock n Roll music in late 1951 and early 1952. In March of 1952 he promoted the Moondog Coronation Ball, credited as being the first rock n' roll concert in history.

 

So, in essence, rock n' roll was "invented" (or at least given that name) on what is today WKNR.

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same deal with the Fan in Columbus. It was already hard enough to listen to with Chris Spielman marblemouthing his way through one holier than thou diatribe after another. All anyone on that station does is badmouth Cleveland and praise Ohio State unendingly. I stopped listening months ago because I couldn't handle the contant negativity they spew.

 

 

I heard that Columbus actually has an inferiority complex about Cleveland. I suppose I can see why. While Columbus proper has a larger population (only because of annexation) the metro area is about half the size. Plus they have the Buckeyes, and the Blue Jackets as the only major league sport down there.

 

Did anyone hear LeCharles last night? I caught bits and pieces of the show. He expressed his opinion about players taking performance enhancement drugs and his thought that if sports are entertainment then players should be able to choose if they want to use them or not. Go figure. After awhile it becomes ubearable listening to him and Rhoda together, and then Cherry, because all they do is try to out talk each other!

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Did anyone hear LeCharles last night? I caught bits and pieces of the show. He expressed his opinion about players taking performance enhancement drugs and his thought that if sports are entertainment then players should be able to choose if they want to use them or not. Go figure. After awhile it becomes ubearable listening to him and Rhoda together, and then Cherry, because all they do is try to out talk each other!

 

i heard a little bit of it. i turned it on for a sec just to see about the browns rookie signings. lecharles is just a different kind of person. he says some stuff that is beyond unbelievable. wknr is getting worse as the days go by.

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same deal with the Fan in Columbus. It was already hard enough to listen to with Chris Spielman marblemouthing his way through one holier than thou diatribe after another. All anyone on that station does is badmouth Cleveland and praise Ohio State unendingly. I stopped listening months ago because I couldn't handle the contant negativity they spew.

 

I could not agree more; I cannot stand the constant degradation of everything Cleveland whilst bombastically praising everything Ohio State with the emotion of a television preacher crying for money....or love gift for tax purposes

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