Radio Row: Tom Nalen makes the “grown ups table” a lot more fun.
“Nalen’s tone is easy. He’s naturally funny and his voice smiles through the radio. He seems to enjoy being in the studio. I detect that Shapiro is enjoying himself more on air, too, as a result of working with Nalen, even if the ex-pro does make him uncomfortable sometimes with his boyish sense of humor.”
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Right before he blocked me on Twitter, a scorned Les Shapiro told me that my partner John Reidy and I would never get to sit at the “grown ups table” as it pertained to the media.
Shapiro was reacting to something nasty that another local radio host said about him on the South Stands Denver Fancast – not something I said – not something Reidy said. It was guilt by association. The freewheeling and sometimes juvenile tenor of our show provides an FCC-free environment where people tend to speak their minds. As it happened, one particular person had some thoughts to share about the prickly Shapiro.
The comments were inflammatory enough that word quickly reached the one-time television sports anchor. Shapiro’s reaction to the comments and his subsequent talking down to me reinforced what our podcast guest had said in a delightfully ironic way. He basically countered the assertion that he is an arrogant asshole by being an arrogant asshole.
Our scrape with Shapiro caused us to be a little more cautious when it came to what was said on the Fancast. We even edited a segment from the show which was something we had never done before.
We enjoy having guests from around the Denver Sports media and we realized that, if we didn’t cool it down, nobody would want to drag themselves down to our concrete bunker anymore. Suffice it to say that we learned from the ordeal. It did not, however, cause us to pine for a seat at Les Shapiro’s “grown ups table“. We remain quite happy sitting with the kids, free to throw some food every now and then.
Implicit in Shapiro’s comment was a suggestion that we covet his lofty perch at 102.3. Nothing could be further from the truth. We enjoy doing radio, but everybody involved with South Stands Denver is an adult with a job. We cover sports (and the local media) mostly for fun and we do the Fancast for free. Any revenue we generate is used to pay writers a pittance to keep this web site vital.
At the time of the misunderstanding, listening to Les Shapiro’s radio show was not fun.
Tim Tebow was the starting quarterback for the Broncos then and Shapiro hated him. His obsessive Tebow bashing was so over the top that it made his afternoon show on 102.3 ESPN virtually un-listenable. It consisted mostly of his contentious debates with callers over the efficacy of number fifteen.
Shapiro’s co-host at the time was Jo Jo Turnbeaugh (@jojoradio), who we liked. Cool dude, that Jo Jo. To use a George Castanza term, Jo Jo had no “hand” in his on-air relationship with Les. Shapiro very much dominated the conversations. In fact he often ran Jo Jo right over.
Jo Jo has moved on to much greener pastures. He is now a program director and morning drive host at KWNR is Las Vegas. He started that gig back in October.
In an effort to find him a replacement co-host, 102.3 paired Shapiro with a gaggle of various guests and co-hosts in the weeks that followed Jo Jo Turnbeaugh’s departure. A couple of months ago the station announced that five-time Pro Bowler and former Denver Broncos center Tom Nalen would be filling the slot.
Nalen, who retired after the 2008 season, spent his entire career with the Broncos. He was selected with the 218th of the ’94 draft and never left. When he finally decided to hang ‘em up he was the last member of the Super Bowl winning Broncos teams of the late 1990’s to do so. He’s a candidate to someday make it to the NFL Hall of Fame.
To call Nalen a local hero is an understatement. But that doesn’t mean he’s a good sports radio host. When I caught wind that he would be the permanent replacement to Jo Jo Turnbeaugh I was dubious. “Another ex-jock who wants to be in the media”, I thought.
Well, guess what? Nalen is good. Really, really good.
He’s a very knowledgeable sports fan, for one thing.
It goes without saying that he’s aces when it comes to the NFL. The depth of his knowledge when it comes to the NBA and Major League Baseball is eye-opening, but the competency with which he talks NHL is the clincher. Hockey is so rarely discussed on Denver radio that it’s almost taboo, but Nalen is an unfettered fan of the sport and he doesn’t hesitate to discuss it. That scores him a lot of points with Avalanche fans who typically get the short end of the stick.
Nalen’s tone is easy. He’s naturally funny and his voice smiles through the radio. He seems to enjoy being in the studio. I detect that Shapiro is enjoying himself more on air, too, as a result of working with Nalen, even if the ex-pro does make him uncomfortable sometimes with his boyish sense of humor.
The addition of Tom Nalen has had the surprising effect of making me enjoy Shapiro more. Because Nalen was such a successful and popular athlete, he has a particular gravitas that commands Shapiro’s respect. Shapiro shows him more deference than he did Turnbeaugh. He’s not as likely to talk over him or interrupt him. Also, Nalen is more free-wheeling. He clearly doesn’t need the on-air job. He’s there because he wants to be and I think Shapiro understands that.
The pairing of Shapiro and Nalen nicely blends old-mentality professionalism with new-school “guy talk”. The result is a show that I honestly feel is now the best in its time slot. I find myself clicking the 102.3 pre-set on my radio between noon and three far more often than I did pre-Nalen. I would encourage anybody to check them out.
Les and Tom Nalen is a fun show. It reminds me a bit of the South Stands Denver Fancast without the bad words. The potty humor and jocularity of the Fancast is certainly there.
It seems like, with Nalen’s help, Les Shapiro has started be understand the value of sitting at the kids table. He even throws the occasional biscuit.
My hat is off to program director Tim Spence and the management at Front Range Sports for putting the two together. Chemistry is such a crucial part of making a good sports radio duo. Shapiro and Nalen have it. Our experience with Les tells us that it’s probably difficult to find a perfect co-host for him. 102.3 seems to have accomplished that.
Hopefully we can get Les and Tom into the concrete bunker someday soon for a recording of the South Stands Denver Fancast. We would welcome the opportunity to bury the hatchet – maybe even give Les a chance to speak freely just like another particular guest once did.
We’re not holding our breath.
Meanwhile, between noon and three weekdays, our radios are more likely to be tuned to 102.3 ESPN than ever before thanks to the addition of Tom Nalen.
