Radio Row: Clough and Frei are a fantastic pairing
Denver Sports Radio’s best Avs and Nuggets analysis is on the Fan Saturday mornings.
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Denver has a great Sports Radio scene. This is the first post in a series profiling some of the shows that enhance our experience as fans.
The pairing of Denver sports radio stalwart Sandy Clough with Denver Post columnist (and author) Terry Frei works extraordinarily well. It’s especially palatable on Saturday mornings when I am in a more of a reflective mood. It’s a good time to look back at the week in sports.
It’s also a time when most local stations seem to assume that almost nobody is listening. Most of the Saturday morning slots are filled with brokered programming, outdoors shows and motor sports. These shows have a target audience and are destinations for specific enthusiasts. That’s fine. Fans of the ball and stick sports are better off tuning into 104.3 the Fan.
I can’t tell you at precisely what time to expect to catch Clough and Frei’s show. It’s not officially on the Fan’s lineup. I clicked around their web site and could not find any mention of it aside from the “now playing” block on the right hand side. The “weekends” menu lists only “play by play” and “Fox Sports Radio”. I called the station to ask what the official times were for the show. The gentleman who answered the studio line explained that Clough and Frei are generally on “for the first half of the day” but that their time slot varies depending on what College games they broadcast. In other words, Sandy and Terry fill holes in the Station’s Saturday morning lineup.
Theirs are voices of vast experience. They won’t fire up listeners with controversial takes or entertain them with pop culture topics. No Tebow and Taylor Swift here. They will break the local teams down into little pieces with expertise.
Each of them has forgotten more about the Colorado Sports scene than I ever hope to know. Still, they give me enough credit as a fan not to speak down to me. Theirs is deep sports talk.
Westword’s Michael Roberts once wrote of Sandy Clough:
“He’s a rigorously analytical thinker who’s not interested in dumbing down his commentary to make it more understandable for average Joes and Janes. Rather, he works under the theory that sports fans are smarter than their reputation and deserve a smarter brand of conversation.”
I agree. And he works wonderfully with Frei, an accomplished author and Denver Post columnist.
Frei come to Colorado via Oregon where his father coached for Ducks football, serving as Head Coach for five seasons. The family moved here when Frei was 17. He graduated a Wheatridge High Farmer and went on to become a CU Buff. He graduated from the University with degrees in History and Journalism.
He has to his to his credit a laundry list of novels, non-fiction works, screen plays and biographical pieces. Enough to make a blogger feel plenty awkward writing about him.
Frei is not a professional radio guy. I enjoy that about him. He’s a frequent call-in guest on various local shows, as all of the Denver Post folks are. He is able to spread his wings more on Saturdays and that’s nice.
He is highly analytical an sees sports through the lens of a coach’s son. He’s particularly proficient in commenting on the Colorado Avalanche, especially when contrasted with the majority of local sports radio hosts. Hockey is a forgotten language, one I enjoy learning from Frei.
He’s every bit as good at talking basketball, football and high school sports. Especially with Sandy.
The respect Clough and Frei have for one another comes across on the radio. They play very well off one another. I have heard Clough teamed with any number of co-hosts, including the fabulously talented Mike Evans, and I think Frei works best with him.
They are both measured and dry. Neither Clough nor Frei play the role of wacky radio guy. That’s one reason the show works so well for a weekend morning. It’s unhurried and it’s not “up in your face” with “takes”. It’s three or four hours worth of thoughtful sports analysis without the drive-time rushes to judgement and caller-provoking controversy.
Clough and Frei is a sports fan’s sports show.
