I am an avid Sports Radio listener. In the past year, the city of Nashville has seen the demise of the Thom Abraham show on 106.7 The Fan (ESPN Radio) and eventually the loss of ESPN Radio as a whole.
What are we left with? 104.5 The Zone – the ratings leader in the Nashville market. They have mostly local programming, starting with The Wake Up Zone with Mark Howard (arrogant/sometimes funny), Kevin Ingram (mostly boring unless he is doing his impressions), and Frank Wycheck (decent – former Titans Tight End). These guys put on a decent show. It is usually informative and keeps me entertained when I listen. Mark does tend to ignore other’s opinions, but that can lead to some pretty good debates and heated exchanges – which is probably the point.
The Zone also has Overtime – which comes on most weeknights in the evening. I love this show. It’s random, insane, funny, and very casual. These guys don’t take themselves seriously and that is refreshing. The show is hosted by Brent Dougherty with support from Andrew Braverman and Mickey Ryan. The only one that can get on my nerves is Andrew, but he is fine as long as he doesn’t try to take over the show. Mickey is the man! Period. Don’t argue. You’ll just embarrass yourself.
That brings me to the cornerstone of the station – The Sports Zone with George Plaster, Willie Doanic, and Darren McFarland. I’ll give Willie a pass because he is intelligent, well spoken, and does not take extreme positions on different topics. But George and Darren don’t really have any of those things going for them. Pick just about any topic, and I will vehemently disagree with them. Especially Darren. Recent example of Darren’s erudite mastery of the English language: In trying to describe Titan’s running back, Chris Henry, he used the word fatigue instead of the word he was trying to use: physique. Yes, he confused physique with fatigue. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. George hates football. Perhaps that is too strong, but it is very clear to anyone listening that he does not enjoy talking about the NFL. He cannot discuss the NFL or the Titans without finding something to complain about or bemoan. He is a baseball guy, which is fine, but his is the only sports talk show that is on the FM dial during the afternoon in a city that has a professional NFL team so he might need to reconsider his stance. The guys on the show will talk about baseball, or hockey – Predators – at the drop of the hat at any time of the year, but it’s like pulling teeth to get them to talk about Football unless it’s football season, and even then it’s comes across as perfunctory.
So, here is what I am going to do about it: I am going to blog every time I hear them say something that gets under my skin. I will make it my goal in life to point out their ignorance and bias. (Well, it won’t actually be my goal in life, but it will be fairly important…right after deciding what I will wear in the morning…)
The Blue Raft 
I agree with your analysis. It was a sad day when we lost ESPN radio. I don’t hate the shows on 104.5, but it does get old having to listen to them for more than about 5 consecutive minutes. Any word on whether ESPN will be coming back to Nashville?
I haven’t heard anything about ESPN Radio coming back to Nashville. I will post something as soon as I hear.
Thom is still in Nashville! He is on 560 AM from 11 to 3. Yes it’s AM but, I listen on the internet at work. He has an even better show now in my opinion. He has former Titan Brad Hopkins on with him everyday. Their isn’t a day that him and his crew don’t crack me up. I found him again about a month ago and didn’t even know he was still here. I can’t figure out why George Plaster is so popular, he’s the most boring guy I’ve ever heard.
Yeah, I still listen to him whenever I can – even though the time slot is not as good for my schedule. I really like his show and I’m glad he found another home in Nashville.
I was once a big Plaster fan, but now that no competion exists these guys are spending way too much time talking about baseball and hockey.
“It’s football time in Tennessee!” Even though the Vols are not on top of the college football world, Nashville is full of fans from other SEC and ACC schools. If Plas does not right this ship I will certainly be one to jump ship. Further, talking about baseball and hockey will serve up the opportunity for competition.
Hey George,
We (the fans) listen as much because of the subject material than who is talking. Heck, I’d settle for talking about Vandy versus Miss State than MLB.
Football? All they talk about is football. During the World Series they didnt even hardly discussed baseball which is odd. I hate the mornings because Wycheck hates baseball and makes it clear that he hates it. Nick the Stick is only on during baseball season but John from Houston is on year around so I wouldnt say they lack in football talk.
I agree though that Willie is the best one out of the evening slot.
When I say “they don’t talk about football” I am refering to the afternoon show with George and Willie. Wycheck is on in the mornings and they do talk a lot of football during that time, which makes sense with him being a former football player.
George talks about baseball all the time – specifically the Braves. If you don’t hear that then I don’t know what to say. He will bring the Braves and baseball into any conversation.
I lived in Nashville 94-01, and fell into an appreciation for George and Willy for the exact maddening reasons you only touch on… Darren saying “fatigue” when he meant “physique” is definitive.
I have since lived in 2 different cities, and I have always kept listening to The Zone because it is so hysterically funny to listen to these.. these BOOBS fumble their way through a broadcast each day. I especially loved the dynamic of Darren and George being all hard-ass and definitive and stating everything in absolute terms, no grey area… and timid Willy who hedges on every stand… because George and Darren would get into some stupid but loud fights, and Willy would be really quiet for a while, like he was all scared… and George would ultimately put Darren in his place.
This is so much more than sports…
I’ve been thinking about starting a blog to follow The Zone on a daily basis… recent things I hope you heard:
George went off on the word “pilsner” for about 5-8 minutes… I have no idea what he was talking about, and I think Willy got scared, maybe thought George had a stroke or something.
“Pilsner…. piiillllllzzzzznneeeerrrrrr…. What does that MEAN!?!?!”
— George Plaster
ANd then, just in general, the station has been running a public service announcement encouraging listeners to clean thei kitchen and dishes after they cook and eat. You know, because of rats and stuff.
It’s just all so hysterically funny in an absurdist dada sort of way.