Don't Touch That Dial

I know, I’m like a dog with a bone because I won’t let go. But I think I might if I can just get sports’ talk radio out of my system. Going back to my drive from Madison, the best thing about listening to “The Score” were the commercials. That’s right, any kind of plug for anybody or anything was better than listening to two toddlers babbling on, all the while confusing noise with speech. One ad in particular, for the only woman on-air talent at the station, stood out. It was a clip from her show, and she was talking about the Bears. She offered reasoned, intelligent analysis, stuff you might disagree with but not at all consider dumb. Keep in mind the ad played on a show where the two dimwits were throwing hosannas at the Rams for signing wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. And what’s wrong with that, you might ask. Well, first they brought up what you might call Beckham’s baggage of antics, only to dismiss it because the Rams are so committed to winning blah, blah, blah, and Beckham and newly acquired Rams’ linebacker Von Miller are friends, blah, blah, blah. Here’s the thing. A frat-boy atmosphere permeates sports’ talk and draws listeners with the exact same mind-set; a serious female broadcaster doesn’t stand a chance unless she wants to start making disparaging remarks about an obnoxious listener’s penis size, or lack thereof. She could, and maybe even should, but I doubt that would stop the frat boys from calling in, tweeting, texting and whatnot, all with the same misogynistic message. The Score used to have a woman on the broadcast team, and she gave as good as she got, until she was axed in a cost-cutting move last year. Her successor, sort of, is also doing TV sports, and this is where it gets interesting—there’s a long history of women local sportscasters. They’ve all been highly respected and have had long runs. Maybe it has something to do with TV sports not having call-in segments.