- Details
-
Published on Monday, 16 July 2012 17:16
Talkers Magazine has released its list of what it feels are the "Heavy Hundred" sports radio talkers in the country. Those on the list are being called "The 100 Most Important Sports Talk Radio Hosts in America." Many Chicago radio hosts made the cut in this first annual list, while there was one stunning omission.
The radio industry publication, Talkers Magazine focuses most often on the talk radio format (usually non-sports). Once a year, it famously puts out its always-controversial and always-conversational "Talkers 250" which features its "Heavy Hundred" list of radio talkers. That list ranks who the magazine's editors felt were the top 250 American talk radio personalities of the previous year, with a special emphasis & ranking of the top 100. The most recent talk show host list by Talkers came out
this past April.
Calling it a "sister list" to the annual "Talkers 250," this list focuses solely on sports talkers. Individuals, duos, teams, syndicated, satellite, and local were all considered, as long as they are currently working. The show's ratings and revenue were strong deciding factors on who made the list and where they were ranked. The voting was done by Talkers Magazine editors, along with some input from industry leaders.
New York's Mike Francesa, from WFAN-AM, was ranked at #1.
The highest ranking Chicago personalities on today's list were WSCR-AM/670 The Score's Boers & Bernstein. Afternoon sports talkers B&B came in at #16.
The next highest Chicago radio personalities on the list were the afternoon team of Carmen DeFalco, Harry Teinowitz, and John "Jurko" Jukovic from WMVP-AM/ESPN 1000. That team ranked at #23.
Also on the list was WSCR-AM's Dan McNeil and Matt Spiegel, who ranked at #43, and WMVP-AM's Tom Waddle and Marc Silverman, who ranked at #58. Both duos are heard in middays locally, competing against each other.
ESPN Radio syndicated talkers "Mike & Mike" ranked high on the list, coming in at #9. Mike Golic and former Chicago radio/TV personality Mike Greenberg are heard locally on WMVP-AM each weekday morning.
Shockingly omitted from the list was WSCR-AM's morning team of Mike Mulligan and Brian Hanley. Not only have Mully & Hanley been #1 in the primary sports talk demographic of Men 25-54 every month this year, but have an audience size bigger than any of the other Chicago hosts that indeed made the list. Their radio show's popularity dwarfs that of many of the other names from smaller markets that were included on the list, and even some of names on the list from large markets. The skipping over of The Score's morning team in favor of some others mentioned hurts the entire list.
The Talkers Magazine's "Hundred" lists often are controversial since many within the industry feel the lists tend to favor East Coast talk radio personalities (Talkers is headquartered outside of Boston), over others who may be more or equally qualified for inclusion on the lists, or if included, should have been ranked higher. This new sports talker list will be no exception to that type of controversy. However, controversy is a common side effect to any type of subjective ranking of popular arts/culture lists. Even Talkers Magazine has written in the past that they "acknowledge that it is as much art as science and that the results are arguable."
To see the entire list of the 2012 Talkers Heavy Hundred of Sports Talk, click on this link
HERE.
Multimedia 
