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Sports on the Air: Riter lands a start-up on WECK
By Alan Pergament
04/12/08 10:07 AM
While surveying the AM radio dial the other night, I ran into a familiar voice talking about an elderly nun. It was none other than Brad Riter, who was fired from his WGR sports talk show about seven months ago.
No, he hasn’t joined a religious station. He is the host of his own nightly talk show on the new WECK, 1230 AM, which is billing itself as “Beefy News, & Salty Talk.”
His discussion about the nun — who founded a cable TV network — indicated that Riter can talk about anything he wants.
“I’m not being pushed as the sports guy, but I’m perceived as a sports guy,” he said. “I’m not being pigeon-holed, which is really cool.”
He’s been on WECK for more than a month, competing with his former WGR teammates Mike Schopp and Chris Parker for an hour starting at 6 p.m. and his replacement, Dennis Williams, from 7 to 9.
Perhaps “competing” is too strong a word. Riter has no producer. It means he doesn’t take many telephone calls because he doesn’t usually know if the phone is ringing. And when he is searching for a hockey playoff score, he’ll comically turn on some music to avoid silence.
He usually plans to talk for three straight hours, though occasionally an old friend such as ex-Bill Ruben Brown or NFL expert Mike Florio will join him. The station also has an agreement with Channel 2, which means sports staffers Ed Kilgore and Adam Benigni visit.
“We did by choice a soft launch,” Riter said. That meant people had to stumble upon his show before the station started promotion itself.
Riter, who also co-hosts a weekly Time Warner sports show, “The Main Event,” with former WGR host Bob Gaughan, learned one lesson from his WGR experience.
“I learned I like having a lot more control than I had there under the system,” said Riter. “I was told (at WECK), ‘Do the show you wanted at WGR . . .We like what you do.’ ”
He has only complimentary things to say about his former on-air teammates at WGR, but isn’t as kind to station management.
“I didn’t have adequate respect for the people I was working for,” said Riter.
He knows it will take time for the new WECK to gain enough respect so he can successfully compete with his talk show buddies at WGR.
“Right now we feel like we’re doing our thing,” said Riter. “Once we’re established and get a couple of more people working on the show then, yes, we’ll absolutely be competing in a friendly way.”
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