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 DAVE SMITH...he's the tops on L.A. sports radio scene! |
Smith ranks as kingpin
of L.A. sports radio
of TheColumnists.com
L. A. is back.
Back in the NBA Finals, where the Lakers will beat Boston to cap my prediction here last November.
Back in the baseball pennant hunt, with the Angels ready to usurp another Boston team.
Back in the radio arena, with Dave Smith sounding off and turning on the city.
That’s Mr. L.A., the tag Smith earned from one of his guests last week, L.A. Times columnist Bill Plaschke.
Smith was fresh off one of the bull’s-eye calls of all time. Hours before the Lakers’ Game 5 against San Antonio, the self-professed Sports God spoke: L.A. would fall behind by double digits in the first half, catch up and breeze.
The Lakers followed his script and punched their ticket to the Finals.
Now Smith was telling Plaschke the Lakers would handled the Celtics in six games. I say seven, but all that matters is L.A. will rule hoops--the way Smith rules the airwaves.
About time. The country’s No. 2 market used to vibrate with smooth sports radio--from Chick Hearn, Tony Bruno and Smith. The first died in 2002, the second vanished along with Sporting News’ L.A. station last year, and Smith went MIA.
Without them, L.A. radio had Vin Scully and no one else on his Hall of Fame level. The morning shows offered a dreadful mix of East Coast feeds and T.J. Simers, a funny writer but too boring to last on the air.
Three month ago Smith resurfaced. His flagship is 830 KLAA, a station the Angels own. Sometimes he strikes out as a mouthpiece for the team, but mostly the Sports God swings a mean shtick.
He still slaps wimps with Man Card Violations. Anyone who went to the “Sex and the City” movie got one.
He still goes old school over hot chicks
like Angelina Jolie: “Without her rack and lips, no one
would listen to her.”
He still jars listeners with the truth: “Michelle Obama
looks like Aunt Esther on ‘Sanford & Son,’ only
30 years younger.”
And Smith has to put up with his morning sidekick, Roger Lodge,
who tries to dull the edge. No wonder Smith calls the “Blind
Date” TV host a Hollywood pretty boy.
Good thing Smith goes solo on his afternoon show “The Drive.”
No one’s there to brake his race against girlymen pitchers
who don’t complete games, and pantywaists who can’t
stomach mixed martial arts.
With his morning and afternoon shows, Smith hardly stops. Which
explains why he lives in a hotel room. But he does slow down.
He’s not calling the Lakers’ general manager Mitch
Kupcake anymore in light of Kupchak’s brilliance
this season. And I haven’t heard him go on his Sissy Vujacic
riff these days.
I hope the rest of L.A. radio follows the Sports God’s lead.
Right now here’s how the talent lines up:
On: Vic the Brick. Vic Jacobs in real life. Real? By the time he’s through with his “Feelin’ you” and Eastern meditation smoke, he sounds like haze. Really, fun stuff. Wish he had his own show. As it is, you can barely hear him amid the three-man screaming on 570 KLAC’s “Loose Cannons.”
Off:
Petros Papadakis. It’s his delivery. Good ideas, only via
a perpetual scream.
On:
Money. He’s Papadakis’ partner. Thus the “PMS”--Petros
& Money Show--title on KLAC. The guy whose real name is Matt
Smith also does Laker post-game shows. That’s where he really
scores.
Off:
John Ireland. Kudos for his push to rehire Phil Jackson three
years ago, but he and sidekick Steve Mason have little spark
on the air. Dave Denholm and Lee Hamilton, with their quick deliveries,
would fit better on ESPN radio.
On:
Joe McDonnell. He can serve pabulum like “I’m backing
John Edwards because he likes poor people.” Still, he’s
rich with sports tidbits on KLAC. A regular Joe. And looks like
one, with his monstrous gut. He also has a backbone, especially
the way he backed young Dodgers--Matt Kemp, James Loney--as they
stood up to dreary Jeff Kent during last year’s rebellion.
Off:
Dave Dameshek. This ESPN voice doesn’t have the last word
in the afternoon. The other Dave does--Smith.
On: Lee
Klein. The man has voice, style and top bumper music. Too bad
he’s buried on KLAC Sundays.
Off:
L.A. Times. OK, so this isn’t radio. But it is part
of the media. And with two of its sports features, it goes down
looking. Morning Briefing needs a wakeup call, something biting
and clever along the lines of Tom FitzGerald’s hilarious
old bullets in the San Francisco Chronicle. And the Times’
sports TV roundup needs to make you read it, the way Phil Mushnick
does for the New York Post.
On:
John Woolard. He’s a veteran L.A. reporter who lends his
voice to SportsByline.com’s “Sports Overnight America.”
He’s funny and cynical. You should’ve heard him snicker
when I told him right after the season tipped off to look out
for the Lakers. When they prove me right, he better get me back
on the air.
©2008 by Bucky Fox. This column first posted June 9, 2008.
You can visit Bucky Fox's
website at www.BuckyFox.com
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can comment on this column online. Please address your message
to either "The Editors" or Bucky Fox. To send an email,
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