Short Run Deserved More Air Time

Still, classy Carol was gracious to the bitter end. After the firing meeting had ended on Friday, she went up and hugged Hess and thanked him for the opportunity.

"Feldy said to me afterward 'you can't hug someone when they just fired you,'" she said.

But Feldman also took the verbal high road.

"We were suprised by the decision. Carol and I liked doing it, we really enjoyed it," he said. "The feedback from management had been very positive. It's one of those things where they make the decision and there's no point crying over it. They can do what they want. The only positive is at least now I can sleep in."

Ironically, both Feldman and Maloney initially had some reservations about doing the show. Feldman has a full load of writing, reporting and anchoring for his sportscasts and other shows on Channel 5, and was always used to a more nocturnal schedule after going off the air at 11 p.m.

Maloney has pre-school children at home as well as her duties for Comcast, clearly more than a full-time job as well. They both were not certain how long they could keep the show going given the frenetic pace of their pre-radio days, but both also found as the weeks and months passed they were able to find a pace and rhythm in their personal and professional lives to make it work.

And more often than not, it did work.

A few weeks ago, I showed up five minutes late for an interview simply because I didn't want to get out of the car while Feldman was speaking with Jim Harbaugh, the Stanford football coach whose team had just upset No. 1 Southern Cal a few days earlier. Harbaugh also was Feldman's high school basketball teammate (guess who scored more points), and this clearly was a delightful non-coachspeak performance, two old pals yakking, with Maloney also contributing to a lively discussion.

The definition of compelling radio: any time you take a few extra loops around the block or park in the driveway and don't get out, the better to stay tuned before the next commercial break. I'll often do that with NPR or the Tony Kornheiser Show (get back where you belong, Mr. Tony, and soon!!). And Feldman and Maloney showed more than occasional flashes of similar brilliance.

Hess, the program director, insisted the only reason they're now off the air is because the station had a chance to air the Patrick show. Price may have been a factor, because syndicated programming usually comes cheaper than paying your own. A little nepotism never hurts either. Patrick's brother, Dave Pugh (yes, Dan Patrick changed his name for obvious reasons), also happens to be the programming man for all the ClearChannel stations.

Hess, of course, was the very same programming director who ballyhooed WTEM's reliance on all locally-based sports talk programming when the station revamped its lineup last spring, a direct shot at Dan Snyder's mostly syndicated Red Zebra operation. This week, Hess simply parroted the company line on the change.

"The opportunity to put Dan on the air in a prime slot made a lot of sense," he said. "We've still got them (Feldman and Maloney) on the team. They're going to continue doing Sports Reporters and will be our primary fill-ins as anchors. These decisions are always difficult. Dave and Carol were doing a great job. This in no way was related to the job they were doing for the station."