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Introduction

A Brief History Of Sports Talk Radio

All About Rome

The Importance Of Being Jim Rome

The Long History Of Sports Talk Radio In Madison

How Madison Won A Tour Stop

Now The Real Work Begins: The Setup

The Big Day: Anatomy Of A Jim Rome Tour Stop

To The Winner Goes The Spoils

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Once upon a time, in the enchanted Kingdom of San Diego, where the weather is always perfect, there was a sports talk radio host named Lee Hamilton, but every called him Hacksaw. Hacksaw was happy. Hacksaw was happy because he ruled the Kingdom of San Diego. Or at least he was happy until his radio station hired some brash, young punk named Jim Rome. The kid knew it all. The kid was obnoxious. The kid's radio show was an undignified freak show. Worst of all, the kid would imitate Hacksaw's signature throaty, growly lion's roar—on the air! Hacksaw was aghast, but still he took it in stride. The punk was just a pint-sized puppy nipping at his heels, and Hacksaw was still the big dog.

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Sorry for the puffery, but there's a major point here. To understand and appreciate Jim Rome, one needs to understand Hacksaw. Rome revolutionized sports talk radio, and Hacksaw represents the point of departure from where Rome's revolution begins. Hacksaw was the old way of doing sports talk radio. Rome's way is the new way.

When I secured press credentials for the Madison Tour Stop, I was told I could attend his post Tour Stop press conference. I thought long and hard about what to ask Rome, if I could ask him one question.

I decided to ask him about Hacksaw, and at the press conference, I got my opportunity. Specifically, I asked how Hacksaw influenced him, how Hacksaw provided an example of how to do a sports talk radio show, or how not to do a sports talk radio show.

"Never heard of him," Rome quipped in reply.

Rome paused for a moment then continued. "For those of you who don't know," Rome said, "Hacksaw is this guy who is a drive-time talk show host in San Diego. Hacksaw was one of those legends of the business. He didn't really have a tremendous impact on me. I always respected him. I respected the show he did, but I kind of had an idea of how I wanted to do a show. It was going to be a lot different from his show.

"The thing I got from that guy that I kind of already had was that he worked hard, had a strong work ethic, was very meticulous.

"I didn't revolutionize anything. I think the one thing I can do, the reason I came here in Madison, Wisconsin, where ten thousand people can show up and hear what I have to say, I decided long ago, that if I had any chance in the business, the show had to be different. A lot of sports talk you hear on the radio right now sounds pretty much the same. It's homogenized. It sounds very similar.

"You can go market to market, show to show and hear the shows and they all sound pretty similar. I figured if I was going to have any chance at all, the show had to be different. So I don't think I revolutionized anything, but I think I can sit here confidently and say it's a different show and I'm a different host."

Rome's response was certainly diplomatic. Perhaps to better understand Hacksaw, here's a comment that Matt Vasgersian made during a 2000 interview I did with him while he was still the television voice of the Milwaukee Brewers. Vasgersian now does broadcasts for the San Diego Padres. Vasgersian grew up in San Diego. I asked him about sports talk radio and he brought up Hacksaw.

"There's a guy in San Diego that's not syndicated that Rome was real competitive with," Vasgersian remembered. "Hacksaw will take himself so seriously to the point that it makes all of sports talk radio a farce.

"Hacksaw will come on at fifteen past the hour and do this sponsored event where, (and Vasgersian then did his own imitation of the Hacksaw growl) 'Let's check the sports ticker with big news out of New England where third string IR Joshua Hamilton has been put on the IR.' Bullshit like that. 'We're talking sports tonight.' Yeah, thanks a lot."

This isn't Jim Rome. Rome is confident, without being overbearing, acerbic, without being bombastic. What's more, if Hacksaw is polka, Rome is rock and roll. Rome took a radio format that at times was a bit stuffy and made it hip. More importantly, he made it youthful, which is of critical importance to the genre. If sports talk radio was to survive, it needed to keep its age 20-45 demographic, and to so that, one needed to appeal to the younger half of the demographic.

Of course, there have surely been countless would-be Jim Romes out there who did not succeed, who may have had similar ideas of how to change sports talk radio, but never broke out of their local markets and eventually faded into obscurity.

The study of history teaches us about the inevitability of history. Jim Rome was destined to succeed and for various reasons. He had talent, for sure, but also he had that certain indefinable intangible, that special "IT." More importantly, however, Rome had drive which meant he was willing to put in the hard work, but also that he was willing to bend and break the rules. This is the difference between a star and someone who eventually ends up selling insurance.

"I went to school at University of California-Santa Barbara," Rome recalled. "I worked in that market and like everybody else, tried to bust out, tried to get to a bigger market and fired off tapes and resumes, banged the phones, had doors slammed shut in my face. 'We don't know who you are. We don't really care. Go home. Leave us alone, loser.'

"I always knew I wanted to work at this one radio station, six-ninety AM in San Diego (Hacksaw's station) and it was a fifty-thousand watt blowtorch. When I worked in Santa Barbara, I could hear the station from San Diego. That was how big it was, so I remember when I got a try out there, I went to my boss in Santa Barbara, I said, 'I'm going to take a week of vacation to go try out with this station.'

"The guy says, 'no, you're not. You're fired if you go.'

"There's a station I wanted to work at for my whole life, so I'm faced with a dilemma. I don't have any money in the bank. He tells me I'm fired if I take a week off, so I'm really sweating it. So I ended up going down there anyway. And they were on the air in Santa Barbara, saying, 'Jim Rome is on assignment.' People were calling in saying, 'no he's not. He's down in San Diego, trying out for the radio station.'"

As they say, and the rest is history. Rome stayed on with 690 AM in San Diego, but he was far from an overnight success, though his success began while working overnights.

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Rome grew up in on the far reaches of Los Angeles. In an interview with The Los Angeles in 1994, he recalled his childhood. He loved sports, but had no desire to be a jock and probably knew that was not in the cards anyway.

"My old man used to tell me," Rome said, "'why don't you go outside and do something? Play ball, tennis.' And I'd be like, 'but, Dad, there's six football games on TV today.'"

Rome graduated from Calabasas High School in 1982. A former classmate remembered him and related the following account in The Los Angeles:

"Romey was a joke in high school. Everybody knew who he was. He was a smart-ass even back then. Knew everything about sports. But he wasn't very athletic. He always struck me as having a little bit of a Napoleon complex."

Rome's radio career began as a student at UC-Santa Barbara. He worked at the campus radio station and also got a job at local radio station KTMS. He covered local games. He worked any gig that was available to him.

"I'd walk around campus in this fog from working three or four straight shifts," he told The Los Angeles. "In college, if you're willing to work for free, you can get as much work as you want. Whoever wants to give up their Saturday night is on the air. What fucking lunatic's gonna give up his Saturday night in Santa Barbara?

"In college, I realized I needed something to distinguish me. I'm not an exceptionally-looking guy. I don't have a very good voice. I'm not a pro jock. I thought, the only thing that's gonna be different about me is I'd have more balls than anybody else."

Rome had balls and that's why he risked his job at KTMS, where he worked full-time after earning his Communications degree in 1987, to try out at XTRA 690 in San Diego. The tryout went well, and Rome was hired as a roving reporter in November, 1990.

Rome occasionally was able to do fill-in work, did overnights, did whatever he could, whenever he could. In 1991, while filling in on weekends, doing what he now refers to as "The Scrub Saturday Show," Rome discovered a "his flair for audacity," as The Los Angeles said. His audience was receptive, especially when he launched a feature called the "Top 10 Blockheads of the Week."

Station management liked his approach as well, or at least some members of the management team did. Finally, in July, 1992, Rome was given his own show which ran 11-3 PM, Monday-Friday.

"I got a lot of resistance to giving him a daily show," XTRA Program Director Howard Freedman told The Los Angeles. "My boss didn't like him. People pretty much thought he was a smart-alec punk."

In fact, the vice president of XTRA's parent company disliked him so much that when his named popped up during a meeting, she said he should be fired because of remarks Rome had made about Fernando Valenzuela.

The vice president's name was Janet and she would eventually warm up to Rome. Janet, of course, is well known to Rome fans. She's his wife and the partner of his labors.

Like Janet, XTRA's listeners were soon captivated with Rome as well. He was acid-tongued. He was smart. He was funny. He took the job seriously, but he didn't necessarily take himself too seriously, and perhaps that was the key to how, once he'd gotten a show, Rome became what The Los Angeles called "A cult hero."

He was brash, to be sure, but in a way the listeners found endearing because he would say what they all wanted to say. When he would interview athletes, he would ask what his listeners wanted to ask.

There was always a simpatico feeling between Rome and his listeners. Rome often says he's no better than his listeners, and he seems to mean it.

"I think one of the reasons the show works is because I am one of them," Rome said at the press conference following the Madison Tour Stop. "I think I created a show where we can have an exchange of ideas and opinions, but I am one of them and I think they recognize that I'm one of them. I'm not any better than them and I know that. I think the only difference between me and them is that I have a radio show and somebody pays me to express my opinions.

"The term 'clone' (Rome fan) is both slightly derisive, but at the same time it's a term of affection. They're my people. These are my people. I would not have a show, nor a career, nor a Tour Stop without my listeners. I'm nothing without these people, but at the same time, if I don't keep them in check, who will?"

Rome, however, did more than cultivate this simpatico feeling; he made his callers into stars by urging them to come with their "takes," to perform, to "have a take and don't suck," to bring their "Smack," i.e. strong and strongly expressed opinion. He was as Sports Illustrated called him, "a ruthless taskmaster who harangues and abuses them, who forces them to stretch, to be all they can be."

Good callers are rewarded by being allowed to finish their phone call and perhaps having Rome say, "Rack him!" at the end of the call, meaning that the engineer should save the tape for consideration for the "Huge Call," of the day which gets played back at the end of the show. Frequent callers who win multiple "Huge Calls" may be invited to the annual "Smack Off" where the best callers, past and present, compete for the title "King of Smack."

Bad callers get "run," accompanied by the sound of a basketball buzzer (the Fabulous Sports Babe did something similar, except she used a burning fuse and exploding bomb.).

Thus, the first "Jungle Legends" were born. Callers like the Mayor of Poway, Silk, Irie Craig, the DiTolla brothers, Trapper and several others were a cut far above anybody who ever called a sports talk radio show. Some of these guys still call the show on a fairly regular basis, even a dozen years later.

It was 1993 and the timing appeared perfect for Rome to jump onto the national scene. Following the success of WFAN in New York, the nation's first all-sports radio station, stations across the country adopted the format. To feed increasing demand, national sports radio networks were born. First came the Sports Entertainment Network in 1991. On January 1, 1992, ESPN Radio hit the airwaves. In September of 1993, One On One purchased the Sports Entertainment Network and renamed it the One On One Sports Radio Network.

ESPN launched a new television station, ESPN2. They needed programming and they needed someone who would get attention. They needed Rome and they hired him in October, 1993.

However, ESPN proved to have gotten more than they bargained for. In 1994 came what is simply known as "The Incident." Rome had been interviewing Rams quarterback Jim Everett, who had been getting a lot of heat for his lack of toughness. Rome had gotten into the act by calling Everett "Chris" and Everett was just about at the breaking point.

"You've been calling me that for the last five years," Everett said during the interview.

"Two years actually, Chris," Rome interrupted.

"We're sitting here right now and if you want to take a station break, you can, but if you call me 'Chris Everett' to my face one more time—"

"I already did it twice."

"If you call me that one more time, you better take a station break."

With a smirk, Rome said, "Chris," and it was on. Everett knocked over the table that separated he and Rome and knocked Rome to the floor. Cameramen separated them before Everett started pummeling Rome.

Rome was instantly pilloried from coast to coast by everyone from Mike Lupica to Paul Moyer to Katie Couric who said he should be fired.

"I had to do it," Rome told The Los Angeles. "I didn't have to push it though. That I regret, but I gotta be a man about it.

"Everybody in America, Katie Couric, Paul Moyer, every columnist, couldn't wait to bury me. The problem was, the rest of America didn't know anything about me. Southern California knew exactly what happened. And I think it was the people who didn't like me who said, 'Good, he deserved it. Good, we'll be rid of him. Now he'll go away.'"

There is the old saying that all publicity is good publicity. A few months later, Rome renewed his radio and his television contracts for another year. Still, "The Incident" haunted him and probably always will, at least for the single reason that it's the one thing he's always asked when he gets interviewed.

It is often speculated that the altercation with Everett was staged, was just a publicity stunt to benefit Rome and the quarterback. No one knows if that is really true, but it is clear that Rome regrets what happened. On the few occasions he has talked about it on his radio show, for instance during an interview with Al Michaels, a friend who stood up for him after "The Incident," Rome has expressed a great deal of remorse.

In a 1999 interview with Sport, he revealed that he had taped an article from the Los Angeles Times to his bathroom mirror. The article speculated that this might spell the end of his career. He left the article on his bathroom mirror for about a year until it was clear that he survived the incident, then he and then-girlfriend Janet, who he's now married to, gave the clipping a ceremonial burning in the sink.

Still, his television show on ESPN2 would come to an end. Also, ESPN Radio introduced its first caller driven show a few months after "The Incident." One would have thought the network was grooming Rome for this role. He would have been a natural, but that was not to be (and I'm only guessing if that was an actual possibility). Instead, Nanci Donnellan, AKA "The Fabulous Sports Babe," got that gig.

Rome kept working hard and hard work has always been a hallmark of his career. That means, as he's said, "For every hour I'm on, I prepare for two hours. I'm up early, browsing the Internet, making phone calls, doing my beat checks with agents, players and coaches. When I started at XTRA, my show went on at seven PM, but I'd get to the office at noon after working at home for a couple of hours. Who shows up seven hours before airtime? But I respect the responsibility I have.

"I wanted to make it in the business. I kind of promised myself early on that I was never going to quit until I got there. I think that's the only between me and my listeners. I firmly believe this. If I could (be successful), so could they, if they were willing to pay the price."

Success might be delayed, but it would come. In 1996, Rome signed up with Premier Radio, the same company that syndicates Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura and what seems like every other major national radio personality.

And the Jungle grew, gradually at first, exponentially eventually. From just a handful of affiliates at first, Jim Rome is heard on nearly 200 stations nationwide and in Canada. According to the radio trade magazine Talkers, Rome's ratings put him in the top 10 of all talk radio hosts. He's heard by over two million listeners every day. Additionally, Rome is a perennial member of Talkers' annual "Heavy Hundred" list of most influential talk radio hosts.

And the legend grew as well. New callers from all over the country grew to be giants and then Jungle Legends. Rome cultivated a friendlier interview style. He could still ask the tough question, but he developed a knack for making his guests feel comfortable, like they were just rapping. The results were sometimes amazing. Mark Grace spilled the beans over the baseball tradition of "slumpbusters." Golfer Steve Elkington commented about Monty's "sweaty undies."

Ever since day one of national syndication, Rome has done his Tour Stops, usually four a year in cities all over the country. The atmosphere is like a rock concert. The scene is half Grateful Dead concert, half Star Trek convention. Rome fans gather from all over the country to attend one of these events, which are unique. One may compare a Tour Stop to one thing or another thing or another thing, but there really is nothing like it, and there is no one working in sports media, or any kind of information media that can attract upwards to 18,000 to an arena for a personal appearance.

The Tour Stops started as relatively small events. One of the earliest ones, in Green Bay, was held in a banquet hall. Some were held in bars. Now it's arenas with top flight production and lots of corporate sponsorships.

Those who don't get it would call it an oddity. They might say it's the circus coming to town. Those who do get it might say it's a bona fide pop culture phenomenon.

Judging by comments Rome made at the press conference after the Madison Tour Stop, one might get the impression that he's as bewildered by the magnitude of the Tour Stops as anyone.

"If you were to say to me, ten thousand people came today to see radioman?" Rome said. "Why? It's free. There's beer.

"It was never my plan. I never thought to myself when I started, 'you know what I'm going to do, I'm going to be this guy who will show up at arenas and interview a few athletes and talk a little junk and maybe crack on bowling and maybe ten thousand people will show up. It was never my plan. I never envisioned it going that way.

"When I started in local radio, like in this market and every other market, they take their talk show host and they send him out to restaurants and they have him do a show and sell it to the sponsor and that's how they generate traffic for the sponsors. It's good for everybody.

"We started doing them, but luckily at the time, the show was different. People started to take to it and pretty soon when there were ten people at the bar, there were fifty people at the bar and when there were fifty people at the bar, there were a hundred and then five hundred and as the show got national, there was a bigger pool of people to pull from. More listeners and then we could come to an area like this and pull surrounding communities, so in terms of there not being anything like it, I guess not, probably not and I get a charge out of doing this. I love doing it. I love to go to the different markets. I love to do the show and I get a kick out of it. This was never my plan. I never saw it going this way."

As the Tour Stops progressed, so did Rome's stature. I got another television show. In 1998, Rome launched "The Last Word" on Fox Sports Net, but the grind of doing television and radio would wear on him. In 2002, Rome announced that he would be choosing between the two mediums. Much to the relief of his radio audience, Rome chose The Jungle and "The Last Word" was discontinued.

2003, in some ways may have been Rome's biggest year. He'd already climbed to the top of the heap and it's really hard to say if Rome can get any bigger or much bigger than he is now, but in 2003, Rome added a few remaining trophies to what is a pretty crowded mantle. Still, these were elusive trophies that represented a certain amount of vindication.

After years of failure, Rome finally managed to get picked up by affiliates in New York and Chicago. This was a big feather in his cap and not just because those are two of the largest media markets in the country. New York and Chicago are both huge sports towns and both are longtime players in the game of sports talk radio. Sports talk stations in both cities have traditionally used only local talent. It was a big coup for Rome to break through to these markets where syndicated programming is a big no no. As the old joke goes, Chicago is so geocentric, World War III could be declared and the top story in the Trib would be about garbage collectors going out on strike.

Also, in 2003, Rome returned to television. This would be significant enough except his new show, "Rome Is Burning" is broadcast on ESPN, not ESPN2, but the mother ship. Despite nearly a decade of what one could call exile, despite the fact that Rome competes with ESPN Radio every day, the network wanted him, it wanted his show and it even wanted the Clones.

I guess it's time for somebody to make a movie because now they've got the Hollywood ending.