Sely Gallery: HOUSTON BEST SPORTS PERSONALITY

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

HOUSTON BEST SPORTS PERSONALITY

Written By: Lamont Mann
09-22-2010

WHO IS THE KING OF THE AIRWAVES?

HMW thrives on competition. Our very nature is one of competitiveness. During "March Madness", we placed all local hosts in brackets to determine the best show. When the NFL Draft occurred, we decided to draft personalities to form our own station. Of course during MLB's opening day we also wanted to show our opening day line-ups. All of those were preliminary ideas to get us to this point: "The King of The Airwaves".

Over the last month and a half, we have been running a poll for "Best Sports Personality". The poll had three rounds with the top two personalities advancing to the proceeding round. The weight of the poll was 20%.

After the data was collected we had "Houston Personalities" vote on the remaining six candidates. The media was not allowed to vote for themselves or someone from their station. The weight of the media was 20%

The last element of the contest was the vote of HMW. Collectively HMW's weight was 60%. Yeah, we can do that.

The Six Final Candidates were:

ND Kalu (610AM)

Kalu arrived on the scene like "THE BLACK MAMBA". Dude is quick to tell you if he lacks knowledge of a particular subject, but he will promise you he will try to learn. Cool personality and know the dynamics of Houston to a degree. Kalu will always give a caller a fair chance to voice their opinion both positive or negative (he is not Marc, Robert nor Matt Jackson with quick dump). Then its pretty freaking cool that he's an ex NFL player.

Matt Thomas (790AM)

Matt has came on the scene and slowly became a voice to be reckoned with in a very tough time slot. He is whitty, funny, and full of vast amounts of knowledge and 80s music. Matt is quickly becoming one of my favorite shows because he's not an asshole unless he has to be. It seems like every time I say this about a host they become an even stankier A-Hole. He will jump on edge when you appear to be calling him out but ultimately he's a Houston faithful and he comes back to form.

John Granato (1560AM)

John is the man. I can remember him doing sideline reporting for the Texans and he was much better than what we have now. John and Lance did something not considered smart by many by leaving the "king of the hill" (SR 610) to start a new venture and that simply required "balls". John is not a native Houstonian, he's from Chicago, but he's been here long enough that his ass is adapted. I can remember one time when I was in Chicago on business during the Super Bowl year of the Bears; the Bears were making their run and I called back to H-Town to speak to John and Lance and he schooled me on some places to go. With the cup cake style of SR610, 1560AM and 790Am have been popular landing zones for my ears.

Ralph Cooper (1430AM)

Ralph is my dude when I can speak with him. Ralph serves as a point guard, he sets you up. So damn objective. You are not going to hear the "run of the mill" national trendy stories with Ralph; you will hear about track, shot put, football, High School, politics. Ralph goes all over the board. He is not a personality that will pull up ESPN, YAHOO, FOX SPORTS, or even log on to his personal networking application (LinkeDIn) to see what the scoop is. I like Ralph because we have similar backgrounds, and when I say similar I mean he went to my damn high school, EVAN E WORTHING at 9215 Scott (Mike Singletary). He keeps it real as you can be on air in 2010. He is not treating you like cattle boarding Southwest Airlines, he makes it personal when you call by soliciting your comment. Ralph is cool.

Lance Zierlein (1560AM)

Z Report, sports face of Houston, cool ass white boy, need I say more? Lance is cool because Lance will get in that ass if you get out of line. Lance knows his football, he ain't one of these cats playing with it, he can get down and tell you what packages a team is running and why this or that defense is better suited for the talent on the field. Like Ralph, I feel as if I know Lance to a certain degree because I know someone that went to Lamar Consolidated with him down in Rosenberg. She speaks of Lance with great respect, but anything that comes out of Richmond or Rosenburg is going to be supported ie Rodgers brothers and their uncle that play in the NFL. It don't get more gutta than Rosenberg. All jokes aside, Lance is cool with my dude Craig and I know Craig don't put a lot of stock into someone that's phony. I heard Lance can cook, I may have to show the youngen a little something.

AJ Hoffman (97.5FM)

To be honest, I don't do AJ radio because I don't know him, but the way he showed his entire ass in the poll I best start listening. AJ came out of nowhere and completely turned HMW upside down. This cat is going places and I couldn't help but notice the Longhorn attire, so I know he's solid. He's a newbie for me and if he continues to clown the way he's doing then maybe KILT will nab him. I mean he's young and cost effective.

Throughout this process there were some things that stood out. Dylan Gwinn and Josh Innes

I was very surprised with the turnaround of Adam Wexler. For those that don't know, Adam was regarded as an arrogant prick on 610AM, but since the move and re-paired with Matt Jackson, it appears that Adam is becoming a solid listen.

John Lopez did well, but his cavalier freak boy nature was not strong enough. Charlie Pallillo is thought of as one of the best in the business, but his show style is an acquired taste.

It's really strange how all of the major movers and shakers are out of the belly of 610AM. Most of them had some kind of affiliation with CBS in one way or another and they have moved on, which will be an article to come.

The final thing I noticed, there was a strong following for people with strong Houston ties. I am not saying you have to be from Houston to make an impact (just ask the Madd Hatta from the BOXX), but when it comes to sports I honestly feel you need to know the dynamics of Houston before you go on air talking about Westheimer, Richmond, and 610, as if those are the streets that define this LOVELY BEAST.

WHO IS THE KING?

The two finalist were Ralph Cooper 1430 AM and Lance Zierlein 1560 AM. It came down to the very bone. Your 2010 King of The Airwaves is no other than Ralph "The Godfather" Cooper. Ralph has been doing unorthodox things in radio. This dude had an All Black Day, he allowed anyone to come to the studio and say something on the air. Don't let the title fool you because Ralph would have let a one legged Asian speak if they would have showed up. The Panel? Need I say more. When you are listening to the Panel on Wednesdays, it's typically two emotions: Mad or Pissed Off. Five personalities on air talking sports and social issues? You know it's about to get ignant insane. The one reason I am happy that Ralph won is because he don't appear apart of the radio CLIQUE. Over the last 6 or 7 months I have noticed these pics of radio personalities and the one thing that stood out is, all of these personalities from the stations are cool with each other. I have yet to see a picture of Ralph with any of these guys. If there is one out there please produce it for me. This does not mean for you guys to go beat don't the doors at KCOH requesting a photo op.