He’s been on the air for a few days now with 98.5thesportshub, but WBZ-FM sent out the official release this afternoon announcing his hiring:

ANDY GRESH TO JOIN 98.5 THE SPORTS HUB

GRESH WILL BROADCAST HIS OWN SHOW ON WEEKENDS AND SERVE AS FULL TIME SWING HOST

Boston—Notable sports broadcaster Andy Gresh will join the air staff at 98.5 The Sports Hub, WBZ-FM effective immediately.

Gresh will host his own program on weekends, broadcast on-air and online at www.985thesportshub.com, as well as serve as the full-time swing host for vacationing 98.5 air staff. Gresh currently co-hosts the New England Patriots pre and post game shows on the 98.5 The Sports Hub Patriots Radio Network.

This Saturday, Jan. 9, Gresh’s new program on 98.5 The Sports Hub will air from 4:00– 8:00pm, immediately following the Boston Bruins/New York Rangers game.

Gresh returns to the Boston area after hosting programs on satellite radio, and ESPN Radio. Prior to becoming a national host, Gresh was on-air at The Score in Providence. He also hosted programs on Comcast Sports Net New England, and was the color analyst for The ECAC Football Network.

“I am looking forward to contributing to the success that 98.5 has already achieved since its debut in August,” said Gresh. “I am just flat out looking forward to getting after it.”

“98.5 The Sports Hub is off to great start and to add a personality like Andy Gresh to our team is a victory for us and our listeners,” said Mike Thomas, 98.5 The Sports Hub Program Director. “Andy has been a big part of our Patriots coverage for years and it’s going to be great to have him on The Sports Hub beyond game day.”

Back in July I offered some Free Advice for WBZ-FM. Hiring Andy Gresh was not on the list.

But you know what? The latest ratings indicate that WBZ-FM is still gaining ground on WEEI. So maybe they know what they’re doing after all.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

31 thoughts on “Andy Gresh Officially Joins 98.5 as a “Swing Host””

  1. For all of the hope that everyone prayed for at the dawn of TSH; those hopes have been dashed beyond belief. The station is WEEI Lite.

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  2. at this point john dennis will take any ‘sphinctus constrictus’ he can get even if it means a sour ratings book.

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  3. He’s not terrible I guess. I’ve never heard him host a show by himself so maybe he’s better in that setting.

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  4. Gresh, Tanguay, and Zolak are awful together, individually, and in any combination. Gresh is the epitome of the over the top @&@%stirrer without a @(*^@$clue and his presence brings out the worst in the other two. Tanguay can’t fake laugh enough and Zolak thinks it’s wacky radio time and the bad jokes follow.

    Gresh asked such a @(*^@$, awful loaded question to Heyman that he should have been fired on the spot for being an obvious know-nothing @&@%-stirrer. That show will be awful come the end of the Celtics season when the hosts collectively don’t know enough about baseball to fill a thimble.

    Anything after 10:00 AM: 98.5 FAIL.

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  5. He was on the late “790 THE SCORE” show down here in Rhode Island for many years….nothing special, just your basic sports talk radio blowhard

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  6. Ouch, a classic case of “Ordway-ism, give your buddy a job even if he brings nothing to the table and is a complete nitwit (see LJ, DeAwlful, Burton, etc).

    Good news for Tanger, he’s no longer the biggest boob at the station.

    Bad news for the future of 98.5, if they are going to continue to overlook intelligent, capable hosts and guests. (see Eric Frede, Tom Curran, etc.)

    More bad news, the management at 98.5 has their heads up their butts as far as the ‘eei guys do.

    Any looking forward to ESPN coming back to town??

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      1. Frede might be a nice guy but he’s a total bore as a talk show host. Reminds me of Mike Mutantsky — all cliched talk radio, lots of blabbering about nothing in particular.

        Curran I like better, but his irritating voice doesn’t grate well for more than a few minutes on radio.

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    2. Frede and Curran also currently have commitments to EEI. How significant those commitments are might be open to conjecture.

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  7. Has any media venture which looked so promising ever failed to screw up an opportunity more than this outfit (98.5)? What a joke they’ve become so rapidly. I didn’t think it was possible to assemble a bigger collection of fools than WEEI, but they’ve done it. See ya…

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  8. They seem to be vacuuming every blowhard in town. Thanks for the retreads on the “new” sports radio station.

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      1. Well, I’ll say this for him, at least he can ask a legit question of someone, unlike The Meat, who still, after all these years, is uncomfortable, rambling and nervous during interviews. Maybe it’s a lack of preparation or talent, or both, but he doesn’t get better.

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  10. Gresh spends his time yelling on the Pats pre and post game shows. Why would it be any different on a morning/afternoon radio show?

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  11. Great, within three days, Gresh turned Tanguay and Zolak into The Big Show II with all of the yelling and interruptions. Good move by 98.5 though, Felger is such a media whore, he’ll be gone within a year and Gresh will move into his seat in afternoon drive time.

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  12. not surprised that Gresh was brought on board and ‘weei lite’ isn’t neccesarily a bad thing. that means theyr’e gonna be around awhile

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  13. The bottom line is that 98.5 is marketed as an intelligent alternative to WEEI. However, it seems as if station management is already ceding that positioning and admitting, “it really doesn’t matter who we have on the air; there are enough listeners in this market to make us profitable.”

    As far as Gresh: I don’t know him. I’ve never met him. He might be the nicest guy on the planet, but to me, he is virtually unlistenable on the radio. Whatever knowledge he may have is buried beneath his constant yelling. Unless he improves his delivery, this was a poor hire.

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    1. Not sure about that’s how 98.5 is truly marketed, Jon. When they run those spots about going under a bridge I think they just want to be known as the sports radio station with the clearer signal.

      That being said, can’t see how the addition of Gresh is a plus. Careerwise, it sure seems like he’s been moving slowly down the stairs the last few years. First he was a weekend guy at ESPN Radio, then worked for Mad Dog Russo on satellite radio, now he’s with a local affiliate.

      How come the SH couldn’t have given local boy Danny Picard a crack at a weekend slot?

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  14. This is only disappointing if you somehow thought that another sports radio station in this town was a good thing. WBCN wasn’t great towards the end, but I still don’t think the changeover was a great idea. DA is fine, T and R is fine, the weekend shows are okay (even the one with CHB) and I like them better than the competition. But I still think they shouldn’t have switched formats. WEEI has already debased that currency.

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    1. Amen, Felger is intolerable. He’s classic sports talk radio; all sizzle, no substance. Attitude means everything. You don’t need to know what you’re talking about, you just have to talk loud, beat your chest and sound as if you know what you’re talking about.
      When the Hall of Fame voting results were announced earlier this week, he decided it was time to rant about steroids for 10 – 15 minutes. He didn’t memtion Andre Dawson, or any of the players who didn’t earn induction aside from Mark McGwire. I’ve listened intermittently since then and still no nuts and bolts discussion of the merits of individual players, just yak about steroids.
      Terry Francona had this jerk pegged perfectly years ago.

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      1. I’ve had the opportunity of late to be in and out of my car fairly steadily throughout the 2:00-6:00 pm slot, and it’s amazing how many times when I turn on the radio that Felger is beating the same, contrived “storyline” topic to death using the exact same words. Talk about Groundhog Day. It can be at 2:15, 3:45, 4:30, 5:25 — whenever. I give it a good, solid 45 seconds of my time, then pop in a CD.

        I was hoping for an intelligent, sports discussion alternative to the azzclowns in the afternoon slot on ‘EEI, not be subjected to the same thing.

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        1. I remember when Felger first burst upon the scene back during the Pats’ 2001 Super Bowl run. What a breath of fresh air he was compared to Ron Borges, Lobel and the rest of the naysayers.

          Unfortunately, times have changed. His act is so over the top that I agree I can’t listen to him either. When Massarotti is the one trying to calm him down, you know you’re in trouble…he’s become a total buffoon as the years have passed.

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          1. Yup. Totally agree. There once was a time when Felger was Reiss before Reiss, if you follow my thought process. He was measured, restrained, objective, and stood out — in a positive and refreshing way — from the agenda-driven hackdom of Borges, Mannix, et al.

            Unfortunately, Metrosexual Mikey has flown too close to the “look at me, I’m a contrarian, sh*t-stirring douche bag” sun in the subsequent years and has now morphed into an amalgam consisting of the worst elements of Fraudway’s, Borges’, and Shank’s respective schtiks. Sad . . . and pathetic.

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  17. For me, this is actually good news. I used to listen to the Gary Williams morning show on Sirius, then they added Gresh as a cohost, so I stopped listening. Now I can put it back in my morning rotation.

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  18. If this were the Andy Gresh show on ESPN Radio it could be a decent show. Unfortunately, I believe it will be the same Andy Gresh that I listened to a couple of days ago and is co-host of Patriots Pre-game, which is blowhard radio at its finest. Zolak is at least tolerable.

    Speaking of which, I have kind of given up on sports radio on Boston. Mike Felger was unfortunately correct when asked if he would change his format compared to Ordway and he said,”If it ain’t broke why fix it?” I firmly believe we on this board are very much the minority when it comes to sports radio. I believe that the LCD probably outnumbers those who want decent sports talk by a 5:1 margin. How do D&C, Ordway, Tanguay, Felger and others still have jobs if it were not the case? How is Adams still far ahead of DA? Would it surprise anyone if Mustard and Johnson is beating Trupiano? I listen to only two shows locally, D&H and DA. It is reasonable well thought out radio without screaming or interrupting for the most part.

    Back to Felger, I have never seen anyone more hellbent on trying to prove a point with regards to Randy Moss and continually looking more and more foolish. Today it was Moss not practicing but being seen with ice on his knees. He actually said that Moss was attempting to set up an excuse in case he has 2 catch 17 yard day. I’m sure Belichick would actually allow that to occur(roll eyes). Felger has officially become the King of the Meatheads in Boston Media. Yes I believe he has surpassed Borges and Shaughnessy. He has made Ordway and Shepherd seem like Mensa candidates.

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    1. excellent points….bottomline is that alot of people DO listen to that sportstalk radio crap. I’ll never figure it out…..to each his own I guess. I find it neither entertaining or informative….just a big load of bullshit, but the masses seem to love it going by the ratings.

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    2. I listened to Gresh today and thank goodness it was more like Gresh on ESPN Radio. Good talk without the screaming. Even the callers were pretty good.

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