98.5 The Sportshub made it official this afternoon, announcing the latest worst-kept secret in Boston sports media, that Andy Gresh is being replaced on the midday show by Marc Bertrand.

Gresh will be staying on at 98.5, in “a variety of roles.”

Bertrand will also take over co-host duties of Patriots pre and post game programming.

From the release:

“I’m beyond thrilled to be moving to middays to work with Scott Zolak,” said Bertrand. “Being able to say I’ve been at The Sports Hub since day one is an incredibly proud moment for me. As someone who was born and raised in Boston, I know it is the best sports town in America with the very best fans. The loyalty of our listeners has driven the success of our station, and I can’t wait to interact with them on a daily basis.”

 

 

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

28 thoughts on “New Marc Bertrand/Scott Zolak Show Starts Tuesday”

  2. One of the more baffling decisions in recent memory around here IMO. Gresh basically saw Bertrand take his job outright…and what exactly does he bring to the table? Will be odd to hear Zolak work opposite him, seeing that Gresh and Zo have been together for years and had the best football talk in town. Now they’ve even taken THAT away from us!

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    1. Gresh to me seems like blowhard that can rub people the wrong way. I am sure he takes that personality trait with him negotiating his contract. It basically came down to the station promoting Bertrand or losing him to WEEI. Probably saved a little money in doing so as well. Gresh is at least 10 years older than him. I have heard Rich Keefe will be Bertrand’s replacement. He is a funny guy and should bring a good element to F & M.

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      1. Finn reported Keefe isn’t moving to Felger and Mazz. As far as the “losing Bertrand to WEEI” bit goes — what does it say about this market that the two stations were vying for his services? I have nothing personal against Bertrand but he’s far from a compelling “I have to tune in to get his take” personality. It’ll be interesting to hear how Zolak works with him and if he’s pissed off at all.

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        1. I think it is more believable than WEEI over commuting to Lou Merloni because they thought he would jump ship.

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      2. Keefe’s rumored move to F+M was the only thing short of Mazz’s firing that could get me to tune back in. So much for that.

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        1. I like Keefe, I bet the Sports Hub is keeping him on at night because without him Adam Jones would be totally unlistenable.

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          1. I like him, too. If that’s their thinking, it’s a shame that they’d hold back his career in order to prop up a bad host in the low-rung time slot.

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    2. Baffling, to me, in two ways:

      1. Ratings wise. Why fix it if it ain’t broken? In fact, 98.5 should be thrilled with the G&Z numbers considering it’s a midday (aka dead zone) show.

      2. If the station is willing to shake up a show that is rated 2nd overall in its time slot and 2 points ahead of the WEEI show in direct competition, then why not get rid of the useless turd Massarotti?

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  3. I hated Gresh when he first came to 98.5 (actually before that). He was an idiot blowhard at that point. Over time, he became far better and a solid broadcaster.

    Betrand is already more polished and better than Gresh was five years ago. I like Betrand on the weekends (athough he is mediocre with Felger and Mazz).

    I think Betrand could grow into a solid broadcaster.

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  6. So as with the Dale Arnold decision at WEEI, I do not understand why 98.5 did not part ways completely with Gresh. They took him off the midday show and both Patriot broadcasts. What is left…weekend fill-in sports flash guy? I would think he will find something somewhere else…my guess is Mad Dog radio or at ESPN U.

    As for teaming Bertrand with Zolak. Has to be a better show than the Gresh and Zo show just from the point of staying on topic, getting in and out of breaks and moving things along. I am not sure that show will change radio in Boston but it will be a significantly better show than MFB and I would assume cheaper to produce.

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  7. Big Jim Murray is not felger youth. Dude was doing the mornings on WFNX and then fill in on WBCN when they moved to sports.

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  8. Gresh and Tanguay getting kicked off the pre&post patriots games is a giant step in the right direction. If Massarotti gets kicked to the curb, I might tune in.

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  9. The only way this makes sense to me is that TSH was afraid that the show was too football centric. I, and I think most people agree, that while I would occasionally enjoy tuning in to G&Z during football season, it has never been a great show for the other three sports in town. And that’s not really their fault, they’re two football guys, what do you expect? I concur with most of the response so far that while I never went out of my way to check out G&Z I will not be drawn in more by replacing Gresh with Bertrand.

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    1. Which is absurd. It’s FOOTBALL and the PATRIOTS. The most popular sport in America and the most popular team in the region. Radio management are right up there with school administrators as people who don’t get enough oxygen flowing to the brain.

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  10. Did anyone hear Tanguay’s call in to the T&R show yesterday morning where he basically said there was no reason to believe Rappoports report and discount Mort’s? For the life of me I do not understand why he is allowed on the radio, never mind the flagship station of the Patriots. I would not mind listening to someone making an intelligent argument with supporting facts that the Patriots deflated the footballs. But every sentence from Tanguay started with “I feel that…” or ” I believe something had to have…” To his credit Rich went at him hard to the point that the thin skinned Tanguay started to get whiney. I am sure T&R thought it was good radio but in reality it was a train wreck.

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    1. I seriously believe that Tanguay is bipolar. He flip flops on takes all the time. Didn’t he just rip into Greg Doyle a few weeks ago and now he’s on his side?

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  11. From Finn’s piece:

    http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/02/13/marc-bertrand-scott-zolak-team-officially-place-sports-hub/wNfmHtAQIhuonP73yvYe4H/story.html?event=event25

    Given that one couldn’t listen for 10 minutes to a sports radio program in this market over the last few days without hearing a host read an awkward testimonial about the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for Mrs. Sports Radio Host, it must be concluded that convincing listeners that their wives dream of pajamas, chocolate strawberries, and oversized teddy bears is ridiculously lucrative. As for the ever-popular ivorce/custody advertisements, I’ll leave it to you to determine whether they are the logical natural progression for the husbands who took a sports radio host’s advice on romance.

    Amen to this. It’s on both stations and what an absolutely horrible advertisement. I’d rather listen to KARZ4KIDZ’s nauseating jingle than it.

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  12. Half-hour into his final show, and Gresh has implied several times that he already has his next job lined up. Any ideas?

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  13. This is disappointing in that I have no particular affinity for Gresch besides that he’s a big wrestling guy like I am but G&Z were by FAR the best show for football talk in Boston. They break things down to a detailed manner that’s above and beyond what any other show does. Bertrand is great but he’s also the only guy who stands up to Felger, so if Keefe (who I like) joins the show he’s going to have to be more adversarial and counter some of Felger’s ridiculous blowhard takes.

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  15. Think they needed to take care of beetle and he could not work every Saturday any more. He can not write or paint to earn more money, he needed sportshub to pay him enuf to raise his family, three small children

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