“Nasty” Nestor Aparicio is a pretty interesting guy and opinions of him range from a self-made entrepreneur to a self-serving little man with a Napoleonic Complex and a knack for keeping either his name or the letters of his radio station (WNST) in the news. This week in Tampa was no exception when he allegedly put a stranglehold on Gordon Keith from Dallas’ 1310 The Ticket. More on that in a bit…
Clearly Aparicio is an inviting target with his obsolete hairdo, his “Testosteroni” tonal inflections to make himself sound bigger than he is and his “chic” but dated Miami Vice attire that screams Sonny Crockett wannabe. Cheap publicity stunts like Free the Birds (Parts I, II and a possible III), his run-ins with the Orioles, his attacks on his former employer (The Sun) and damning editorials on homelessness in Baltimore help make the bulls eye on his back even that much more tempting.
Recently he’s lost the on-air talents of Rob Long, Aaron Wilson and Bruce “I love ya madly” Cunningham and he is now forced to compete with new competition – the all sports formats of 50,000 watt stations Fox 1370 AM and 105.7 The Fan on the FM dial. Mix in a very difficult economy that has many companies slashing advertising budgets and suddenly Baltimore has more radio advertisers battling for far fewer advertising dollars.
To make matters worse Aparicio has to get it done with a signal that boosts 5,000 watts when the sun is up and 750 watts when the sun goes down. The station that once promoted itself as the one “with balls” suddenly has theirs between a vice (not Miami). To help save what appears to be a sinking ship, Aparicio has assumed the 2-6PM daily slot recently vacated by Long who is now on Fox 1370.
To be fair when he brings his “A” game, Aparicio is as good as any in the business while sitting in the chair of sports talking head. He is intelligent, articulate, informed, prepared and quick on his feet. I would even go so far to say that when he brings it, he’s the best on the B’more airwaves.
Unfortunately time and time again, he can’t get out of his own way. He can’t help but make the show about himself or to play the victim when he discusses the Orioles and when either happens his audience is lost particularly now with so many options on the radio dial. It’s as though Aparicio wakes up in the morning wondering who is out to get him on that particular day. His overly combative behavior suggests exactly that.
And it got him into a bit of trouble this week in Tampa.
Now to set the stage in Tampa, these clowns on 1310 The Ticket are a bit like Eddie Haskell. They want you to believe that their intentions to end a long standing feud with Aparicio are sincere but you get the feeling that their true objective was just to get under Aparicio’s skin.
Mission accomplished…
Like Aparicio’s partner Brian Billick always preached while the skipper of the Baltimore Ravens, we all must have accountability. It will be interesting to see what Aparicio does once the dust of Super Bowl XLIII settles. Will he be accountable or will he again play the role of victim, put on the spin and redirect blame?
If Aparicio does hit the spin cycle, maybe partner Billick will start his own campaign – FREE WNST!
