CHAPTER 7: Some Hot Sauce

Looking back, it’s understandable that Nestor Aparicio felt the need to part ways with us. He had a roster of very capable sports talkers at WNST, himself included, and they had successfully cultivated a highly engaged and interactive audience. Together, they were informed, well-spoken, intelligent fans with microphones. In many ways, WNST was to radio what Ravens24x7.com aspired to be for the web.

And while we were chasing the journalistic achievement of WNST, we had one undeniable advantage. Our platform was internet-based while their success was dependent upon a radio station with at best a 5,000-watt signal during the day and a non-existent one at night. Aparicio knew that the future of his enterprise was to migrate the platform to the web and hope that technology would improve to the point that accessibility to WNST’s content via the internet would be simplified.

We posed a threat to that plan and severing the chord with 24×7 had to happen. It didn’t have to happen in the back-stabbing fashion that Aparicio seems to prefer, but let’s face it, that has been his modus operandi seemingly, forever. Just ask Messrs. Haney, Forrester, Ford, Morekas, Long, Conn, Clark, Bachman, Willett and others who have all been unceremoniously dumped from the station.

And this all brought us back to CBS Radio.

Fortunately for us, we didn’t have to come back on our hands and knees to find a new brokered time slot in CBS Radio’s programming. It’s not because they were nice guys and forgiveness flourished in their DNA. The reason CBS kicked open their doors to us once again, despite leaving them four months earlier, had to do with one thing and one thing only.

Greed.

They just wanted our money and the truth be told, they really didn’t care about the quality of our programming just as long as the checks cleared. And during the 16 years since, that hasn’t changed regardless of whether they called themselves CBS Radio, ESPN 1300, Entercomm, Audacy, The Fan or Baltimore’s Sports Leader.

Our time slot for Gametime bounced around a bit depending on the time of year. For a stretch, we were on Sunday mornings from 8-10; then it was 11-1 and eventually we settled in on 7-9PM on Friday evenings just after The Anita Marks Show.

Anita was kind enough to let me sit in with her on occasion and that inspired listeners who were unaware of Gametime, to hang in there a bit longer and give us a try. It certainly helped to build our audience but sharing the stage with Anita could be challenging. She was passionate about her job but some of her hot takes were a reach and I had a hard time developing on-air chemistry with her.

I remember once while sitting in on her show that was also simulcast on MASN, she had Ravens Secondary Coach Dennis Thurman on the show. Now you may recall that Anita was a former quarterback in a women’s football league and as such, considered herself to be an accomplished athlete. During the conversation with Thurman, Marks engaged in a bit of trash talking. The former Miami Fury signal caller suggested to Thurman to pick any of his best DB’s, she’ll take Derrick Mason, Mark Clayton and Demetrius Williams and she’ll complete 70% of her passes in one-on-one drills.

I suppose my eyes must have been rolling around in my head like a slot machine, because Anita looked at me and said, “Dennis, Tony apparently doesn’t think I can pull this off judging from the look on his face.”

I replied, “Anita, Kyle Boller doesn’t even complete 70% of his passes to his receivers in those situations.” To which she replied, “That’s Kyle Boller!”

The commercial break couldn’t come soon enough.

Hot Sauce

I can’t recall how we made this happen, perhaps it was through a Ravens source who connected me with his agent, but we were able to get Bart Scott to join us on Gametime in-studio during the 2007 offseason. Bart and I kicked around a number of Ravens-related topics and he was gracious enough to take calls as well. The 2 hours went by like minutes. The on-air rapport was apparent from the start.

After the show, I suggested to Bart that he do his own show and given Adalius Thomas’ departure to New England, that he would be an excellent choice as a replacement simply based on his personality and gift of gab. He was reluctant and said that the 2007 season was a contract year for him and he wanted his focus to remain on the field in order to maximize future earnings.

Fair enough. Much respect.

Some time had passed when Bart’s agent reached out to me. He said that Bart had a change of heart and would like to consider hosting his own show, but only if I would host it. I let them know that it really wasn’t up to me but that I would float the idea by CBS Radio’s management. I then reached out to Program Director Dave LaBrozzi who thought the idea had merit. LaBrozzi set up a meeting that would include Bob Philips who was for all intents and purposes, regardless of his several titles, the head honcho at CBS Radio in Baltimore. Bart would be in attendance via speaker phone. My partner Bill Pisano sat by my side.

The call went well. CBS Radio agreed to host the show which would also include the FM affiliate, 105.7 (not yet called “The Fan”). It would also be heard simultaneously on ESPN 1300. I suggested to Bart that we call the show, “Hot Sauce”, stemming from a comment Bart made about Reggie Bush who managed just 16 yards on 5 carries during the Ravens 35-22 win over the Saints on October 29, 2006. He loved the idea.

“The media darling, aka the golden boy of the NFL, tried to take a cheap shot at me, so I told him I was going to put some extra on it,” Scott told the Sun. “He can do all those shakes he wants, but I wasn’t going anywhere. I put a little hot sauce on that ankle.” ~ Bart Scott

The show would air on Tuesday evenings from 6-8 PM. There was a weekly fee that we agreed to pay for the airtime, plus it was our responsibility to pay Bart. We accepted the expenses, believing that Bart would be an excellent on-air personality. If Adalius Thomas’ show could be successful, “Hot Sauce With Bart Scott” would definitely be a winner. We couldn’t wait to go out and sell the show.

Unbeknownst to us, CBS Radio already had plans to do three other player shows featuring (separately) Ray Lewis, Derrick Mason and Willis McGahee. The CBS Radio sales force was already well-aware of the initiatives (we were not or would never have accepted the terms) and had begun to market the shows to companies interested in advertising. We were blown away by the underhanded maneuver on the part of CBS Radio. Greed once again reared its ugly head in the toxic halls fostered by Messrs. Philips and LaBrozzi.

We landed a few customers and Della Rose’s in Canton agreed to host the show. But the show was a financial loser for us from the start thanks to the ambush by CBS Radio and their aggressive sales force. We lost over $40,000 on the show.

Despite the show’s financial bleeding and a season that was an absolute cluster (the Ravens finished 5-11 including a 9-game losing streak), Hot Sauce had several memorable moments. Bart brought in some great guests, the best of which were Terrell Suggs, Kelly Gregg, Jason Brown and surprisingly, Troy Smith.

We also had weekly contests for a pair of Ravens tickets. Somehow, somewhere (probably over a few libations) we had this idea of “Ravens-fan-meets-stupid-human-tricks” and developed the theme, “What would you do for a pair of Ravens tickets?” The winner would be determined by the ovation from the crowd. The person who could register the loudest applause would get the tickets.

One rather well-endowed girl came up and said that she would like to try and win the tickets. I told her that she should probably stand on a chair to heighten the anticipation. She obliged and the crowd had expectations of a top drop which I have to admit, I set her up for when I suggested she stand on the chair. To the dismay of every red-blooded male at Della Rose’s that evening, she did not execute a top drop. Instead, she made a fist and put it completely in her mouth. Disappointed, the crowd booed enthusiastically. Quietly, I was impressed by her feat.

Winners of the contest included a guy who jumped into the nearby harbor in his clothes during the month of December; another guy who ate 3 pounds of rigatoni during the second 30 minutes of the show; and a guy who ate a scorpion pepper (the second hottest of its kind in the world) and followed it up with a shot of tequila that had a live goldfish swimming in the shot glass.

As the awful season trudged along, Bart showed up later and later, probably weary of the callers who regularly trashed the team during a campaign that had spiraled out of control. It would be Brian Billick’s last as the Ravens skipper. And it would also end my business ties with CBS Radio for several years.

[For Chapters 1 thru 6 Click HERE]

(In Chapter 8, we revisit the arrival of the Ravens’ third head coach and relationships we’ve forged with team officials and media members covering the Ravens.)