Unless it was an April Fool’s joke that was explained after I got out of the car last night, “The Towny & Zakariah Show” (95.7 The Game’s evening show featuring Chris Townsend and former Lucky Break contestant Zakariah Slenderbrook) will no longer be a regularly scheduled program, starting tonight with the first game of the Bay Bridge Series.
Tonight was bitter sweet. Last show of Towny & Zakariah. @townsendradio, @ZakSports, Telmo, Aaron, Steve, and I. pic.twitter.com/JY5gcElDtm
— Javier (@Mr_JavierMata) April 2, 2015
It’s probably not an April Fool’s thing.
@thanksfor1984 @townsendradio @ZakSports We wish that was the case. #Athletics baseball will take over (most) nights starting tomorrow.
— 95.7 The GAME (@957thegame) April 2, 2015
I got stuck in traffic on my evening commute last night and ended up listening to over an hour of Towny & Zakariah. They spent most of that time reading texts/tweets from people reacting to the news that the show would go from nightly to “on call,” more or less. Most were from listeners who said they’d miss hearing nightly sports banter from a couple of down-to-earth guys, the kind of hosts listeners would like to have a beer with. One sent a message to Townsend (that Townsend read and I’m going to paraphrase) that said, “All of your shows get cancelled.” Townsend, much to his credit, laughed a bit after reading that one. There was at least one other text/tweet about 95.7 shuffling hosts every few months.
I haven’t heard what KGMZ is planning on running after A’s games (ESPN Radio?), or after Damon Bruce’s show when the A’s have an off day or play on the East Coast. It was interesting that 95.7 sent out a press release on April 1 at 11 am — about the Giants players they’ll interview on a regular basis in 2015 — that listed Towny & Zakariah as a part of the station’s everyday lineup.
As we’ve come to find out fairly regularly with The Game, just because a regular host/show is no longer full-time or even employed by the station doesn’t mean he’s/it’s gone forever. Zakariah took great pains on Wednesday to make it clear that his show with Towny isn’t cancelled, per se.
Will 95.7 have an A’s postgame show? If so, will Townsend be that show’s host? Are they going to give that gig to BASG contributor Rick Tittle? I guess we’ll have to wait and hear.
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Update: Some regular listeners (which you can see in the comments) say that Zakariah will do a show after Damon Bruce when the A’s are off or their games end early, and Townsend will handle A’s pregame and postgame duties.
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Update No. 2: Here’s the official schedule … Townsend will handle Oakland A’s pre/postgame on Mon-Sat., while Zakariah will do A’s pre/post on Sundays. Zak will also host a show on weeknights when A’s first pitch isn’t at 7:15 pm — that means 7-11 pm when there’s no game, 8-11 pm after A’s games that start at 4 pm, and 9-11 pm after 5 pm games.
