Pretty interesting exchange between Damon Bruce and a caller at the end of his show’s first hour on Tuesday, around the 39-minute mark. Bruce had been talking about the league that won’t be mentioned and their silly lockout, focusing on Bill Simmons’ controversial comments in Grantland last week about the players being “saddled with limited intellectual capital.”
A caller named “Sid in Alamo” had other things on his mind…
Sid in Alamo: “What happened, why aren’t you on KNBR right now? You are the best guy they got going.”
Bruce: “I am on KNBR right now. I’m on KNBR 1050. And you know what? I don’t need any dial position to do the best show on the radio. I’m glad you found me.”
Sid: “You are doing the best show. But it’s frustrating when, you know, you listen to the morning guys and you come back in your car in the afternoon and you got those other two clowns on 680…”
Bruce: (laughing) “Hey, I appreciate it … next question.”
Sid: “Next question — what really happened with you and Gary?”
Bruce: “Oh! (laughs) This is not NBA lockout-related. What happened with me and Gary was we tried something, it wasn’t a fit, neither one of us liked it, and we went back to the way things were before we tried it. That’s all. That’s all that happened. You know, you try things, they work out, they don’t work out. I mean sure, he whined about it like a little girl the entire time we were doing it, but I’m not going to say that on the radio.”
After staying (mostly) above the fray since KNBR scrapped the partnership between Radnich and Bruce after a month together (with Radnich spending the last two weeks of that run on “vacation” while continuing to work at KRON during the first week of his supposed break), Bruce seemed to make his true feelings about the situation evident today.
No word on if any associations representing little girls are demanding an apology from Bruce for his statement.
KNBR/Cumulus update
A lot of people have asked either on Twitter or via the comments if anything happened since I wrote about how KNBR employees were bracing for major cuts a couple weeks back. I’ve been told my story made the rounds at “The Sports Leader,” with executives wondering where I’ve been getting my information (like the late Brittany Murphy, I’ll never tell).
I’ve also heard that many of the people who thought they might get pink slips are safe (for now), with Cumulus letting two or three people go from KNBR’s promotions department. Since those employees are unknown to listeners, it seems like nothing happened. Time will tell whether people at KNBR who feared for their jobs have gotten a permanent reprieve. However, if Cumulus is serious about making cuts there will be more changes in the near future — changes you’ll be able to hear.
