He'll be on from 7-10 a.m. weekdays, the final hour with Frank Cusumano.
"I believe Martin is the most talented sports broadcaster in town,'' KFNS general manager Dave Greene said. "Others may do one thing or another better, but all-around, Martin is No. 1 in my book. He is entertaining, he has strong opinions, he is well-connected and is respected. He is the whole package.''
Green is so impressed that he's calling the program "Martin Radio.''
"We were trying to come up with the most pretentious title possible and I think we succeeded,'' Kilcoyne said. "I have a feeling we'll be the butt of all jokes for a while. It wasn't my first choice, but I guess it will grow on me.''
Rich Gould and Maurice Drummond, who currently man the morning slot at KFNS, will join Kilcoyne on a rotating basis. Drummond will appear Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Gould on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 7-9 a.m.
Kilcoyne will be competing with his former co-hosts, Tim McKernan and Jim Hayes, who are working with Doug Vaughn in the morning slot at KSLG (1380 AM).
The Kilcoyne-McKernan-Hayes trio had what was arguably the most successful show in local sports-talk radio, with an irreverent, often randy and self-depreciating program that drifted into many topics.
"It will be a little strange going up against them, but they've carved out their own niche,'' Kilcoyne said. "So it's up to me to do my own thing.''
Although "Martin Radio'' figures to target a little older audience than McKernan and company, it won't be a straight sports show. Kilcoyne compares it to the recent "Foxhole'' show he and Drummond had at KSLG until it was dropped when his contract expired in December. They've been together a few times in the interim, filling in for Dan Patrick on his nationally syndicated radio show.
"We will have notable sports guests, but we will have some fun segments that aren't sports driven,'' he said. "It's going to be a sports show first, but as people know I tend to drift off, like (talking about) running into a hoosier at Imo's. I'm as intrigued by that sometimes as much as the sports stuff.''
KFNS FACTOR
Kilcoyne left KFNS under less than ideal circumstances in the fall of 2006. The company line was that it was a hardship for him to be on the air early in the morning after working late at night at KTVI (Ch. 2), where he's the sports director.
But KTVI's newscast now runs later than it did then, and the reality is that Kilcoyne had a falling out with program director Jason Barrett — who in the small world of St. Louis sports-talk radio now is in the same position at WXOS (101.1 FM), the latest entry into that field.
Kilcoyne's departure was the beginning of a mammoth decline for KFNS (see accompanying story) and he eventually ended up at KSLG, in middays — but that station is cutting back its payroll and he has been off the local radio airwaves for three months while waiting out a three-month "noncompete'' period.
DOUBLING UP
Kilcoyne will join Cusumano, from 9-10 a.m., an hour Cusumano has been doing solo.
"Within the first three minutes of our first meeting (about the show), we all were laughing,'' said Cusumano, also a sportscaster at one of Kilcoyne's rivals, KSDK (Ch. 5). "In this (competitive market), what we need is a great talent, and he's got it.''
Kilcoyne is going to try to loosen up his more stoic partner.
"Part of my job is to make Frank uncomfortable, but I think my mere presence will make him uncomfortable,'' Kilcoyne said. "Hopefully the audience will see a different side of Frank. I don't have any problem trying to mess with Frank a little. I think he might need that. And whether he's aware of it, that might be good for him. We've always had a mini-rivalry, being at competing sports TV departments, so this could be interesting.''
That hour will feature a lot of rapid-fire give and take on issues of the day, akin to ESPNs "Pardon the Interruption'' program.
Cusumano then goes solo for two hours.
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