| Genre | Sports Talk |
|---|---|
| Running time | 60 to 70 minutes |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Home station | N/A |
| Starring | Tony Kornheiser (Host, 1992 – present) Jeanne McManus (Co-host, 2007 – 2020) Chris Cillizza (Co-host, 2014 – 2020) David Aldridge (Co-host, 2007 – 2020) Gary Braun (Co-host, 2004-6, 2009 – 2020) Liz Clarke (Co-host, 2007 – 2020) Torie Clarke (Co-host, 2008 – 2020) Kevin Sheehan (News reporter, 2004-6 & 2009 – 2016) |
| Produced by | Marc "Nigel" Sterne(2004 – present) Michael Kornheiser(executive producer, 2016 – present) |
| Original release | May 25, 1992 |
| Website | www.tonykornheisershow.com |
| Podcast | iTunes Podcast |
The Tony Kornheiser Show is a sportspodcast talk show out ofWashington, D.C., hosted byTony Kornheiser.
In 2012, Kornheiser was ranked No. 8 of the 100 most important sports talk radio hosts in America byTalkers Magazine.[1] In 2016, he was ranked No. 1 in America's Top 20 Local Sports Midday Shows for 2015 by Barrett Sports Media.[2]
Because Kornheiser needed to focus on writing his Style column inthe Washington Post weekly, he usually did not host the show on Thursdays, and would haveAndy Pollin, the sports director at WTEM, guest host instead. Between November 1995 and December 1996,Warner Wolf was named the guest host ofthe Tony Kornheiser Show on Thursdays until he moved toNew York City as a sports anchor onWCBS-TV.[3]
One of the features of the show was that when Davis reported the updates, Kornheiser would interrupt theDan "The Duke" Davis's updates and make comments. At first the Duke was not amused with Kornheiser's interruptions and it took Davis a while to get used to it.[4]
Tony's Mailbag concluded the show on ESPN Radio with Kornheiser reading emails from his listeners. The music that plays in the background during this segment is "Tea for Two Cha Cha" by Roy Battle (pronouncedbah-tell by Kornheiser) and the Altones. The band is dubbed "[t]he official house band of the Tony Kornheiser Show".[5]
In late 2001, Kornheiser decided to leave the microphones on when his show went to a commercial break, as a treat to his internet radio listeners. The result was the infamous yet wildly popular "Internet Show", where online listeners could hear what the people on the show really thought about sports, entertainment, and politics.[6]
After completing the2006 season onESPN'sMonday Night Football, Kornheiser considered offers from WTEM and WTWP to return to theWashington, D.C., area radio airwaves.[7]
On January 23, 2007, Kornheiser decided to go to WTWP to hostThe Tony Kornheiser Show.[8] Effective February 20, 2007,The Tony Kornheiser Show aired live on weekdays from 8:30 to 10:30 am, with a repeat that aired immediately afterward (on Fridays the last half-hour was preempted byThe Politics Program).[9][failed verification]
The deciding factor for Kornheiser to join WTWP was his desire to work for a station affiliated withThe Washington Post, where he had been since 1979.[10]
For the new incarnation of the show, Kornheiser retained Marc "Nigel" Sterne as producer.Andy Pollin andGary Braun remained at WTEM andTriple X ESPN Radio, respectively. The main cast of the show included:
Several frequent guests on the show had been limited by their affiliation with ESPN; Kornheiser had stated on-air (most recently on March 13, 2007) that ESPN management enacted a policy that prevents ESPN employees and commentators—the majority of whose work appears on ESPN—from appearing as guests on stations that compete with ESPN Radio affiliates.[11]
Kornheiser vowed to return to WTWP in 2008 and "do the radio seriously".[12] As a tradition when quitting the show fromESPN Radio andWTEM, the last show before hiatus ended by playing "Famous Last Words" byBilly Joel. With the demise ofWashington Post Radio on WTWP,[13] and the Post affiliation being the key reason Kornheiser joined the station, it was initially unclear whether or not the show would return.
The Tony Kornheiser Show went off the air on June 27, 2008, as Kornheiser prepared forMonday Night Football. However, on August 11, 2008, because of the format change, WWWT was canceled and Bonneville stated it would no longer airThe Tony Kornheiser Show.[14]
This incarnation retained the "softcore sports talk format" from the previous one at 3WT.[15]
The new incarnation saw the debut of several new features, includingRon Jaworski andJames Carville offer their picks to select NFL and college football games every Thursday and Friday during the football season. Jaworski's picks were compared to the show's resident monkeyReginald in a showdown called "Jaws vs. the Monkey." The other running-in joke is Carville's seemingly made-up lines on sports games.[citation needed] In 2012, with Carville unavailable at the start of the football season, Courtney Cummz started to offer one pick to select an NFL game.[16]
TheWTEM show was available immediately after airing via podcast oniTunes. Previously, between May 27, 2011, and March 20, 2015, the show had to wait 24 hours to distribute the podcast due to contract restrictions,[17] which was ridiculed by Kornheiser's loyal listeners, and was a frequent joke on his program.
On March 23, 2015, Kornheiser announced the podcast of his radio show would be available without a 24-hour delay.[18]
On June 2, WTEM announced that Kornheiser would do his last show on WTEM near the end of June 2016. Kornheiser said that he would launch a podcast in September 2016.[19] Kornheiser said in a statement, “I have loved every minute on the radio at WTEM, but I felt it was time to pursue a new and appealing challenge. I will be launching a podcast this September. I am excited that this endeavor will allow me to continue to work with so many of the people who have been a part of my radio show for over the past 20 years. But I will miss all of my friends and colleagues at WTEM.”[19] On Kornheiser's last show, aired on June 28, 2016, Kornheiser said,
I’m gonna miss pretty much people my age, but you should understand this: the opportunity to do this, I walked away from two years left on a contact ... I don’t know what is being written or what is being said, but the truth of the matter is, I walked away with two years left on a contract, which at my age is so stupid and an indefensible position. And why did I do it? Because I thought it might be nice to see if I could get [not] people to pay for it daily, but advertisers who I could bring them a certain amount of listeners: smart, funny, affluent people all around the country. Maybe we could get ads. Maybe we could get a sponsor from all around the country.[20]
The show was relaunched as a podcast-only show on September 6, 2016.[19][21] According to Kornheiser on June 6, 2016, the reason to do a podcast-only show was to own his content and work "someplace a little closer to my house", but the show format would still be the same as the radio show. Kornheiser said his new podcast would probably be 60 to 70 minutes instead of the 80 minutes he filled on his radio show.[22]
The podcast-only show is produced in partnership with sports talent agencyIMG and on-demand audio companyDGital Media.[23]
WSBN announced it would air the Kornheisers' podcast show starting September 10, 2019.[24]