Paul Finebaum seems to hate his callers and it's always the dumbest people who call in

Don't watch.

It's by design. If you see a show like that and it has "regular callers", it's because they give those people a special number to call because they believe the ignorance or whatever weirdness those people have equals more viewers/listeners.

And it does, because guess what - they aren't looking to gain the attention of doctors, engineers and so on.

So like I said - Don't watch, or just admit you are the target audience.

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Paul Finebaum seems to hate his callers and it's always the dumbest people who call in

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It's literally been like that for 35 years bud. It just used to only be people from the state of Alabama and it was much, much funnier.

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I had no idea Paul did this before the SEC Network started in 2014.

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Finebaum started his radio appearances in the mid-1980s by giving morning commentary on the Mark and Brian Radio Show on WAPI-FM (I-95). After starting his own afternoon radio show a few years later on WAPI-AM, his program became the highest-rated sports talk show in Birmingham. In October 1993, Finebaum moved his sport talk show to WERC

In 2001, Finebaum, along with Network Director Pat Smith and Producer Johnny Brock, launched The Paul Finebaum Radio Network, syndicated with affiliates across the southeast. It was named in 2004 by Sports Illustrated as one of the top 12 sports radio shows in the United States. In January 2007, his radio show moved to WJOX.

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his act is old and tired
you want it to go away, stop watching and listening
stupid bama and auburn fans gave him his platform and the fact that the sec network thinks people want to watch this four hours a day is a joke
the average person is working so you can imagine the callers it generates, it's like soap opera football fans

Finebaum: The guy everybody loves to hate

David Wasson
Executive Sports Editor
Tuscaloosa News
October 9, 2005



Where legends are made, and most football coaches fired." -- Introduction to Paul Finebaum’s daily four-hour radio show. Arrogant. Childish. Entertaining. Mean. Inflammatory. First-class jerk.

Go to any part of the state, any cranny of Alabama that is within reach of a radio, and chances are you will find someone who recognizes the name Paul Finebaum. And it is a virtual lock that that person has an opinion on Paul Finebaum -- love him or loathe him, sometimes moving from one to the other within the span of a single four-hour show. Sitting in a high chair behind the console of his tidy, spacious radio studio, Finebaum smiles the brightest when he is asked about listener reaction to his wildly successful show.

Sure, the through-the-roof ratings, national satellite syndication and a $350,000 yearly income have a lot to do with Finebaum’s glee. But at the heart of the man who is the lead conductor of the one-man sideshow known as the Paul Finebaum Radio Network is the simple joy he gets from being the guy everyone loves to hate.

Before the show Finebaum is nothing if not busy. Really busy. Sure, there is that live gig from 2-6 p.m. each weekday that pulls in thousands of listeners daily. But there’s the occasional television spot on Birmingham’s Fox 6, and his Mobile Register column to write, and the never-ending radio guest spots on outlets ranging from Larry King Live and 60 Minutes to low-wattage AM shows around the region. On this particular day, the Monday after Alabama’s football victory over then-No. 5 Florida, Finebaum has already finished his Register column by the time he slings the jacket of his pinstriped Italian suit over the shoulder of his pink dress shirt/tie combination and strides toward the studio.

“I’m not putting makeup on until [Rick] Karle shows up," Finebaum says with a smile seconds before Fox 6’s sports director blows through the door and does final video prep. Minutes later, the duo are behind a faux desk exchanging one-liners about Alabama’s win, Tyrone Prothro’s injury and Talladega.





“We never tell them when to call or what to say," Smith says. “They are the beauty of this program. We have never censored anybody. They might call and say 'That bald-headed S.O.B., put me on so I can rip him apart!’ And where other shows might not, we welcome that. He isn’t always right, and differing opinions make great talk shows.

“The Phyllisses, the Jims, the Shanes, the Bobbys, the B.O.B.s -- all these people who are on a first-name basis with the listener -- have kind of become our dysfunctional family. When they call, if they call, it has become appointment radio for them. It is a part of their lives to call us."

Finebaum’s guests, of course, are another important aspect of the show. And he has plenty of them -- ranging from local sports columnists to regional talking heads to national writers, broadcasters and athletes.

And then there are coaches. Some -- like Pat Dye, Bill Oliver and Jim Donnan -- are former coaches whose appearances are tied into business deals. Others, like Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville and Alabama’s Mike Shula, make appearances two to three times a year.

But Finebaum’s radio history is also littered with coaches who didn’t want to play along. Finebaum tells the story about how former Alabama coach Ray Perkins helped get him fired from his first gig as a backup host to Eli Gold in the mid-1980s, and also has his side of the story as to why former Alabama coach Dennis Franchione never made a PFRN appearance.

“I knew why Fran wouldn’t talk to me," Finebaum says. “Early on, I called him up about a very sensitive manner. I never made an accusatory question, but I made him aware that I had talked to two SEC head coaches who had told me about a vicious rumor about him and things that happened at TCU. I told him I was doing a story about why he had not signed his contract, and if he wanted to add something about all the negative stuff going on out there, he could make a statement. There was not a sound at the other end of the phone. I waited six or seven seconds, and then said 'Thanks, Coach’ and hung up.

The show hasn't been the same since Shane from Centerpoint died.

I check in on it like the View once every 6 months to witness bad TV. It's like watching Sharknado.

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I had no idea Paul did this before the SEC Network started in 2014

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Are you serious, Clark?

It may surprise you to know that he used to have a co-host named Neal Vickers who sounded like he smoked a pack of cigarettes on-air, and a tranny who regularly called in named Libertee Belle.

tRant Archive Thread (circa 2010)

Dumb hosts attract dumb callers.