From the Chron: Small fired by KILT, won't be Texans' voice By DAVID BARRON Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Russ Small, who came to KILT (610 AM) last March with expectations of becoming the Texans' play-by-play voice, was dismissed this week as the team indicated it will look elsewhere for broadcast talent. Small, the former longtime sports director at KTRH (740 AM) and the last play-by-play voice of the Houston Oilers, was hired in March 2001 by KILT general manager Laura Morris, and it was widely assumed he would be the play-by-play man for Houston's new NFL team. However, he said he never received a direct answer from the Texans as to whether he would be considered for the play-by-play job -- or, if not, why not. "Things certainly didn't work out the way I hoped," Small said Thursday. "I still don't quite know what the problems were with the Texans. I never got a chance to talk with them and for them to explain their concerns or wants or desires. I met with all the people, but it was always me asking for the meeting. "I wanted to let them know that I could do the job and do whatever they wanted done, and I never really got an answer other than, `OK, thanks for your input.' So I don't know what their concerns were or are." Infinity Broadcasting, which paid $60 million for the Texans' broadcast rights, will employ the radio talent, which will be selected in consultation with the team. Morris would not comment on when the jobs would be filled. Of Small, she said, "Russ is a great talent, and I have a lot of respect for his work over the years." Jamey Rootes, the Texans' senior vice president, would not comment on Small's comments about his efforts to interview for the job, saying it would not be appropriate for him to discuss specific candidates. "We work with the management of Infinity Broadcasting," Rootes said. "They are responsible for coming up with suitable candidates, and our job is to work together to find the right folks for the broadcasts. Russ' first step is working through Infinity, and we work with their management to identify the talent for the games." Small lost his job at KTRH in late 2000 and came to KILT last March to co-host the morning drive-time show. When that concept was unsuccessful, he hosted shows on either side of the Jim Rome Show from 10-11 a.m. and 2-3 p.m. Those jobs will be filled for the moment by Jeremy Foster and David Dalati, respectively, but it is anticipated that the Texans' play-by-play man will staff those hours once he is hired. Small said it is too soon to consider his future but indicated he might seek a job outside broadcasting. "Maybe something is saying to me that it's time to do something else," he said
Small always seemed intelligent and well-spoken, but for some reason his show always seemed to really lag. Something about his voice just made me sleepy, more than anything else.
There is a God...Kenny Hand and Russ Small are 2 of the most boring "personalities" on sports radio, 610 can go nowhere but up after programming those 2 bores...
Come on Rokkit, you've gotta be kidding!. When I was in Houston, I'd cringe when he hosted a talk show. I know he's probably a nice guy and all, but it was painful listening to him -- especially if he hosted the show alone. The only show I thought was worse and more mis-informed/ing was the old Mike Edmonds/Anita Martini show. Again, nice people, but often clueless when it came to sports...
I know he was pretty slow, but I really liked Russ. I enjoyed his hour before and after Rome. I didn't think he would last in that spot, but then I heard him, and I actually thought he was okay. I think the fact that his show was kindof slow probably got people bored and stuff, but I thought he always had good topics and fairly good analysis.
The only reason Russ went to 610 was because he was convinced he'd get the job announcing for the Texans. When the Texans made it clear they didn't want him, end of story. He sounds pretty bitter in that story, but I don't think he ever had a chance. Fact is, when the Oilers left, he was absolutely convinced they were going to take him to Nashville with them as their announcer. He was actually shocked when they basically said, "Um, no thanks." I never liked him as an Oilers announcer. I always thought Tom Franklin was much better. Russ is not the most likeable guy in the world on or off the radio and the fact that he assumed he'd get the Texans' job is proof positive. They tried to force him into an established morning line-up which failed and he never liked the Rome sandwich show. Oh, well.
I don't understand why they just don't move the morning guys from 7 to 11 and start the afternoon guys at 2 to 6. That way they sandwich the Rome show. The one hour fillers have been lame regardless of who is hosting. I wish I had a 4 hour a day job. os
Yeah I have no clue why these people still keep getting jobs on the radio, they should just stick to writing. I was so happy when I heard Kenny Hand was getting canned by 610, and then they freaking hire Russ Small as his replacement! There's no way they could get any worse than those 2...
I don't want to hear any whining. Come listen to Austin sports radio for one day, and you'll be begging for Russ Small or Kenny Hand 24 hours a day. In the past week, three things have stood out: 1. Brian Jones, an afternoon idiot, was trying to argue that the Bills-Cowboys Super Bowl (the one with the Lett-Beebe thing) was the greatest ever. Wasn't the score like 55-20 or something? 2. Chad Hastings, a Tampa Bay fan, booed the idea of hiring Norv Turner, then when asked who they should hire, he said an offensive mind who's had head coaching experience...to which someone said like Norv Turner...huh, yeah. 3. Wednesday, they were arguing about best Super Bowl on the 4-7 show. Thursday, on the 2-4 show, the regular (Craig Way, the biggest UT homer ever, if you come anywhere close to remotely criticizing the Horns, you're a "jackass" and not a real fan) was out, so the replacement thought a good topic would be best Super Bowls. WTF!!!! The sad thing is that these are just examples of them talking sports, which hardly never happens. The bad thing about that is, when they talk about something non-sports related, it's something absolutely stupid, even worse than your typical sports hosts not talking sports topics. Then the callers...jeez. I don't even want to get into how the sports IQ of the people who call into 1300 are less than my age. Why I still listen, I don't know...it must be like the car wreck thing, you gotta look.
Now that you mention it... come listen to Dallas sportstalk... most pathetic drivel you've ever heard. I used to love listening to sports talk driving in to work and going home and after work as a kid up until I moved here. I don't know when the last time I listened to a good sports talk show was...
Fowler still does the Saturday-morning golf show. Awful! The reason stations don't go 7-11 is because they lose sponsors after 10am. Drive time is 6-10 and sponsors pay for that time. Believe me, LZ and John would rather go 7-11. Rome just screws it up. As for 3-7, well, Rich and Charlie's contracts would have to be re-written to get them a 2-7 slot and knowing Laura Morris, that ain't gonna happen. I have a friend who worked for her and she is apparently pretty...um...tough. That's the nice way to say it.
I don't think we should feel too bad for Russ. He still has the Channel 2 sports anchor gig...right? I remember he took over for Craig Roberts. I can't believe Channel 2 kept that pretty boy (Wragge) over an experienced sports reporter.
