Rick DiPietro and Alan Hahn were supposed to be preparing for a radio show, but the conversation again had gone “off the rails,” as they like to put it. The subject: Batman vs. Superman.
“Batman is Inspector Gadget with a cool suit,” DiPietro said before veering into an analysis of Aquaman and his heroic limitations, which brought Hahn back to Iron Man, of whom he said, “Again, he’s just a guy in a crazy suit.”
This was Wednesday evening, an hour before the latest episode of a summertime radio bromance on ESPN New York that improbably has lasted past Labor Day and whose public reception has both surprised and heartened DiPietro, the former Islanders goaltender.
By 7:20, the discussion had found its way on to the air when DiPietro finally concluded, “Unless Batman’s suit is made of Kryptonite, he has no chance.”
Before they were done at 11, they had covered a range of sports topics and many other matters, including the old MTV reality show, “Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica,” and the tracklist of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”
To say DiPietro, whose most recent job had been blocking vulcanized rubber disks for a living, is enjoying all this would be an understatement.
“It’s just so easy, man,” he said in the show’s Upper West Side studio as he studied a stack of newspapers — old school! — with a highlighter and a notebook full of potential material he neatly had written out during the day.
“My wife is like, ‘Isn’t four hours a lot?’ And we’ll look at each other at 11 o’clock and say, ‘That’s it?’ We could go for six. We could go for eight . . . It just goes so fast.”
Actually, Hahn and DiPietro do go for six or eight, in that their debates begin as they carpool from their homes in West Hills and Oyster Bay and continue on the ride back to Long Island.
It all works thanks to a relationship dating to Hahn’s time covering DiPietro and the Islanders for Newsday, one that continued into Hahn’s current job as a Knicks studio analyst on MSG.
DiPietro would text observations and/or wisecracks when Hahn was on MSG or hosting Saturdays on ESPN Radio.
“After the show I would text him back, like: ‘You should do this,’ ” Hahn said. “He would just say, maybe, yeah, maybe. I would tell him: ‘We’re going to do this one day. I’m going to get you in there one day.’ “
It happened Aug. 11, when DiPietro joined Hahn and SNY’s Brian Custer. Two nights later, Hahn was scheduled to work alone. He told DiPietro to come along anyway, figuring “no one needs to know.”
That night DiPietro landed a newsmaking interview with the Mets’ Matt Harvey, a friend of his.
Then Hahn was asked to work Labor Day afternoon, the traditional end point for summer radio fill-ins. He said he would do it if DiPietro could come along.
Soon they were doing nightly shows this week, while the usual host, Dave Rothenberg, joined the midday show with Ryan Ruocco, whose old partner, Stephen A. Smith, now has a satellite radio show.
They are set to work nights again next week. After that . . . “Who knows?” Hahn said. “I’m just riding it, having fun with it, and we’ll see what happens.”
That is DiPietro’s attitude, too. But unlike Hahn, he does not have another job waiting for him.
To read more visit Newsday where this article was originally published
Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
