Rich Kimball hosts “Downtown with Rich Kimball,” a sports talk show on Bangor station WZON 620-AM, live from Seasons restaurant on Main Street. He has plenty of guests who talk sports, including sportswriters, broadcasters and University of Maine players and coaches. But often his guests are just folks he’d like to talk to, their names popping into his head for whatever reason.
Kimball, 57, has an idea of what people around Bangor might be interested in. He graduated from Bangor High School and the University of Maine. He began in broadcasting as a teenager and has been working on Maine radio and TV stations since 1975. He’s been the play-by-play announcer for UMaine football for 19 years, and recently won his sixth Maine Sportscaster of the Year award.
He’s also a social studies teacher and drama director at Brewer High School, and he has acted in local theater groups. His interests go well beyond sports.
“We don’t want it to be a hardcore sports show. The world doesn’t need another show with angry callers,” said Kimball, who collaborates with producer Bryan Stackpole on the guest list. “We decided to do sports as entertainment, so we could talk to people in entertainment, too. Our criteria is ‘Who would be a really interesting person to talk to?’ ”
In a small market like Bangor, it’s hard to find a large audience for just sports talk, said Bobby Russell, general manager of WZON and two other stations. So the fact that Kimball didn’t do a straight sports show appealed to Russell.
But not all the guests invite discussion of heavy topics. Kimball’s co-host is local comedian Ryan Waning. Kimball also has had songwriters, musicians and actors as his guests.
“I know it doesn’t all appeal to everyone,” Kimball said of his show. “But we try to make it interesting.”
To read the full article visit the Portland Press Herald where it 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.
