Last week Sports Radio lost a friend, a colleague in Allen Lamb. I was lucky enough to convince him to move halfway across the country to launch the baseball channel at XM Satellite Radio. Allen likely had the toughest producing gig in the entire DC headquarters. He produced the MLB Live show, which consisted of guiding his host, Ronnie “Night Train” Lane, to important moments for live listen ins, cutting highlights as they happened, doing updates twice an hour and booking pertinent post-game guests.
Additionally, as an experienced producer (He had produced sports talk shows at KJR/Seattle and Sporting News Radio before joining XM) Allen helped the less experienced producers with guest booking and other important aspects of the job.
Now if you had just met Allen in February of 2005, as I did, you would have found a gruff, impatient, experienced national sports radio producer. MLB Network Radio host Mike Ferrin wrote that Allen was much more than his tough exterior showed:
“Allen was one of my first friends when I started at XM. We worked nights and shared a love of counter culture movies, good jokes, great movies and so much sarcasm. He was such a radio guy.
“We had lots of trips to Wendy’s. And lots of eye rolls and laughs. I remember how much he loved Daisy Sedona when they met and how well they complimented each other. I remember how warm he was beneath a gruff exterior. We’d lost touch over the years but I’ll never forget the friendship he gave me and hearing the news filled me with both sadness and some great memories. What a guy. What a sad day.”
Gary Starikoff produced the show that followed the show that Allen produced and talks about what Allen did for him:
“I showed Allen around XM on his first day. I can’t count how many times he set up Joe Castellano, Kevin Stanfield and me with a post-game interview or highlight. When I faced challenges, he helped me through them. When I had ideas, he would listen. He was super smart and really cared. My heart goes out to his wife and family.”
In November of 2008, Allen was laid off as part of the initial moves of the newly-merged SiriusXM. He went on to work locally at 106.7 The Fan as a producer and update anchor for a little over two years. In 2011 he went back to school and got his Master’s in Social Work. He spent the last six years working with people dealing with domestic violence and substance abuse issues at Catholic Charities, Marine Corps Community Services (MCCS), and Fleet and Family Support.
Allen Lamb passed away on June 26th from complications from Diabetes.
Matt Fishman is a former columnist for BSM. The current PD of ESPN Cleveland has a lengthy resume in sports radio programming. His career stops include SiriusXM, 670 The Score in Chicago, and 610 Sports in Kansas City. You can follow him on Twitter @FatMishman20 or you can email him at FishmanSolutions@gmail.com.
