Tiki Barber may have been born in Roanoke, Virginia, but the former University of Virginia and New York Giants star running back has called New Jersey his home since his was drafted by Big Blue in the 2nd round of the 1997 NFL Draft.
He came to New York/New Jersey at the age of 21 and now more than 25 years later, it’s clear that Tiki is a New Yorker.
“Without a doubt,” said Barber. “I feel like a New Yorker even though I’ve mostly lived in (New) Jersey but I’ve been here for more years than I haven’t at his point.”
And now Barber is talking sports in New York as the co-host of Tiki & Tierney on WFAN heard middays from 10:00 AM-2:00 PM. Barber had been hosting a national show with Tierney on CBS Sports Radio going back to when the network launched in January of 2013 and they were two-thirds of CBS Sports Radio’s original morning show with Dana Jacobson.
When Jacobson left the network, Barber and Tierney continued their nine-year run as national co-hosts before they moved down the hall at Audacy New York’s studios to WFAN this past January.
For Barber, it was an opportunity that he was waiting for.
“It’s just been amazing to be local,” said Barber who began his broadcasting career at NBC in 2007 as a contributor to The Today Show, Football Night in America, and Sunday Night Football.
“We were national for so long. It’s fun to talk about all the sports around the country but you miss the passion of the local fan base and the interactions feel more intimate when you’re doing a local show as opposed to a national show. That’s been the best part of it. It’s good letting the fans get to know me on a personal level as opposed to making the assumption.”
Since they became radio partners in 2013, Barber and Tierney have not only created outstanding on-air chemistry, but they’ve also forged a strong relationship that has allowed the former athlete to learn about sports talk radio from someone that has been in the business for a long time.
If you’re talking sports in New York, baseball is a big topic of conversation so Tiki was able to learn a lot about the sport, the Yankees and the Mets from his longtime co-host.
“He is the epitome of a New York talk-show host, but I think more importantly he’s been a great friend and a teacher of particularly baseball,” said Barber who had his number 21 retired by the University of Virginia and is enshrined in the Giants Ring of Honor.
“I didn’t grow up loving baseball. I was a Braves fan simply because it was on TBS and that was the only thing you could watch. The details of baseball I didn’t know until BT started slowly teaching me about 8 years ago. Now, I could have in-depth conversations about baseball because I understand where I’m coming from.”
The difference between doing national radio and local radio New York is quite big.
For a national audience, a lot of discussion about the NFL and college football is what can drive a show but when you’re hosting a local show on an iconic New York City station like WFAN — the first all-sports radio station in the country — you have to talk about everything and that includes football, baseball, basketball, hockey as well as national sports stories.
So, Barber knew that he had to expand his knowledge of sports, other than football, if he was going to be successful at WFAN. And he’s found a way to combine his background as a “football guy” with his passion for sports to become a quality New York sports talk host.
“At its core, it’s my job to know what I’m talking about,” said Barber.
“It’s different because I can look at the other sports as a fan whereas when I watch football, I default into analyst so I end up looking inside out like I did when I was playing. What’s the offensive line doing? Why is the quarterback making that throw? Oh, it’s because he’s getting pressure and he feels it because the left tackle screwed up. I analyze it more whereas with baseball and basketball I’ve become more of a fan. I’ve become more of a fan than I do an analyst.”
When Tiki & Tierney moved from CBS Sports Radio to WFAN this past January, the football locals were coming off of a bad 2021 season, another campaign without either team making the playoffs. But they are both off to good starts in 2022 and that has made it a lot more interesting to talk about them and take calls from the fans.
Barber and Tierney have gone from taking off-season calls from miserable Jets and Giants fans to now having those same fans call in with a positive outlook on their teams. They now have hope.
“When teams are good, at least you’re talking about hope and it’s more fun,” said Barber. “You start looking for the positives as opposed to extenuating and highlighting the negatives.”
Talking sports at WFAN is Barber’s full-time gig, but he also a couple of “side-jobs” that keep him going on the weekends.
In addition to spending middays at WFAN from Monday through Friday, Barber has also been busy as an analyst for some NFL games on CBS as well as being an analyst for college football radio broadcasts on Compass Media Networks.
He’ll be in the booth for this Saturday’s game between Penn Sate and Ohio State at “The Horseshoe” in Columbus.
“I love being at games,” said Barber who was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.
“I love the energy of a live sporting event and being the one who is telling the story while it’s happening in real time. It’s also great to travel. I have never been to Starkville where I’ll be (on November 12th for Georgia at Mississippi State). I’ll do the Iron Bowl this year and the Big Ten Championship. It’s touching the upper end of college football and doing the radio broadcast is always awesome.”
Tiki Barber establishing a career in broadcasting is not a surprise as he dabbled in it a little bit during his playing career with the Giants. Once he called it a career, it was an easy transition for the very personable three-time Pro Bowler from the field to the studio and the broadcast booth.
And now that’s he’s a “New Yorker” it’s only fitting that he’s enjoying success at WFAN along with his other broadcasting opportunities.
Peter Schwartz writes weekly sports radio features for Barrett Media. He has been involved in New York sports media for over three decades, and has worked for notable brands such as WFAN, CBS Sports Radio, WCBS 880, ESPN New York, and FOX News Radio. Peter has also served as play by play announcer for the New Yok Riptide, New York Dragons, New York Hitmen, Varsity Media and the Long Island Sports Network. You can find him on Twitter @SchwartzSports or email him at DragonsRadio@aol.com.
