Fred Toucher returned to 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher & Rich Thursday morning, and I can’t tell you how excited that news made me. There are not many, if any, local sports radio hosts I enjoy listening to more than Toucher and Rich Shertenlieb. The duo never lacks comedy or creativity, and listening to their show is always enjoyable.
Almost always enjoyable.
Toucher, who you likely know has been struggling with vocal issues, returned to the show, but Shertenlieb was absent. Originally, messaging from the Hub was that Shertenlieb was out sick…and if you believe that, I’ve got some oceanfront property in Arizona. Reportedly, Shertenlieb only told bosses he was sick after finding out Toucher would return Thursday. The duo were not reunited on Friday, either. He’s scheduled to be back today, while Toucher is scheduled to be off.
You see, while he was out, Toucher caused a bit of a stir on social media by alleging that neither Shertenlieb nor Jon Wallach had reached out to him after a “cancer scare”. Subsequently, Toucher has explained that he was eventually told by doctors that he did not have cancer, but did have leukoplakia, which is a condition exacerbated by smoking.
Understandably so, Shertenlieb wasn’t there when Toucher returned. In an incredibly public move, Toucher had alerted the world that people he is close with — at least professionally — had left him out to dry. By making that declaration Fred Toucher makes Shertenlieb and Wallach look crass, self-centered, and frankly fake.
During his return, Toucher admitted that Shertenlieb had reached out, and had tried to use his connections at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to expedite Toucher’s diagnosis. Toucher eventually said he had spoken to both Shertenlieb and Wallach and called his tweets “a stupid thing to do”.
I don’t blame Rich Shertenlieb one bit for not being there when Toucher returned. I would find it incredibly difficult to sit down in the same room as someone — who was supposed to be on my team — that had blasted me publicly and made me look like I had left a friend going through a medical crisis out in the cold. To cut to the point, that’s shitty. It’s a shitty thing of Toucher to have done, even if it was true. And maybe his admission was trying to help Shertenblieb and Wallach save a little face.
Luckily for the duo, it appears Toucher is aware of why Shertenlieb might be slightly angered by the situation, alluding to reports in the Boston Globe about the likelihood of a spat between the pair, and gave a full-on apology. Some people stink at apologies. Fred Toucher doesn’t appear to be one of them.
However, I can easily sympathize with Toucher. He appeared to be very stressed out during a team when he had clear voice issues. Truth be told, at its worst, the show would have sounded better if you replaced Fred’s voice with a cement mixer. I don’t make my living off of virtually one body part, but I can’t imagine how stressful a scenario would be when my professional future was on the line, I wasn’t getting any answers, and my problem wasn’t getting any better.
Simultaneously, Toucher has been trying to quit smoking, which is admirable as hell. He claims he picked up the habit when he was 11. So, while knowing that you’re voice sounds like absolute hell, being scared that you might have cancer, and also trying to stop one of the more addicting habits you can have, Toucher said some things that he now wishes he didn’t. That’s understandable!
We all say and do things we regret. It appears, at least publicly, Fred Toucher is doing the right things to rectify those wrongs.
This isn’t a “Is this the end of Toucher & Rich” column? Because I don’t think it is. Sometimes, the chemistry is just right. And the chemistry has been right for a long time. That time together can be both a benefit and a hindrance to pushing past problems. I’m sure things are contentious behind the scenes. Why wouldn’t they be? Some large accusations have been thrown about, and some insanely stressful situations have been encountered since the calendar flipped to 2023. There are large and talented personalities on each side of the coin.
There are bound to be issues. Both sides, at least in their own minds, have reason to be angry at the other. One felt slighted and left behind by a colleague at one of his most stressful moments. In return, he let the world know he felt he had been slighted and left behind by a colleague at one of his most stressful moments, and that colleague, at least on the surface, has — understandably — failed to receive that well.
But I hope Fred Toucher and Rich Shertenblieb can work past those differences. I’m certainly not ready to see one of the format’s best shows come to a close, and I hope they aren’t, either.
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
