When WFAN announced that Shaun Morash was going to be the new producer for Evan & Tiki, CBS Sports Radio host Damon Amendolara was genuinely happy for his colleague. On the air Wednesday in the midst of paternity leave, Amendolara delivered a heartfelt soliloquy about how he chose Morash as his producer when he was hired by CBS Sports Radio in the latter half of 2012. He proceeded to call Morash one of his closest friends and someone who he has watched start a family and become a fixture of the show.
Amendolara understands how Audacy views Morash’s potential, and he has given his stamp of approval on Morash being moved to WFAN on a full-time basis. The move, which was made as a result of Craig Carton’s decision to solely work at FOX Sports 1, is a significant professional moment for Morash.
“I owe a lot of my life to him,” Morash said of Amendolara. “He has not stood in my way on this move and I appreciate that, but that’s going to be tough…. I can’t do it yet; I can’t say goodbye yet, but we’re going to have to figure out a way over the next couple of weeks.”
Amendolara joined the show from home and chided the unfortunate corporate timing. He believes it conceals the success he and his team are having. Furthermore, he recognizes just how unique Morash is and how hard it will be to see him leave the show.
“This is very bittersweet for me because, of course, we would love to keep him here forever, but that’s not always the case,” Amendolara said. “Talented people move on – Mraz is one of those people – and he’s got nothing but our blessings here and great gratitude for the years that he put into the D.A. Show.”
After wishing Morash well, Amendolara verbally took umbrage with the operating procedure of Audacy management and expressed his disdain with the recurring pattern of reassigning CBS Sports Radio talent to WFAN. In fact, he likened the national outlet’s role to a farm system and has decided that he is going to take action.
“Enough is enough,” Amendolara stated. “I am launching a New York embargo around here. I don’t want to play any clips from that station – no more overnight rants… no more anything over there…. I’m sure plenty of you across the country are already sick of how New York-ey everything is on the network. You will get a fresh start here – I’m over it; we’re done.”
CBS Sports Radio has lost Gregg Giannotti, Tiki Barber, Brandon Tierney and now Shaun Morash to WFAN, and he has grown agitated towards corporate malfeasance and minimizing the impact of national sports radio.
“‘We’ll just take a piece here [and] take a piece there. We’ll just move it over to New York because it’s far more important there,’” Amendolara said in a state of contempt. “This is the arrogance of the company and the people at the station who think, ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter over there.’”
Spike Eskin, who serves as the program director of WFAN, also oversees CBS Sports Radio and has had influence in the changes. Last night, he took to Twitter to express his feelings about the changes and thanked everyone who chimed in for making him feel like he was at home.
Would like to see the audio included in this piece. Sarcasm and humor sound a lot different than when the words are alone in print