There are multiple ways to break into broadcasting and specifically to become a sports talk radio host. For Adam Gold, it happened in a way that was very unusual.
The New York City native, who as a kid used to go to sleep with a transistor radio under his pillow secretly listening to New York Mets’ when the team was playing on the West Coast, graduated from the University of Maryland in 1988 and would spend a decade living in Baltimore with his wife.
Gold was working as a producer at WBAL Radio in Baltimore, but he wanted to be on the air.
“I felt like I wasn’t really progressing,” said Gold. “I decided that I wasn’t really going anywhere. There was no on-air possibility for me. If I wanted to get on-air, I was going to have to leave.”
That chance to leave came when his wife accepted a job with a bank in Raleigh, North Carolina and the couple made the move early in 1998. Gold didn’t have any radio contacts in North Carolina, but the radio gods were watching over him.
Two weeks after become an official resident of Raleigh, Gold was watching the Olympics when he took a look at the job listings in the Durham Herald-Sun. He saw an ad for “WRBZ News-Talk-Sports” and he called the Program Director and a week later he was hired to do some part-time work.
Things then progressed very quickly and exactly how Gold wanted.
“By middle of March, they asked me if I wanted to host the afternoon show,” said Gold. “It was the dumbest thing ever. It just doesn’t happen this way in this business.”
More than 25 years later, Gold is still going strong at what is now 99.9 The Fan in Raleigh hosting The Adam Gold Show weekdays from noon to 3pm. The show is also heard on a network of 11 stations throughout North Carolina.
Flying solo wasn’t the original plan for Gold and what had been 850 The Buzz when he came on board in 1998. He was teamed with Pat Mellon who had been the solo host of the afternoon show. They were together about five or six weeks and it seemed like things were going well.
But while Gold and management were both happy, Mellon wasn’t and announced on the air one day that he was leaving.
“He said today is my last day,” recalled Gold, the 2022 North Carolina Sportscaster of the Year. “He quit on the air and I said ‘Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.’ I really thought he was kidding and as we were walking out to our cars, he goes no I was serious. I’m not coming in. I’m done. That was the last time he and I spoke.”
The station then embarked on a national search for a new co-host, but they ultimately decided to let Gold have the show to himself. His more than 25-year run at the station also included a brief two-year stint as Program Director.
It was not something he was comfortable with.
“I hated that,” said Gold. “There’s nothing fun about being the program director and hosting a show and being responsible for everybody. I couldn’t stand that. I was a terrible PD but I’ve done a good job judging talent. I was more of a coach than I was a PD.”
On the air, life was good for Gold. He moved to the mornings and was teamed with co-host Joe Ovies before the duo was shifted to the afternoons after The Buzz was acquired by Capitol Broadcasting, which owns 99.9 The Fan. Three years ago, the station decided to move Gold to middays and return him to his solo days.
“It’s cool that I’ve built a brand,” said Gold. “I think the show is honest. I pull no punches. I make fun of everything. I make fun of myself before I make fun of anybody else. I’m just trying to do an entertaining show.”
Over the years, Gold has been able to take his various shows on the road covering Super Bowls, Final Fours and back to New York for the 2000 World Series between his beloved Mets and the Yankees. Gold hosted those “Subway Series” shows from the window at Mickey Mantle’s Restaurant, the same place that legendary New York sportscaster Bill Mazer hosted shows on WFAN.
“I grew up listening to radio in New York,” said Gold. “I was an AM radio kid.”
Gold loved baseball, but he also had an affection for hockey. In fact, he moved to Raleigh not long after the Hartford Whalers relocated to become the Carolina Hurricanes. At the time NHL hockey arrived in town, the sports-talk landscape in Raleigh was dominated by college basketball followed by pro and college football.
Hockey wasn’t even a blip on the radar.
“I was told hockey will never make it,” said Gold. “The Hurricanes will leave. Hockey was an afterthought.”
25 years later, the Hurricanes are going strong as one of the best teams in the NHL with a rabid following and a Stanley Cup banner hanging from the rafters at PNC Arena.
“Now, college basketball is almost a seasonal game here,” said Gold. “You talk football anytime of the year, pro or college.”
And now Gold is one of the go-to hockey guys in town.
“It’s been my beat, if you will, for the last 7 or 8 years,” said Gold. “I now host pre and post. I’ve been doing a morning-after (Hurricanes) podcast after every game. The Hurricanes have become a really big deal and people have also grown to look to me to tell them what’s going on.”
Gold has enjoyed a very successful career in Raleigh but there’s one thing still on his to-do list and that’s to be involved with Major League Baseball. He grew up a Mets fan in New York and then was able to watch the Orioles when he lived in Baltimore. During his time in Raleigh, he’s felt a bit detached from the sport, but still finds a way to satisfy his appetite by doing play-by-play for NC State Baseball, the ACC Baseball Tournament and USA Baseball.
When it comes to the Majors though, Gold is not optimistic about it ever coming to town.
“We have not had big league baseball and as much as I love big league baseball and I know there are groups that are trying to bring big league baseball to Raleigh, it ain’t happening,” said Gold. “I would love it. I don’t see it.”
Sports radio can be a tough business. It’s very rare to be in the same place doing the same thing for a long period of time, but Adam Gold has defied the odds. What he has accomplished in a quarter of a century living in Raleigh is something that you don’t see very often.
And now Raleigh has become his forever home.
“Nobody stays in one place for 25 years,” said Gold. “I have not ever pursued anything outside of Raleigh. I haven’t had a resume tape since I got this job. I haven’t had a written resume. I wouldn’t even know how to do one right now. I’ve been lucky to do this.”
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.
