Some hosts are just great company. They have a charm and likability that makes you want to hang out with them. Anthony Gargano is absolutely one of these people. The dude is just fun. He isn’t trying to wow you with his knowledge or say something crazy to stand out; he’s trying to connect with you and have a good time.
Starting this Saturday, Gargano will get the chance to hang out with a new radio partner. The Fellas with Anthony Gargano and Jason Fitz is set to launch on FOX Sports Radio. It’s a great spot for Fitz because Gargano is such an outstanding teammate. He isn’t a ball hog that wants all of the glory. Gargano would rather throw an alley-oop so his teammate can jam it home and shine.
Whether it’s his weekday gig on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia, his new FOX Sports Radio show, or his Yo Kid! Sports podcast that has a ton of helpful information for parents with kids in youth sports, Gargano is pure passion. He’s all about people and relationships. He doesn’t want to have an hors d’oeuvre and a glass of water; he wants to have a freakin’ feast. That’s the way he sounds on the radio, and that’s the way he sounds in the conversation below. Enjoy!
Brian Noe: What do you think about teaming up with Jason Fitz?
Anthony Gargano: Oh, I’m pumped up. You figure Jason Fitz, having someone like that to come in and be seamless, it’s great. I love my man Figgy [Kevin Figgers], so he’ll be with us. I’m really excited because I think it truly gets back to the spirit of The Fellas. When Linc [Lincoln Kennedy] had to step back from some work, he decided to leave the show. He had a health problem, so he had to kind of give up some stuff. He dialed it back. When he left the show, it was a big, big loss, man. Big Linc, not only a big man, and a big personality, but a big heart. I really felt his loss. We had been doing the show for like 15 years together.
All the guys came in, they filled in admirably and I love it, but to get a guy like Jason Fitz, you get a guy like him, it brings it back to the true spirit. The true spirit of The Fellas is supposed to be that group of guys that we all know that we’re all buddies. We come from different walks of life and we talk about sports because that’s our true passion.
BN: You get the crew to chime in quite a bit, but to have a co-host again, what’s the difference in your mind between running solo and now running with Fitz?
AG: Yeah, I think it’s great because I think it gives the audience that other opinion. You need other opinions for the audience because the spirit of the show is ensemble. If the spirit of the show is ensemble, everybody wants a different character to relate to. People may relate to me, some people had related to Linc, some people might relate to Kevin Figgers. So now having Jason Fitz, it’s another big voice who knows what he’s talking about, fun-loving guy. It allows the audience to have another person to relate to. I think it’s beautiful.
BN: Over the years, when you have so many voices on the show, what’s something that was just hilarious to you based on the personalities you’ve had on The Fellas?
AG: Man, Big Linc, he was this incredible cook. He would talk about these amazing meals that he would make. And we would have these bets; we’d bet on football. We called them butler bets. At the end of the year, what was supposed to happen was one guy goes to the other guy’s house, and the loser has to be the butler. Man, I wanted to go to the Kennedy compound so bad and have Lincoln cook one of his famous meals for me. [Laughs] He was interesting. He was so funny.
God, we’ve had so many things. Linc once ate at Christmas Eve, I do a thing called the Seven Fishes every Christmas Eve. The Raiders are playing the Eagles and Linc and his uncle ate at my house. It was the greatest time. It was a lot of warmth and that’s what I want The Fellas to be. I want The Fellas to be warmth and family. I want the audience to feel like they’re with us. We may bicker about sports, but we’re hugging and we’re drinking and having fun and eating with food and spirit and laughter. That’s all part of the family dynamic.
BN: It’s funny, man. Linc was doing the Oregon game this past week. One of the videos went viral about the duck doing almost 550 pushups. I know you hear Linc doing NFL and college stuff. How do you describe that feeling when you hear him?
AG: Oh, I miss him. We still talk and everything, but man, I gotta tell you, I miss him. I had a tough time. It’s interesting, right? You do this stuff, I’ve been doing this for, I don’t know, 20 years. And I’ve worked with a myriad of people, like a myriad of people. And I gotta tell you, brother, Lincoln was one of my favorites if not my favorite.
We didn’t meet. We did the show, and this goes back to 2006 I think. We do the show and it’s seamless. I’m like, wow. His birthday and my birthday, we’re one day apart. We have this weird kind of connection. He was born on February 12, I was born on February 13, same year. I mean, it’s weird.
We wound up meeting for the Army-Navy game in DC. And we went out all night. We met at the hotel, we got a drink. The next thing you know, we hung out till like four in the morning. We come walking back, and bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning, and had a couple hours sleep. It was that kind of relationship. It was like that instant connection. That’s rare in this business. So yeah, I missed him a lot. I really did.
But Figgy has been amazing. I can’t talk enough about Kevin Figgers. He’s gonna be a star. He’s really bright. He knows the game, he just knows players, knows the leagues, knows the games. And that’s why I’m pumped up because with Jason Fitz coming in, I got another guy to ride with, man, it’s more fun. It’s fun when you add partners and you share. That’s what it’s about.
Some people are great, Colin [Cowherd] is great as a voice, a singular voice. Stephen A., singular voice. There are some bright people who are singular voices. I like somebody else; I enjoy the buddy movie. I like the camaraderie of it. I love people, so I like having someone just to look forward to talking to.
BN: How do you approach it where you look at Linc and Fitz as completely different people? I know that sounds like a weird question, but when you have this outstanding chemistry with Linc, there might be this subconscious thing to wants Fitz to be like him. How do you not approach it like that, and just have Fitz be Fitz in your mind?
AG: Yeah, that’s easy. It’s funny because having worked with a multitude of people throughout my career, doing my local Philly show I’ve worked with a handful of people, and you just take them for who they are.
You find your commonality. There’s going to be things that he and I really appreciate together, there’ll be stuff that we’re opposites about, that we can laugh about. I’m looking forward to kind of getting to know him, just like how you would any other character.
I like to write a lot. I write movies and TV and stuff like that. Every character has their own charm, every character is different. You kind of get to know them on the characters basis. So I had no pretense going into our show. It’ll move where it’s supposed to go organically. I think the biggest problem people make in this business is when you try to go in with a preconceived notion. You got to let the dynamic play out. Anthony Gargano’s different than Anthony Gargano with Jason Fitz because that’s a completely different sound. That’s a completely different vibe. And you got to allow that to live.
Any show is an organism. And it’s unique and different and unto that organism, and you can’t go in and try to push it somewhere or it won’t work. You got to let it go and then you foster it.
BN: How do you prepare for a FOX Sports Radio show compared to a Philly show?
AG: It’s very different. I have the benefit of all week doing my local show — I always bring something to the table that’s kind of non-sports, that’s more social. I do these violations. All of these weird things that happen in society that cross the board. That’s not just indigenous to Philadelphia, that if you’re at a supermarket, and you’re getting gouged, you’re getting gouged everywhere. Whatever it is, there’s some sports fan who’s tucking in their jersey. That’s a violation. That’s a violation in Philadelphia, and that’s a violation in LA, and in Kansas City. You can’t tuck in your jersey. [Laughs] You know what I mean?
So like that stuff, I may make a note of something that was funny, that worked, so then I can bring it up on The Fellas. I would do that stuff with Linc. I’d say, dude, so I had this thing on Tuesday, this guy told me, I need a ruling. I’ll do the same thing with Fitz. And then when it comes to the sports piece, it’s completely different. I love college football. It’s my outlet because I can’t talk it in Philadelphia. It’s really not a big college sports town; it’s more of a pro town.
I get to talk more college football. I get to talk more global NFL, which I like to do. I have a lot of friends in the league, a lot of coaches who are scattered around the country. I get to talk a lot more global NFL. I like all the NBA stuff and Major League Baseball, like the bigger national stories. I’ve always loved doing our FOX show because that’s an itch I need to scratch. It’s great to talk local, I’m around it, but sometimes you need something a little different just to exercise your mind.
BN: There have to be times where you want to talk about Michael Penix Jr. throwing five touchdowns and you’re like I can’t do that today in Philly, but thank goodness I’ve got this FOX gig where I can.
AG: Oh, it’s so true. Like Deion, right? All I want to do is talk about Coach Prime and that whole story, which is one of the great stories. But they’re gonna go, “what are you doing talking Coach Prime? I need you to talk Phillies. This is Eagles week.” It’s great that I can go on FOX say, “hey, let’s talk Coach Prime, man. Let’s do it.”
BN: You’ve seen things change a lot over the years at FOX. What do you think about the current state of the network right now?
AG: I think there’s some great shows, there’s some great stuff. Obviously, Colin is Colin. The Odd Couple are my guys. You know, B, I actually made my bones with Rob [Parker] and Chris [Broussard]. We were all in New York together. Rob was at Newsday, Chris was at the Daily News, and I was at the Post. We all were writers, and we were buddies back then.
It’s funny, I go on their show all the time. It’s so nuts, we used to go out, we used to socialize. We’d be on the road and if we were all together covering an event, I would go out with those guys. It’s interesting how life kind of goes full circle. You know who I love? Covino & Rich. Those dudes are awesome. They make me laugh. They’re really good. They’re actually highly entertaining. I love those guys.
BN: What do you gravitate toward the most as a listener based on the style of a host?
AG: So as a listener, I don’t want you to lecture me. I don’t want you to pontificate like you know everything. I’m listening to you because I have a respect for you. So you don’t constantly need to hammer home that you know everything because nobody does. Sports are amazing because it took me a while to realize this, because I’m sure I was guilty of it, but sports are so competitive. We all got into it because we’re competitive people. We played sports, we’re competitive, and the idea of sports radio is that you are the end all, be all.
You argue that I know, when it reality, you have an educated opinion, but we don’t always know exactly what went on in a certain play without talking to the coach and the whole thing. There’s no need to talk down to me as an audience. I like you. I respect you; that’s why I’m listening to you. So make me like you more. I want a little self-deprecation. I want some humor. And you got to know what you’re talking about. That’s an important aspect because sports people can see right through you, man. They can sniff out a fugazi.
BN: If you could just snap your fingers and accomplish one thing with Fitz, for the show, the way you want it to sound, the way you want people to feel, what would that be?
AG: I want it to be the next iteration of The Fellas from Linc. I want it to be this buddy show that takes everybody along. And I want people to smile and feel like they can hang with us.
BN: It’s funny, along the way — you might feel this way, you might not at all — but it’s like you don’t lose sight of what you’re there for. But in the midst of whatever, there’s some competition going on, there’s a point you want to drive home, you kind of do lose sight of I’m just trying to have fun and make sure other people have fun too. Do you see it that way at all?
AG: Dude, that’s exactly it because you know, you’ve been around fan geeks, they take themselves so serious. You’re like, please, you’re some jerk off on the radio like, come on, man. If we were saving lives, and real doctors and surgeons, those people are making a difference in society. We’re just giving somebody five minutes not to think about their problems.
That’s what you need to always keep in mind like, dude, somebody just wants an escape or they’re lonely. You’re really supposed to be company for them. And you’re supposed to make them smile and feel good about life. So I’m insanely upbeat all the time because I feel like it’s my duty to give people that little hope. If I could just make somebody smile for five minutes, I did my job, man.
Brian Noe is a columnist for BSM and an on-air host heard nationwide on FOX Sports Radio’s Countdown To Kickoff. Previous roles include stops in Portland, OR, Albany, NY and Fresno, CA. You can follow him on Twitter @TheNoeShow or email him at bnoe@premierenetworks.com.
