I might root for the bad guy in a movie. I sometimes root for the heel in pro wrestling. But in sports radio, I’ll only root for the good people. No exceptions. Damon Amendolara is one of the best humans you will find in the industry. He makes it easy to root for him.
D.A. has begun a brand new opportunity at SiriusXM this week. The D.A. Show with Babchik now airs in morning drive on Mad Dog Sports Radio. While D.A. is incredibly happy to begin this new journey, he was deeply torn about leaving his audience and co-workers at CBS Sports Radio.
You can’t fake being a good person. It’s eventually going to show whether you’re legit or not. D.A. has genuine feelings for his listeners and the people he’s worked with. He didn’t just shrug his shoulders and say, “ehh, on to the next one”.
Some hosts are about themselves; D.A. is about other people and the industry itself. Couple that with a great work ethic, obvious talent and a sincere caring for others, how do you not root for a guy like that?
Damon Amendolara made time to talk about the emotional closing of one chapter, and the uncontained excitement of teaming up with Mike Babchik and Sirius. He also talks about getting called out by a big name and hoping he’s not Terry Glenn. Enjoy!
Brian Noe: What went into your decision to move on from CBS to go to SiriusXM?
Damon Amendolara: Well, CBS Sports Radio was an amazing place to work for 11 years because they really trusted me and my vision of the show. I don’t ever take that for granted. They really believed in what my vision was, which was sometimes eccentric, sometimes a little off-the-wall, sometimes absurdist, but they believed in it. I never really wanted to leave necessarily, but SiriusXM came to me and they knew the show.
Eric Spitz had been my old boss at CBS. He had launched CBS Sports Radio, so I had the connection with him. He knew my show, he liked my show, and he kind of came to me and said, “We want what you do there, over here. And we want to take what you do and kind of put a rocket booster on it”.
We talked about some details about what that could mean, what that looks like, but really, I just loved the idea of taking what I’ve done for so long, and kind of jumping into the resources and the assets and the support system that SiriusXM gives you. You’re just talking about a wealth of guests, of branding, of event planning, marketing, social media push, PR. These are all things that I was just dazzled by.
The other thing was they really cared about my listeners. I care deeply about my listeners. They said, “We want all of them to come over, what can we do for them?” I listed off some of the things that I thought we needed to take it to the next level and they said, “Let’s do it”. They’re starting by giving them three months for free, a D.A. Show listener special. And saying let’s plan events, and let’s do this for them, and let’s think about them. That meant a lot because it would take a lot for me to have left CBS.
BN: When the press release came out, Eric Spitz said, “D.A. is one of the brightest stars in sports radio today.” When you read those words, what does something like that mean to you coming from him?
DA: That’s funny that you picked that out. You’ve got a good nose for this stuff because that was really impactful for me. Eric and I have had a lot of honest conversations, but he can be a tough coach. When I worked for him at CBS Sports Radio, I knew that he respected me, but you rarely get that type of gloss. So to come through the battles that we’ve had together, and then he left for Sirius five years ago, and for us to reconnect, and for him to say that publicly was really quite the, wow, he’s talking about me?
When it’s said about you, you rarely think of yourself in those terms, you kind of put your head down every day and you try to do a good show. You try to connect to the listeners and you hope that it’s recognized on the outside. But as you know, it’s rare to feel accolades or to see those things said in print about you or said out loud by decision-makers. I read that and I said, wow, I guess he really does like me. [Laughs]
BN: [Laughs] I’m in the cool club, man. I made it.
DA: Yeah, it’s like after you retire, the head coach who coached you hard for all those years finally said, “You know what? You were one of my favorite players”. And you’re like, “Wow, I never heard that before”. That’s nice.
BN: So is this like you’re Phil Simms and he’s Parcells or something like that?
DA: [Laughs] It certainly feels that way. I hope I’m not Terry Glenn. Maybe it was more like Belichick who coached these guys really hard and then brought them over to the Patriots like Pepper Johnson or something like that.
BN: Yeah, there you go. It’s funny, man, I had a flashback just a couple of minutes ago. I was doing radio in Fresno. There was an offensive coordinator at the time at Fresno State, Jim McElwain. He got a new job at Alabama. He was going to be their offensive coordinator over there. So there’s a press conference announcing this, and I go up to him and I said, what was this decision like for you? I expected him to give me this, “Oh yeah, it was difficult, but you’d know that it was a no-brainer”; he’s going to Alabama, right?
He looked at me and he had tears in his eyes, and he goes, “Gut-wrenching”. It was just an eye-opener of like, holy cow, it’s not just about going to a bigger school or a bigger platform. You’ve got relationships, you’ve got history, that’s not easy to walk away from. So as that relates to you and CBS, how would you describe that whole part of this decision?
DA: That right there, what you just said is really good insight into a decision like this. SiriusXM has these beautiful studios. Howard Stern is in the building, or at least his studios are. You’ve got concerts in there, and musicians and actors in there. You’re filled with these creative juices, these celebrities, the popular people. You would think, “Man, of course, it’s a slam dunk”. And yes, those things are so attractive to be around and be part of, but when you’re at a place for 11 years you develop really close bonds with your team and with your listeners.
My team that I had at CBS, unfortunately, couldn’t come with me; they’re too valuable over there. I can’t wait to work with the crew over at Sirius, but you leave those guys behind that you’ve built something so dearly with. So yeah, it’s much like a sports team, where you ask this of your guys, and you’ve got to block for me here, you’ve got to trust me on this, we’ve got to run it this way. Then they do and you have success, and then you have to leave them. That’s a hard thing.
The way that I described it on the air was it’s not sad, it’s just hard. I’m super excited. I’m really excited, really thrilled, and really happy. There’s a part of me that is just beaming about all of this, but I’m a loyal guy. I ask my guys to be loyal to the show and to each other. I ask the listeners to be loyal to the show as well. And then you feel like you’re breaking that bond, your word with them.
You ask everybody to believe in your vision to follow me, this is how it’s going to work, and I believe it’s going to work, and now I’m the one that breaks that bond. That is the hardest part of this to feel like you’re turning your back on people that you asked to follow you. It’s like every day, come follow, the show is good, come listen, this is great, you’re gonna love it. And then you go, oh, and now I’m leaving.
I just hate breaking that bond, but it’s one of those things where in this industry you’re builders and destroyers when you move on to different shows. It’s just part of it and I hope people can come along.
BN: How do you envision working with Babs now?
DA: He is such a wild card. There’s so many stories of Babchik around the industry. They’re all positive, but they all kind of end with, yeah, he’s a lunatic. But he’s a great guy. I didn’t come in with any preconceived notions, I just kind of knew that high-energy, funny dude, people really like him. I sat down with him for lunch a couple of times and then we talked on the phone. What I realized was, he’s so sharp and so fast, his wit and his brain works at like 1.5 speed. And it’s brilliant.
He always has a one-liner, his comedic timing is so good. He’s always at the front of a conversation with the line that he can then leave the conversation with. And it’s like, wow, how did you just do that? I feel like I walk into a room and I can have a conversation with anybody, but he leads, and then he drops the mic and everybody laughs and he walks away. It’s very much like a Costanza thing. It’s amazing to watch.
I get such a kick out of him. I’m so excited to just see what it’s like to work with him every day. I love it because it’s going to keep me engaged every minute. Because he’s so quick, I’ve got to make sure that I stay on his wavelength.
Maybe sometimes I’ll follow it. Maybe sometimes I won’t because it’ll be like, wow, dude, you just got to do that on your own right now. [Laughs] But I’m super excited just to combine the two energies. I think it’s going to be wild.
BN: It’s almost like music in a way. Van Halen had their sound with David Lee Roth and now you come in and you’re the new singer. How do you approach a show when Babs worked with Evan Cohen for so long? Do you keep that in mind at all, or do you just start fresh?
DA: I need to be very respectful of the team that they have and the dynamic that they’ve created because they’ve been very successful themselves, whether it’s Babchik, Louie Gold is the producer, Britt is the board op, they have done it together. And I’m coming in.
The last thing I want to do is be like, trash everything you’ve done before, this is the way we’re going to do it. I have to respect the fact that they’ve done it and they’ve done it together and they have something there as well.
I want to be respectful of what they’ve already done, but then also say this is what my strength is and this is what I can provide to add to this and, hopefully, build it up. What I’ve found is that they’re really open to that. The meetings that we’ve had, the lunches that we’ve had, they’ve been like, yeah, bring it, let’s combine the forces.
That’s an exciting proposition when everybody in the room is like, “Yeah, we want everybody to collaborate on this”. But you’re right, it is like creating music. Everybody’s got to understand the rhythm, and once you get the rhythm down, if you have good people and talented people around you, it’ll be great, and I know that they’re super talented.
BN: What do you make of the irony that one minute you’re getting blasted by Mike Francesa for using your initials on the air…
DA: [Laughs]
BN: …and now you’re on his former partner’s channel, you’re on Mad Dog now?
DA: It’s amazing how this industry tends to just go full circle all of the time. You’re kind of like jammed into this one little room of the party with the same people and you just keep bumping into them all the time. It’s why I’ve tried to never leave on a bad note, blast somebody, make enemies. That thing with Francesa was so innocuous. I had no intent to create a battle or a war and it led to that.
I appeared on the Mike and the Mad Dog 30 for 30 as one of the talking heads that grew up listening to them. There’s a video that circulates on YouTube of me interviewing those guys back in high school for my high school project, my communications class 25 years ago. And now to work with Russo, to be the morning show to his afternoon show is so freaking wild.
I don’t know if Francesa still hates that I use my initials, but I would just tell him, it’s not even been my choice. Program directors just said your last name is hard to pronounce, you just gotta go by your initials. I said, all right, fine. [Laughs] And for the rest of my career, it’s just going to be how it’s branded.
So it’s actually worked well and I hope Mike understands that it’s worked well. I just hope he’s not sitting at home, gritting his teeth that the kid in his mid-40s with the initials is still doing it, and is now doing it with Russo. [Laughs]
BN: What are your short-term and long-term goals for your new show?
DA: Short term, I want to bring my audience as much as I can to Sirius and show them that we can supercharge the show with all of the resources we get at Sirius. And for the SiriusXM Mad Dog listeners, I want them to be introduced to a brand of sports radio that I think is really unique.
I like to pride us on being the place where you can come for really thoughtful sports analysis, that has to be our foundation, but willing to be self-deferential, self-deprecating, and a place where you’re going to get an element of zany, an element of ridiculous, an element of let’s push the envelope for an eccentric sense of humor.
It has to sound different or else nobody’s going to really care. I think it’s going to sound different in a really cool way because that’s how my mind works and because Babs is such a unique personality. I just want to tap into that.
Then the long-term goal is I want to push every button and pull every lever at Sirius XM to see what we can supercharge. I look at it almost like you’re in the Death Star, and you’ve got this massive panel of buttons and computers going.
And you’re just like, “If I press this, what happens? If I pull this lever, what happens? What does this computer do?” I’ve never worked at a place that had this many assets and this many people looking to help shows, to help channels. That’s the job, to help the channel supercharge.
I walked into the building the other day and you’re just like, there’s so many creative people in here and so many verticals. If you can just tap into some of the talent and knowledge, if you can tap into some of the branding, the resources, the event planning, what more could I ask for?
It’s kind of overwhelming. It’s a little bit like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. You go in there and you’re like, there’s all of these flavors? And I can taste any of them? So long-term, I want to know everybody in that building in every department and go, what’s the strength here? And how can we utilize this to put the rocket boosters on?
BN: Yeah, man. I hear you. Well, I’m excited for you. I hope you enjoy it. I hope it’s a great opportunity for you.
DA: Thanks, bro. Thank you, I appreciate that.
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.
