Following a 24-20 loss by the Cleveland Browns to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday afternoon, frustration regarding the team’s performance on the field seems to have boiled over to a point of indignation. On Monday morning’s edition of The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima on 92.3 The Fan, co-host Ken Carman grew frustrated with the notion of the conversation being centered around firing head coach Kevin Stefanski.
Throughout the morning, various callers participated in the show and conveyed their agitation towards Stefanski and the performance of the team. Several weeks ago, Carman’s co-host, Anthony Lima, threatened to stop taking calls on the show after everything was focused on Stefanski. The next day, the show clarified the sentiments and ensured that people would always be able to make their voices heard through calls, a unique aspect of the sports talk radio format in particular.
“I’m angry right now, but I’m not going to be stupid, Anthony, and demand for him to be fired in this position,” Carman said, leading Lima to try and share his opinion. “Hold on – hold on! You’ve held me on for a long time – listen to me.”
“It’s not monologue radio – we have conversations here,” Lima countered. “That’s what we do. I know the video cameras are on and you’re trying to make a moment.”
Carman wanted to make it clear that he was not acting angrily just to create a viral moment.
“Please teach me more about radio! Please teach me more,” Ken Carman said. “Okay, I’ll get rid of the cameras for you!”
Carman then swatted away the video camera, leaving viewers with a shot of the side of a desktop computer screen as the two hosts verbalized their exasperation throughout the segment.
“Let’s have a damn conversation because you interrupted me seven times in the last two minutes,” Lima said. “…You’re giving platitudes; I’m trying to get an understanding.”
“There’s no platitudes; there’s no platitudes,” Carman responded, his voice rising. “I’m trying to explain something to you – please explain more about radio to me. I would like you to explain radio to me. Please explain it. Explain radio. Tell me how this works.”
Lima asked Carman to give him nuance and wanted to understand why everyone was attacking Stefanski amid injuries to several members of the team, including the starting quarterback. He then shared that he felt that Carman was just looking at one play from the game to justify the remarks, predicated by many of the calls the show received.
As a result, Lima equated what his co-host stated to something that would be proffered by average football fans around the league.
“Don’t you ever accuse me of that ever again on this show!”, Carman said. “I don’t care, because you’re not listening – you just want to start some argument over Kevin Stefanski.”
“Well, that’s the whole show today,” Lima replied, “and that’s what I’m saying is every guy’s going to call up [about] and say that play. We get that.”
“No, but you’d rather start a fight with me than take the calls,” Carman asserted. “I know what you’re doing to me.”
After the station shared the segment on X, formerly Twitter, Carman apologized for his conduct.
“Tiger got out of the cage. I’m sorry,” Carman wrote. “I’ll clean it up the rest of the morning.”
