It took him a year-and-a-half to pull it off, but Chris Dimino ultimately achieved his goal of welcoming legendary New York Yankees shortstop and broadcaster Phil Rizzuto to his podcast, Hardball: MLB History In First Person. Former Yankees pitcher Whitey Ford ultimately helped seal the deal, imploring Rizzuto to accept the invitation and share parts of his career with the audience.
A project that originally began as a part of on-air studio programming for Atlanta Braves games on the radio, Dimino launched the podcast in order to have more purview over the style and length of the conversations with iconic figures of our national pastime. There are times when he calls a landline phone that is answered by a family member who helps connect them to the former star of the sandlot. Furthermore, there have been moments where he’s been unsure if a conversation of substance will occur altogether.
One example of such pertains to decorated Boston Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams, someone whom Dimino was informed about beforehand in that he may only be able to appear on the podcast for a few minutes. Entering the conversation, Dimino was hoping that the heart problems Williams was suffering from would subside and allow him to participate. Twenty-seven minutes later, Dimino had spoken to a titan of the sport and recorded a conversation that stands the test of time. According to the wife of Williams’ son, it was the last full-length media appearance Williams did before his death in 2002.
“I think they respect the idea that somebody wants to talk to them,” Dimino said. “I love that [and] I love when you hear that a phone call ends like that [where] somebody is thanking you almost as much as you’re thanking them for their time.”
Dimino is a proponent of audio history, utilizing the breadth of the medium to document stories and occurrences for posterity. Through his daily radio program on 680 The Fan, he has a platform to communicate with listeners in real-time; however, there are certain constraints radio has as opposed to podcasts.
While he understands how fundamental a clock is in radio, it can limit conversations and the full scope of storytelling. There have been numerous occasions where he has been told that he doesn’t respect that stations utilize advertising to help them pay bills. Working for Dickey Broadcasting, an independent media company, his boss is right down the hallway, something he affirms can be both good and bad. Nonetheless, with the dynamic and evolving state of media today, he feels fortunate and grateful to be employed by the entity.
“I certainly know that a lot of the bigger companies are dealing with stuff now, and when you’re dealing with stuff, there’s a chance that things can change pretty quickly,” Dimino said. “We’re not immune to that, but I think there are conversations that might be a little bit different than what you would have in the bigger companies.”
For the last three decades, Dimino has been a fixture on sports radio in Atlanta, achieving profound success in a career path and locale that came together somewhat by happenstance. Originally from the New York metropolitan area, Dimino developed an infatuation with sports from a young age. He was more interested in speaking with adults than many of his other friends and also frequently consumed WFAN, specifically Mike and the Mad Dog, during the afternoon drive daypart.
While he was attending school at Rutgers University majoring in American history and English, Dimino worked as a bartender to garner more money. He frequently took 21 credits each semester in order to expedite his graduation and spoke with New York sports fans about the teams while working.
Dimino went back to the school at the age of 29 thinking that he would become a lawyer until a friend from high school suggested he become a chiropractor. While his friend went to study in Davenport, Iowa, Dimino decided to visit Atlanta and determined that the metropolis could be a viable place for him to live. Immediately after his final exam at Rutgers, he moved to the city with his Jeep on the back of a moving truck and enrolled at Life College the next day.
Even though he moved away from New York City, Dimino continued to listen to sports radio and frequently called into Scott Ferrell’s program on 680 The Fan in Atlanta. One day when program director Mike Thompson expressed that he was looking for a new personality on the air, Ferrell’s producer mentioned Dimino, although they did not have any of his information. The producer vowed that he would get it if he called back, and the outlet eventually hired Dimino to work three days a week in afternoon drive while he was still studying to become a chiropractor.
Thompson made it clear to Dimino that he was being hired and given the opportunity because of the conversation skills he fostered as a bartender. In fact, there were several instances where he reminded Dimino why he hired him and that if he ever forgot it, he would be fired. A few years later, WSB-AM sent him to Atlanta Braves spring training in Florida for seven weeks, which required him to make a decision regarding his future. In the end, Dimino chose to stay with radio and left Life College nine months short of earning his chiropractic degree.
“I used to say that I got to make a left-hand turn closer to the field and court instead of making a right-hand turn going up to the bleachers,” Dimino said, “so I appreciated it, but I didn’t think it would lead to this.”
Dimino ultimately joined 790 The Zone where he worked in mornings with Steak Shapiro and Nick Cellini on Mayhem in the A.M. The program possessed a bar mentality and took a conversational approach, inviting viewers to essentially pull up a chair and listen to the show. There were times when the on-air interactions became confrontational especially when segments were controversial.
In the summer of 2013, Cellini conducted a faux interview with Steve Gleason, a former safety on the New Orleans Saints battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). During the segment, the program utilized a robotic voice to simulate how the interview may sound since Gleason was utilizing a specialized computer that permitted him to type with his eyes and have that writing converted to speech. On the same day this segment aired, all three hosts were suspended indefinitely and promptly terminated from the outlet in a story that gained national attention.
“It’s not a secret – 790, it was, I don’t want to say there were no rules, but we went out,” Dimino said. “We went to games; we drank on the air. It was sort of that.”
Despite being offered a chance to return to the station several months later, Dimino opted to sign with 680 The Fan to join its morning show, Rude Awakening, which he worked on with Perry Laurentino and Christopher Rude. Although he was excited to join the program, he was unable to appear on the air due to a non-compete clause in his previous contract with 790 The Zone. As a result, he began working at the outlet on a part-time basis working in sales and production, along with conducting Braves spring training interviews.
Just a few months after Dimino began appearing on air, Laurentino was let go by the outlet, an opportunity for Cellini to return to the radio airwaves. He eventually became a part of the full-time morning show cast, comprising a trio that worked together for parts of three years before Dickey Broadcasting neglected to renew Rude’s contract. Through it all, he continued to gain an affinity for the marketplace and raised a family who share fandom for the local teams.
“This town is worth defending; it really is,” Dimino said. “There are things like every other town, but if you win people show up.”
Since Rude left the station, Dimino has hosted with Cellini, rekindling a partnership that started at 790 The Zone. Ahead of each show, Cellini diligently prepares by creating show sheets and taking notes about what to discuss while keeping the show on time. While Dimino also prepares for each show, his style is different and impugns the clock. Ahead of each show, he checks the same eight websites in the same order, something he deems to be ridiculous as a person who does not believe in structure. Additionally, he prints out stories and reveals that he has been accused of killing various trees.
“I have a blue book that I write in every day to make sure that I get to make sure that I get to something that I think is important,” Dimino said. “I listen – I think I’m a good listener to not only my partner, but to other things I might hear on the radio to try and put a spin on it.”
In working with Cellini, Dimino sees an evident maturation over the years and his ability to delve beyond the countenance of a story. Anyone can read stats, he affirms, but what remains critical is being able to tell the story behind those numbers. Cellini also continues to anchor characterizations of former athletes, and there are instances where neither of them know it is coming until he begins.
“We believe if we entertain ourselves, somebody else is being entertained,” Dimino said. “That’s sort of the unwritten, unspoken mantra of this show all these years. Let’s entertain ourselves – we have a little bit of an audience on the other side of the glass, and some hosts like that; some don’t. We know what hits and what doesn’t; we know what to go back to.”
Hosting in middays presents a different challenge for the program since most listeners are cognizant of the scores from the night before. The timeslot is also more conducive to breaking news, meaning that both hosts need to be ready to pivot away from the discussion to talk about stories that require real-time attention.
“We joke [that] 80% of what we read going into the door that day will never be talked about but we have it in our back pocket,” Dimino said. “I don’t think that’s changed, but I do think that there’s less hurriedness.”
Understanding storylines is pivotal to keep people interested and entertained by the program, something that is magnified to remaining hyperlocal as a local radio host. Despite it being important to cover what will be front-page news, Dimino also tries to unearth the hidden gems and bring them to the forefront before they become a big story.
“I think you better understand this many years into it what plays,” Dimino said. “Again, Georgia being 9-3 is good, [but] 3-9 and 12-0 is much better than 9-3. The Braves being a fringe team is not as good as them being really good, or even in the down years where you go, ‘What the hell is the rebuild going to look like; what’s the storyline?,’ and I think in this town that’s sort of the way it gets played.”
Always remembering that he was hired for the discussions and confabulations that came from bartending and calling into sports radio programs, Dimino looks to stay true to his identity. At the same time, working in media requires fostering a strong work ethic and remaining persistent. For many people, talking about sports encompasses a dream job, and Dimino always makes sure to treat it with reverence rather than insouciance.
“Autopilot is boring radio and it’s cheap,” Dimino said. “Usually those days of – and I’m not telling you I haven’t walked in hungover – but in 30 years I can tell you [that] I can count on one hand where I’ve probably been more banged up than [I] should have been.”
Being in radio for over three decades, Dimino knows that he has been the sound of various generations of listeners and oftentimes has people who thank him for his work. There are benefits in having professional rapport with general managers, coaches and players to the point where he can simply pick up the phone and call them, a testament to his longevity in the field. Yet it is the candid, outstanding feedback he receives from listeners that helps him recognize that everything he is doing is worthwhile, elicited by remaining genuine with the audience.
“This is a format that has been around for a long time. People trust you and turn to you because they think they know you,” Dimino said. “People will talk about your kids; that doesn’t happen with TV people.”
Continuing to host the midday program, cover the Falcons and anchor postgame coverage on the air and book and record episodes of his baseball-themed podcast, Dimino has a packed schedule. For as long as he has been in the industry, he has shown few signs of slowing down and is grateful to go to work each day in helping tell the story of Atlanta sports. No matter how mundane the topics of the day may be; or the success or lack thereof for local sports teams, Dimino has an inherent alacrity exuding gratitude and excitement to do his job to the best of his ability.
“I’ve said that if my key card doesn’t work, I’ll go home [and] that will be my indication that I’m sort of done,” Dimino said. “I hope that doesn’t happen for a while [because] I feel younger than I am, and I have no doubt in my mind if nothing else, I know I’m younger than I am because of this job.”
Derek Futterman is a former associate editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. Find him on X @derekfutterman.
