Earlier this year, Jon Weiner, aka Stugotz from The Dan Le Batard Show, threw his name in the hat to become the new program director at WFAN in New York. He ultimately decided not to take the position which ultimately went to Ryan Hurley, formerly of ESPN New York.
The day it was discussed on the air, Dan Le Batard said, “I hope New York radio is flattered that someone who helped shape and shake this industry was willing to consider it at 50, but he didn’t want to work that hard.”
Stugotz replied, “Well, that hard for that amount of money.”
While Stugotz was off the program today, Le Batard, along with Billy Gil and Mike Ryan Ruiz, brought the subject back up and discussed what they believe he is really most interested in.
“I can’t believe that you are legitimately learning for the first time that Stugotz is flirting with WFAN again,” Le Batard said. “He wants to be a program director, man.”
“He doesn’t,” replied Gil.
Le Batard then said, “Well, he doesn’t want to do the work of it. He just wants the power,”
“No, he just wants the money,” Ruiz said. “He’ll outsource the power to somebody else to do it.”
Le Batard then realized that while it might be the money Stugotz was after, but since he didn’t take the position, it clearly wasn’t the amount of money he was looking for.
“That’s the thing,” Le Batard said. “He doesn’t want the money. It’s not enough money. Otherwise, he’d already be doing it at WFAN.”
“No, he wants the money that he thought was attached to the role,” Ruiz surmised.
“No, he wants all the money here and that money without doing any of the work of being program director over there,” Le Batard concluded.
“I hope he’s listening,” Ruiz later said. “I could not envision a worse program director at this point. I mean, look at how we open the show, guys. He is who he has always been. Always. But you don’t want that as a program director.”
Le Batard brought it back to what he thinks it really is all about and that is money and future contracts. Talking about it brought out some real direct conversation about the state of where things are today in the sports media industry as a whole.
“He’s angling,” Le Batard said. “The whole thing, I think, is meant to be a negotiation. I mean, contract year here for everybody. I think it’s meant to create [negotiation]. Look, man, the industry isn’t dying, but it’s shaking. When you get all of these people at ESPN who are either being asked to take pay cuts or get out of there while they give the money to just a few people, the industry really is struggling and spasming.
“And when I get scared about stuff around here, it’s at least in part because I’m not sure if we don’t make this succeed, where are these jobs in Florida? The jobs that we presently have here, where do we get them in Florida while remaining near and around our families if they’re not created by us?”
