After co-hosting morning drive on WFAN for four days last week, Jon “Stugotz” Weiner returned to The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Monday morning where his colleagues celebrated his birthday, teasing a special gift early in the show. Later in the program, it was discovered that the gift was a surprise interview with SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio host Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo, someone whom Weiner looks up to from his days at WFAN. Upon discovering that Russo was joining the show, he conveyed his excitement and proclaimed that it was the best gift the show could have for him.
Le Batard asked Russo if he heard Weiner on WFAN last week, leading him to reply that he heard the “nonsense” that he was disseminating and his thoughts on long baseball games. Russo then wanted to know how Weiner felt on his birthday, eliciting a response of feeling old. Weiner, who turned 52 years old, said he felt old for his age after working in sports media for several decades and hosting four hours a day. Russo contested this assertion by outlining some of the things Weiner has done over the last year, including the success of the program, guests he has been able to interview and other radio stations wanting to utilize him during a holiday week.
“You know what Doggie – I needed this,” Weiner said. “Thank you, and that’s why you are the greatest gift that I could receive today. I needed perspective. You are right. Life is great, Doggie. I now feel energized again.”
From there, Le Batard mentioned a story of Weiner departing New York City following his time hosting on WFAN, a stint during which he woke up between 3:45 and 4:15 a.m. to arrive for the show. Weiner needed to drive up to Rochester, N.Y. afterwards, a lengthy trip from New York City, and by the time he arrived at his hotel, the sun was setting. As he walked through the doors, a woman who was exiting the hotel thought that he was her grandfather, a reality Russo deemed as being “rough.”
“Nothing ages you more than getting up and watching the clock if you can’t sleep – [it] is an unmitigated disaster,” Russo said. “I sense that sometimes on the Wednesdays when I get up earlier to run into Manhattan. You are 1000% correct, but you were successful. A big hit as usual, and now you’re back in your normal domain here with Dan.”
Russo previously hosted on WFAN alongside Mike Francesa for 19 years as part of Mike and the Mad Dog, an afternoon drive show that lasted for five-and-a-half hours. Reflecting back on his time with Francesa, Russo recognizes that he could have handled the dynamic between he and his co-host in a better manner. Although hosting for a long duration was difficult, Russo mentioned that the hardest thing he ever did in the industry was hosting five commercial-free hours on Sirius when he arrived in 2008. When Weiner was on WFAN last week, he mentioned that he was making one last push towards joining the station; however, Le Batard feels that he got caught last week for not watching the sporting events being discussed on the show, such as the Subway Series between the New York Mets and New York Yankees.
“Sports talk now has become a six- or seven-month deal with NFL,” Russo said. “Once you get to, say, middle of February into, say, Aug. 1, sports talk becomes a lot harder. There’s no question about it.”
Outside of his Mad Dog Unleashed program on SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio and High Heat on MLB Network, Russo makes weekly appearances on ESPN’s First Take. Every week, he presents a segment where he brings up topics towards which he is mad and provides added levity and entertainment within the show. Russo intends to do the show for as long as the wave continues, and he also recently signed a three-year contract extension to remain on SiriusXM. When Le Batard asked which stint of his career was most rewarding and fulfilling, he articulated his gratitude towards the present moment.
“I think now when you’re 64 years of age making the adjustment to going on there once a week for a couple of hours and sort of moving the needle,” Russo said. “Still doing the radio and being relatively successful with that. I would say – and just the overall last, just all the shows that you do and the fact that people [have] kind of discovered you this late in your life – I’d have to say now, plus throw in High Heat with the baseball, still doing that.”
As the segment concluded, Russo promised that he would co-host a program with Weiner next year on SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio. While the offer initially was to have Weiner travel to New York City to appear on the air, Le Batard mentioned that he thought it was going to be in Miami. Russo stated that SiriusXM has a studio in Miami and that he would come down to the city to take the air with Weiner.
“Congratulations Stugotz, you’ve arrived at 52 years old,” Le Batard said. “I had to go to Africa and to safari to get rejuvenated. You, with the birthday gift of Mad Dog, giving you the perspective.”
