By DSR Staff
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
December 27, 2013
[Editor’s Note: After a one-year hiatus, the DSR has revived our year-end awards given out to the Detroit Media. Instead of one long article presenting all of the recipients at once, we will be rolling these out over the next few days. And yes, the Raggie Trophy is a Detroit snow globe, a “Made in Detroit” coffee cozy and one of Moss’s wife’s unused tampons.]
Best Sports Talk Radio Show
“The Discussion” with Matt Dery — Detroit Sports 105.1
After spending 17 years as an update reporter, a Pistons radio host and the voice of the Detroit Titans, Matt Dery found himself unemployed halfway through this year.
In July, it was an extreme long shot for Dery to win a Raggie after WXYT-FM program director Jimmy Powers didn’t re-sign Dery and then reportedly told people in the CBS Radio compound that “The Diesel” didn’t bring much to the table.
In his 17 years spanning WDFN and 97.1, Dery had very little experience hosting his own show. Yeah, Dery took calls and ran the Pistons post-game show on 97.1 and hosted a short-lived evening baseball show (In the Dugout??) on 1130.
But when 105.1 flipped to an all-sports format, Dery leapt at the opportunity to host the midday show. In what might have been an admission that his dream of getting an NBA play-by-play gig had died — and the Bowling for Dollars gig wasn’t going to pay the bills — Dery did something had he long resisted in taking a weekday sports show.
“The Discussion” almost won this award by default as it really is the only SPORTS show in town. For three hours daily, Dery’s program is the only one that focuses solely on sports. No streetlight talk. Zero light-rail debate. No interviews with the inventor of the foam finger. And no ranking of JFK’s mistresses.
(You could count Matt Shepard’s show on WDFN as another sports show, but someone would have to be listening for it to qualify. No, seriously, that program is still on the air.)
All sports. All the time. With a heavy reliance on guests. Some really, really good (Brian Kenny, Brad Ausmus) and some really, really bad (Lynn Henning, Darren McCarty).
Now, not everything on Dery’s show is perfect, even if the format might be. The host’s knowledge of any sport that isn’t basketball or baseball is severely lacking. He needs 105.1 to provide him a co-host or a strong update guy to bounce ideas off of. He also uses that shticky, “Let’s talk about the Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiionnnnnnnnss” voice way too much.
And Matt, you are not Howard Stern. Stop trying to cultivate a wackpack. That @Arab_Money_Abe is annoying and brings the show to a screeching halt whenever you pick up his call. He’s not Hanzi, no matter how hard you try.
Otherwise, the show is pretty good and is the only listenable sports program in Motown. It’s not caller driven. It’s not “guy talk” or whatever the fuck is going on down the FM dial. And the host actually has a brain.
Only in Detroit would that formula be hard to duplicate.
Honorable Mention: There are none.
Best Sports Talk Radio Show — “The Discussion” with Matt Dery
Worst Sports Talk Radio Show — “The Drew Lane Show”
Best Local TV Anchor — Lindsey Hayes — Fox Sports Detroit
Best Media Twitter Account — Tony Paul — @TonyPaul1984
Worst Media Twitter Account — TIE (@TerryFoster971 and @VGoodwill)
Worst Article/Column of the Year — Pat Caputo — Oakland Press
Best Article/Column of the Year — John Niyo — Detroit News
Best TV Broadcast Team – George Blaha and Greg Kelser — Fox Sports Detroit
Worst TV Broadcast Team – Mario Impemba and Rod Allen — Fox Sports Detroit
Best Radio Broadcast Team – Dan Miller and Jim Brandstatter — 97.1
Worst Radio Broadcast Team – Dan Dickerson and Jim Price — 97.1 Best Beat Writer – David Mayo — MLive.com
Worst Beat Writer – John Lowe — Detroit Free Press
Worst Columnist – Jeff Seidel — Detroit Free Press
Worst Media-Related Restaurant Disaster – Coming Soon
The Jamie Samuelsen Award – Jamie Samuelsen — 97.1 and Detroit Free Press
Craig Monroe Memorial Award — Bill Shea — Crain’s Detroit
Best Columnist – John Niyo — Detroit News