Pitt’s radio pregame show will have a new sound in 2019, and it’s proving to be an unpopular change with Pitt fans thus far.
Broadcast partner 93.7-FM The Fan announced its broadcast lineup for the upcoming season on Tuesday.
The final two hours of the three-hour pregame show will still feature Larry Richert and former Pitt quarterback Pat Bostick, as it has in the past, but a change has been made to the first hour.
For the last two seasons, former Pitt All-American tight end Dorin Dickerson has co-hosted the first hour, along with another Fan host, typically Chris Mueller.
This season, that slot will feature Fan hosts Bob Pompeani, Paul Zeise and KDKA-AM talk show host Wendy Bell. Bell is a former WTAE-TV news anchor that was fired in 2016 over a racially insensitive Facebook post.
The change from a decorated former member of the Blue and Gold to a controversial news anchor without a background in sports has not sat well with Pitt’s faithful.
https://twitter.com/mjoshdavid/status/1166528303815151616
Dickerson, who had Tweeted that he would not be part of the broadcast earlier this month, said that he was let go altogether by the station after criticizing the decision.
“I’ve just been told that the Fan is moving on from me and all football coverage,” he wrote. “In that case, I’m a free agent and my DMs are OPEN!”
UPDATE, 11:23 a.m: Dickerson tweeted that he will once again be involved with Pitt football and Steelers broadcasts on The Fan.
I don’t have anything against Dorin but he and Mueller were boring in my opinion. I really think having Bob and Paul together was an excellent idea and as far as Wendy Bell being there I feel people are being drama Queens over it. It is after all just the first hour of three. Mueller and Dickerson in my opinion sounded like two buddies shooting the breeze about the upcoming game. Bob and Paul will sound much more professional in their presentation.
If you want an example of something painful to ones ears it was when Billy Osborn called games in the absence of Pat Bostick. Bostick is excellent but having to listen to Osborn all over the place was painful and I’m extremely thankful that Osborn experiment only lasted a short time and Pat returned. Nothing against Osborn but he was terrible on radio to put it mildly.
Folks I would rather have a football analyst than Wendy Bell but as to her being a rascist she WON the lawsuit, i.e. the post was not rascist and she was improperly fired. Get your facts straight before making such an accusation. AS an attorney i am horrified at the lack of care to the facts.
Winning a lawsuit proves something? I guess OJ didn’t kill anyone then.
Bigot Wendy Bell should not be allowed on the air let alone being involved in Pitt Football. The Fan has become pretty much unlistenable due to the constant stream of commercials that never allow the hosts to get in any kind of rhythm or have good discussions. But I would rather here 10 United Way or Get your Diploma public service announcements than hear Wendy Bell say anything.
I hope that the pregame show is reduced to two hours in the future. I really like the show with Pat Bostick and Larry Richert and I wish that was all there was. Wendy Bell did turn out to be annoying talking about corn getting on her feet and offering zero enlightening about football whatsoever. I don’t understand why a woman has to be injected into everything. And if you do inject the mandatory woman at least get one that knows something about football. The first hour is a stinker so far. Just get rid of it altogether.