It’s an aural assault, as if every sports radio program you ever listened to collided into one overwhelming show.
“We were here early this morning,’’ said Rich Shertenlieb, co-host with Fred Toettcher of 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Toucher and Rich.’’ “It was just us and the WEEI guys and another station or two. And then all of a sudden, I hear just this roar. ‘I’m telling you, the Giants are going to be able to do this and the Patriots can’t stop that and blah-blah-blah.’
“It was the Fox Sports guys. They were so insanely loud, I was overwhelmed for a minute.’’
The natural reaction is to become overwhelmed upon stepping through the doorway to the ballroom, and not just because of the noise arriving from all directions. It’s hard to decide where to look first, especially in the afternoon when the traffic picks up.
To the left, WFAN’s Mike Francesa wears a look suggesting he’s not going to suffer this particular caller much longer, while just a few stations away, his former on-air partner, Chris “Mad Dog’’ Russo, draws a crowd for his SiriusXM show.
At the very back of the room, the Jim Rome show’s garish blue dais and dim lighting looks more like a VIP room at a nightclub than a radio set. There are roughly a dozen ESPN affiliates scattered in various corners, including ESPN Deportes. And the 98.5 The Sports Hub and WEEI setups are within striking distance of each other along the left side.
Fans who lined the outside of the maze saw an eclectic mix of current and former athletes run the Radio Row gauntlet, though the major celebrities and entertainers typically don’t arrive until the end of the week.
