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Mad Dog stays loose in first show

Neil Best

September 16, 2008

What was Chris Russo's first official show for Sirius XM Satellite Radio like yesterday?

To borrow a familiar Russo phrase: loosey goosey.

Sure, the topics were more national in scope than at his longtime perch at WFAN, and he had to talk more than ever, with fewer commercial breaks and no partner.

But the loosey, at times goofy, Russo of "Mad Dog Unleashed" was instantly recognizable to anyone who listened to "Mike and the Mad Dog" during the previous 19 years.

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It began at 2:05 with his familiar opening, although he replaced "good afternoon everybody" with "good day everybody," a nod to listeners in the Pacific time zone.

And within the first hour or so, Russo had pronounced discombobulated "discombodulated," Darth Vader "Darth Vardar" and carnauba wax "carnoba wax."

Mostly, Russo seemed if not "unleashed," then at least unburdened, happy to have begun his new $3-million-a-year career as a solo act after dissolving his partnership with Mike Francesa. (The two have not spoken since Aug. 15, when Russo called Francesa on the air the day after their breakup.)

Russo insisted he wasn't nervous and demonstrated it by chatting with several reporters until about two minutes before the show began. He even enjoyed the view from the 36th floor in midtown Manhattan after two decades in a basement in Astoria.

"There's windows!" he said.

During a break later, he was asked if he was enjoying the lack of tension. "Yeah, it's nice and easy," he said. "Mike's got his thing and I have my thing."

Francesa will continue doing his thing afternoons on WFAN, still enjoying a far more visible, influential platform in New York.

Russo understood when he took this job that many of his regular listeners no longer would hear him, and understands he must juggle a broader range of topics.

"That's the trick," he said. "Can I keep New York in the mix and will people in Seattle get into it?"

Russo led with Sunday's Chargers-Broncos game - repeatedly hammering referee Ed Hochuli - "partly because if I lead with Jets-Pats, I can see people out there in Lincoln saying, 'Oh, here we go again, another New York guy on, blah, blah, blah.' "

At WFAN, Francesa quickly got to the two big local issues of the day: the Mets' bullpen and the Jets' play-calling.

On Sirius, Russo waited until 2:22 to mention Luis Ayala and Eric Mangini, but only to illustrate what he was not talking about. He didn't come back to Ayala until 3:57.

Among the first callers were one from Miami and two from Virginia, but at one point five of six callers on hold had area codes that indicated they were from the New York region.

Russo has been so concerned about offending non-New Yorkers that some at the station were worried he was overcompensating.

"They made a good point: 'Remember, Chris, we have a million subscribers in New York; don't -- the subscribers in New York off,"' he said.

Russo's first studio guest was NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who has a show on XM. He also got a visit from Southside Johnny and calls from Joe Torre and Bud Selig. After signing off at 7, he gave himself a grade of B for the show.

By late October, Russo hopes to launch his 24-hour channel, "Mad Dog Radio," at which time the show will be available on the Internet to subscribers. (Russo negotiated rights to the "Mad Dog" nickname from WFAN, which owned the trademark.)

Russo went to his first break by comically blurting out, "I don't even know what the telephone number is!" before recalling it is 1-888-MADDOG6.

"What did you think I was going to call it? Francesa?" he later told a caller about the number. "I wasn't going to do that."

Sound bites

Michael Kay has re-signed for another three years as YES' Yankees play-by-play man, which will take him through his 10th season with the network, a person familiar with the deal said . . . Brian Kenny has left 1050 ESPN's midday show, where he partnered with Max Kellerman, because new opportunities at ESPN complicated his schedule, program director Aaron Spielberg said ... SNY named Don McPherson and Ray Lucas Big East football studio analysts . . . Delta Air Lines will be a "signature partner" at Citi Field, Sports Business Journal reported.