The Saga of Sonny, Sam & Frank - Part Two

Sorry guys without Frank Herzog you're dead to me

The Redskins had one of the most respected and longest-tenured radio broadcast teams in the league, a team that was universally loved by Redskins fans. Both Sonny Jurgensen and Sam Huff came from NFC Beast division rivals and went on to become two of the greatest Redskins ever. For 23 years they were teamed with local broadcaster Frank Herzog to bring the games to us, but then the business of radio got in the way and when money talks...

Part 1: The Home Team
Part 2: The Empire Builder

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In February 2004 after calling Redskins games for 25 years WJFK, the radio station with the rights to Redskins radio broadcasts announced Frank Herzog was being let go in favor of Larry Michael, then the voice of George Washington University basketball. The new broadcast team would be Sonny Jurgensen, Sam Huff & Larry Michael.

The announcement threw Redskins fans including myself into apoplexy. Sonny Sam & Frank were a team and I didn't understand why a franchise with so much history that prides itself on tradition would allow this to happen. Frank was still a young man, not even 60 and Sonny and Sam were over 70 when the decision was announced (they were both born in 1934).

The team claimed it was out of the loop on the decision:

Redskins spokesman Karl Swanson said the team had no role in the decision.

"We were notified by Alan today that they decided to make the change," Swanson said. "We had no input and wouldn't want any input. It's their business in how they choose to staff it. . . . If they had asked us, and they didn't, we would have pointed to Larry. He's been very involved in their broadcasts and knows this team very well."

The piece mentions just very briefly, after his broadcast bona fides, that he is more than an on-air talent:

WJFK also announced [Larry Michael] would become the station's sports director, but will continue in his role as senior vice president of Westwood One.

SVP of Westwood One? The big radio network that broadcasts all the sporting events? Exsqueeze me?

This WaPo piece winds up on the classic it will be hard at first but you'll get used to it note:

[WJFK station manager Alan] Leinwand acknowledged that fans might not be happy with the station's decision, but said: "I think when the season begins and the excitement of football begins again, people are just looking for a good broadcast and that is what they'll find.

Like some dumbass station manager thinks his new boy is such a hot property we'll just forget about the last 25 years.

As the 2004 season loomed, the WaPo ran with some more background on what had happened with Frank's unceremonious departure, and the short version is that Larry wanted the job and is powerful enough in the radio business that he got the job.

Larry is not ashamed to admit that he had wanted the job for years but then again I want the job too. The difference between me and Larry Michael is that I don't make decisions about which games are broadcast on Westwood One's national radio doubleheaders and Larry does. More exposure is obviously desirable for the team but it is especially good for whomever has the rights to the broadcast and is making the money from the advertisements, which obviously will sell for more if you can promise more ears are listening.

WJFK is owned by Infinity Broadcasting which is a division of Viacom. So Alan Leinwand, VP-GM of WJFK works for the same large organization as Larry Michael, SVP of sports for Westwood One, which is also a division of Viacom.

Did we mention that Larry is unabashedly ambitious and chalks up most of the unpleasantness surrounding him in the business to envy and 'being a manager?'

So the radio stationed owned by the company that is owned by the company that owns the company that Larry works for hires Larry to do play by play for Redskins games and on the days when Larry is not doing play by play for the Redskins he decides which NFL teams will be heard nationwide which could include him and the broadcast owned by the company that is owned by the company that owns the company that Larry works for.

No conflict of interest there. No reason at all to suspect collusion between the team, the station and the network, none at all. And Larry leaves behind him a trail of stepped on heads and industry pros wondering aloud why he would so obviously use his position in programming to benefit his career on air.

And here's a little tidbit that seems to contradict the team's assertion that they had no input in the decision to let go of the guy that had been doing play by play since Jack Pardee was coach:

Leinwand said he had decided by the end of January to fire Herzog, 59. The Redskins were consulted and acquiesced.

You don't acquiesce to something you have no input on. The Redskins signed off on the firing of Frank Herzog.

The review of the first broadcast was pretty harsh but that would have been expected of anyone coming after Frank Herzog, and does not fail to note that WJFK had sold every aspect of the broadcast to sponsors. No doubt at premium rates based on expectations of national coverage.

WJFK declined to pay another 10 million dollars to continue its license after the 2005 season and when the broadcasts went over to Dan Snyder's Triple X ESPN Radio, Sonny Sam & Larry were brought with.

Of course right, since even though a Viacom station doesn't own the broadcast anymore the guy that does play by play and makes no bones about being ambitious as a broadcaster also still makes the decisions about which games are carried on a national broadcast. If you were a broadcaster with the goal of the widest possible exposure for yourself wouldn't you consider your broadcast every week?

I have not listened to the broadcast when I had a choice since the switch, with apologies to Sonny & Sam. When I am in my car I'll listen to it on Sirius, but often Larry annoys me and I switch to the other broadcast (Sirius streams both teams' radio broadcasts). I'd rather suffer through the Z team of Brian Baldingfaster and pre-arrest Bill Maas on Fox TV than respect the decision to toss Frank out on his ass and tell the fans they'll get used to it.

All told Frank Herzog did 498 consecutive Redskins broadcasts over 25 years from 1979 to 2004. Although he is still on local TV and I can see Frank whenever I want, he is missed on Redskins broadcasts.

Sam Huff, Sonny Jurgensen and Frank Herzog, the one and only radio broadcast team for the Redskins from here.