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View Full Version : Dusty Saunders: Sandy Clough continues to serve Denver sports radio proud



Rob
September 3rd, 2012, 04:16 PM
From the Denver Post:

Does your radio sports memory go back 33 years?

Sandy Clough often hosted "Bronco Talk" on KOA 850 AM after the team's Sunday afternoon games.

The sessions never won Clough awards for congeniality, particularly when fans attempted to defend the Broncos' mediocre performance.

Clough's reply to one hard-core fan is legendary: "Sir, you are an idiot!"

Click. End of conversation.

It was not unusual for Clough to hang up on unhappy fans.

Today, a more mature, 55-year-old Clough cultivates his callers — as long as they bring legitimate commentary and questions to his program.

To my knowledge, Clough hasn't referred to a caller as an idiot in quite a while.

But he does expect give-and-take dialogue that supercedes "How are you doin' today?" questions.

And Clough uses words such as "surrealistic" and "precipitous" — not heard regularly on sports talk radio.

This style and use of the English language has set Clough apart as a Denver sports broadcaster.

Logic and statistics regularly replace cheerleading when Clough discusses local teams.

While not necessarily the most popular sports talk host, Clough ranks as the most erudite and linguistic.

Clough, working in a special Sunday morning time period on 104.3 FM The Fan, provided listeners with a measured, factual account of how the CSU football team beat CU 22-17 on Saturday.

And he was aided by several callers whose interaction contributed additional thoughtful commentary. (Clough will also host post-Broncos shows on Sunday.)

Clough has worked for several stations in the alphabet soup world of Denver radio in a variety of time periods, either solo or with a partner.

On Aug. 27, he entered a new radio world (9 a.m.-noon weekdays), following three years of evening talk on The Fan.

And his new time-period show seemed to run smoothly as Clough mixed talk from callers with interviews with personalities on the local and national sport scenes.

I was somewhat amazed at Clough's popularity with callers during his evening Monday through Friday time period.

Aren't sports fans supposed to be watching sports on TV during evening hours rather than talking about events on radio?

The move to morning, made by Nate Lundy, The Fan's sports director, is considered permanent — or as Clough says, "As permanent as anything is in talk radio" — because the NFL broadcast season on The Fan would have pre-empted Clough on a regular basis.

Lundy has taken over the evening time period until a replacement is found.

Clough feels his 9 a.m.-noon audience could be a "bit different," although some regular listeners have already responded.

"I'm discovering the morning callers are interested in talking about what happened overnight," Clough said. "Many of the evening fans called after digesting the events of the day."

And Clough, like other local talk show hosts, has discovered that texting has become an integral part of sports talk radio.


More (http://www.denverpost.com/dustysaunders/ci_21458193/sandy-clough-continues-serve-denver-sports-radio-proud)