Update: 10:05 a.m. Earlier we’d reported that Tony Kornheiser of ESPN Radio would be taking the summer off after today, as he’d met his quota for work and the station wanted to find an alternative to fill in. According to Dan Steinberg of The Washington Post, who spoke to the station’s manager Chuck Sapienza, that’s not entirely accurate.
In balancing his vacation time, Sapienza decided it would be more interesting and valuable to have Tony on the Monday after the (U.S. Open, which is being played near D.C.) than the Wednesday before, and that having one full week of Tony would be better than two split weeks.
So Al Galdi will host next week’s shows on location from Congressional, and Kornheiser will return the following week. Tony was already scheduled to take most of July and August off; he will be replaced by Andrew Siciliano, who will do an exclusive 980 show for six weeks this summer. Still, Kornheiser will be on-air for nearly 20 days between June 1 and Labor Day.
Advertisement“He’s not taking 10 weeks off,” Sapienza said.
Kornheiser, who also co-hosts Pardon the Interruption, expressed displeasure with the arrangement during Thursday’s broadcast.
“The show is not going to be on the air next week. The decision was made by management. It’s a very complicated thing, and understand that it’s business. Look, I’m not going to agree with it, but I’m not going to go nuts,” Kornheiser said. “I have a contractual arrangement that allows me to do a certain number of shows. I reached that number of shows, so economically, the station decided they’d rather have someone else and not pay me for any more shows. That’s fine.”
Steinberg asked Sapienza if he minded taking shots from Kornheiser.
“I like when Tony gets all riled up,” he said. “I think it’s good for the show. Tony’s at his best when he’s railing against somebody, and if it happens to be me, great. Tony was being Tony. He’s entertaining, that’s what he’s doing, and it’s fine, it’s perfectly fine.”