Packman to Raleigh Again

General Media17

Our friends over at 850 The Buzz have announced some line-up changes for their affiliate-station, 620 The Bull. (Link)

Beginning Monday, July 31st – WDNC will carry Primetime With The Packman – hosted by Mark Packer each weekday afternoon from 3:00pm – 7:00pm. The program originates from Charlotte where it has gained top ratings since coming on the air in October of 1997.

Beginning on Monday, August 28th, former East Carolina Head Football Coach Steve Logan will host a show on WDNC each weekday from 1:00pm – 3:00pm. Logan gained attention last year while co-hosting a program on WRBZ.

I am genuinely excited about these developments for the Triangle Radio market.

For years I have extolled the praise of Primetime with The Packman – originating from 610 WFNZ in Charlotte – with friends in the Triangle and on internet message boards and the like. (Link to Packman’s Blog)

Packman’s show definitely swings to some extremes sometimes…but, over the long haul of the show (a week or two) you generally get to hear enough different perspectives about a topic to say that it was covered from all angles. Packman is able to pull this off because the folks who share the studio with him change constantly by utilizing a “Daily Co-Host” format. Unfortunately, sometimes this also lends itself to extra idiocy when you have a co-host in the studio on a day when their topic of expertise is for some not relevant.

You won’t get much hockey-talk from Packer…and NOTHING that comes close to the kind of expertise and level of detail that you get from Adam Gold and others on 850 and the old 620. However, this may be part of the reason for the line-ups to be composed as they are. You will have the option of more Triangle-centric talk on 850 while having the option for more regional talk and a different format over on 620. It looks like a great move to me.

Relatedly, the May 2006 issue of Business North Carolina ran a feature on Mark Packer that is good reading and can be accessed by clicking here.

He has been around critics all his life. His father, Billy, played basketball at Wake Forest University but is better known for his caustic comments as an analyst on college-basketball games. While Mark, the oldest of his three children, was growing up in Winston-Salem, Billy Packer was gaining fame, first teaming with Jim Thacker for regional telecasts of Atlantic Coast Conference games and then with Dick Enberg and Al McGuire on NBC. These days, he works for CBS. “I never realized he was famous,� Packer says. “I thought it was kind of goofy.�

Packer grew up an N.C. State fan and took issue when his dad criticized the team. “I always thought he was out to get N.C. State. The next morning at breakfast, I’d be all over him. ‘What are you talking about with Hawkeye Whitney or Kenny Carr? That was a terrible call. What were you watching?’� He quickly found out that other fans also hated his father’s opinions. “You go to Chapel Hill, everybody thought he was out to get Carolina. I kept sitting back thinking, ‘They don’t even realize: He hates N.C. State.’ It was really kind of funny.�

General Media

17 Responses to Packman to Raleigh Again

  1. choppack1 07/14/2006 at 8:06 AM #

    Packman is a likeable fellow, but QCB and Hayseed make the show almost unbearable when they are getting airtime.

    It’s funny, I used to really look forward to driving through the Charlotte area so I could catch his show. However, they have it here now locally on 790 – and let’s just say the brief moments I have to listen to it aren’t usually that rewarding if the aforementioned have air-time – especially when you combine that w/ the “whiner line.”

    I don’t always agree w/ him and don’t necessarily trust him – but I’ll take Dave Glenn’s show over anything else locally.

  2. xcharbo 07/14/2006 at 8:15 AM #

    The Packman is the one thing I miss about Charlotte, besides REAL BBQ, since being moved to Maryland. Can’t wait until the next time I am in North Carolina…

  3. vtpackfan 07/14/2006 at 8:37 AM #

    Did Packer attend a UNC system school, or WF?

    SFN: he went to Clemson. The article talks about all of that

  4. joe 07/14/2006 at 8:57 AM #

    I think he went to Clemson.

  5. BoKnowsNCS71 07/14/2006 at 8:57 AM #

    I’ve been listening to the Packman on 1090 here in Raleigh. Agree that the others on the show can detract. But he is interesting to listen to most of the time.

    Reception for 1090 varies from good to horrible in the Raleigh area but it makes a nice alternative when Rome is on or when 850 or 620 staff get into one of those boring grooves about some topic that has been beat to death by every announcer before them for days (e.g. steroids — I know they are bad but not enough for EVERY DJ to talk endlessly about them).

    Logan can be very interesting — providing real insight into college football. I will listen to that show for sure. He’s on target about fly by night fans and the ebb and flow of programs. But I’m not sure how well he will do without a partner. Adam Gold was a good side questioner when he was on last year. Logan as a solo? We’ll see.

  6. joe 07/14/2006 at 9:12 AM #

    Logan should get plenty of calls so I think he will do OK. He really does have interesting comments about fans since now he can say whatever he wants about fans since he’s not going to go back to college coaching. (at least it seems like he’s done with college)

  7. RAWFS 07/14/2006 at 9:18 AM #

    Packer is good but he all too often relies on creating artificial controversy to get people stirred up. Sure, that’s modus operandi for much of the contemporary media, but it gets tiresome when the real issues are distorted to the point of bad comedy…and that’s what too much of Packer’s show is: bad comedy.

  8. BJD95 07/14/2006 at 9:34 AM #

    I am so very happy to have XM Radio and get the national ESPN Radio feed (especially during football season). Erik Kuselias is second to none, and is usually on when I’m driving home from work.

  9. choppack1 07/14/2006 at 10:05 AM #

    BJD95 – Does Mel Kiper have his own show on any of them?

    I thought that when it came to football – and most other subjects – he blew away the competition. He wasn’t funny – but he always had so much information. I really believe I know about as much as most sports commentators on the radio – but every time I listened to Mel, he had so much more detail than the rest of those guys.

  10. Jeff 07/14/2006 at 10:13 AM #

    Mel is on during Saturdays. He is currently paired with a woman named Amy Lawerence who is god-awful and just painful to listen to. Like Fox’s “CJ Silas” before her….Lawrence just tries way to hard and simply doesn’t have the natural, innate knowledge that is needed for the role.

    You can pretty much tell that Kiper hates the situation and he is even more snippety with her than he normally comes across.

    Like BJD…I very much enjoy Kuselias. I also enjoy the way that Colin Cowherd looks at a lot of things and conducts conversations. Nobody is perfect, but ESPN Radio is head and shoulders about ESPN Television.

  11. choppack1 07/14/2006 at 11:20 AM #

    “ESPN Radio is head and shoulders about ESPN Television.”

    Well, let’s hope so.

    That’s a shame Mel is paired w/ someone like that. Is ESPN trying to run him off? At least he’s still on Saturday’s – I’ll throw on my walkman doing yardwork pretty soon so I can hear him talk football. He’s amazing – I bet he knows more about NC State’s football personnell than 2/3rds of the fans in the stadium – and he’s like that for every BCS team.

  12. BJD95 07/14/2006 at 11:24 AM #

    Agree on Kiper – I would listen to him talk about football all day. His Saturday show is very good, despite Lawrence’s presence. Kuselias’ Sunday NFL show (recapping the early action as it happens) is essential when out with the kids or running errands.

  13. garden gnome 07/14/2006 at 11:49 AM #

    most of these radio guys are just saying the same thing over and over trying to drag out the segment and fill up time.

    David Glenn is far and away the best of all the local people.

    Adam Gold and Joe Ovies are both pretty good as well. when Ovies engineered Gold’s show, i thought they made a good pair.

    Tony Rigsbee is great. seems like he is contributing more and more in the conversations on the 620 morning show. excellent radio voice.

    of all the local people, the worst one has to be Morgan Patrick, “The Sports Pig”.

    i don’t know why, but i kind of like QCB.

  14. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 07/14/2006 at 12:51 PM #

    “most of these radio guys are just saying the same thing over and over trying to drag out the segment and fill up time.”

    In some cases this may be true but also the majority or radio listeners are tuning in and out throughout the day as opposed to listening for as much as an hour much less hours and hours. So what seems to repetitive to the ‘loyal listener’ is not to the majority of folks tuning in for 30 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes at lunch and 30 minutes on the drive home from work.

    When a host fails to prepare you will hear them repeat almost the same words over and over as opposed to just staying on the same topic. We all have our bad days it just is a little more obvious when your job is listened to or viewed by thousand of people every day.

    If it becomes repetitive to you may I suggest tune into one of a number of other free radio stations available in the Triangle market.

  15. Pack93Dec 07/15/2006 at 7:55 AM #

    I love Primetime with the Packman! I listen to it on the web every day at work till I can get in the truck and listen on the way home. I am very happy that they will be carried on a station with a better signal here in the area. Are there any plans for 620 to start streaming over the web? I would love to be able to catch Logan’s show when it starts!

  16. beowolf 07/15/2006 at 11:04 AM #

    Glad to hear Mark will be in Raleigh now.

  17. garden gnome 07/17/2006 at 8:34 AM #

    “We all have our bad days it just is a little more obvious when your job is listened to or viewed by thousands of people every day.”

    good thing that’s not the approach they use when talking about athletes on their shows, otherwise they wouldn’t have anything to talk about.

    thanks tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc, i didn’t realize there was a dial on there that actually tuned the radio to different “free” stations.

    hey wait. you’re not one of the “Buzz” or “Bull” guys using a pseudonym are you?

    shouldn’t you be out partying with the “Buzz Babes” on location at some lame sports bar in North Raleigh? or eating a big old steak at JK’s? or talking about which female celebrities you think are hot? or making some tired homophobic jokes? or trying to make us believe that there really are a lot of people in this area that care about the Carolina Hurricanes? or telling us what your favorite local golf course is?

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