Get your copy of our weekly print products at any of these convenient locations.

Behind the Mike: Cowherd's mug foameth over

Provocative ESPN radio host has steadily won over listeners

Mike Lucas  —  8/22/2008 9:45 pm

If Colin Cowherd has made you feel a little uncomfortable listening to his quick-twitch, nationally syndicated talk show on ESPN Radio, if he has made you think outside the box, if he has made you bristle or chuckle or go "Whoa" or "Wow" to one of his topics, well then, pardon the interruption to your normal, mundane stream of consciousness. Or herd mentality, if you will.

That was his intention all along. "I don't do a fair show," he said. "I don't do a balanced show. I do an opinion show. I do an honest show. Sometimes honesty is not fair or pretty. Sometimes opinions are ugly. But I'm not an introductory act. People kind of know what to expect over time. The audience gets the joke. The audience gets who we are and they play along."

That's reflected by the numbers and his growth in popularity over the last four-plus years. While it may have taken a while for Cowherd to create his own niche in the mid-morning time slot after replacing Tony Kornheiser, an accomplished host and humorist, there wasn't an epiphany or turning point for his show, which can be heard locally from 9 a.m. to noon weekdays on the local ESPN affiliate, WTSO-AM/1070.

"Some days I'm annoying, some days I'm funny, some days I'm argumentative," Cowherd said. "But if you sample the show 10 times over a month, you'll mostly get a thought-provoking, entertaining show, and that's what I've always tried to deliver. If you're on enough stations, and people sample you enough over time, they will either like you or not like you."

At that, the 44-year-old Cowherd has a strong liking for most things Madison. Four years ago, he sampled the community and the University of Wisconsin campus while broadcasting his show here from Pooley's, a sports bar on the east side.

"Madison is one of the top three or four college towns in the country," Cowherd said. "It's smart, and there's a lot to do. And along with Florida and Texas, it (the UW) may have the best athletic department in the country."

Cowherd, a college football junkie, has his own rating system, which takes into account the level of play at quarterback, the head coach and the schedule. Going into the 2008 season, Cowherd has Florida ranked No. 1, followed by USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. Why so much love for the Badgers?

"I don't think they're great at quarterback," Cowherd admitted, "but they have an excellent defense, and their schedule is workable."

And easier than Georgia's -- explaining why Cowherd has the Badgers ranked above the Bulldogs even though he feels Georgia has the better team. Consider Georgia's road games: South Carolina, Arizona State, LSU, Kentucky and Auburn. In addition, and per usual, the 'Dogs play Florida at Jacksonville, Fla. Between Oct. 18 and Nov. 29, the Bulldogs don't play a home game in Athens, Ga. "Georgia is great, but the schedule is absurd," Cowherd said.

Recently, he gave credit to a national blog (College Football Guys) for identifying Big Ten teams by beers. Ohio State was a Bud Light, Michigan was a Miller Lite and Iowa was a Natural Light. Wisconsin, according to the bloggers, was the equivalent of Heileman's Old Style: "An unassuming brew that just wants to run the ball, have a quick game, and get back to State Street to party some more."

To Cowherd's thinking, though, the Badgers are more like a Guinness. "Powerful, thick, growing in popularity," he pointed out, "but not overly exciting."

On a daily basis, radio talk show hosts like Cowherd can generally run the gamut -- from hot to cold, from good to bad, from Corona at the high end to Schlitz on the low end. "I always say, 'I'm not about stories, I'm about topics,' " Cowherd reiterated. "The really interesting thing about my show is, how do I find a topic that Buffalo, Madison, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Dallas will think is compelling simultaneously?"

In this context, Cowherd has attempted to practice what he preaches. Especially regarding honesty or full disclosure. "If I'm going to ask things of my audience then I have to be willing to divulge things about myself," said Cowherd, who went on the air and addressed some of the ramifications from his own broken marriage and divorce. "The thing about honesty is that you have to be honest during the bad times, not just the good times. If I've had a bad day, I've got to tell you that I did."

Based on the ratings, Cowherd has enjoyed far more good days than bad ones. "I've told people in the business that my goal is to do this until I'm in my mid-70s," he said. "And when I leave, I want people to say that I was one of the gold standards in the business, I brought my 'A' game every day and I gave them really good, thought-provoking, honest syndicated radio, whether they liked me or not."

Mike Lucas  —  8/22/2008 9:45 pm