Blog: To Say I Am Excited Is An Understatement!

To say I am excited is an understatement! What a great time for sports fans in the Triangle. We’ve worked hard putting together 99.9 FM The Fan with a great combination of talented people. I have to tell you the last week has been a blast! I felt like Hoover in Animal House trying to keep all these characters focused on getting ready.

Sports is fun, and that’s what we want to do with the station - HAVE FUN!! At the same time, we want to give you some great insight and perspective from our guys on the air. We want to take you behind the scenes and give you things you can’t get anywhere else.

Mark Thomas, the former N.C. State and NFL tight end, can do that better than anyone I know. He’s got some great insight and he’s not afraid to speak his mind. Maybe it’s because he had too many NFL defensive linemen hit him (lol).

Seriously, he is a great guy who loves sports and he played the game. He’s already had a first for us - I threw him a football in the hallway, so now he has as many career catches at The Fan as he did in the NFL. His partner for the afternoon show, Scott Jackson, is a sports radio veteran. Scott has covered college and pro sports for the past 14 years, starting with a stint in Jacksonville, where the Florida Gators and NFL Jaguars ruled. Scott is a great complement to Mark, and I’m relying on him to keep Mark focused (lol). These guys will be on from 3 to 7 every afternoon.

Our morning show, The Fanatics, will give you the sports info, opinions and insight along with some fun that you need to roll into work. Mike Maniscalco comes in from six years in Richmond sports radio; before that, he was hanging out in Buffalo at WGR doing sports. He’s a specialist in the ACC and NHL. Figure this one out - his favorite NFL team is the Vikings and not the Bills. But then again, after losing four Super Bowls it makes sense.

Dan Mason is a piece of work. Here is a guy who coaches a 6th grade football team and even reviews video tape of the opposing team! He even has them running a motion offense. Sixth graders!!

We want to give you some national perspective, too, and that’s why Dan Patrick – the most recognized name in sports media – and Tony Bruno handle the midday on The Fan. Patrick is one of the best at getting the top newsmakers to open up and tell their side of the story. Both Patrick and Bruno are passionate sports fans … so naturally they should be on The Fan!

One of the promises that we make to you is to bring you inside the ACC with a ton of information and insight. We will have several reporters covering N.C. State, Carolina, Duke and the ACC – and that will all be rolled into a special show every night (when there is not a ‘Canes game). Inside the ACC is from 7-9 p.m.. Tonight will be an exception, since we’ll go an extra hour until 10 p.m.

We’re planning some fun stuff that we’ll reveal in the next couple of weeks. One I can tell you about now is putting together a show on the weekends where you get to host it! Hey we can’t call ourselves The Fan if you aren’t on the station. More on that soon.

We’re able to do all of this because of the commitment of Capitol Broadcasting Co. They have given us a lot of resources to create and build the station. But, it doesn’t mean anything unless you are a part of it.

So pass the word along about 99.9 FM The Fan. Tell your buddies, friends, neighbors, your Congressman – just spread the word.

Thanks for checking this out and I would love to hear from you. Let me know what you think – my email is dshore@999thefan.com or if you want to call me 919-890-6305.