Dan Sileo Won’t Be Missed
March 14th, 2012
Yesterday, media outlets all across the country reported the professional demise of Dan Sileo, the former morning drive host on WDAE-AM 620 for many years.
Sileo, who briefly played for the Buccaneers, was fired from WDAE after referring on Monday to three potential Bucs free agents as “monkeys.” The players in question are black.
Nobody who listened to Sileo should have been surprised by the comment, which is widely considered a racist insult. Sileo often said stupid things and often danced on a line of ethnic and racial commentary that many considered offensive.
Frankly, as a Bucs fan, Joe’s glad Sileo got canned swiftly. Joe can only imagine how a potential Bucs free agent might have reacted seeing headlines of Sileo’s “monkey” remarks and knowing that Sileo was still employed by the Bucs’ flagship radio station. Joe has to think, for some free agents, that could have been a red flag for coming to Tampa Bay.
Joe never had anything personal against Dan Sileo and off the air he seemed like a likeable fellow. That stated, no one for so many years has tortured local sports fans via a blowtorch’s airwaves like Sileo did in the mornings.
His inaccurate boasts were as legendary as they were pathetic. His obvious boredom talking about local teams as opposed to teams he grew up with in the northeast was more than irritating. His disdain for listeners was appalling. Whether it was his lies about his resume, both on and off the field, his penchant for not watching games, or brazenly manufacturing complete and utter fiction, most notably two years ago concerning Team Glazer – a significant business partner with Sileo’s ex-employer Clear Channel Radio, no less – Sileo had long, long ago overstayed his welcome.
Joe must confess: Years ago, the vapid morning wasteland on sports radio in the Tampa Bay market chased Joe to SiriusXM. Now hooked on the wide variety and number of options of top tier talent on satellite, Joe knows just from the feedback he gets from readers he is hardly the only one who threw in the towel on local morning drive time sports radio in recent years for SiriusXM.
Clear Channel now has an opportunity, and available talent, to regain that lost audience, whether it be Bobby Fenton or Steve White, or even Joe, to give local sports fans a fresh, welcome voice to wake up to, and tune in to weekday mornings.
Joe trusts that the powers that be at Clear Channel will make the most of this long-awaited window of opportunity. After all, it was the public’s airwaves Sileo abused to a pulp, not Clear Channel’s. Let’s hope Clear Channel regains the public’s trust.
March 14th, 2012 at 7:03 am
Best morning cup of Joe all week.
March 14th, 2012 at 7:10 am
@ joe funny you mentioned Sirius, the other morning I flipped on 620 only to quickly flip over to Sirius after about a minute of Sileo.I was desperate for Buc news what can I say….GOOD RIDDANCE Sileo is a Moron !
March 14th, 2012 at 7:14 am
Three hours of radio silence in the morning would be more informative and entertaining than Sileo. That idiot had pictures of himself on his twitter profile, posing in the mirror like some 13 year old duckfaced girl. Him getting canned couldn’t have happened to a nicer or stupider guy.
March 14th, 2012 at 7:17 am
Hopefully they can replace him with someone who isn’t a blatant Yankees fan.
March 14th, 2012 at 7:20 am
I bet they want Justin back now
March 14th, 2012 at 7:22 am
This should be a wake up call to the guys from 9-12.. Talk sports gentleman. No one cares how many times you run one or how desperate you are talking about girls racks.. We want sports talk and more local than national.
March 14th, 2012 at 7:32 am
No big deal. They’ll find another clone to fill the space left behind.
March 14th, 2012 at 7:35 am
Sileo’s funniest moment ever came last year, when he claimed one of the Buc’s coaches had told him that Brian Price was “a fata$$.” Price went on twitter and told Sileo that he knew none of the Bucs coaches speak to him and invited Sileo to come say that chit to his face. Sileo, of course, went scurrying away like the little phony beyotch he’s always been.
March 14th, 2012 at 7:35 am
I FOR ONE ARE NOT HAPPY WITH THE DECISION OF FIRING DAN, I LOOKED FORWARD TO LISTENING TO HIS COMMENTS, ALTHOUGH THEY WERE NOT INFORMATIVE ALL THE TIME, BUT TO ME ATLEAST WAS ENTERTAINING, I LISTENED TO HIM, JUST AS I DID TO SHAWN KING, BEFORE HE GOT WACKED, I TUNED IN THIS MORNING AND HAD TO ENDURE ROCK RILEY, AFTER A FEW MINUTES, I HAD TO SHUT IT OFF, I CANT STAND THAT MANS VOICE AND TALK ABOUT A WASTE OF TIME ROCK SUCKS, YEAH THE COMMENT HE MADE WAS STUPID, BUT PC HAS GOTTEN OUT OF CONTROL, I KNOW THAT IF WE WERE ALL JUDGED BY THE SAME STANDARDS THAT DAN WAS THAT MOST OF US WOULD BE IN A LOT OF TROUBLE.
March 14th, 2012 at 7:37 am
Bobby C:
Shaun King was not ‘whacked.”
March 14th, 2012 at 7:39 am
Good comment brad, i dont listen to ron and ian anymore because most of their show is not about sports, just a bunch of garbage that has nothing to do with sports.
March 14th, 2012 at 7:40 am
Bobby C, easy partner.
The last sentence cracks me up about Clear Channel and trust.
March 14th, 2012 at 7:41 am
what happened to shawn then!!!!!!!!!
March 14th, 2012 at 7:42 am
Bobby C:
Simply put, Shaun King’s business relationship with Toby David dissolved. Neither was “whacked.”
March 14th, 2012 at 7:43 am
Bobby C so u have to type in all caps… Dan sucked and so do 9- 12 guys anymore, I want Tampa sports coverage…. He messed up on a big platform and deserved to be fired
March 14th, 2012 at 7:44 am
AdamSchefter: First deal of day is in: CB Eric Wright reached agreement with Tampa Bay, signing deal today.
March 14th, 2012 at 7:46 am
Wright partially fills a need. Not enough on his own.
March 14th, 2012 at 7:52 am
My bad Joe, didnt know it was a money thing, Love listening to the commish Justin, so i apologize for the statement, assumed that they got released for bad ratings, but as far as dan, shawn had white boy wednesday, And constantly mad references to King David, a reference to most jewish people would be considered offensive, and there was never an issue. I just hate that people get fired for statements that they wished they would have never said. I dont contone the statement i just think it was an overreaction, and that maybe a suspension would have been a better answer than firing someone. Just saying
March 14th, 2012 at 7:56 am
Bucs gave signed Eric Wright 5 year deal
March 14th, 2012 at 7:58 am
Bobby C, What Dan said had gotten back 2 the players he was talking and Jonathan Vilma seems like he was upset about the comments he had made.Dan could have cost us V.J and other players,somethings r not 2 b said on air.
March 14th, 2012 at 8:02 am
Eric Wright a done deal
March 14th, 2012 at 8:05 am
mbaby:
Vilma has a lot bigger problems to worry about right now than Dan Sileo.
March 14th, 2012 at 8:22 am
Bobby Fenton should get a real hard look for Sileo’s slot. That guy is smart, and he seems to pop up sporadically on the air, but I enjoy the hell out of his show whenever he’s on. He’s lifelong local, which I like. It should be Fenton.
March 14th, 2012 at 8:26 am
620 needs to sign Justin back.
March 14th, 2012 at 8:33 am
Good coffee Joe. I don’t know how he lasted this long. He was absolutely the worst radio host in Tampa. He seemed to be obsessed with racial politics – where in sports there really are none -he was negative, self aggrandizing, and not really knowledgeable about recent sports events; I think he relied on Darek Sharp to watch most of the games and fill him in during show prep..At least it sure sounded like it. I know there are better talents out there that 620 WDAE could certainly fill that slot with. The Commish certainly comes to mind.
March 14th, 2012 at 8:35 am
Glad the Canes bozo is gone.
March 14th, 2012 at 8:37 am
wow…. Dan C. spoken like a true white trash, backwoods uneducated,Florida Red Neck…
‘BUT PC HAS GOTTEN OUT OF CONTROL’ does that mean treating people with dignity has gotten out of control?
“I KNOW THAT IF WE WERE ALL JUDGED BY THE SAME STANDARDS THAT DAN WAS THAT MOST OF US WOULD BE IN A LOT OF TROUBLE.” Might I suggest that we should all judge ourselves by that same standard…
March 14th, 2012 at 8:39 am
Gino (St. Pete Gino, friend of the late great Chris Thomas?):
Joe quit listening to Mongo Sileo in 1999 when the Bucs hosted Minnesota on a critical Monday Night Football game. Joe believes it was Shaun King’s first start. Anyway, the next morning Mongo kept rambling about the picks that Ronde Barber had. Finally, some caller pointed out that it was Donnie Abraham who had two picks, not Barber.
Mongo then admits that he didn’t watch the second half.
< click >
As a friend of Joe’s once said about sports radio: If you are not informative you sure as hell better be entertaining. And if you are neither, then what is the point?
March 14th, 2012 at 9:12 am
dan has some black frieds so he was thinging he can call black player monkey,wait till warren sapp an ray lewis hear about this.
March 14th, 2012 at 9:13 am
Regarding the other non sports entertainers in the morning, I listened to them for a couple of years off and on. As someone mentioned, very little was about sports. They seemed to be more infatuated with the size of women’s breasts than the talent of a linebacker. I moved to Dan Patrick.
March 14th, 2012 at 9:22 am
Bobby Fenton for 6-9!!! He and the Commish are the fresh new blood of sports talk radio in the Bay Area. I loved his show on 1010 and would like to hear it on the way to work everyday.
March 14th, 2012 at 9:23 am
Rarely listen to Sileo. Sometimes I screw up and turn it to 620 on the way to work and lo and behold there is Brad Culpepper being interviewed by Sileo talking about anything but football. I have totally switched 1010AM. Justin has more talent in his size 14 foot than 620AM has combined.
March 14th, 2012 at 9:24 am
The non sports entertainers rarely know their facts or stats, but they are extremely entertaining and I have no problem listening to them.
March 14th, 2012 at 9:43 am
Great no more Jimmy Johnson life and hairstyle lessons in football.
March 14th, 2012 at 9:52 am
While Dan was, at his best, an average sports talk host and at worst he was a NJ blowhard, he frequently spoke out about black players who were treated unfairly or differently from white players. He is well liked by his former teammates black and white. It is sad when a simple verbal mistake costs a man his job. But, after all, WDAE really does not carry real sports talk anymore. Inless there is a game being broadcast, WDAE has body-builder birthday trivia from 9-12, Rommercial rants from 12-3 and then the gambling show in drive-time. Not to start a fight but, with The Commish gone and probably unavailable, perhaps WDAE should give JP a try………………
March 14th, 2012 at 10:03 am
Hey Fly, long time no see man!
Let’s be clear. This “monkey” error (?) by Sileo was just one in a LLLOOONNNGGG line of errors and transgressions. It’s really shocking he lasted this long. The guy really had nine lives.
March 14th, 2012 at 10:16 am
620 has a 6:00 sports morning show ? Really !
March 14th, 2012 at 10:24 am
I think Howard Cossel was on the hot seat for that comment twenty years ago.
Silio, who I dont think is a racist, still should have known better.
March 14th, 2012 at 10:32 am
Like many other things that happened yesterday- this looks like a change for the better. That guy sucked. Always did.
I haven’t listened to that channel for years because of him
Meybe I’ll be able tolisten to a competent guy now.
Next on the block- Ian!
March 14th, 2012 at 10:33 am
With Sileo out, 620 really needs to put Bobby Fenton in there. He’s an actual radio talent, rather than the ex-players and agitators that inexplicably keep getting shows around here.
March 14th, 2012 at 10:43 am
The funny thing about the Sileo situation is the irony. Right before he got off his slur blast he was saying “I’ve got one more day, one more day…” He either knew what he was about to do, or is full of irony in his idiocy.
March 14th, 2012 at 11:17 am
I have listended to him alot and he is not racists, he is just a realist alot of the time. That said, I am not sorry to see him go. There were MANY times when I just turn the channel because of him CONSTANTLY bringing up the race card on things and also because of the way he ALWAYS took the side of the player and all owners were evil.
The other thing that annoyed me was his constant harping on paying college athletes. I usually turned the channel when he went on that rant as well.
I will say I like Mike & Mike alot. they are entertaining, but 620 definately needs someone tied into the local teams.
March 14th, 2012 at 11:19 am
@ Joe
I’m not exactly sure what led to Justin leaving 620….but if it was something that was fixable, Clear Channel damn sure needs to hand that job to him !!
March 14th, 2012 at 11:46 am
“I have listended to him alot and he is not racist”
Ok he might now be one on the air, but who uses the terminology he used other than racists? You can’t claim slip of the tongue on that because that just admits that you say it all the time when not on the air, which is cool.
March 14th, 2012 at 12:01 pm
Not enough LOVE in this thread for the idea of Joe getting Sileo’s slot.
March 14th, 2012 at 12:08 pm
hypocrite.
March 14th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
*which isnt cool.
March 14th, 2012 at 6:00 pm
I was listening that night and could have sworn he said “homies” not “monkeys”