Sports Huddle Anniversary Comes Sunday
Dave
Mona
and Sid Hartman first teamed up for WCCO Radio’s Sports Huddle
show 30 years ago this coming Sunday. The program is the granddaddy of
local radio sports talk shows and dates back to before May 3, 1981 when
Hartman was interviewed on Sunday mornings by Chuck Lilligren.
Mona recalled with humor this week how his
involvement started. Back then he had a startup public relations
business and had attended a seminar that explained the likelihood of
small business failures. He decided to prepare a Plan B to backup Plan
A.
Mona, who had been a sports reporter for
the Minneapolis Tribune, made an audition tape for WCCO in the
spring of 1981, trying to raise his profile with the CBS station. About
two weeks later the station’s program director called and according to
Mona said, “We might have something for you.”
Lilligren didn’t want to do the show
anymore and so on about three days notice Mona was hired as a freelance
host for the now famous program. “I remember going down on that first
Sunday and at 9:50 a.m. finding the door locked to the station,” Mona
said.
Only 15 minutes from show time, Mona went
next door to the Minneapolis Athletic Club and called the station. He
recalled that a voice answered the phone and said, “Who are you?”
Mona got inside the WCCO building, though,
and then guessed about the studio he should report to. He chose a place
where he had made the audition tape. “He (Hartman) doesn’t do the show
from there,” someone said.
Mona moved to the show studio and
encountered Hartman. “Do you know how to turn the microphones on?”
Hartman asked.
Sometimes short on optimism, Hartman had
another message for Mona before they went on air. “No offense to you,
but I am going to ask them to cancel the show,” Hartman said.
Mona, though, proved to be an invaluable
companion on the show that draws a regional audience and for years has
been among the most popular programs on Minnesota radio. He knows the
local sports scene chapter and verse, and his interpersonal skills fit
well with the station’s Good Neighbor approach.
Hartman and Mona long ago established a
friendship and effective working relationship. “He has come to
appreciate I am not out to upstage him, or make him look bad,” Mona
said.
Sometimes Mona is an artful arbitrator
between Hartman and callers. Hartman can be impatient with listeners
like the time he heard enough complaining about Twins manager Ron
Gardenhire from a Chisago City caller. “How the hell do you know
what Gardy is doing? You’re from Chicago,” Hartman said.
Other times Mona is an interpreter like
the day Hartman pronounced there was no proof Barry Bonds used
“stereos.”
The Bonds and Gardenhire tales are quoted
from Mona’s 2008 book Beyond the Sports Huddle. It’s a must-read for
fans of the show and an interesting chronicle of Mona’s youth and early
journalism career.
In addition to the hosts' sports knowledge and
intriguing personalities, the show’s success has much to do with
Hartman’s relationship with big names in sports. “We get people on the
air that nobody else can get on,” Mona said. “Sid’s Rolodex is
legendary.”
While Mona developed a very successful
career in public relations, Hartman has covered sports for decades with
the Star Tribune and on various WCCO Radio shows. But certainly
their profiles have been enhanced by the Sports Huddle and the
relationship that came together so suddenly and unexpectedly 30 years
ago.
“I’ve been a WCCO freelancer now for 29
years and 51 weeks,” Mona said.
Make it 30 on Sunday.
