680/The Fan adding Brian Finneran to Rude Awakening, promoting weekend concerts with Smash Mouth, Phillip Phillips
Brian Finneran played for the Falcons for nine seasons before being cut in 2011. CREDIT: Curtis Compton/ AJC.com
Former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Brian Finneran, 36, will be joining the Rude Awakening on 680/The Fan during the football season starting Sept. 3.
Legendary former Atlanta Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone, who has been on the show for more than three years, will stay through the baseball season, take off during the late fall and winter and return for the 2013 baseball season.
Mazzone had already been scaling back his hours on the show.
Finneran will join other regulars Christopher Rude, Perry Laurentino and Sandra Golden.
He is interested in doing radio full time. He did a few segments for the Fan back in 2004 and, while injured, he spent a few months filling with the Rude Awakening in 2009.
“Our philosophy is to mix broadcast professionals with athletes,” said Scott McFarlane, assistant program director. “He’s excited to talk sports in general, not just football.”
The Fan is also holding a set of free Labor Day weekend concerts with Bud Light at Centennial Olympic Park Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. Here are the artists:
Friday August 31st
Lonestar (”Amazed”) 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Phillip Phillips (”American Idol” winner) 6:30pm – 7:20pm
Paris Luna & Co. 8:00pm – 8:30pm
Cody Webb 9:00pm – 9:30pm
Saturday September 1st
The Lost Trailers 3:00 – 3:45 pm
Heidi Newfield 4:15 – 5:00 pm
Sister Hazel (”All For You”) 5:30 – 6:30pm
Smash Mouth (”Walking on the Sun”) 7:00 – 8:00pm
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By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk
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78 comments Add your comment
Buck Belue
August 16th, 2012
4:40 pm
whaaaaaaaaa?
birdpoop
August 16th, 2012
4:42 pm
The more you hear Leo Mazzone on the radio,the less smart you realize he is.Self serving blowhard.
bluebengal
August 16th, 2012
4:43 pm
Nothing personal against Brian but this guy is borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring! I swear when he was on previously he made grass dry. But i am not surprised that 680 hired him he fits their demographics for host perfectly!!
Mel
August 16th, 2012
4:48 pm
Brahn Finnagan? Brahn Finnagan? Man I teh you what he ain’t gon be no wuhss den dat cahpetbagga Perry.
Double D
August 16th, 2012
4:49 pm
“hey we gotta try anything and everything to fight back the pending sports station on 92 9 FM”
Jim Donnon
August 16th, 2012
4:55 pm
Just reading this makes me sleepy.
Reggie
August 16th, 2012
5:02 pm
I wish him well but…….yawn!
Falcon Free Bird
August 16th, 2012
5:07 pm
Great to here. Go Fin. He can’t be any worse than Sandra Golden!!!!!!!!!!
Hummon
August 16th, 2012
5:11 pm
Collective I.Q. of Rude Awakening cast approaching triple digits!
Christopher Rude
August 16th, 2012
5:15 pm
Hey Scott, Let me know when their going to add the
broadcast professionals
Pat
August 16th, 2012
5:25 pm
Leo Mazzone is the wost hire ever made in sports talk radio.
He’s made it abundantly clear he wants to coah again but NO team in MLB will hire him because he was exposed in Baltimore. He’s not a good baseball coah. And he’s an awful, idiotic raio personality. David Dickey is moronic.
Speedy
August 16th, 2012
5:27 pm
Heidi Newfield is FINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nice
August 16th, 2012
5:48 pm
Luv ya Fins. Great player. Glad your gettin back to work talkin’ football.
Mitch Romney
August 16th, 2012
6:12 pm
Good move. Finneran has been solid the few times I’ve heard him on the radio and should be very useful during football season at the very least.
Leo basically phones it in anyway. I don’t know the man personally, but he comes off as lazy on the radio. Even on the Braves pregame show he typically sounds woefully unprepared. He’s not terrible when talking about the Braves, but his comments about players on other teams are almost always very vague and general–nothing that even an average fan couldn’t come up with off the top of his/her head.
680’s morning show has been awful for years though regardless of the cast of characters on it.
Drew
August 16th, 2012
6:16 pm
The 30 minute UGA segment is the most boring thing on the radio available these days. Close behind is Buck & Kincade without Kincade.
tim
August 16th, 2012
6:23 pm
I’m glad it’s a white guy.
We won’t have to listen to someone saying “man” every other word.
Nick
August 16th, 2012
6:33 pm
And those concerts sound awesome. Did my sarcasm come through well enough there? You couldn’t pay me to go to one of those.
Kyle
August 16th, 2012
6:47 pm
The most boring thing ever heard on 680 is the Dan Reeves w/ Buck and Kincade…second most boring might be Finneran, 3rd most boring: Chuck Oliver working alone…god help us.
Jimmy
August 16th, 2012
6:52 pm
I have agree with the comments on here calling Leo Mazzone a moron and lazy radio ‘personality’.
After listening to him talk, its abundantly clear he milked be the pitching coach of three major all-stars, Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine. The only smart thing did was stay out of their way.
Let’s hope he gets let go during his ‘hiatus’.
r
August 16th, 2012
6:59 pm
680 Braves baseball talk is mind numbing. And I’m a Braves fan.
Ted
August 16th, 2012
7:01 pm
When will Atlanta have a real sports radio station? The best thing that happens to 680 is when they are all on vacation and ESPN radio replaces it. 790 is even worse. Thank goodness for Internet radio….
JMS
August 16th, 2012
7:07 pm
Well, have to agree with Ted. I’ve been listening to 680 for about 10 years. 790 i’ve tried but just awful. Well, 680 is getting boring and i also like it when espn takes over the programming. C&C is the best of the bunch, but only so much can i take of the “high-ho” immature comments….
Agree
August 16th, 2012
7:17 pm
Chernoff has to be the biggest jerk in radio. Wait, that is fat face Steve Shapiro.
Carz
August 16th, 2012
7:25 pm
Who did Perry cheer for in the Olympics? He usually picks some team from another area that nobody cares to hear about.
Erik
August 16th, 2012
7:38 pm
Dear Leo,
We get it. The coaches are always right. The fans are never right.
Maybe you should just repeat those two sentences 50 times to open each show, go home early, and save everyone the exhaustion of having to listen to your ramblings.
And I'm Gone
August 16th, 2012
7:59 pm
680 is entertaining. I have locked it in and enjoy all of their shows. As a long time Atlantan, I am glad that Christopher Rude is doing well. He was great on 96 Rock and he has made a nice transition to talk radio. He is consistent and likable day after day. I met him once standing in line for a movie and he was a good dude, low key and cool. I travel often for work and sports talk in other cities is not any better than 680. We have it pretty good here.
Class of '98
August 16th, 2012
8:16 pm
I’ve got nothing against Brian personally, but his voice has all the masculinity of a Girl Scout.
Candy Kane
August 16th, 2012
8:35 pm
One less reason to listen to that station now with Stone Hands giving his two sense. I’d rather listen to Steaky talk about his daily lunch plans.
butchcat
August 16th, 2012
8:58 pm
Mazzone is the biggest fraud in radio. Ever wonder why this supposed ‘legendary’ pitching coach failed so miserably in Baltimore? Ever wonder why no team tried to hire him after his Baltimore fiasco? Ever wonder why the Braves were happy to let him go let him go w/o a fight? He was luckier than the Power Ball winner to have had Glavine, Maddux and Smoltz.
epic quibble
August 16th, 2012
9:08 pm
Willie B was my first gorilla.
Sas ain't they
August 16th, 2012
9:48 pm
Big deal they go off air at 6pm so can’t hear anyone ..sorta like kinnade he help lose hockey with Mayor reed..so big crap on 680/The Fan….worst in georgia in games coverage for out of atlanta folks that why tv is better see then them …
CommonMan
August 16th, 2012
10:23 pm
Chuck is the most boring sports talk guy there is!
Leo Mazzone is a complete waste – don’t bring him back.
Luda Chris
August 16th, 2012
10:37 pm
When 680 hosts Kincade and Chernoff were on vacation recently, you could have changed the station name to WSB- “We’re so Boring” because the shows without them were perfect cures for insomnia. You woud hope that station management would put somebody on to make the show interesting. The same goes for that Bulldog butt kissing show with Howdy Dowdle..
White Guy
August 16th, 2012
10:51 pm
We slow but “football smart” guys are taking back the Atlanta airwaves. Who cares if he did ANYTHING significant in his role playing 15 per season catches. White boy pronounces his words, says “asks” versus “ax”, and ultimately looks the part of a white collar executive. Way to go Brian….Vanillanova is proud to have you as an alumnus.
Ryan Klesko
August 16th, 2012
10:57 pm
I get more insight into ATL sports from the Chattanooga sports talk station from 12-3 pm.. They should hire that guy and bring him down here… Very refreshing show on 1370 AM…..
Steak is a blow hard
August 16th, 2012
11:09 pm
Steak has managed to bully his way onto the Falcons pre-game show on radio. When I heard his voice, I immediately flipped the channel. That pompous jerk has no business on the radio whatsoever.
Ctstyle
August 16th, 2012
11:39 pm
Finn is OK, but it won’t keep me from listening to 790 The Zone. It seems like CD has more Braves insite than the official Braves Radio network on 680. Finn would be better on the Red Zone with the Stews on 790. He was on that show one time, and it was pretty interesting.
Atlantaradiosucks
August 16th, 2012
11:47 pm
For years I complained daily about how awful sports radio is here. Finally, my wife asked me whY I even bother listening. The next day I stopped. That was June 10, 2002. Seems like. I haven’t missed a thing–The same group of characters, the same two stations, which–yippee! Will soon become three stations where you can hear all the tired, same voices. Exciting.
The Frito Bandito
August 16th, 2012
11:56 pm
Steak is joining the Falcons pre game? Wow. I thought that it couldn’t get any worse than with Chris Dimino but I was wrong.
Chris Dimino knows about as much about pro football as I know about Jackie Robinson. He is a no talent plagiarist.
jimbo
August 17th, 2012
12:17 am
Chris DiMentlal needs to hang it up. He is too serious. He should have been an undertaker.
jimbo
August 17th, 2012
12:19 am
Hamburger Shipiro and Chris DiMeathead need to take diction classes.
jimbo
August 17th, 2012
12:21 am
and 680 needs to give Sandra Golden-shower the hook…….
Doug
August 17th, 2012
1:08 am
Go to a smaller market, and then complain about 680. It’s actually quite good. What’s up with the bitterness?
TEENConcertAug17
August 17th, 2012
2:23 am
BACK 2 SCHOOL Teen Concert Tonight Aug 17th 7pm-11pm! Come meet the new emerging artists in
ATL! Meet n Greet 7pm-7:45pm! Parents Lounge Available! Tickets available at the door $20! 1212 Fowler Street
honky tonk man
August 17th, 2012
5:11 am
Finn is ok,gives good facts about football,but thats it,not qualified for anything else.Golden is horrific,and Leo talks like he drinks forty ounces every hour.Chuck n turnoff are both the dynamic doughdough birds,Coming up phrases gets old ,Turnoff did you know the internet is faster than what surprise you have next segment,Guess frickiiin what we already know the answer dip doodoo.
Please 790 immediately fire the Stews.I cant stand anymore Georgia Tech stories and Doug “what his name i forgot ,im not a sports guy” Stewart should be on the smoking guns worst ,illiterate sports personaliitys top 10.
David Puddy
August 17th, 2012
7:12 am
“,Coming up phrases gets old ,Turnoff did you know the internet is faster than what surprise you have next segment”
Yes,Turnoff is the worst. At least the rest of the talk folks–perhaps with the exception of Oliver–understand that they’re not splitting the atom. Turnoff spouts his memorized stats and opinions at rapid fire speed,mocks Oliver and closes segments with his braniac teases….that only he thinks is cutting edge insight. What a joke. Put Finneran’s exciting style on the Turnoff show. This way, nobody has to endure Turnoff spouting his nonsnsical opinions constantly.
Mason "The Line" Dixon
August 17th, 2012
7:24 am
“Willie B was my first gorilla.”
Yeah, c’mon!
matt
August 17th, 2012
7:27 am
I Scalini-weenied a 12-year-old.
KeithB
August 17th, 2012
7:28 am
More evidence of why I switched to 790.
A Different Jeff
August 17th, 2012
8:05 am
Anything’s an upgrade from Leo. He may have been a fine coach, but he’s a bad radio personality.