OT - KFAN

[Coolbreeze44]

I'm a little late to the party, but I recently discovered that I can get KFAN through a phone app. So I've been enjoying the daily banter while driving around during my work day. Because I'm relatively new to the talent lineup, I'm wondering if some of you vets could comment on my initial impressions:

Paul Allen - I had no idea how funny this guy is. He is my favorite to listen to so far. He's a big time homer obviously but I find him highly entertaining. Is his charm sustainable?

Common - Don't understand how this guy has a job in the position of sports talk radio host. He's uninformed, he's boring, and he's not all that bright. Then throw in the Groucho Marx sounding voice and I find him very hard to listen to. Last week as the Twins were sitting 10 games over .500, he couldn't understand how if they played .500 ball the rest of the way, they wouldn't win 91 games. Is he really this clueless?

Barreiro - Seems to be very professional and knowledgeable. Asks great questions during his interviews. I remember him as a newspaper scribe back when I was living in the TC's. He seems to have made a good transition to the broadcast side. Is he pretty well respected in town?

Please add your thoughts and opinions on these guys, I'd really like to hear what others think. Also, how does KFAN compare to the other sports talk options in town?

[Carlos Danger]

HA! Good topic. Here's my 2 cents:

Paul Allen - Unlistenable IMO (is that a word?). I think the guy tries way too hard to be cool/funny/hip. Add to the fact he's a crazy homer and you'll never find me listening to him other than I think he does a good job with Viking related stuff.

Common - Mildly entertaining in small doses. You have to understand that he's rarely serious about anything. He says a lot of stupid stuff, but it's all part of "the bit". He can be pretty funny at times. Other times - unlistenable as well.

Barreiro - Pretty decent/entertaining. Only criticism is that I think he tries too hard to be a journalist/commentator vs. just a sports guy. But guess what? I tune into a sports station to listen to sports!

Finally, the few times KFAN would have something I was really interested in, I'd always be just out of friggin range to get a good signal. Grrr! I have Sirius/XM now and hardly ever listen to KFAN anymore.

[Carlos Danger]

Regarding PA - I liked him much better when he was paired with Dubay. That was a good show.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I listen to all three of these guys at times, and here are my thoughts.

I'm not a Paul Allen fan at all, and I'm interested in whether there are other board members who find him entertaining or funny. He has a very good understanding of horse racing (he's out at the track every night they're open) and is fairly knowledgeable about the Vikings and pro football...good thing, because he is their play by play guy. But he has no knowledge of my two favorite sports, baseball and basketball, and constantly spews out takes that almost make me drive off the road. I don't listen to him anymore unless there is an interesting Vikings topic.

The Common Man Dan Cole is a local standup comedian who has somehow managed to turn his shtick into a radio show. 95% of what he does is a bit...he's really not that clueless, but works it into his act. There was a time when I found him kind of funny, but I've grown tired if him. Unfortunately, I'm often in my car when his show is on, and I usually bail to one of the music channels.

I'll always listen to Barreiro if I'm in my car, and sometimes even listen to him at home. He seems to be a very bright guy, and can speak to a number of topics...sports and non-sports related. If there is a non-sports item dominating the news, I'll generally turn to Barreiro to hear his take. He is generally very balanced on most topics...I honestly can't decipher his political slant, and that's impressive. Two things bother me about him, though. One, his need to take a controversial stand on almost everything. I know it may sound like I'm contradicting myself based on what I said earlier about him being very knowledgeable and balanced, but he constantly needs to find an angle to a story that is out of the mainstream. I get that this is his way of stirring the pot and getting listeners to participate, but sometimes it's clear to me that he is trying to hard to be controversial, rather than giving his real opinion. Second, he is constitutionally incapable of expressing any joy about any local team, and that gets annoying after awhile. Not that the local teams' futility is generally any reason for joy, but even when a team or player is doing very well, Barreiro can't enjoy the moment. But overall, I like listening to his program.

The only other local sports guy I listen to is Pat Reusse, but only if he is talking about baseball. Tom Kelly (not one to say anything nice about the media) once told me that Reusse was the most knowledgeable baseball writer he had ever met, and I share that opinion. He has a little of the Barreiro black cloud when it comes to local teams, but unlike Barreiro, he grew up cheering for Minnesota teams, and sometimes you can tell he is reveling in a team's success (even if he doesn't want to admit it).

[bleedspeed]

Paul Allen - I enjoy listening to him.

Common - Can't stand him unless Rosen is on with him.

Barreiro - To much of the show is about politics and I didn't tune in for that. In the last month I started listening to Mike Morris and Ben something. It was all sports and better then Common. I liked that show, but they got canned Monday.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Paul Allen - I enjoy listening to him.

Common - Can't stand him unless Rosen is on with him.

Barreiro - To much of the show is about politics and I didn't tune in for that. In the last month I started listening to Mike Morris and Ben something. It was all sports and better then Common. I liked that show, but they got canned Monday.

I agree that the Rosen segments are the best part of Common's show. Rosen is 100% all about sports, and I enjoy listening to how annoyed he gets with Common's stupid takes. It's mildly entertaining to hear them fight like brothers. I recognize some of it is put on, but sometimes Rosen is clearly irked.

You and Carlos are correct that Barreiro does stray from sports a lot, but I may be in the minority in that I find his range of topics more interesting than other programs that are strictly sports.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I dig Barreiro because it isn't only sports. And it isn't sugarcoated for the masses... or to protect the host's employment. (See Allen with the Vikings). And it can be informative sometimes, and silly other times.

Common Man is a gimmick. But, it grew tired a long time ago. To make things worse, I rarely listen, but when I do it's on Fridays. And the woman he has on is absolutely atrocious in every way. She wouldn't even be considered part of the rotation over on the chick-focused 107.1.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I dig Barreiro because it isn't only sports. And it isn't sugarcoated for the masses... or to protect the host's employment. (See Allen with the Vikings). And it can be informative sometimes, and silly other times.

Common Man is a gimmick. But, it grew tired a long time ago. To make things worse, I rarely listen, but when I do it's on Fridays. And the woman he has on is absolutely atrocious in every way. She wouldn't even be considered part of the rotation over on the chick-focused 107.1.

I believe that unlistenable woman is his producer's wife, and his producer isn't that good either. By the way, that's another reason Barreiro's show is better...his producer Justin Gard is the best of the bunch.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I haven't lived in the Twin Cities for 21 years now, yet some of these guys were around doing their schtick way back then. I can't believe Common is still even a thing. Really?

I live in Philly now, Chicago before that. I used to listen to sports radio, but stopped probably around 8 or 9 years ago. The personalities and schticks of a lot of these guys just get tiresome after a while - and they never seem to go away....

[thedoper]

I'm a little late to the party, but I recently discovered that I can get KFAN through a phone app. So I've been enjoying the daily banter while driving around during my work day. Because I'm relatively new to the talent lineup, I'm wondering if some of you vets could comment on my initial impressions:

Paul Allen - I had no idea how funny this guy is. He is my favorite to listen to so far. He's a big time homer obviously but I find him highly entertaining. Is his charm sustainable?

Common - Don't understand how this guy has a job in the position of sports talk radio host. He's uninformed, he's boring, and he's not all that bright. Then throw in the Groucho Marx sounding voice and I find him very hard to listen to. Last week as the Twins were sitting 10 games over .500, he couldn't understand how if they played .500 ball the rest of the way, they wouldn't win 91 games. Is he really this clueless?

Barreiro - Seems to be very professional and knowledgeable. Asks great questions during his interviews. I remember him as a newspaper scribe back when I was living in the TC's. He seems to have made a good transition to the broadcast side. Is he pretty well respected in town?

Please add your thoughts and opinions on these guys, I'd really like to hear what others think. Also, how does KFAN compare to the other sports talk options in town?

Can't stand Barreiro personally. Wants to talk politics more than sports and doesn't have the chops for politics. Common is strange. Love Paul allen too.