It's been 23 years since that memorable night in Tampa when head coach Brian Billick led the Baltimore Ravens to their first Super Bowl crown. Now, with Lamar Jackson and the current squad on the cusp of reaching their own ring, our Head Coach discusses the path of the franchise to return to January glory and a home AFC Championship for Baltimore fans.
It took Baltimore nearly 53 years to earn the hosting privilege of the biggest football game that is not the Super Bowl. Bill Cole joins Nestor in celebrating the civic victory of the Ravens hosting the AFC Championship Game for the first time in their 28-year history in the Charm City.
WNST-AM 1570 was originally leased by Nestor Aparicio from May 1998 through October 1999 and he had to bid farewell on the airwaves before being syndicated by One On One Sports and Sporting News Radio out of Chicago to return back to the local airwaves in September 2000 the same weekend the Ravens caught fire as a franchise against the Jacksonville Jaguars. That team would win Super Bowl XXXV four months later in Tampa. It was a special time to be the first and only station on the dial doing sports radio in the Charm City.
They said we'd never make it at WNST so when our 10th Anniversary on the Baltimore airwaves at AM 1570 also launched the all-new WNST.net on the internet, we took a chance to invite everyone downtown for a night of food, fans and good cheer to celebrate a decade of locally owned and operated sports radio in the Charm City. If you have any pictures of our night at Sports Legends Museum – there were a ton of celebrities and old-school listeners and friends in one place – we'd love to see and share them: nes@baltimorepositive.com
Back in 1996, Nestor was working with the Ed Block Courage Awards to raise money and awareness and dreamed up a Baltimore banquet that would bring together all of the local professional sports teams to honor the good people who play the games. The Nasty Nice Guy Awards hosted exclusively at Michael's Eighth Avenue in Glen Burnie lasted eight years and raised over $150,000 for local charities. The late, great Bobby Nyk played the tunes and we partied for a purpose with a lot of very recognizable faces. Elrod Hendricks represented the Baltimore Orioles every year so you know it was the place to be! Ask anyone who attended these incredible nights about their pictures with Cal Ripken, Ray Lewis, Art Donovan, Mike Flanagan, Jon Ogden, Gov. William Donald Schaefer, Brian Billick, Fang Mitchell and so many others.
It sounds like heresy but last century, "tailgating" was illegal in Baltimore. (You kids can look it up!) In 1996, when the Ravens came to the Charm City, David Modell set out to change those laws and in 1997 when the first purple trip San Diego took 200 "Nasty Nestor" listeners to Jack Murphy Stadium, we met some Chargers fans in the parking lot and made some memories. There were many, many roadtrips and more beer, sandwiches and fried chicken consumed along many highways with Gunther buses but this virgin voyage in a town that the NFL has now forgotten was truly unforgettable.
While there were more than 1,000 applicants over several years of audition tapes, resumes, interns, producers, gophers and wannabes, we knew back in 2008 that Luke Jones was the real deal when he rolled in sporting that Haloti Ngata jersey, a stocked notebook and showed he was far more serious than anyone we'd ever met then – or since!
Sometime around Halloween of the 2011 season, Joe Flacco and Dennis Pitta started growing Fu Manchus as a bit of an inside joke to annoy their wives. Nestor approached him after another Ravens victory and a thing happened around Baltimore. Admit it, you probably have a funny picture somewhere on your timeline. One more reason to love Joe Flacco.
The Executive Director of The Maryland Lottery and Gaming John Martin discusses a full year of mobile sports wagering in our state and how the money helps fund the Blueprint For Maryland's Future Fund and provide player protections that make a real difference.
You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll learn. Watch "No One Listens; Everyone Hears" – The Story of Baltimore Positive, Nestor Aparicio & WNST" here. A documentary film narrated by Kyf Brewer, Gina Schock, Mickey Cucchiella, Mike Brilhart, John Allen, Ray Bachman and Bill Cole. Special and eternal thanks to Gregg Landry and Blue Rock Productions for the spiritual guidance and documentary awesomeness on this project. Nestor and his family and partners would like to thank every one of you for four decades of support of WNST, our sponsors and advertisers who allow us to do this Baltimore Positive thing.
In an industry that has been famously and dangerously slow to change, the future of the Maryland Jockey Club, Preakness, Pimlico and Laurel is about to change dramtically and forever. Nestor had a lot of questions – and historical perspective – for David Richardson and Alan Foreman, who try to answer all of the mystery surrounding the Stronach family, the local tracks and the future of the second crown of horse racing's Triple Crown at Old Hilltop in Baltimore.
Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Orioles stacking wins against the New York Yankees and beating "Nasty" Nestor Cortes with a great effort from Dean Kremer and a depleted bullpen on Tuesday night at Camden Yards.
Our old NFL draftnik and historian Dennis Koulatsos joins Nestor for an annual evaluation of the Ravens' draft class and needs heading into the spring.
