How did 25 years of Baltimore sports radio fly by like this?

Original WNST Executive Producer Andy Mueller joins Nestor for a bunch of 25th Anniversary memories of life in Baltimore in 1998 as we were trying to be pioneers in how sports radio was presented for local fans. Lots of beautiful memories here from Drug City with one of our favorite people.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

andy, work, radio, years, love, bet, call, talk, sports, syracuse, ravens, media, walk, nestor, sanction, point, win, hennessy, baltimore, gambling

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Andy Mueller

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Looking back at W and S t tests Baltimore and Baltimore positive we are positively celebrating 25 years of this mess we call wn St. Baltimore positive we’re drunk city it says so on the wall, we got the assigned to light up. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery. We’re letting ourselves play 50 Years Strong. We’re giving these away handsome winners at a $2 winner Mr. State and one two bucks at a Costas on Thursday. We’re now truck city. We’re going to be getting this journey of day two. Lots and lots of folks are stopping by today including Baltimore County Executive Johnny Oh, Andy Mueller is here and yeah, Andy, I’m not gonna make you wear the fun window nation hat. I’ll be wearing the floppy hat throughout this thing. And I didn’t get my crab claw working yesterday from Rascon global overcast is but when I said to you, do you want to come to costus? Or do you want to come to drug city? You had something like what is drug city? And I’m like, when someone says to me what is drug city then I know you need to come to drug city. Yeah. And

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Andy Mueller  00:59

you know, when I got here today I walk in and obviously it’s a it’s a large store with pretty much everything on the planet.

Nestor Aparicio  01:07

The motto here is if we don’t have it, right, you don’t need it.

Andy Mueller  01:11

Right. Right. So right so and then they pretty much have everything here. But then as I explored the place and went over and asked Chuck to come up, you know, where’s Nestor? He’s upstairs in the tasting room. Which is where we are right 60 in here. You must have Yeah. Oh my god, what a room this is. This is unbelievably whiskies we got over here. At least Yeah. And then we

Nestor Aparicio  01:29

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got the expensive bottles back here and subtalar back in the corner. And yeah, oh, yeah,

Andy Mueller  01:34

I could I could spend about a year and a half in here. Just enjoying myself. I mean, there’s a lot that tastes you’d like whiskey. Oh, yeah. You betcha.

Nestor Aparicio  01:41

Now Andy for those of you unfamiliar and you know, part of this 25 year thing is like I haven’t seen Mona your wife in a long time. I remember your beautiful wedding right before my wedding. 20 years ago, you got married 20 years ago in May skinny at least is that

Andy Mueller  01:55

right? Yeah, that’s get skinny Atlas. The lake right there. Outside of Syracuse. Yeah, my wife

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Nestor Aparicio  02:00

and I took a beautiful picture at your wedding. You’re my producer at the time 2003 And it’s hung on our bedroom wall to two of us couple months where we got married. We just met wildly in love my wife and I she had this beautiful dress that I got her in Vegas. And that’s adorn my wall from your well. Very nice. Yes, it has the lighting from Syracuse and upstate New York and beautiful springtime.

Andy Mueller  02:22

Yeah, we we had a lot of people that that wedding obviously from from our entire life, you know, not just people we, you know, grew up with or family. We had people you know that someone I knew maybe when I was 10 years old, to someone who you know, I just just started working with me 20 years ago, ya know, and it’s great. It was it was a great wedding. And I remember, I think I think you actually were in a car because it wasn’t near where everyone was staying. It was a good 2030 minutes away at least. And I think you hopped in a car with some some neighbors of Mona’s growing up or something like that on the way out

Nestor Aparicio  02:54

a memory that I had, there was no I don’t I don’t remember this at all. It just it was it was an odd melding. I remember driving to scanty Atlas, maybe I drove with them because we were going to drink or something. But I remember driving with my wife from New Hampshire, to your wedding, across Vermont, you know, across Massachusetts springs. We went to Springfield went to the basketball. I mean, you had the boxing Hall of Fame. So I can see a little bit of that going through upstate New York. So that’s the way it was 20 years ago. Andy was our executive producer in the turn of the century. I mean, I don’t six years seven, how long are you with me? We say something

Andy Mueller  03:32

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like, oh, it was it was about two and a half. What was only two and a half? Yeah. So Well, yeah. And I participated in some really a lot was going on

Nestor Aparicio  03:40

that he points of our

Andy Mueller  03:41

Well, there was a there was a big thing called the Super Bowl with the ravens, obviously the first time that’s right here,

Nestor Aparicio  03:46

and all those pictures were Stacy Keibler. Oh, yeah. Bobby, Nick.

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Andy Mueller  03:49

Yep. Yep. There was a I mean, I’m a guy from Syracuse, New York. I grew up there, went to college there and was working at a radio station up there. He’s a real Yankee fan. Yes. So the

Nestor Aparicio  04:02

last place Yankees is that still correct?

Andy Mueller  04:04

Yes. Still, that’s still the case making sure that you never know maybe after tonight they won’t if they want to. And

Nestor Aparicio  04:09

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I don’t you true 25 years. Yep. Right, like literally 25 years. And have the Yankees ever been in last Have I ever been able to go on the airwaves? Hear that the Yankees? I mean, maybe the second day of the season, throw in one or something? Right. I mean, like, no, that’s never been the case.

Andy Mueller  04:26

No, it hasn’t. The Orioles have existed not not not in that time. No, that’s true. Exactly. Exactly. And and let me just say this about about Orioles fans, and I’m not saying that the way they treat Yankee fans, I have no problem with that. Because there are a lot of Yankee fans that really are jerks. Period straight up and I get that I’m not one of them. I’m actually a pretty nice Yankee fan. You know, I grew up with you on the and I never,

Nestor Aparicio  04:50

you know on the radio right after like check your mirror and stuff here. So like being a Yankee fan here at the turn of the century. They wouldn’t let you in loonies. Right. Treat treat you like Chad steel treat. Yeah, I had a

Andy Mueller  04:59

kind of a headache. had to kind of act like a you know, I was a fan of the team the Orioles and I am a fan of them to a degree but clearly their division things

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Nestor Aparicio  05:06

got all screwed up when Messina signed up there, right?

Andy Mueller  05:09

Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, I loved it. I don’t think anyone down anyone down here did but but yeah, you know the you know the loyal fans are just not nice to me now like my friends that are oil fans in the area here. They’re just steal your last place. I mean, I’m getting texts constantly getting all these things. Yeah. And you know, and I mean, I consider you a friend. But But But I get I get it. You know what you want me to do it, you’re in first place. And I hope you stay there. I hope this is the this is the year, I would hope it’s in the next three years because I’m still that’s what I would say about you want to see a parade here at some point. Right? I would I would. And I just you know, once these guys fan I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  05:45

everybody that suffers wants to like let it go once right? Yeah, at least once. Just once. Yeah. I mean, even let the Eagles win once. Yeah. If the if the if the Yankees flyers like we never want them to win. I mean,

Andy Mueller  05:55

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if the Yankees get back in it somehow and are actually a playoff team, which is still possible. You know, and they do have to play the Orioles. I mean, I’m going to have to obviously route the One Direction. But if the Yankees don’t make the playoffs or when they’re out, then yeah, I’ll go

Nestor Aparicio  06:13

for the Browns win a Super Bowl. That would you know, I mean, well,

Andy Mueller  06:17

it sure looks like that’d be nice, like they will. But no, I hope they sign that I hope they can, you know, get one the next couple of years because then now you’d have to sign all these young players. And you saw Machado and whatnot. And will this team change? We

Nestor Aparicio  06:29

almost saw Omar right? You get in when you get into the crosshairs in negotiating, look at what Shohei Otani is going to go through in Anaheim right now, like once you get to the end of that window, the closer you get, and I’m not a guy that thinks they should give gunner Henderson $100 million tomorrow Adley rutschman. But I think they need to be thinking about that. And that sooner than later is you know, buying out a two years of their deal or something like that, if $30 million, what else is going to

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Andy Mueller  06:57

so you know, if they deserve it, you know, you have to do it to keep it to keep it going. That’s why That’s why I’m saying if they can win in the next couple of years, when they’re still not paying these guys, right? You don’t have to worry about

Nestor Aparicio  07:09

that. Then Sean can get off the hook move the team to Nashville or whatever,

Andy Mueller  07:11

right? Geez, I hope that doesn’t happen. I want to I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  07:15

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in all sincerity you and I sort of cut up before we sat down, I want you to give your career path little because like you’ve really been in on the journalism side, from the very beginning, you came to me honestly, as a guy who had never heard of me or you know, whatever, who sent a resume to Steve Hennessy, who was running WASD with me at the time. And you brought an interesting AI to our company, because you didn’t come from the journalism side when you were dealing with Kevin Byrne and you’re going to see John maroon he’s going to be here. Great. So John, you and John might sit down and do a little radio together. What media look like 25 years ago this week, and what we look like and you know, forget the internet was web pages and geo cities and you’ve got mail you like all CompuServe and dial up modem and just how sports has evolved and change how the internet’s evolved to change how media has evolved and change. And how a kid from Dundalk 25 I go back and read all of this with my dream to have the radio station for the Orioles and the Ravens who hadn’t won anything yet. And think that they’ve thrown me out and that that I’m the bad guy for cheering for them for 25 years. I think it’s a fascinating you come from a different point of view. I didn’t grow up with you and Dundalk. You know, you work for me. We were people think that I don’t get along with all of my ex employees, the ones who don’t get along with me I don’t get along with but like people that have worked in my place and know my dream and met me at 28 don’t have any Baltimore Sun experience hammer jacks. I mean, I have all that going on everybody that everybody was on the show yesterday has known me since I was a teenager. And there’s a whole different level of what their appreciation is for whatever we’ve done, you know, but you came in and left and then went to work for the man right? I mean, you went work to Comcast, you work you did Redskins ravens, you launched the website, like you did all of this stuff after you left me that I’m really, you know, people see Rob long or they see Jeremy Cohn or they see Bob Haney. They see people that work with me. You are a guy that did it behind the scenes. When you left me at a high level you worked for Steve Jeppe. I mean, the relationships we had and the work we did together, your career went a different path. I was always proud to see you doing that work. Yeah,

Andy Mueller  09:28

you know, so when I when I first come down here, my girlfriend Mona, who knows my wife of 20 years, she came down here to work. And I said, I gotta find a way to get to Baltimore. So I thought it was attractive to write that, right. So I’m, I’m driving around, I’m flipping through the radio dial. And you know, I was working at a TV station up at Syracuse, but radios was my first love. So I said, I gotta find a radio job down there if it’s possible, because you really can’t in radio, you can’t pick where you go. Radio is a very transient business, whether you’re a DJ, a sportscaster at Doesn’t really matter, you go where the job is

Nestor Aparicio  10:02

X amount of jobs. It was a limited it still is. I mean, it’s FCC license, you know.

Andy Mueller  10:06

So there’s, I mean, I had I had feelers out and Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Charlotte, you name it a bunch of different places, you know, to work at, you know, these these these brand new all sports stations that were popping up everywhere.

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Nestor Aparicio  10:20

I’ve been sharing those links, you know, ad on social media, because I’m trying to put people’s mind into what we found when we found out what the odds how the odds were stacked against us. And all the critics were they will never make it it’s am radio. They don’t have a they don’t have a relationship with the ravens and the Orioles that are going to pay them $10 million a year. They

Andy Mueller  10:39

never Yeah, I’m not sure that mattered as much back then. You know, and, you know, we had to Jeff

Nestor Aparicio  10:42

Beauchamp, when the story came, like he had the Oreos, and we didn’t and therefore we would never survive literally.

Andy Mueller  10:49

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Right? Well, I mean, you don’t have the internet to compete. Radio and TV and newspaper ruled the day back then. And like I said, I’m down here flipping through the radio dial, I get up to 1570 am here. This guy Nestor talking? How many of you says you’re at that point? Well, you started August and it was October when I was down here and helping him. Okay,

Nestor Aparicio  11:08

so we were eight. We were really looking for help. Yeah, that’s yeah. Okay, fair enough. Right.

Andy Mueller  11:12

And so I just I got contact information from the station. Funnily enough, the station was over on Hart Road, which was really just right around the corner and I got a guy from Syracuse. Yep. So I sent him I sent him a I sent him a cassette tape. And on the cassette tape, it had my phone number, which is a toll free number 1888 Hey, Andy. So

Nestor Aparicio  11:31

that was your marketing that was told me this guy sharp. Yeah. And at that time, I had nasty newsletters.

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Andy Mueller  11:37

You did? Yeah, you did. So and also could bring production equipment and do commercials. That was the main thing because you guys really, you wanted to

Nestor Aparicio  11:43

sat in a closet. You literally had to Yeah, soundproof closet. I when I think of you, I think of you sort of like my wife when she’s working. And I bother you. You’d have your headset on you turn around, and you’re such a nice guy you have nice. You’re such a nice person. You couldn’t be an asshole, you know, but you look at me like, dude, I’m trying to edit I’m trying to edit or you were always like you always had earplugs in Yeah, well, and Luke gives me that now like after a game while I’m not really reporter anymore, but for for 15 years, Luke and I would sit after games, and he’d be like editing the sound, and I’d be bothering him. And he’d look at you give me that that stink eye like, dude, I’m editing. I would be the same guy. If you came in and bothered me when I’m editing. I dropped my my wife does it? Well, I dropped the headset. I’m like, Alright, what do you want? What do you want? Your kids? I’m working? Oh, yeah, work or do

Andy Mueller  12:33

you? So yeah. So I just want to everybody know Nestor would come in. Okay, Nestor, we need you to voice this spot. And it’s Friday at 430. Because Hennessy would always for some reason, he’d be out selling all week, he’d show up at 430 on a Friday, and he’d be like, here’s these 10 commercials we need done. And I’d have to start running Hennessy man. I mean, we needed to commercial money. I know.

Nestor Aparicio  12:53

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Steve and I are not friends or you know, related in any way. But I am eternally grateful. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Totally great. And great stuff for Steve being a part of my life at that point. And helping us create something that’s 25 years later still here. Oh, yeah. You know, like literally you guys, all of you. I’m grateful I really am.

Andy Mueller  13:16

But But Nestor with a fly in the studio, come around, come running in and I’d say okay, and you should avoid these two. And he would just be like a world when you got some place to go. I gotta do this. I got one spot and well, right. Well, sometimes, not. Not all the time, though. Because sometimes I was like, What am I going to do with this now that so? So sometimes I’d have to like you’re out of myself or something. You know, so you’d have to edit all that out? Yeah. Little little, little extra work.

Nestor Aparicio  13:41

Leave it in the mic. Andy. This sucks. You know, like, yeah. Oh, man. We found those. If we found the overall tapes, you don’t have all the tapes from our era. Yep. You were there. When we went to mini disc briefly.

Andy Mueller  13:53

I was nervous that I was

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Nestor Aparicio  13:56

writing and thank God for you. Ray Bachman. They’re paging me at drugs and Nestor to pharmacy Nestor to pharmacy Big Boy milkshake coming up. We’re at the tasting room truck city. By the way, it’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. Andy Muller is my guest our I think of you as our first producer, but I don’t think of you and Ray like you overlapped in a big big way. But I see your handwriting on the tapes. So you know, I know Hennessey’s handwriting your handwriting Ray are on almost everything. And I’m really you and Ray specifically, we’re really detail oriented in the way like our Atlanta Super Bowl. i It’s easy for me to find Steve de Burgh because his name is on the tape. So it’s Tom Jackson. So these were all guests that we had in Atlanta, we had all kinds of them. Yeah, yeah. And the Ray Lewis thing went down you were with me, right? Yeah, but but but all these years later, I have all of this tape all of this. These memories. I really do want to get to you being in the media and how much it’s changed for what my vision was, what our vision was, and what sports has become to try Eat the media like trash. You know what I mean? Like it is. It’s not a good gig for Luke right now to be out there and having managers and coaches threatened to be throwing them out because they’ve thrown me out, right? Like the way sports operates. I mean, even ESPN straw, right. Like all the Comcast sports nets, all the mass ins, Sinclair lost $75 million in RSS. They’re trying to figure their business out from a media perspective, but it doesn’t include like the community or the media, it only includes their house media.

Andy Mueller  15:33

Yeah, I mean, internet and streaming, you really changed the world. And no one knew at at first how, you know, because, you know, we, if we go back to we go back to 1999, early 99, I started the station. You know, we’d read the paper in the morning, we’d watch the game the night before we flip on the mics, we do a show, we’d have the callers call in, given their take on different things. You know, there’s no social media at the time, you really didn’t go on the internet for breaking news. I mean, it was there. But it wasn’t to this

Nestor Aparicio  15:59

person wasn’t trying to get you to their website. They were trying to get you to buy their newspaper. So if they had a scoop at eight o’clock at night, they weren’t putting it on the internet. They were putting it in the newspaper now. But you don’t I mean, right. I mean, yeah, and radio. During our era radio was the middle ground that when Johnny Unitas dies in the middle of the day, we were the ones channel channel 11 wasn’t going to cut off General Hospital. Right. WBA a radio was the medium for things that happened after the newspaper. Things happen during the day. I mean, press conferences, things that happened during the day. What was radios exclusivity?

Andy Mueller  16:41

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I mean, if you think about it, we were able to and I have a Johnny Unitas thing to tell you but fact to tell you about personally with me actually funny enough all right. But anyway, what we’ll get to that, you know, we would take the press conferences, Brian billets press conferences, and we would record them and put them on the air we considered him the president in our but we were able to do that. I mean, there’s absolutely no way a radio station is going to do that unless they’re going to pony up right now. There’s absolutely no way you’re gonna get a John Harbaugh press conference live in the air or you’re going to be able to even you know, you can you can do so many snippets of it and whatnot. But media changed to the point that the teams took over with the internet happened and the teams took over their own coverage basically. And they I’m not saying don’t care about the rest of the media covering them but are very, you know, they they realize they can charge for the access. You know, if you want to talk to the coach before everyone else does, you want to be able to you know, because I never had to worry about that when I was working at your station. So Fridays were ravens access day where we could go see the players and I would literally walk in the locker room. Goose would give me something he’d call me Uncle Fester or something funny like that because I had the you know the the buzz cut or whatever. I go talk to Rob Burnett over and his locker. Goose would make fun of us because he’s a pit guy and we’re Syracuse guys so we’re talking to rob. Oh, yeah, I didn’t know. Robin I was so so it was a good man. Oh, yeah. And then they would they would bring in like 50 pizzas and, you know, in the players be eating and you know, just just getting done with practice, you know, and then

Nestor Aparicio  18:13

there’s rod Woodson over there. Oh, yes. Right Lewis over there. Oh, yeah. Shannon Sharpe over there.

Andy Mueller  18:16

Yeah. And whoever you know, we had Scott Mitchell at first was quarterback and you know then stony case and whatnot. And then obviously we got Dilfer in banks and you know that whole thing that year, Ishmael two or yeah, oh, yeah, you Syracuse guy. Oh, you bet. The cuse connects Kadri for sure. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. But you know, just just the fact that I you know, I didn’t necessarily either either went to school with them at Syracuse, or they were right before me like Rob was right before me and Syracuse. But, but yeah, just just just be able to go to any lock a locker, talk to whoever get some tape, ask them about the game coming up, ask them how the offense is the defense is and then and then Brian Billick. What was great about him was I would show up to practice Friday. And

Nestor Aparicio  18:54

everything was great about Brian Right. So he just you know, I mean, all these years later, Brian was just the great Oh, yeah. Brian was just a great and anybody that doesn’t believe that just doesn’t know Brian. And that’s not to do with my partnership with him or me. It does because I spent so much more time with him even after he was deposed. You know what I mean? Like everybody loves Brian Oh, you walk in a room and Brian Brian owns the room. And that’s that’s not John I mean, that’s and that’s not most NFL certainly not Bill Belichick.

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Andy Mueller  19:24

Well, he’s he’s obviously a very organized in you know, to the tee type guy. And so you drove to practice, the practice would end and Brian needed to for some reason, walk around the track and maybe was just clearing his mind getting a little exercise. He wasn’t running. He was walking around the track and we’re talking over where Stephenson is now the old old ravens complex, the old bobble? Yeah. And the old, the old colts place, you know, over there. And so he’d walk around the track. And I would stand there waiting to just to do a quick interview with him, you know, so we could have something to run before the game on the weekend or on Friday afternoon show or whatever like that. And he would walk walked by me and he would say, three, meaning three more laps. Then he’d walked by and I stand there. I’m like, Well, I mean, he’s not, you know, I want to interview him. So I’ll wait. Then he walked by me again. So, and then after a while, it’s like, Am I really going to stay in here? Am I going to miss out on the players in the locker room, but now it’s the coach. I you know, and he’s, he’s going to, he’s going to talk to me just you just him and I, you know, get and I’ll get something from him that no one no other station has some kind of exclusivity. Right. I love the way Andy thinks. Go ahead. One. And then he said one and then he’d come around. Finally then and then tell off he’s sweating. And they walk up to me to go

Nestor Aparicio  20:37

over the shoulder, always over the shoulder. Take a drink,

Andy Mueller  20:40

then you’d say, okay, got for me. Okay. What are you doing? All right. How’s it going? You know, and then and then fire off the questions. He’d answer them all I take.

Nestor Aparicio  20:51

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Because I love Brian. Oh, yeah, it’s Brian. And while I’ve talked to Brian a little bit, I mean, I I just haven’t bothered. It’s been some time. Yeah, I know what he’s doing. He’s in Minnesota playing golf. He’s playing golf every day. No kidding.

Andy Mueller  21:00

Well, he at golf makes me all the although the coaches play got to remember the time where we had when Phillip was hired. Then he hired his coaching staff. And all all these minivans showed up to heart wrote at the radio station, and it was basically the entire coaching staff he brought over and you had him in studio. So you had Rex Ryan in studio, Donnie Henderson, Marvin Lewis, you know, all the all the I remember Del Rio

Nestor Aparicio  21:25

and I remember Jack Del Rio sitting and they all didn’t know they all

Andy Mueller  21:27

came over. They all came over one day all of them together in the studio. And do not remember we just packed the studio with all the Ravens assistants. I’m saying you can’t do this anymore. This can’t happen unless you’re going to pay literally millions of dollars to these teams to be able to have something like this. And it just sort of the whole organic nature of it back then what was great, you know, because

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Nestor Aparicio  21:51

the community station right I mean, every time you went to the barn you felt that Oh 100% Yeah, you feel that in drug city, right? Literally

Andy Mueller  21:58

Definitely. Definitely. And you know that that that just it’s missing now it’s missing now we don’t have this

Nestor Aparicio  22:03

in Philadelphia. They have Odyssey they have clear channel we have Odyssey here if you like it God bless you but like the stalks 10 cents by some of it. But there’s there’s no more John Steadman. There’s no more Mike Preston’s there’s no more Peter schmucks coming along. There’s no more Ken Rosenthal’s there, you know, there’s no more nasty nests. Charlie, there’s no more Charlie there. There’s none of that. There’s Brett Hollander and Rob long working for the team chasing lock and for who used to be a reporter Roch kubatko, who was like a journalist pooping on me in 1998. Then he goes and works for Madison, and he can’t criticize ownership. It’s over. You know what I mean? If you’re reading Ryan, mink, and you think that’s a journalist, that’s not a journalist, that’s somebody intimidated by the coach who works the pleasure of the owner and the general manager. Like there’s, there’s only OS at this point, right? Yeah, yeah. In a true fashion. And there’s no us anymore, there’s just me.

Andy Mueller  23:07

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And it’s not it’s not always trying to expose the bad thing the team did or or the the scandals behind the scenes, or it’s not always that it’s there’s positive stuff that you could talk about, clearly about team, obviously, you do still, you know, and I try to, you still don’t have the access, you don’t have the access. And I’m not saying you know, like you personally not having the access, we’re saying, I’m saying

Nestor Aparicio  23:29

it’s the accountability for me, for me, it was if you’re going to say that on the radio, or write that in a column on the newspaper, even write that on the internet, or drop that on your Twitter, you get to come in the locker room and talk to Odell Beckham, you know, and write about, you don’t like the color of his purple hair, or you didn’t think he was a good addition? Or you didn’t believe that Jack Flaherty was going to be the ticket, the winners, you know, like, you would then have to go to their locker. And they can say to you, why did you say that about me? Or you could do with Rafeal Palmera did, which was come at me with a bat. Like looking to intimidate me, he was never gonna hit me with the bat, right. But Davey Johnson had to come out and you know, like, dip between us and like, fine. I mean, I’ll own anything I said on the radio with the strangest thing of our era. And this puppy speaks to Chad steel and to Rafeal Palmero. They would and Hennessy would always say this, they would never really hear what I would say. They would hear what somebody told them. That they heard that I said, right, well, it’s not

Andy Mueller  24:27

like you could go back to a podcast and listen to

Nestor Aparicio  24:31

say, I heard you said this, about that. And I’d say I didn’t say that. Well, Joe said you did. My wife said you did. This person said you did. But I didn’t say that. Well, I think you did. And now and in the old days, there wasn’t a tape of now anything I say is here. It’s transcribed. Anything I tweet even if I if I’m an NFL quarterback and I tell a fan and Pennsylvania to perform fellatio on me that I can leave that up there or take that down and there’s a screenshot. We’re at a whole different level of what I used to think of as accountability. But there’s no accountability. I mean, you got a president doing insurrections and getting into I mean, there’s the accountability of things that are said, I mean, this maniac with these poor children and their parents up in New Jersey, who gets a whole platform off the Rush Limbaugh tree. I’ve never been that we’ve never been that because you know, 25 years ago, I wouldn’t tolerate that. You know, I fire guys for saying stuff like that that one in five sevens hired because I wasn’t going to tolerate racism. any of that nonsense. Oh, my airwaves had a seven second delay, man, I had an FCC license. I could not sanction. Sure, sure. garbage that the guys in Dallas did to me as an FCC owner, like I could not sanction trash on my radio. And most of the guys that I fired in the end, not when my wife got sick, but in the beginning. We had a morning show guy here that when I would put the radio on he would be saying things on the radio that I just, I needed to get them off my radio. I just I wasn’t proud of it. And I worked too hard to have it right. I once had a weekend show on the air where a young lady who I admire and like and went on to do great things in called me. I was at Yankee Stadium. She called me she’s like, my husband and my boyfriend and I later became husband are in the car listening to this host to this Howard Stern. Screw them or not kind of thing with women in the media. This is going on on my airwaves with some jackass intern that i Let do it weekly show. And I’m like, You’re not going to do a show on my airwaves anymore. Like, if you hear Howard Stern doing that, or Don Imus doing that. That doesn’t mean that that’s going to be what’s on my radio station at one o’clock on a Saturday afternoon while you hone your skills on my airwaves. Because the biggest thing, when I think about your era, and you being a hire of interns, everyone that walked in, just wanted the microphone, right. Like literally right, like everybody just wanted to be a star and yellow on the microphone. And that sometimes, and that was the callers to that right. Or saying wildly inappropriate, racist stuff in the middle of Tony banks and Elvis Kirk and Trent Dilfer, right, like all that went on 2324 years ago with a seven second delay, because we were always fighting what went out on the airwaves because of it would make Kevin Byrne call and say what did you say about my coach? What did you just what did you say now? There’s no more that there’s to me, there’s not whether you said something are different or not, it’s on the record more. I think that’s something we fought 25 years ago, that I would get a call and you said this about that and I’m like, that was Spiro, it wasn’t even me. And I don’t even know what the hell he said, because I was an immediate 10 o’clock. And then we didn’t have a tape of it. Right. So then we had to say, Well, what did you say? And I don’t, I always felt the accountability of that to be a really heavy burden. That now everybody’s got a Facebook page, and they MF me and they, you know, block them and they’re angry that you’re an asshole. I don’t you know, I’m not I don’t, I don’t need you in my life. In the old days, we wanted those people to call and say something. Yeah, stupid or intelligent. I just

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Andy Mueller  28:30

don’t think people back then. I mean, that even though it was you know, you could say you’re calling from a certain place and tell us your name. You know, and you know, I literally went on screen the call would make sure that the person obviously could put a sentence together

Nestor Aparicio  28:43

the call so yeah, again. Yeah, you had a call. You definitely had a screen so screening the internet. Well try it was no screening. The Baltimore suns message board, when they’re doing all this, why does laundry stuff when I got

Andy Mueller  28:56

it wasn’t Yeah, it wasn’t anonymous. It but I mean, it was sort of anonymous, but not not anonymous to the point of a tweet or a Facebook post or whatever, where you want to tell Nestor

Nestor Aparicio  29:05

8

e socks? Right like well say it on the air. You would always say tell him on the air. Oh, yes, it was sent over and bleed. You practicing the phone call?

Andy Mueller  29:13

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I obviously have to be on topic. If we’re talking about the Orioles. We’re not going to just shift gears and immediately take whoever to talk about you know, Coppin State basketball. You know, when we were talking Coppin State basketball, we’ll take your calls on it, but you know, you have to you have to realize it’s, you know, back then it was, was it 1% of your audience are the callers right. And you want to put good callers on the air. Now, we had great callers don’t get me wrong. We had some great calls. That’s the thing that

Nestor Aparicio  29:39

really deteriorated. Yeah. You know, the quality of the phone calls that I was getting in 2000 123. The engagement with sports where they knew the rules, they knew the waiver wire, they knew the salary cap, at least in your because I would always say if you don’t understand the salary cap to a host Well, I don’t care about The salary cap, well, then, how are you going to do sports radio. I mean, I was really a prick about what I wanted on the air, you must admit that I did not want garbage on my airwaves. And I heard garbage and other airways are 1300 was garbage, it was awful. That’s why we kicked their ass. That’s why I’m still here. Because what they put on the radio was terrible. And I still think one of the five seven mainly is terrible. Like when I listened to it, I’m like, this is awful, I wouldn’t sanction it. I wouldn’t I just set my bars higher than that, because I wanted to be here 25 years later and be respected and not be thought of as somebody that’s putting dirt bags on the radio on the weekends talking, you know, talking bad about local women. Well, the media. I mean, that’s not what I was about.

Andy Mueller  30:41

Right. Yeah. You know, there’s, there’s something to be said about, you know, sports talk kind of turned into guy talk and whatnot. Oh, yeah. But, you know, we never really the politics were that when Yeah, and we never really went that route. You know, and there’s really no reason to completely go that route. I mean, we talk guy stuff, you know, locker room, some beer, you want to drink a cigar, you’re smoking, you know, that type of stuff, you know, more of more of like, you know, guys like to do certain things, you know, on weekends or whatever, you know, but it wasn’t anything guy talk

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Nestor Aparicio  31:09

means that I can say sexist, racist under the table. Well, maybe, right? Well, and then we’re students comedy. I’m just I’m just it’s just comedy. It’s a racist joke. That’s comedy, right? Like, we’re funny guys. We and the gambling part of guy talk from 20 years ago, completely sanctioned now. Right? Like, totally, I mean, I have Hollywood Casino. We’re going to be you go up there bet during the game before the game, you could bet on this pitch bet on that pitch. Then McDonald’s in on it. Palmer queasy about it. I mean, Big Papi, he’s got a hose. Right. Kevin berm would have thrown us out of the locker room. If we were sanctioning points and gambling and who’s injured and who’s not. And this is why I’m betting on the game is like all of that was a boat. Right? And that’s changed dramatically,

Andy Mueller  31:58

totally has changed. And you know that I mean, there’s radio networks or websites clearly that just deal with that end of sports. And I don’t have a problem with it. I mean, even you know, even back then if I had a chance to go to Vegas, I could put put a few

Nestor Aparicio  32:11

blocks for last night on Twitter, talking about his insider pick on the Hall of Fame Game.

Andy Mueller  32:18

8

Yeah, see a preseason football. That’s like, I don’t know why you’d waste your time betting on the one

Nestor Aparicio  32:22

800 Get help, you know, give me seriously, I don’t know what to say. But the gambling part of this is dangerous. And I tell people that all the time. I don’t have that gene. But I I had guys that worked with me. It wrecked their lives. It ruled their lives. It was the most important in their life. You know, like you’re betting

Andy Mueller  32:42

English soccer on a Tuesday afternoon. You don’t know nothing about the Premier League. That’s that that would be tough. You know, that’s, that’s a

Nestor Aparicio  32:50

we think you know something right. So I’ll leave you with this. And we’ll take a break. We’ll come back. We’ll talk more monitors. I’m Andy Mueller’s, our guest Andy. If you’re if you’re an OG, you recognize Andy’s or your bass and baritone what do you what do you got going on? And I think if you have

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Andy Mueller  33:06

the radio voice, yeah, well, I mean, accent was your commercial guy. So yeah, I was your commercial could always be you know, pick up Coors Light wherever you buy beer and tap the Rockies. You know, I was always sure I can. Yeah, I used to be what you do that I used to do the wn St. drops and whatnot.

Nestor Aparicio  33:23

Because, um, what Dave scheinen was on the show two weeks ago, Coco’s and he’s got music. He’s going to give me his music for beds. So I’m going to use his music as the new music beds are very good for our 25th anniversary. You see our 25th anniversary logo?

Andy Mueller  33:39

No, no, I didn’t know I did hear that you were going to have a new logo. Oh, we got a brand new logo. You haven’t shown it? Anyone yet? Or? No, it’s

Nestor Aparicio  33:45

8

on the front of the website.

Andy Mueller  33:46

I have seen it. Yeah, I have seen it’s got the fireworks. If you haven’t seen it yet. No. I have seen that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So we ever twice. Didn’t know if that was just temporary. I

Nestor Aparicio  33:54

want to do new branding. I feel like we’re having a meeting in the right Can we go to the basement of the radio station. I want new branding Andy for September 5 for the kickoff of football season our 20. So we’re, I’ll tell you about the 25th anniversary, but I just want to say this. On the gambling side. I had Marty McGee and picture already on Preakness week. Oh yeah. Could you say that there would be any more decorated horse racing people?

Andy Mueller  34:21

Right? I mean their horse players for sure. I’ve met both of guys who their life or friends of the track with both I’ve

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Nestor Aparicio  34:27

known both of them more than 35 years like literally I’ve known known Dix since 1984. My first byline and I talked to Bob NASCAR yesterday news American, my name and Deke Gerard his name are on the sheet. I have a full sheet from my wall of my first byline with Theresa Andrews and July of 99. What was that? What was the subject matter? Theresa Andrews had won the gold medal and in the four Olympics in Los Angeles,

Andy Mueller  34:53

how old were you in 84 1111? Okay,

Nestor Aparicio  34:55

so 1984 I’m 15 I had my first byline. and picture Artis pics and rich feature oh two, we’re on the same page. So that’s how long I’ve known dick. Well, my first byline summer ad for 39 years, Marty, Mickey and I went to the Paul Simon Graceland tour and it didn’t matter what. So I’ve known him that long as well. All right to the racetrack. I had them both on and we did our whole is the Preakness leaving town. You know what’s wrong with the derby winners not coming to the prep, we did all that right. And then I said that what 20 years was running with anyway, you guys were on the front end of this whole gambling thing where you were at the press box at Pimlico where you could go up you can bet right there and watched in the press box right there was a bet to betting windows in the presser Yeah, right. So and how weird that was right? Like it’s just as a sports fan that baseball football will never have that

Andy Mueller  35:48

8

now there’s always a line to by the way, always.

Nestor Aparicio  35:51

bills coming out. Forms looking up at the horses walking on track. Come Florio Oh, you baby doll. Look at him in the He sweat and he swam. He’s gonna be he’s gonna be in the money. Andy. I’m

Andy Mueller  36:06

telling you. I was like, what about those front wraps? No, that’s Don’t worry about that. Don’t worry about the blank. They’re just

Nestor Aparicio  36:12

LASIK. It helps him breathe, nested up some breathe. So, so I love those guys. And so I have and I wish I could talk to Clem And Clem would say the same thing. So I said the Marty, even bet and all you and Marty is a degenerate gambler. He bets on Facebook. He’s bet on everything forever. All right. And I said to Tim, horse racing, forget baseball, football things you have your horse racing historian a fishing out. This is all you do. Are you ahead or behind? betting on horse out behind behind? So then I have I have Declan and Deke, the both of these guys have cashed $100,000. You know, things that consortiums they’re ran on and like, Oh, they’re in all that right. Now. I said that the same thing I’ve known. He’s been betting 60 years Dick has, right. I mean, Dick was a gambler at the track, who then became a reporter from his inside information, right? And I said in your head, oh, I’m behind, but way behind. I’m like, so if the two of you had been doing this in horse racing your whole life every day and you’re behind? How is some jackass on Sunday going to get ahead by betting on the Falcons?

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Andy Mueller  37:24

That well they’re not I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  37:27

I’m just asking the thing is with horse

Andy Mueller  37:29

racing you love you love the game and you love the you love almost like the you know, the doing the handicap and looking at the past performances, watching the replays. That’s what you love about it. And you just want you just want to be right. But sometimes you can be right. But if you spread out too much in the race, you actually don’t win any money on the race, even if you have the winner, because say you’re betting this one win play show your bet and a bunch of exotics, you lose the money on the exotics, because you don’t get second and third, but you got first but first and you know, so you win $10 or $100 or $1,000 on the first place. Your horse coming in first, but then all your exotics use, you end up spending 1000 on the ticket. This is my

Nestor Aparicio  38:05

8

issue. People start watching baseball money man and they’re thinking I’m gonna bet on Gunnar Henderson to hit a homerun it’s eight to one on this event, whatever it is, right? Like it’s a different way. Nobody’s ever thought of baseball that way. No, like I know in our lifetime and that’s why I said baseball is really getting greasy in that way and moving in that direction and seeing that as the next big pile of money because the next big pile of money is not Masson, it’s not the Sinclair folks buying the Fox Sports nets and the Comcast sports nets and Ted Leone’s is you know, owning a home team sport I mean, that’s over with they need to fit in it’s not Steve shoddy and Chad still need me to buy my seats back in the front row section 513 that they threw me out of. That’s not where their pile of money is their pile of money he’s not even in local revenue or sky boxes. The local read the big pile of money that they can’t touch was with the bookmaker Louis did that. Dan Sabatini where he was getting that shame betting while you’re in the state Bob Kraft that shaved now Yep. Roger Goodell wants that shave right now. Rob Manfred, and John Angelo’s look at that as the you know that that’s going to be 20% of their revenue five years from now. That’s how they see it. And five years ago, and for the last 100 years, it was no part of their revenue. But in order to do that, they got to get Ben McDonald in the broadcast and Brett Hollander given his insights and paying lock and forward to give his big pick i i don’t i don’t know what that does when it comes to expertise, or being an expert how to gamble versus what a breaking ball looks like and what a prospect looks. I mean, I got into sports because I love sports. My dad wasn’t that way. I mean, you know that about me? We’ve been at it a long time. I got into it because I love Baltimore. Right? It was my home team. That’s same reason you love Syracuse, right? Like that’s the rub. The rub is it says Baltimore on it. And that’s mine. And you can’t have that in Pittsburgh or New York or Boston. That’s kind of gone with it to some degree. I mean, it is yeah. More of that the reason people watch sports isn’t from my hometown team, it’s more tribal. I think in that way if you’re a Cowboys fan or whatever, that’s my team America’s team or whatever. But that’s not how they’re making money on it anymore. They’re not making money on it selling you, Dan Passerini jersey, they’re trying to get you to actively wager on it.

Andy Mueller  40:19

Oh, yeah. And I still double take I’m watching the NFL broadcast and they’re mentioning you know, some Bradshaw has given his past and it’s, it’s just, it’s just odd to me. It just it’s it’s still odd. I’m still not used to it. It’s they’re not used to it. You know, we had Jimmy the Greek in the 80s doing his thing here, here and there, but tangibles

Nestor Aparicio  40:33

rent rent, let me tell you are, let me tell you the tangibles. Right. I got some inside information when I was in New York. Yeah, it was it was exciting. For me. It

Andy Mueller  40:46

was always like, former broadcaster or the Paul Horning former player that would like be in one of those ads in the back of the football magazine show. Buddy right there, disgraced back then and now it’s all

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Nestor Aparicio  40:58

done like that. Right? Timber did like that.

Andy Mueller  41:00

No, I understand. But now they’d love it that you were doing a show like that with with you know, of course if you know if you could get LT back to do a show that wasn’t making

Nestor Aparicio  41:09

my pics looking are gonna make picks this year. Yeah, we have a Hollywood Casino. So

Andy Mueller  41:12

8

everyone the problem is everyone makes pics now. So it’s just

Nestor Aparicio  41:16

oh my 900 number. You got it. You were drunk sitting up down and get some greasy stuff from my hair. Grow one of those little Dean Cramer mustaches. Get that going on. let my hair down. Like my long hair.

Andy Mueller  41:27

Yeah, yes, I’m not I’m not used to seeing you this way. But obviously you might for a while.

Nestor Aparicio  41:34

Let’s take a break. Andy Mueller’s here I promised that wasn’t gonna go super long but I when I had my friends on right I mean, I miss you man. Yeah, we haven’t seen each other person voice Rascon global gave me this. This crab Mel and it did not use it. I forgot it yesterday. I forgot my window nation hat yesterday. So apologies to those folks. 866 90 nation all summer long. The one year anniversary of my Windows is August 8. It was a good day. I mean, our windows were a mess. We have great windows now window nation apart of that, and our friends at the Maryland lottery. Andy is gonna get us number 21 There you go. 21 All right. Yeah, you know, art modells favorite joke. How do you feel today art and art per se I feel like an 18 year old. Oh great. But where you’re gonna find one at this hour? So there’s that’s always that’s it’s got to be

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Andy Mueller  42:22

like $10,000 Maybe,

Nestor Aparicio  42:25

you know, like heading. That’s a federal Red Skelton. I don’t know where red buttons. At red. I met I met red buttons or Skelton at art monoket 80th birthday party at the harbor court. Whichever one was alive at that time

Andy Mueller  42:41

I met wink Martindale at a Steve Jeppe party. But that’s good. You really are. Yeah, yeah, he’s he’s I think he’s still with us. Right in his 90s which coaching

Nestor Aparicio  42:49

defense with Andy Mueller’s here he I love Andy and I love having Andy on work truck city doing our 25th anniversary telling old stories. We’re talking a little more current stuff and we talk some media in this thing. John maroons going to join us Rodney from dangerous the delicious pies which they serve your drug city going to be joining us today. My old friend Bill urines coming by Oh Baltimore County Executive Johnny oh we’ll be here and we just had a lovely day of storytelling it Costas I cost this is a mile down the road and you get some credit period taking home your wife you get a crab cake right here at the fountain the drugs city which I’m going to do later on they brought me a turkey Ruben up here as well milk me to get a big boy milkshake. He’s threatening to make me peach milkshake down here that’s better than that. Right Wing fast food peach milkshake that I love so much by the way along with the chicken in the waffle fries. Were drug city. We’re doing it 25 years into this. Hope you stay with us back for more with Andy here at drug city. We’re at the tasting room above the fountain stay with us.