Wiedmer: Weston Wamp's new talk show has something for everyone

Weston Wamp, 28, mixes political discussion in with other topics on his sports talk radio show.
Weston Wamp, 28, mixes political discussion in with other topics on his sports talk radio show.

All talk.

How many times have we said that about our politicians at all levels of public service? It's just the way far too many of them are. Or what they've been programmed to be.

Then there's Weston Wamp. Twice a pin-thin loser to Chuck Fleischmann in the Republican primary for the Third District U.S. Congressional seat that Weston's father, Zach, admirably held for 16 years, young Wamp recently discovered a different way to put his mouth where the money is - he joined the sports talk radio crowd.

Sort of.

Every Saturday morning from 10 to noon on ESPN Radio (105.1 FM), Wamp attempts to entertain and inform his listeners about both sports and politics on his show, "The Pitch." On those few occasions he has added religion to the mix since first coming on the air in early June, Wamp managed to tap into every Southern male's unholy trinity of discussion/argument points.

"It's kind of a variety show," Wamp said Wednesday from his day job at the Lamp Post Group. "We try to focus on what educated, high-minded people are talking about."

This Saturday's show figures to perfectly reflect that goal. Wamp will welcome former two-term Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen to talk about the impact the arrival of the NFL's Tennessee Titans and NHL's Nashville's Predators have had on the Volunteer State over the past two decades. He's also expected to bring in Marshall Brock, who helped start the Chattanooga Football Club.

photo Weston Wamp, 28, mixes political discussion in with other topics on his sports talk radio show.

With NFL training camps just around the corner and the World Cup champion U.S. women's soccer team slated to appear at Finley Stadium on Aug. 19, it's a safe bet that a good many folks in the Tennessee Valley - be they educated, high-minded or otherwise - will be talking both NFL football and women's World Cup over the next five weeks.

Not that everyone at Brewer Broadcasting on Carter Street was immediately sold on the idea of blending sports and politics and gosh knows what else into a narrow two-hour radio window.

"At first, it definitely shocked me a little bit," said Wells Guthrie, the station's program director and executive producer for "The Pitch." "Since I've been here, with our ties to ESPN and all, we're pretty much sports-focused. Certainly our Press Row crew (this newspaper's Jay Greeson and David Paschall) touch on movies and pop culture and such, but we've still been primarily a sports station."

Yet as Wamp got his feet wet, Guthrie quickly became a fan.

"When you think about it, any typical bar conversation at a Chattanooga watering hole is probably going to touch on both sports and politics," Guthrie said. "Our primary listening audience is males 25-54, and that's what most of them love to talk about."

Nor does Guthrie worry about Wamp trampling the political correctness line.

"Weston absolutely has free range to talk about whatever he wants. He's actually mentioned religion a bit," Guthrie said. "As long as he's not breaking FCC rules - and he's not, he's a pretty smart guy - he's done a really good job of making strong opinions while also walking that line."

In truth, the 28-year-old Wamp has been involved with the media for more than a decade. While he was still in high school, he covered prep baseball and football for Chattanoogan.com.

"When I was 16 years old, John Wilson at the Chattanoogan paid me $33 a story," Wamp said. "I covered games and wrote columns."

Added Zach Wamp, "The Sport Talk guys (Gary Haskew, Scott McMahen, Joe Varner) called him the youngest sports reporter in the state. Kim used to try to get Weston to go bed at night, and he was always pleading to stay up so he could catch the last box score or ESPN wrap."

On all of this, Weston pleads guilty.

"I've been a sports junkie my whole life, especially when it comes to the Tennessee Vols," he said. "I sat on the 18th row on the 50-yard line of Neyland Stadium my entire childhood. When I was little, due to my father starting out at North Carolina, one of my arms bled Carolina blue and the other bled Tennessee orange."

And with football season soon to arrive, Wamp expects the show to be much more filled with sports than politics come the fall.

He's even ready to make a prediction for UT's football season.

"We'll go as (quarterback) Josh Dobbs goes," he said. "If he stays healthy, we're a nine-win team. I really believe this is the real kickoff to the Butch Jones era."

But as he and wife Shelby begin their sixth month as parents to baby River, Wamp also believes in diversity of interests.

The show welcomed retired four-star U.S. Army General B.B. Bell for last Saturday's Independence Day show. With Wamp's father running Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio's campaign in the Volunteer State, don't be surprised if the Florida senator appears on "The Pitch" before Tennessee's presidential primary in early March.

And while sports is often the focus of the show, Wamp's "The Big Pitch" segment is often his view on the non-sports topic of the week, everything from the Charleston church shootings to gay marriage.

"That's where I come unglued," he said with a laugh. "There are no notes. We're in 'stump' mode."

Said his father, who's always been able to stump with the best of them: "Weston's just a guy who loves to talk, but also loves to read all the time. And I think it all comes through on his show. It's fun, informative and filled with passion."

If only politics could better follow that formula.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com

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