Glenn Ordway, who in a near-50-year broadcasting career established himself as one of the most influential voices in the history of Boston sports radio, announced Tuesday that he will be retiring from his full-time role at WEEI 93.7 FM at the end of the summer, reports The Boston Globe.
“I’m going to chill out a bit and enjoy life,” said Ordway, 70, at the top of Tuesday’s show.
Ordway, who cohosts the afternoon-drive “OMF” program with Lou Merloni and Christian Fauria, said he will split his time between Boston and Scottsdale, Ariz., after leaving the daily role, but plans to still contribute to the station beyond August.
He will stay on as host of “The Real Postgame Show” after Patriots games, and will develop a podcast.
“We’re talking about stuff right now,” said Ordway, who has time remaining on his contract beyond this year, “but I do want to do ‘The Real Postgame Show.’ I’ve done it for a zillion years with those two guys, Fred [Smerlas] and [Steve] DeOssie.
“I’m going to have a presence on the radio station, which is perfect for me. It will give me an opportunity to stay embedded here and yet have my freedom and spend time with my family.”
Ordway, who gained renown as a radio voice of the Celtics from 1982-95, has spent 34 years as a host at WEEI. His greatest success at the station came while helming the highly rated afternoon-drive program “The Big Show” in the ’90s and early 2000s.
“Glenn has been an ever-present force at WEEI, both on air and off air, for over three decades,” said Mark Hannon, regional president for WEEI’s parent company, Audacy, in a statement. “He was the station’s first program director and oversaw some of the most dominant years in Boston radio.
“He has been an enduring on-air presence and has been side-by-side talking to Boston sports fans through the best and worst times.”
WEEI fired Ordway in February 2013, replacing him with Mike Salk, perhaps the most disastrous transaction in Boston sports radio lore. A new market manager and old colleague of Ordway’s, Phil Zachary, rehired him as the midday host in August 2015, and along with Merloni and Fauria, he was moved back to afternoon drive in July 2018.
Ordway has been a staple of the Boston sports community, having been on the air in a variety of capacities for almost 50 years and 34 years at WEEI. His tenure as host of “The Big Show,” which launched in September of 1995, was one of the most successful tenures any talent has ever had since the sports format began in 1987.
He began his broadcasting career in radio at a small station in Beverly, WMLO. He then went to WMEX/WITS in Boston in 1975, where he hosted the Red Sox Radio pregame and postgame show and subsequently became Sports Director, as well as working as the color analyst on Boston Bruins radio broadcasts during the 1978-79 and 1979-80 seasons. In 1981, Ordway gained prominence at WRKO in Boston where he manned a popular, award-winning call-in show, “Sportscall.” Ordway is also known for his 14 years as commentator for the Boston Celtics, where he worked alongside legendary Boston Celtics play-by-play man Johnny Most for several years. During this period, he appeared as himself in an episode of the long running Boston based sitcom “Cheers.”
No comments:
Post a Comment