Hosts Chuck Oliver and Matt Chernoff closed their run with an emotional farewell that mixed laughs, memories and guests, including Braves Hall of Famer Chipper Jones. The atmosphere felt more like saying goodbye to familiar voices than the end of a radio program.
Oliver chose to step away because he could no longer balance the four-hour afternoon show with his separate two-hour college football program, which he has hosted for more than a decade. He will focus more heavily on the college football show while remaining involved with 680 The Fan in other roles.
Chernoff is staying at the station and will take over the afternoon slot beginning Aug. 31 with longtime Atlanta radio personality John Kincade, who is returning after several years in Philadelphia.
“To Chuck, and I say this tongue-in-cheek, but sincerely, it’s the longest relationship I’ve ever had,” Chernoff said during the final sign-off.
“Is it bumpy at times? Yes. But you work with somebody for two plus decades, it’s going to be bumpy. But I’ll say this, when this show was at its best, I’ll put it up against any show — not just in sports talk — but in radio.”
He described their listeners as the most “loyal, invested fan base listenership” in radio and called working with Oliver a “blessing.”
The duo first teamed up in the early 2000s at the now-defunct 790 The Zone. Chernoff joined 680 The Fan in 2008; Oliver followed. They moved into afternoon drive in 2011 and became one of Atlanta’s most recognizable sports radio pairs.
Their appeal went beyond scores and standings.
Chernoff, the quick-witted instigator, and Oliver, the college football encyclopedia, built chemistry around arguments, jokes, obscure references, music, pop culture, food and personal stories. Recurring bits such as “Win Chuck’s Dinner” trivia and self-produced songs rewarded regular listeners.
“I said when we did the show, we could do the sports stuff and I’m proud of that,” Chernoff said. “But I hoped we would give you a laugh every day. Sometimes we came up short, sometimes we hit a home run with it. But if we walked out of here because we laughed, I hope everybody enjoyed that part of it because that was a big deal to us.”
For a generation of Atlanta sports fans, the show’s legacy is the sound of two hosts who seemed to be having as much fun as the people listening — arguments, ridiculous tangents, Braves talk, college football debates and inside jokes that became part of the city’s afternoon routine.