John Feinstein on Friday morning told a DC radio station that CBS Sports Radio "fired" him as host of his national radio show, "The John Feinstein Show." The host's contract is up at the end of the year, at which point his show will end. Feinstein and CBS Sports Radio are talking about a new deal that would have Feinstein in a non-hosting role. "John is extremely talented and one of the sharpest and provocative minds in sports, as well as one of the most opinionated. We look forward to announcing our 2015 plans for John and the entire network shortly," CBS Sports Radio said in an e-mailed statement. Feinstein addressed the talks during his radio show this morning, telling listeners that he was "disappointed." "I hope that I'm still going to be involved with the network. We're trying to work something out," he said. Feinstein mentioned the possibility of staying involved with the CBS Sports Minute. During an appearance on WJFK-AM's "The Junkies" morning show, Feinstein said that CBS Sports management did not like the direction that he was taking the show. "They didn't like the stories I told (on air)," Feinstein said. CBS Sports Radio launched "The John Feinstein Show" in January '13 to anchor its late-morning block of national programming (9:00am-12:00pm ET). Feinstein said he first realized that his job was in jeopardy a few months ago when a CBS Sports Radio exec told him that his stories slowed the program down too much (John Ourand, Staff Writer). In DC, Dan Steinberg notes Feinstein "originally signed a one-year contract with CBS, which was renewed for a second year." However, he said the "handwriting was on the wall for a while" regarding his long-term status. Feinstein: "I did the show I thought they wanted me to do. I thought we did a good show, but my perspective isn't necessarily everyone else's perspective." Steinberg notes Feinstein, who is currently working on a book about college basketball coaches Dean Smith, Jim Valvano and Mike Krzyzewski, "has no plans to do a full-time radio show next year" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 11/14).
JUST THE FIRST MOVE? THE BIG LEAD's Jason McIntyre cited sources as saying that CBS Sports Radio is "going through a few major changes" in addition to Feinstein's departure. Dana Jacobson "is out" from the weekday morning show she co-hosted with Brandon Tierney and Tiki Barber, as the trio "was not getting along." Tierney and Barber will take over Feinstein's late-morning time slot. Meanwhile, Brian Jones and Gregg Giannotti will take over the 6:00-9:00am time slot. Jones is "currently doing an evening show with Chris Moore" on CBS Sports Radio, while Giannotti hosts a show on KDKA-FM in Pittsburgh (THEBIGLEAD.com, 11/12).
