Teddy Heffner’s long sports radio career could be over. Here’s what he’s valued most
Teddy Heffner saved his announcement for the final two minutes of the show. After all, Clemson football played in the national championship the night before and there was no need to interrupt any of that discussion with, as Heffner put it, a “pity fest.”
But all that waiting didn’t make the news any easier to deliver.
Heffner has been in sports journalism since stringing for The State newspaper in 1970. His print career gave way to radio over 20 years later. But now that era might be ending, too.
Heffner, 68, announced this past week that “Talking Sports with Teddy Heffner” — heard locally on AM 620 and FM 96.3 — is ending Jan. 31. Glory Communications general manager Alexis Campbell didn’t respond to a call seeking comment on the show’s fate.
Heffner, who said he has no hard feelings toward Glory Communications, has known his show was ending for over a week. He only made it public when he felt word was trickling out and he wanted his listeners properly informed. It’s these people he’s valued most over his career.
“Heck,” Heffner said, “our show was mentioned in the obituary of one of our callers at one time. So the listeners, we’ve become like a family. Really, you do. And we have a lot listeners that don’t call. I’m always surprised when I go somewhere and somebody says, ‘I listen every day,’ and it’s somebody that I really don’t know because they never call. They say only about 1 percent of the listeners call anyway.”
Along with announcing it on the airwaves, Heffner alerted his over 7,300 Twitter followers. News of his show ending produced heartfelt responses ranging from both South Carolina and Clemson fans.
Heffner always tried to not lean to one side or the other when it came to state’s biggest schools. He played it straight, knowing full-well the flack he could receive.
“I’ve tried to use my newspaper training to radio,” Heffner said. “And that is try to be right down the middle. And I really angered a lot of Carolina fans along the years because they wanted me to be (a homer), but that’s not me. And it comes from my newspaper training.
“I give Clemson credit. I pull for everybody in the state is what I tell people. And that seems to have worked for almost 30 years.”
Phil Kornblut, longtime host of “Sports Talk” in Columbia and a former co-host with Heffner, said Heffner’s journalistic instincts made his voice a unique one in this market.
“He really doesn’t see garnet and black, he doesn’t orange and white,” Kornblut said. “He just sees it the way he sees it and he’s never afraid to give his opinion about something in the sports world in South Carolina and in Columbia in particular. Having grown up in Columbia, worked for The State, having played high school ball, he’s got a real good feel, a lot of strong ties in the athletic community in Columbia.
“He’s not a broadcaster per se. He didn’t grow up being a broadcaster. He didn’t go to journalism school to learn how to talk. He went to journalism school to know how to write. He’s not a natural radio guy, but he’s a guy who has his listeners. They love his style, his demeanor, they love his feistiness sometimes — he’ll get feisty with you — and they love his knowledge.”
Heffner, who competed locally with USC flagship station 107.5 The Game, was always impressed by the number of Gamecock coaches who tuned in to his show. He’d received messages that confirmed their listenership.
“That always impressed me because they don’t want the spin, they want the way we see things,” Heffner said. “It’s amazing, sometimes I’ll have a question or something and I’ll say, ‘I don’t know.’ And it’s amazing how many coaches will send me a quick text to tell me the answer. That’s always been a source of pride for me, how many of the coaches at Carolina listen to the show.”
So is it all over? Heffner doesn’t want it be. He’d like to find another outlet, another station, to keep his voice heard to those coaches and those people he’s valued.
“It’s just tough for me at my age to try to get something else,” he said. “There’s possibilities out there, but very long shot possibilities.”
