Conflict creates good fit for 107.5’s new morning show hosts

Tim Hill says he knew on his first day as co-host of 107.5 The Game’s “Early Game” show that he and new partner Bill Gunter were going to be a good fit.

How so? “Within the first 30 minutes that morning (July 5), Bill tells me he absolutely does not like Kevin Durant going to the Golden State Warriors,” Hill said of that day’s big NBA news. “That was the complete opposite of my opinion – and I loved it.”

If a key to good sports talk radio is strong, especially conflicting, views, Hill –sports anchor at WOLO-TV 25 for 14 years, though that’s about to change – and Gunter, most recently morning co-host at Clear Channel’s SportsRadio 1400, are off and running.

Pairing Hill and Gunter is the most game-changing of several post-July 4 th talent switches at The Game, aka WNKT-FM. For nearly nine years, since 107.5 became the Midlands’ “Voice of the Gamecocks,” listeners from 6-9 a.m. had tuned in to a somewhat unorthodox trio of Benji Norton, career rock DJ; Bob Shields, former WLTX-TV 19 sports anchor now in the funeral home business; and Tommy Moody, former USC baseball player and trivia/stats guru.

To accommodate the new morning lineup, Moody joins host Jay Philips on 107.5’s 1-4 p.m. “Halftime Show,” while Norton – also one of Cumulus’ top advertising sales people, according to operations manager Brent Johnson – is back in his rock ‘n’ roll roots on classic-hits station WOMG-FM 98.5. Shields will continue to do occasional on-air work, Johnson said.

The Midlands’ morning-drive sports scene thus features Hill-Gunter; Teddy Heffner and Rick Sanford on WGCV-AM 620/FM 105.1 and 96.3; and Jonathan Reynolds, Gunter’s former partner, now flying solo at 1400.

The obvious question: if, as 107.5’s Johnson insists, the Norton-Moody-Shields show had not slipped vs. the competition (“We had good ratings on that show,” he said), why the changes?

“When we decided to take 98.5 to classic hits and do a live morning show, Benji was excited about moving over,” Johnson said. “We wanted to pair up Tim (who will depart WOLO at a yet-undetermined date) with someone, and felt Bill would be a good fit.”

In fact, Hill seems to have been the driving force in the shuffle. Previously paired with Philips on 107.5’s afternoon show, his witty repartee and insights had made him a star (if a part-time one) with Cumulus bosses. “I’ve been a fan of Tim’s for a long time,” Johnson said, “and we’ve been trying to find a way to work him in here.

“Tim has abilities in so many areas” – Hill also will handle website updates, expand 107.5’s social-media presence including podcasts, and continue game-day duties during football season – “and now he’s available to us all day long,” Johnson said.

For Hill, “the main attraction is having the ability to coach Little League someday,” he said. He and his wife have two sons, ages 3 and 1, and “the 11 p.m. news is every night.”

“But,” he added with a laugh, “I’d never use that athletes’ cliché about ‘spending more time with my family.’”

Hill’s second reason dates to his past talk radio work at Clear Channel with co-host Matt Barrie, now with ESPN. “Matt always said if he could do radio talk full-time over TV, he’d do it in a second,” an opinion Hill said he shares. Too, he said, “sports talk radio has expanded tremendously,” while sports’ share of local telecasts “continues to shrink and shrink.”

Now, instead of perhaps two minutes per telecast to talk sports, Hill and Gunter have time and room to explore topics, local and national. Assuming his pay is the same or better (neither Johnson nor Hill would discuss salary), Hill figures he’s found his comfort zone.

“I don’t yet know exactly” about other responsibilities, he said, “but I look forward to doing a lot of things with 107.5 in general. The old-fashioned parameters of ‘your show is 6 to 9, that’s your only time interacting with listeners’ … that’s not the construct of the 21st century. You’re not limited to that anymore.”

If Johnson – who said Hill is the morning show’s “anchor,” with Gunter as co-host – ever was concerned about the pair’s chemistry, Hill said that’s been put to rest.

In their second week together, Gunter “has already danced for us on Twitter, and he’s already accepted the name ‘Cupcake,’” Hill said. As for Gunter’s nickname for Hill, “I think he just calls me ‘idiot.’ That’s what he should,” he said.

“I like having a two-person show,” Hill said, adding that while he and Gunter (as he did with Barrie) will plan topics for each day’s show, they won’t choose which sides to take beforehand. “We want to have a real conversation, in real time.

“To me, it’s a 50-50, co-host and co-host deal.” That, Hill said, laughing, is opposed to his pairing with the exuberant Barrie, who “wanted 99 percent.”

Time will tell about this new marriage, but with Hill’s sharp wit and Gunter’s occasionally from-the- hip opinions, 107.5’s mornings should be lively and animated. In sports talk radio, after all, not being dull is half the battle.

This story was originally published July 14, 2016 at 10:36 PM with the headline "Conflict creates good fit for 107.5’s new morning show hosts."