Controversial sports radio personality Dino Costa went into St. Louis with guns blazing saying he would make KFNS the top station in the market. He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch back in March, “If I don’t dominate this market in a year, I will crawl on hands and knees back to Wyoming.”
Well after today, he may not be crawling, but he’ll be heading back to Wyoming. The Post-Dispatch says Costa has decided to leave KNFS uncomfortable over a perceived management restructuring. Costa was brought in by the station’s owner to shake up its morning show. And once he began, he took shots at the crosstown rival Tim McKernan calling his show “sophomoric” and “juvenile.” Plus he said that McKernan’s show attracted younger listeners and he would attract “everyone else.”
During his time in St. Louis, Costa not only attacked his co-workers, he also said women don’t have a place in sports radio and “even women don’t want to hear women doing sports radio.” It gave him and KFNS some buzz as he began his time in St. Louis, but according to the Post-Dispatch, as his time went on, his act wore thin on management.
Costa said he’s leaving because he’s uncomfortable over what he feels is either an ownership change or management restructuring. Costa said he wanted assurances so he could eventually move his family to St. Louis, but when he got none, he decided to make today his final day at the station, but would reconsider if things changed.
For his part, the station’s majority owner Randy Markel said Costa won’t be coming back no matter what and said he was tired of the baggage Costa brought to KFNS:
“I like Dino, he’s like your crazy brother you have to bail out of jail,” Markel said. “I believe in Dino. He’s very talented. But it’s the BS (he said the words, not the letters) that comes along with him that’s hard to take. He came into this area with a scorched-earth mentality and it just didn’t work. It’s the way he wanted to do it, I wasn’t about to stop him. You hire somebody to do what they do, he tried it. It didn’t work. … It was a constant uproar. Me for one, I’m tired of the drama.”
Costa certainly has brought attention to KFNS, but as he departs, he once again leaves behind some rubble and a mess that the station has to clean up. But down the line, there will probably be another station that will take a flier on Costa to try to gain buzz and some short-term attention.
Comments are closed.