Fred Toucher praises SiriusXM’s deal with Stephen A. Smith

We can count longtime Boston sports talk host Fred Toucher as someone happy to see Stephen A. Smith’s new deal with SiriusXM Radio.

Smith is launching a pair of shows on SiriusXM. A sports show, will launch on Mad Dog Sports Radio in September. A second politically based show has also been announced, though the specifics of that have yet to be announced. While Smith’s deal with Sirius has ruffled some feathers, Toucher praised the deal during 98.5’s Toucher & Hardy, crediting Sirius for bringing in a known radio voice.

“I’m glad at least someone that’s on the radio is getting paid a lot of money,” Toucher said on the show, as transcribed by Barrett Media. “It’s the first right thing that company’s done in a very long time. If I’m a stockholder, I’m like, ‘Finally, not a podcast.’ You brought a big name in to do a radio show instead of hiring some dumb podcaster. How long did it take them to learn? Two months?”

Toucher continued, noting the significance and advantages that come with a live broadcast.

“Put people on the air live,” Toucher said. “Live, live, live! It’s your advantage over podcasts. Put it on live. Shrink the amount of channels if you have to. Make it live. And finally, I like Mad Dog a lot, but they have added Stephen A. Smith live. Now it’s a replay happening in the evening, but live to their lineup, which excites me, because at least companies seem to be going, ‘You know what? In order to compete, we need live talent – talent on as news breaks, talent on to communicate with the audience.'”