Paul Finebaum - Radio Career

Radio Career

Finebaum started his radio appearances in the mid-1980s by giving morning commentary on the Mark and Brian Radio Show on WAPI-FM (I-95). After starting his own afternoon radio show a few years later on WAPI-AM, his program quickly became the highest rated sport-talk show in Birmingham. In October 1993, Finebaum moved his sports-talk show to WERC. His show prospered immensely and in 2001 the show began syndication with affiliates across the southeast. It is now one of the highest-rated sports show in America.

The Paul Finebaum Radio Network, composed of Paul Finebaum, Network Director Pat Smith and Producer Kerry Adams was named in 2004 by Sports Illustrated as one of the top 12 sports radio shows in the United States. In January 2007, his radio show moved to WJOX.

Finebaum found himself embroiled at the center of one of biggest college sports stories in America in 2011 - the poisoning of the famous trees on Toomer's Corner at Auburn University. The man charged called the Finebaum show, claiming to have poisoned the trees. The audio of the call was played on nearly every national radio show and television newscast in the nation. In the aftermath, Finebaum was featured on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, appeared on CNN, ESPN, MSNBC and several other networks. He also was blamed by many for the event including one caller saying "if anything else happens, there will be blood on your hands." On April 21, Harvey Updyke appeared again on the Finebaum show, speaking publicly for the first time since the incident, breaking his long silence. The interview, perhaps the most listened to ever in the history of the Finebaum show, made national news, appearing in publications ranging from The New York Times to ESPN's SportsCenter. Updyke ended the 45-minute interview with his signature Roll Damn Tide. Finebaum also had a leading role in ESPN's critically acclaimed documentary Roll Tide/War Eagle. The producers used Finebaum and his program as the voice of the documentary, which debuted on November 8, 2011.

In late May, Finebaum received more national attention for his four-hour interview with Randy Owen, lead singer of the country band Alabama, raising awareness for victims of the April 27 tornadoes. Donna Francavilla described the moment in a recent article in the RTDNA (Radio television news directors association) magazine: "On the day the storm hit, Finebaum described the tornado as he watched it approach the big picture window in his studio. Since then, Finebaum hasn’t talked much about sports. Finebaum said, “On the day the Bama Rising concert was announced, we had (Alabama native country music star) Randy Owen in studio for the entire show, four hours, promoting the event, taking phone calls about the tornado. He ended up giving a mini-concert. (Citadel manager) Bill Thomas told me afterwards that we broke every rule in sports radio history; however, it was by far, the most memorable and meaningful program we have ever done - and the best. He sang many songs and naturally ended the show by singing an acoustic version of 'My Home's In Alabama'. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house or in cars across the listening audience. We have stayed with the story non-stop with the support of our partners at Sirius-XM.” In October, Mark Kelly wrote the cover story in Weld on Finebaum http://weldbham.com/blog/2011/10/18/the-listener-paul-finebaum, a piece many consider the most definitive and revealing of his career.