MEDFORD – Rich Shertenlieb returned to Boston radio Monday morning with his long-awaited new show on WZLX.
Shertenlieb, once a part of the ratings dominant Toucher & Rich morning show on 98.5 The Sports Hub, left the station last November, after a bitter end to his 17-year partnership with Fred Toucher. Now, they’re competitors.
The Rich Shertenlieb Show
After six months off the air, Rich Shertenlieb was back at 6 a.m. Monday launching his new show on WZLX, simply called, “The Rich Shertenlieb Show.”
“It’s awesome, but you know, all the pressures on,” Shertenlieb told WBZ-TV. “If this fails, it’s my name on it, but, you know what, it is what I’ve always wanted. It’s what I worked my whole career towards and I’m glad that ZLX and iHeart were able to give it to me.”
Shertenlieb will be joined daily by former CBS News Boston sports writer Michael Hurley and a rotating group of other co-hosts including former New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson.
Shertenlieb said he left Toucher and Rich for a “better opportunity.”
“It’s that easy. I really like where I worked. I liked a lot of the people over there. But sometimes you get presented with something as cool as this and you just can’t say no,” he told WBZ. “I know that’s not what people want to hear, but it’s the truth and they gave me whatever I wanted to do the type of show that I wanted to do.”
“Sports and other crap”
So what’s the show on a classic rock station going to be about?
“Sports and other crap,” Shertenlieb said. “We’re going to complain about the Bruins, we’re going to celebrate the Celtics and analyze the new Roadhouse movie, like it’s the Zapruder film.”
The Rich Shertenlieb Show will air weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. on 100.7 WZLX in Boston.
At the end of his first show, Shertenlieb was asked for his review.
“I’ve got to be honest, the first hour or so, rough. Rough. I think it was all just wanting to get it done. But by the end of it, we hit this one out of the park,” he said.