Big Mo gets the boot at WSSU

WSSU’s student newspaper The Argus reported in the October 15th issue that Maurice ” Big Mo” Stanfield was dismissed as the voice of the Rams for comments that he felt ‘unappriciated’ and that ‘this might be my last game for the station’.

Mo has been the voice of the Rams since 2006, he also has a syndicated program with the Talk Star radio network that Mo broadcast from his home in Jamestown. The show can be heard from 6-8PM eastern time at www.talkstarradio.com , the website list the show as starting at 5pm but it actually starts at 6pm.

Prior to Talk-Star Mo was the afternoon drive host for ESPN radio WYSR 1590 in High Point. Mo also has done sports talk show stints with stations in both Carolina’s, and Virginia.

25 thoughts on “Big Mo gets the boot at WSSU

  1. Mo used to do the morning show down here in my neck of the woods, but was left without a slot when better talent got their toes in the door. Hopefully he’ll find work somewhere, just not down here again.

  2. Fact has it that all of the people that worked at that 1590 station were idiots and anybody that listened to that garbage needed to have their head examined. 1590 went under because of terrible talent, in fact the problem was they had no talent. Eeryone who was in that building should have been cast out to sea. In some ways they were already on the seven seas because they had set sail on the Titanic.

  3. Thomas I would like to see how you would do on the other side of the microphone. But yeah your right for the MOST part 1590 was a ship of fools.

    However do not put Mo or myself in with those dingbats. When I worked there I busted my buns to actually make the station listenable. Mo also busted his butt to make that station work, and let’s be honest Mo was a lot more in touch with the sports fans around here than anyone at The Ball ever has been.

    Also lets be honest about 1590, it was never meant to be a long term scene. The station was bought for the sole purpose of turning it over for the greatest amount of profit possible and considering it was sold for three time what it was bought for I would say that in at least a business sense the station was a resounding success.

  4. Resounding success? I heard the station was sold to a bunch of hobos for 3 pesos, a half a sandwich and a bindle on a stick.

  5. I was called by Tom McCoy before the 1590 station made the switch from Black Gospel to Sports and Tom wanted me to run this operation. When we had our first meeting at the Taco Bell off of English Street in High Point I knew this station was doomed from the start. This station would never be able to succeed.

    Previous owner Joel Key and I had spoken about his desires to do some things with 1590 before he sold it to the group that Tom McCoy represented. 1590’s signal did not get into Greensboro at night and now with the power cutback due to the time change 790 the Ball does not reach us in the evening hours unless their on site engineers Wes Jones, Bill Price, or Drew Davis fail to cut back the power at night.

    Big Mo, Bill Madden or any of the people they brought in, they didn’t know the market and to sell it you have to know it or you end up at Bill Kopald charity soup kitchen. The AM sports stations will never succeed here unless they can find a guy like Mark Packer to come in and run the stations.

    Packer is a wheeling, dealing, selling machine and we need more like him. It’s the only thing that will drive the stations. 610 out of Charlotte would be out of business without Packer or they would have already changed formats.

    Paul got caught up in the cross-fire and he should not be held totally responsible for the failures of 1590 and the ill-attempt to run a Sports Station.

    If you don’t want to be a salesman you can not make in small to mid-market radio. You have to hit the street or the team doesn’t eat.

  6. 1590 was an awful station and 790 isn’t that much better but they do have Pack and the QCB and they are a hell of a lot better than Mo Stansbury ever was and ever will be and that is just a fact Jack. Look at the quality of sports coverage and broadcasting in this market and you will see that Greensboro is not a sports town. This is the best sports site in the area if that tells you anything. This site sucks so does the N&R sports sections, Greg Carr at 2, that fat ass at 8 and that nobody over at 12. This dude that runs this site does some radio about high schools with a couple of morons on Friday night which is a joke. I am from New York. That is sports and you are not sports.

  7. Bottom line in regard to talent is you get what you pay for. Who you employ is a direct result of the selling power of your station.

    1590 failed because they were not willing to invest the bucks. When you refuse to manage an operation, like a true business, you lose the necessary professionalism. When there people are at the controls who are “volunteers”, and those individuals can use the “hey, I’m working for free” line, to excuse their actions, a business venture is doomed to fail.

    On a lighter note, if 1590 actually was sold for 3 pesos, half a sandwich and a bindle on a stick, it probably should be considered a resounding success.

  8. Look Gang, let’s be honest here – the OP is biased because he used to work for this crappy, POS station. AM1590 was a horrible radio station, both in content and signal. I’m sure Paul did the best he could but let’s face it – it wasn’t good enough. Paul wasn’t good enough. Neither was Mo or Madden. They all sucked. To say this station “lacked talent” is a huge, huge understatement. They had no talent at all. Paul can make all the excuses he wants for the failure of this station but, in the end, it isn’t worth shit. I have not seen one other person come to this site and defend Mo, Paul, AM1590 or anyone else connected to this operation. Why? Because there is no defense! Local radio is horrible on the AM side. There is not one legit station left on the air. I tried listening to Dusty Dunn the other day. HA! Dunn is right except it should be spelled Done – as in Dusty is Done. Just horrible. But I digress. Will anyone, other than Paul, come out and support AM1590?

  9. hi guys…this is michelle. I think 1590 was good. Paul and Mo are cool. Go greensborosports.com and 1590 the Ball, you rock!

  10. I think this is an interesting topic and after wading through the nonsense, there are some valid points being made here. Having worked with Andy over the years, one thing he has always stressed is that if you are going to run a success small radio station, the ability to sell your product to potential advertisers is the number one thing you have to consider. It seems far too often, guys come in and want to be “hosts only”. Andy was successful for many years on WKEW with his “Off the Wall Sportscall” show but during the day he was out selling like crazy (for his show and the rest of the station). Thats where the money was made. I wonder, and Paul can shed show light on this, did Big Mo get out there and sell advertising or did he want to just be a host? Another problem is that many times on these small stations, they just want to half-ass it. Poor signal – no big deal. Lots of dead air – no problem. Can’t hear it at night – people should be sleeping anyway. Doing as little as possible to get by is an idea plaguing our society as it is and is not a formula for success and to be taken seriously in the marketplace.

  11. You boys better be glad you still got some boots after all of the mess that place in that town. 1590 was doing the Lord’s work and that is the way it should have stayed. Shame on you for ruining a good Black Gospel station.

  12. Rev,
    We like to refer to our music as Urban Comtempory Gospel. It makes for a more polically correct language. It also creates less of a barrier for our European American friends. God Bless.
    Al

  13. You people make me laugh. Come sit in with me on my music show one Sunday down in Charlotte and you will see that it aint as easy as it looks!

    First off I was good enough, I did not get dismissed I just left for other oppotunities when they became available because I knew that the station was nothing more than a financial investment. I kept doing my other volunteer show even after I came to 1590 because I knew that this was at best a temporary situation. So that should tell you a lot right there, then again my other show had and still has more listeners than 1590 did on their best day, and my other station is a non-com at a community college (Insert shameless plug here! Tune in Sundays from 10a to 2p http://www.wsge.org to hear the webstream of what is the most respected AOR/jam band show in America).

    However, in terms of peformance I exceeded expectations in spite of the limitations of the station and the talent. Mo never before nor after got the level of guests that I regularly pulled in for him. Nor did anyone involved with that station provide to him the level of quality that I was able to provide in terms of imaging. And to be honest the experience gave me the confidence to go after and land big name interviews on my other program. Without this experience I do not see myself seeking out and landing interviews with the likes of Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, Joel Cummings of Umphrey’s McGee or director John Scheinfeld(The US Vs John Lennon). You only get out of something what you put into it, I put in a lot and I think I have gotten a lot in return.

    But the pay was terrible. Great experience but not something that was financially viable. However that station provided me with the opportunity and I think I was able to make the most of what I was given to work with. Plus I was able to get a true understanding about the politics of the business, and if there was ever a business that is all about office politics it is radio.

    When Bill Madden split and Carrie Armstrong was made manager I knew that the end was nigh. Though I was surprised it took until January of 2006 to complete the process. But that woman had no business running a radio station, much less a sports station, especially since she had a disdain for the product itself. Then again she was only put in that position because her father was the broker in charge of selling the station. She also had a poor work ethic and an even worse attitude towards her people. Eventually her attitude just became too much and I split plain and simple.

    In addition to that certain people (L.A. Batchelor) were poisioning the atmosphere with rumor and innuendo. He did it to me, and he did it to the young man who took my place when I split. Then again when you truly lack talent like that guy really does then you have to do everything you can to make others look bad. Batchelor is EASILY the worst talent to ever work in this market. But given the devil his due, he did parlay the expericnce with 1590 into being Mo’s sidekick on the WSSU games and I think he even made his way onto the sales ranks over at The Ball. Otherwise why would his buddy who runs a bail bond service ever have advertised with either station?

  14. Sister I’m right there in the middle with you. I just wish we could bring our old station back and have some more UCG programming for all of the people to love and enjoy. The Triad could use a strong UCG station on the FM dial, we have 1510 and others but we need one big unifired signal. I have been following the developments at 90.1 the NC A & T Aggies campus station but they don’t reach and grab me. I want to see movement in this town that will bring people to the their knees and by Thanksgiving could see a changing of the guard.

    May the good Lord bless you all and I say Big John and his radio partners should all turn to the Gospel.

  15. We all support Paul in his journalistic efforts and have listened to him for many years. Paul Harvey is a true radio treasure.

  16. Paul, you shouldn’t be calling Mo a sell out. Mo is a good guy and for you to besmirch his dedication to African Americans is just plain wrong. Mo does not sell nor has ever sold.

  17. If you ask me, the cream generally rises to the top in these kind of situations. I would be willing to bet that whatever talent 1590 had, ended up finding better work, elsewhere. If you are talented, and have the drive and motivation, you will find the work. For instance, L.A. Batchelor did a lot of the menial tasks at 1590 at the end of its run. He is now producing the morning show on 105.7 fm. Not to shabby if you ask me.

    The neat thing about radio is that you can pretty much find work regardless of your talent level. School radio stations (UNCG , Guilford, etc.) are always looking to fill the bad timeslots with somebody to man the switch.

  18. The morning show on 105.7 is automated. That guy LA aint doing nothing man. They got synducated Steve Harvey coming in there. I seen his billbaord over on Gorrell Street near Bennett College.

  19. Who cares if its automated? He’s giving the station what they need and making a name for himself and his cronies in the community. Plus, it shows how the talent at 1590 just needed a place to prove their worth.

  20. LOL Dan!

    This thread has lead me to the affirmation of my view that radio must be the most dysfunctional business known to man, or woman.

    So LA Batchelor is doing local cut ins for the steve harvey show? Wow that is just surreal. Knowing how he works I just wonder what he managed to do that enabled him to finangle into that glorified board op position, oh I am sorry he is a ‘producer’. Yeah…sure…right…whatever.

    I checked out his section of the stations web page and aside from the garbled mess and a bad interview with Ray Felton it appears from an article that LA copied and pasted from the News Argus that Mo has now retained legal counsel. OKey dokey. Let it go Mo, let it go.

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