As I heard Michael Felger speak about the ratings dominance of the afternoon program “Felger and Mazz” on Tuesday at 98.5 The Sports Hub’s 15th anniversary, I was reminded of something puzzling yet admirable.
Felger and co-host Tony Massarotti rarely talk about their enormous success, let alone in detail.
I contacted Felger a few days later to ask a simple question:
Why not?
“Because I don’t want to jinx it,” Felger said. “I’m so superstitious. I’m afraid that as soon as I start talking about it, it will go the other way. I’m even afraid to do it.”
“I kind of regretted talking about it on the radio the other day because we very rarely mention it.”
Felger, who has always had a deep, data-based sense of what resonates with listeners and what doesn’t, came armed with numbers on Tuesday.
He pointed out that he tracks ratings and that “Felger & Mazz” has not lost a quarter since spring 2012, when the series finished third.
“We were number 1 for 47 quarters in a row,” Felger said on Tuesday’s show, pointing out that many of the original employees from 15 years ago are still employed at the station.
“If you want to break it down by month, it’s basically 119 months. We were No. 1 and not only did we beat EEI, but we were No. 1 in the market for 118 of the last 119 months.”
(According to my notes, “Felger and Mazz” was actually No. 3 in the spring of 2012 with a 6.2 share. WEEI’s “Ordway and Holley” was second with a 7.9. The top spot went to rock station WZLX’s “Karlson & McKenzie,” which also featured Heather Ford.)
The show has been successful for so long because Felger and Massarotti have a sense of humor, keep their energy constant in four-hour shows five days a week, and know what resonates with Boston fans.
There’s a fair amount of hostility toward fans, a negative attitude along the lines of “This is why this thing you like is going to flop.” But Felger in particular occasionally mixes in an unexpectedly positive vibe.
And given such long-standing high ratings in a fickle industry, it’s hard to imagine fans wanting anything else.
Although it is not always reflected in the broadcast, Felger appreciates the success of the Boston teams and the extraordinary commitment of the fans in this market.
“The teams have always won and the fans are great,” Felger said. “You have to remember that. That’s more important than anything else. We could be committed and energetic and do that in Orlando and I don’t think it would work. It’s primarily about the market and the fans of Boston.”
“And I’m telling you, the Patriots are important, and that’s why it was great to have Drake Maye provide that insight on Thursday night. If the Patriots are bad for an extended period of time, will everything be different? I don’t know. But I don’t want to find out.”
Felger said the most stressful time for him wasn’t when the station changed ownership in 2017, becoming part of the Beasley Broadcast Group following a merger between Entercom and previous owner CBS Radio.
It was the times he made a tasteless comment that drew backlash, such as in the same month of the move to Beasley in 2017, when he commented that retired baseball star Roy Halladay, who died in a plane crash in which he was the pilot, “got what he deserved” because witnesses had seen him performing dangerous stunts.
“It’s more stressful for an individual host to make a mistake or say something really stupid during the show,” Felger said. “You worry, ‘That’s the one who’s going to get me,’ and we’ve all been there. There’s nothing more stressful than making a comment that slips up and then you think, ‘Where is this going to go?'”
“You could take a much more conservative approach and not worry about what you say. There are people who have done that, and I bet they sleep very well at night. But if you want to be interesting, you have to push it. And inevitably, you just say something stupid.”
I asked Felger how long he plans to do this. Fifteen years is a long time, especially given the remarkable success of the show and the network.
“I will do this forever,” he said.
Really? Forever?
“That’s how I feel now,” he said, noting that the relationship with Massarotti, with whom he sometimes plays golf, is still strong. “It’s the fastest four hours of my day. And I enjoy most parts of it. I mean, I’m a sports fan. I’m a sports geek, but I don’t know what kind of sports geek wouldn’t enjoy our job.”
Chad Finn can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @GlobeChadFinn.
