Richard Deitsch of SI.com received an email from Dino Costa. I received one from Costa that was a bit more colorful. Let’s just leave it that.
Costa has been upset with me for not letting him tell his side of why he was dismissed from Sirius/XM.
So in the interest of being fair, here is what he wrote Deitsch:
“I enjoyed my time with SXM for the five years I was with them,” Costa said, in an email. “We had philosophical differences in regard to the my placement in terms of being a featured personality, as I believed I had earned by my work the opportunity for advancement with the appropriate promotional vehicles enjoyed by others on the air at the company. After five years of needle-moving radio, accruing consistent critical acclaim, I chafed at the idea of them placing my show on an irrelevant channel [SiriusXM Sports Zone] during a time that basically wiped out half the audience I had built the previous five years, and then not going about the transfer in a way that would allow my listener base to know where I was…The show was a core asset that I felt was never fully polished by SXM brass, which would have allowed the show to become an even larger asset for SXM.”
Costa said he is anxiously awaiting the opportunity to get back on the air. “I will make my next employer look brilliant for placing the faith in me, and then allowing me to go out and to justify that faith,” he said. “I’d like to be involved with a set of creative and innovative people moving forward — individuals who like to think outside the box — people who recognize the need for sports radio that isn’t the same old same old.”
OK, who wants to look brilliant? More to come, I’m sure.
Ed,
Enjoy your site and coverage. Just wanted to weigh in here. Dino was brutal on the radio- I gave him several shots and each time was worse than the last. I did it because a few times you mentioned him here, so I figured it was worth it. He tried every angle he could- going after Howard Stern, going after Russo, making wild comments etc. It was awful and did not work. The kicker for me was this summer- I was stuck in the car for a few hours and turned him on… he was railing about this documentary film that was being done on him. He went on and on and on. I stayed listening ONLY because I truly wanted to see how long horrible radio could last. (He did change the subject once to note he backed his car into an accident… yep, riveting). After the first hour, when he started the 2nd with the same stuff, I gave up. At the end of the day, he’s just not that good. He was VERY lucky to have a spot that he had but he blew it with laziness (on that same night of the documentary rant, the big Johnny Manziel article came out- Dino dismissed it because he said piece was too long, he didn’t have time to read it!) and lack of prep. Maybe he learned a lesson… something tells me he didn’t. Thanks for letting me rant- keep up the good work.
Dino was by far the best personality on MDR, sorry he is not currently on, with all the hacks out there Rome, Cowturd etc.. only a matter of time before he is back on somewhere!
I was a Dino listener while he was on MDR. The guy had some great insight on things that the “mainstream” sports radio community wouldnt touch. Great potential. But he didnt get it. It exactly was how to act like a professional. Checklist of things not to do:
1. Use gutter language all the time.
2. Continually drive listeners away by talking about Wyoming football
3. Keep telling people how great you are.
So sad. So much potential.
I agree mostly about the Wyoming sports stuff… He talked all the time how he was national guy but he wasted too much time at times on the air and also on his twitter feed with the silly Wyoming stuff… The language stuff I don’t mind too much but it was probably more of an issue in the morning.. The self promotion does turn off many but I noticed it was less so in the last year or so ( wasting 10 minutes at times to open his show with that stuff was annoying)… But for the most part, I loved his show when he got down to business.. His Friday night interviews were often terrific except when he brought on the Wyoming stuff.. I esp loved Burt Sugar interviews until he died. He brought a fair amount of interesting people on sometimes not even sports topics.. I do hope whereever he ends up, it will be accessable.. thankfully, my cell service has unlimited data so it’ll be easy to stream wherever it is..
More of the same. It’s too bad,too, because, when he’s on his game he’s the best. I wonder just how much the needle was moved? Does SXM have the ability to determine who is listening to what at any given time? Dino said he attracted new viewers but, when I called him and asked if there were numbers to prove it he said yes, didn’t elaborate on how those numbers were compiled and then took a call from The “Warrior”, who’s the best Honda Salesman in the Southwest – or so he’ll tell you. I don’t know if the execs at XM are geniuses or fools but, if Stern’s producer couldn’t make this work, no one could. I hope I get a chance to hear him again. His take on the Incognito-Martin thing would be interesting as well as what he would say about the Jets. Too bad for us.
Dino is brilliant… I will cancel my Sirius XM subscription at the end of the month because of it. How can XM tolerate Howard, but not Dino?? hy·poc·ri·sy.
Listened to Dino a few times and found him arrogant and boring. Give me Czabe any day and how about Yahoo Sports Radio 24/7 on XM.
Nobody knows more about sports than Dino. He was at his best when he talked sports and sports only. The problem was that he spent too much time talking about himself and how great he was. The fact is, he is great…at giving insightful comments about the world of sports. I am actually mad at him for getting taken off the air for complaints about upper management when he should have been talking sports and not how disrespected he has been at SXM. I miss his show and am pissed that he screwed his fans by getting fired for not focusing on what he was paid to do: talk sports.
Dino was riveting, compelling and challenged people to think. There is no place in today’s media for this, and he will no longer be employable after the Boston bombing rants on FOX. That is just how it works now. The media wants cookie-cutter spew the company line types. Shame for all of us.
This guy was a hack. Always self promoting, putting down Russo and Mad Dog Radio at every turn. I remember tuning in for the first time and getting so frustrated that I called in. He didn’t like what I had to say so he cut me off. He would always make these statements like he had some kind of inside knowledge about a situation, I thought maybe he used to play or was writer and had connections to people inside sports. When I looked him up, his last job before joining Sirius was mr fixit guy. He drove a Van around NY doing odd jobs. That kinda tells me what I need to know. My guess is , unless he changes his whole thing, he will never make another dime in this business.
If Dino didn’t promote Dino who the hell else would ??????