Dave Mona and Sid Hartman first teamed up for WCCO Radio’s Sports Huddle show 30 years ago this coming Sunday. The program is the granddaddy of local radio sports talk shows and dates back to before May 3, 1981 when Hartman was interviewed on Sunday mornings by Chuck Lilligren.
Mona recalled with humor this week how his involvement started. Back then he had a startup public relations business and had attended a seminar that explained the likelihood of small business failures. He decided to prepare a Plan B to backup Plan A.
Mona, who had been a sports reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune, made an audition tape for WCCO in the spring of 1981, trying to raise his profile with the CBS station. About two weeks later the station’s program director called and according to Mona said, “We might have something for you.”
Lilligren didn’t want to do the show anymore and so on about three days notice Mona was hired as a freelance host for the now famous program. “I remember going down on that first Sunday and at 9:50 a.m. finding the door locked to the station,” Mona said.
Only 15 minutes from show time, Mona went next door to the Minneapolis Athletic Club and called the station. He recalled that a voice answered the phone and said, “Who are you?”
Mona got inside the WCCO building, though, and then guessed about the studio he should report to. He chose a place where he had made the audition tape. “He (Hartman) doesn’t do the show from there,” someone said.
Mona moved to the show studio and encountered Hartman. “Do you know how to turn the microphones on?” Hartman asked.
Sometimes short on optimism, Hartman had another message for Mona before they went on air. “No offense to you, but I am going to ask them to cancel the show,” Hartman said.
Mona, though, proved to be an invaluable companion on the show that draws a regional audience and for years has been among the most popular programs on Minnesota radio. He knows the local sports scene chapter and verse, and his interpersonal skills fit well with the station’s Good Neighbor approach.
Hartman and Mona long ago established a friendship and effective working relationship. “He has come to appreciate I am not out to upstage him, or make him look bad,” Mona said.
Sometimes Mona is an artful arbitrator between Hartman and callers. Hartman can be impatient with listeners like the time he heard enough complaining about Twins manager Ron Gardenhire from a Chisago City caller. “How the hell do you know what Gardy is doing? You’re from Chicago,” Hartman said.
Other times Mona is an interpreter like the day Hartman pronounced there was no proof Barry Bonds used “stereos.”
The Bonds and Gardenhire tales are quoted from Mona’s 2008 book Beyond the Sports Huddle. It’s a must-read for fans of the show and an interesting chronicle of Mona’s youth and early journalism career.
In addition to the hosts’ sports knowledge and intriguing personalities, the show’s success has much to do with Hartman’s relationship with big names in sports. “We get people on the air that nobody else can get on,” Mona said. “Sid’s Rolodex is legendary.”
While Mona developed a very successful career in public relations, Hartman has covered sports for decades with the Star Tribune and on various WCCO Radio shows. But certainly their profiles have been enhanced by the Sports Huddle and the relationship that came together so suddenly and unexpectedly 30 years ago.
“I’ve been a WCCO freelancer now for 29 years and 51 weeks,” Mona said.
Make it 30 on Sunday.