I know it is kind of passe to bitch about ESPN.

But I have to. I feel as if my hand has been forced. If you don't want to read on? Okay. We'll agree to meet at my next blog post, yeah?

But I am a victim of ESPN's prohibitive costs changing the face of Madison-are sports radio. If you think victim is a word that's too strong? You clearly have not listened to the Mike Heller show. Un-listenable.

But that only became a problem in 2009. In 2008 I was happy. I had a the final hour of Zabe, in which previously unctuous Zabe went by the wayside. But that wasn't the highlight. The highlight from when I was done with work. My favorite radio program ever was "The World's Greatest Sports Talk Show" with Steve "the Homer" True.

It was energetic without being forced. It was consistently good even with the callers. There wasn't grown men yelling about sports. And you know what? For a gut with a nickname, the show wasn't really about him.

But ESPN raised their rates to 150k. And the #1 affiliate? Decided they weren't going to play ball. So the #2 affiliate. The affiliate I know and love? They decided to pay the cost.

But there's a problem. They can't afford to keep the tower in Columbus. So they go to Monona. Out of my range. So now, my favorite radio show ever? Dead and gone. Well, for those of us on the Columbia-Sauk county border anyway.

So the #1 affiliate decides to pick up Fox Sports Radio programming. Except for Zabe. Because Lucas and LePay are awesome. Well, not really. Lucas and LePay are a good broadcasting, but neither one of them hosted radio. And it shows.

So now? I've got nothing but shitty morning shows to the left of me and bad pop music to the right.

Darn it.