- Damon Bruce
-
Damon Bruce is a sports talk radio host in San Francisco, CA. He hosts the "Damon Bruce Show" - Monday - Friday on KNBR 1050. He is also the post-game host of the San Francisco 49ers.
Bruce joined KNBR in October 2005 as the host of, SportsPhone 680. Along with his hosting duties on Sportsphone 680, Damon Bruce also served as the post-game host of the San Francisco Giants, San Francisco 49ers and the Golden State Warriors. Damon still does 49ers post-games even though he departed from SportsPhone 680 for his own midday show.
Contents
Career
Damon was born on March 25, 1975 in Chicago. He attended Linton High School, the same school as Pat Riley & Notre Dame, Bishop Gibbons in Schenectady, New York. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in broadcasting, Bruce spent one year at KNBR as a producer of KNBR talk shows and sporting events before leaving to be a host on Sports Overnight America, then with ESPN Radio as a network sports anchor. There he met Jason "McGiggy" McBride, a fellow producer and friend, who often calls in to Bruce's radio show. While at ESPN, he hosted SportsCenter for ESPN International. Later, he was a fill-in host on Fox Sports Radio and Sporting News Radio. Before rejoining KNBR, Bruce was a morning anchor at WOWO news talk radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In October 2005, he took over as the host of SportsPhone 680.
On his February 22, 2010 show, Damon announced that he was leaving SportsPhone 680 to host The Damon Bruce Show from noon to 4pm on KNBR 1050. Personally, Bruce said he was tired of being preempted by live games, which would only happen more with the start of San Francisco Giants season. From a business perspective, Cumulus Media-who had recently purchased both KNBR 680 and KNBR 1050-wanted to find a way to make 1050 profitable. It was felt that Bruce's loyal following would attract more listeners to 1050. Former San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics player F. P. Santangelo took over as the SportsPhone 680 host. FP has been the fill in host for many shows on KNBR after retiring from baseball. F.P, Bruce Macgowan,and Ray Woodson filled in as the SportsPhone 680 host in between Krueger's departure from KNBR, and when Damon took over as SportsPhone host in 2005. Eric Byrnes took over as SportsPhone680 host on March 23rd 2011. Damon, Larry Krueger, made an appearance on Eric's 1st show. On August 1st 2011, Damon re-joined KNBR 680 as the co-host of the "Gary & D.Bruce Show". On August 30th, 2011, while Radnich was into the third week of a two week vacation, KNBR announced the 9am-12noon show would be replaced with a new Radnich/Kruger show, effective immediately. Bruce announced on his twitter feed that he would be returning to his old KNBR 1050 slot, 12noon-3pm M-F.
Other work
Damon is the halftime host of 2K Sports' video game NBA 2K11.
Bruce is also the play-by-play voice for the highly successful video game, The Bigs, released in June 2007 by 2K Sports.[1][2]
The Bigs 2 was released on July 7, 2009. Bruce returns as the play by play announcer[citation needed].
He also wrote a book about Bay Area Sports Lists: [1]
Damon often appears on Chronicle Live on Comcast Sportsnet and hosts the 49ers post game show on KNBR.
On both April 20th 2011 and July 5th 2011, Damon Bruce filled in for Jim Rome on the Jim Rome Show.
He is currently working with 2k Sports on the next installment of The Bigs, tentatively scheduled for release this Summer.
Damon Bruce on Sportsphone 680
Sound bites
- Damon's most popular catchphrase on the show is a sound bite of a Spanish-speaking broadcaster's interjection of "Oy Yoy Oy!!!". He typically plays the sound bite when a caller makes a good point (usually a complimentary one) about the team or subject at hand, to great comedic effect. Many callers seem to call in to see if they can elicit an "oy yoy oy!", and some even explicitly ask for it (e.g., "Damon, I'm having a rough night, I could really use an oy oy oy!").
- "Pound it, pound it, pound it", which is taken from a caller, "Annie-Baby" in San Francisco. Though when Annie said it, she was referring to drinking alcohol, Damon often uses the sound bite to suggest sexual relations. The phrase has caught on and has been used by Gary Radnich and Tony Bruno during their segment 11-11:30 AM PT on KNBR. Gary Radnich has said that he would want Damon to succeed him in the 11-11:30 segment with Tony.[3]
- The Japanese strikeout sound bite, "Sanshin!", which callers also occasionally request.
- The famous Bill Raftery call of "Send it in, Jerome" is often used as an innuendo.
- Another sound bite Damon uses is from a certain Tecate Light beer commercial, sampling a Spanish woman's voice saying "Sí, mi hijo." He often uses it in non sequitur, on random calls, or when a caller makes a good point, much like "oy oy oy!!!"
- At the end of every show, Damon finishes with a sound bite from The Usual Suspects: "...and like that, he's gone!"
- "Ray Durham was at Momo's!" Whenever the subject of Brewers infielder Ray Durham comes up, Damon plays a short clip of a caller exclaiming that he saw or heard that Ray Durham was at Momo's Restaurant near AT&T Park.
- Another very common soundbite is a clip of someone mumbling, "No sound effects for Dave Feldhouse." Feldhouse is the producer of Sportsphone 680. This clip is played almost every time Damon says Dave's name.
- Another recent sound bite is a clip of Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis proclaiming "I'm not going anywhere." This is played when the subject of Davis either retiring or moving the Raiders to a different city comes up.
Popular segments
- A very popular segment on his show is "A coin, mother, and son of a Bruce." His mother, from Indiana, comes on and picks football games, NFL and college. Damon also picks the same games, and the coin is flipped for its picks. In Damon's words, his mother "puts money in your pocket." During the segment, they double-down on Monday Night Football. They pick the game against the spread, as well as the over-under. The beauty of the bit, his Mother, Linda, knows nothing about football - but nearly hits as many games as the experts.
- Another very popular segment is the Tuesday Trifecta, in which Damon selects 3 questions of a certain relevant theme, and the callers call in and answer the questions. It is now known on The Damon Bruce Show as the Three O'Clock Three Play where the fourth hour is devoted to the Three Play.
Damon-isms and sayings
- Damon believes and often says "real fans listen late," meaning that die-hard (hardcore) fans listen in the evening/night, right after games, and those shows talk the most about sports. His "SPM," or sports per minute, is (in his words) the highest on KNBR. That is because hard-core fans listen to the games and want to react, and thus the show is very focused on sports.
- He ends every show by signing off with John Wooden's: "Sports don't build character, they reveal it." [4]
Music
- The theme music for Sportsphone 680 is "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" by The Killers.[5] The theme is played at the beginning of every hour, but different music is played going to and coming out of commercial breaks during the hour.
- A song often played to go to commercial break is James Brown's "I Got the Feeling." [6] Damon will stop and let the "baby baby baby, baby baby baby" play while he sits silently.
- Another song played to go to commercial break is "Summer Madness" by Kool and the Gang. This song is usually played before the last commercial break of the show.
- Footsteps in the Dark by The Isley Brothers is another song used when going to commercial break.
- Another song that Damon plays is "The 900 Number" by DJ The 45 King. Damon only plays a quick sound bite from it though, whenever there is a racy comment on the show, or some form of innuendo. He plays it commonly when Annie calls in.
Well-known callers
- Annie baby (from San Francisco), "the official first lady of Sportsphone 680". She is the voice of "pound it, pound it, pound it", she also claims she had sex with Robert De Niro
- Smirnoff (in Palo Alto), the shows "unofficial researcher" of Sportsphone, he became the official researcher when he joined Sportsphone 680 as an intern in the summer of 2009
- Discreet from the Streets (of San Francisco), who gives very good information and is very entertaining, also calls The Third Shift on Fox Sports Radio
- Salty Balty from Clovis, known on all KNBR shows for his negativity and criticism of all teams (especially the Giants)
- Bob from San Jose, a very smart football caller, "the most dominant football caller of Sportsphone 680"
- Barfighter in San Jose, who starts every call pronouncing Damon's name in a Spanish accent
- Sportacus on a cell phone, who consistently offers thought-provoking perspective and a good deal of humor. He ends every call by Damon asking "any declarations?" and him replying "I am Sportacus"
- Scott in Santa Cruz, who starts every call with " What is up, Admiral Bruce!" Sadly Scott died in 2009.
- Mr. McBride, a fellow former-ESPN employee, now a "real estate mogul" in Denver, and "the official brotha' of "The Damon Bruce Show"
- Fry in Antioch, the frequent Tuesday Trifecta caller.
- Smokin' 13 Year Old, who frequently calls in during baseball season to talk about Giants minor league prospects.
- Ronaldo from Palo Alto, "the official soccer caller of Sportsphone 680"
- Russ from Lafayette, is known for his long yet insightful rants about the state of Bay Area sports.
- The Badger in Dublin, who is introduced accompanied by the sound of a chainsaw starting.
- De Kaizer in Der Gilroy, a frequent Giants caller.
- Babalooga in San Mateo, greets Damon by saying "shakin' a bush" and Damon replying "Shake it up, Bob."
- The Professor in San Jose, who Damon greets with "class is in session", a frequent caller and actual finance professor at San Jose State University.
- In The Buff in Boulder (son) and Glen from Glen Ellen (father) are father and son callers who occasionally call in right after one another.
References
See also
Categories:- 1975 births
- Living people
- American sports announcers
- American sports radio personalities
- Indiana University alumni
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