By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



Some north Jefferson residents learned more about their college team of choice when popular sports radio host Paul Finebaum addressed the Gardendale Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

Finebaum spoke primarily about the Alabama and Auburn football programs during his speech at the Gardendale Civic Center and gave some predictions about each team’s season.

Finebaum spent a bulk of his time talking about Alabama head coach Nick Saban and how the fans are reacting to the new coach.

“I think Nick Saban is very driven, though there’s a degree of insecurity,” Finebaum said. “I think he wants to prove that he is in that upper echelon and I think he will be very successful.”

Not to be one-sided, Finebaum also talked about Auburn and their recent loss to South Florida, coming off a win over Kansas State.

“Auburn’s not that bad,” he said. “Would Alabama be undefeated against those two teams? Probably. But I think Auburn’s going to be in decent shape.”

Following his speech, Finebaum spoke to The North Jefferson News about his career in print and radio. He said while he’s a “newspaper guy at heart,” he finds being a radio host to be more rewarding at this stage of his career.

“The radio thing is fun because it’s always unpredictable,” he said. “You can have a mundane show and then something will happen, and the next thing you know it’s like a breakneck pace.”

He said one of the biggest challenges is to keep the show entertaining. He said he often get accused of being outrageous to make that happen. However, he said at the end of the day, he’s an entertainer.

Finebaum said there’s somewhat of a difference between his on-air personality and who he really is, though he said he probably comes off more arrogant in print.

“My wife has people come up to her all the time and say, ‘You’re such a nice person. How can you live with that guy,’” he said. “I’m not that bombastic in person. I think I’m pretty low key.”

Finebaum also offered some advice to anyone contemplating a career in the media. He said it’s important to start small and grow from your experiences.

“I talk to people all the time and young students come by and I’ll ask, ‘What do you want to do?’” he said. “And they’ll say, ‘I want to do ESPN.’ It’s just not that easy.”

He said high school students should visit their local newspaper or television station and cover football games to gain any experience they can.

“I know a lot of people who say there’s nothing they’d rather do than be at the Gardendale-Mortimer Jordan game,” he said. “Everyone can’t cover Tennessee-Alabama or go to the Super Bowl. I’ve covered high school football and there’s nothing quite like it in terms of the community and the passion.”

Finebaum said despite challenges of putting together an entertaining radio program five days a week, he continues to find rewards in his profession.

He said he recently met a blind woman in Huntsville who sat in on the show.

He said the woman told him that just being a part of the show was a great moment in her life, and gave him a football schedule in braille. He said his job is most rewarding when he can see the impact of his show on a listener.

“I’m fairly cynical,” he said. “My wife’s a physician, so she saves lives. I don’t do anything like that. I just give people something to listen to while they’re stuck in traffic on the interstate.”

Finebaum can be heard Monday-Friday from 2 to 6 p.m. on WJOX at 100.5 FM.