It's 10am and I'm in the media room at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas preparing for the first of two live broadcasts. Miguel Cotto will try and take Antonio Margarito's IBF Welterweight title on Saturday night, and people are calling this showdown a potential "fight of the year" candidate. Johnnie Walker, my program director is along for the ride and will be assisting me with the technical aspects of the live broadcasts. He's also blogging on krod.com and will have live running commentary and pictures. When we left El Paso, Carol Gutierrez, at the Southwest Airlines checkout counter referred to Johnnie as "Kojak." I had a good laugh and wondered why Johnnie left his cherry lollipop in El Paso. Johnnie actually dressed up for this trip, and is even sporting his blue KROD polo shirt. He's already been approached by ten women in the hotel bar, plus a few of the flight attendants on the plane. I never realized that working for an AM station can be so rewarding.
We are still waiting to check-into our room at the MGM, but the media room is already buzzing with writers and other radio hosts. We are joining stations from all over the country (NY, LA, Boston, Miami, Dallas, Vegas, San Diego, and a few more). We've been told that both Margarito and Cotto will both be here today for interviews, so our show should be a very good one. I'll have updates as more stories develop.
12:50p...Bert Sugar just stopped by for the first time and brought me his own Topps trading card. It's even an error card, since his name is spelled "Burt" on the front of the card, but the correct "Bert" is on the back of the card. He's very excited about getting his mug on a Topps card and promised to sign it for me later today.
1:15p...Harold Lederman, my favorite boxing personality just made his way to the media room. Harold is always full of energy and today is no different. I'm hoping that he can start the show today with us live from radio row.
1:35p...We just taped a satellite phone interview with Miguel Cotto. The sound on his telephone was inaudible and it was so low that we will have a very tough time airing it today. It's unfortunate, but there is the possibility that he might come down to the media room. It he does, we'll be able to bring him on. Just confirmed Harold Lederman at the start of the show.