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To describe talk radio station 910 AM as edgy would be like calling a laser beam bright or saying the president is fond of the word "great" -- true, but understated.
Fresh evidence: To fill a programming gap opened by the late March booting of ex-convict Monica Conyers, station owner Kevin Adell brings in ex-convict Denny McLain, who pitched for the Tigers in - before doing time for racketeering, loan-sharking and a drug charge.
Denny McClain will riff on life and politics each Sunday afternoon.
He joins the lineup just in time to participate in a live show Friday with other hosts from Centre Park Bar near Comerica Park before the Tigers' home opener, Kurt Nagl writes at Crain's Detroit Business.
He weekly show, airing at 1-3 p.m. Sundays, will focus on "life and politics," the station says Wednesday.
In 1968, when he threw 31 winning games for Detroit, McClain won the Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards. That was a career peak, Nagl recounts:
He faced a number of high-profile off-field incidents, starting with a gambling suspension in 1970 followed by several more punishments for various misdeeds and arm trouble that hampered his career.
McLain went to prison in 1985 for racketeering, loan-sharking and conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and also went to prison for six years starting in 1996 after a conviction of embezzling $2.5 million from the employee pension fund of the struggling Peet Packing Co. in Chesaning.
For an irreverent local sports blogger, replacing Conyers with McClain nearly defies understanding:
Is the studio for this station in a minimum security prison? What in the holy name of fuckery …. https://t.co/Jjesmif8aY
— Jeffrey Moss (@JeffMossDSR) April 5, 2017
I am just shocked Kevin Adell hasn’t figured a way to get a microphone into Kwame’s Federal cell. https://t.co/oXa50TC3Vm
— Jeffrey Moss (@JeffMossDSR) April 5, 2017
-- Alan Stamm
