Unless you’ve been under a rock (not a rock format) the past day, you likely already know that local sports radio/TV personality Tony Rizzo is in trouble with the law.
The plight of the Good Karma sports WKNR/850 “ESPN 850” midday host was first reported by his home TV station, Local TV-to-be-Tribune Fox affiliate WJW/8’s “Fox 8 News”:
Longtime Cleveland sports personality and talk show host Tony Rizzo was arrested Friday night on a charge of domestic violence.
According to a Medina police report, officers were called to Rizzo’s home after his wife called 911.
We aren’t going into the details of the 911 call or providing the audio, as both recordings and transcripts are widely available from various news outlets. (And no, that isn’t a bad publicity photo of Rizzo…it’s what he looks like on a Friday night at a Medina jail.)
Rizzo’s attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf in Medina Municipal Court on Monday, according to numerous media reports and online court records.
Rizzo had very little to say about the events of Friday night, but he did mention it briefly on the radio side of his media house during WKNR’s “The Really Big Show”…the transcript helpfully provided in a report by Fox 8:
“It’s the first time in my life I’ve ever been arrested. I’m absolutely humiliated, but I want you to know that I did nothing wrong.”
And yes, we said “on the radio”…as buzz about the weekend arrest was growing, and coverage of it was growing, too, Rizzo took to the “ESPN Cleveland” airwaves for a full four hour show, dissecting the Browns and their heart-breaking loss to the New England Patriots.
Near the end of that show, we hear Rizzo told listeners that he’d be back again Tuesday. And considering this statement by WKNR owner Good Karma Broadcasting, we believe him:
“We do not believe it is appropriate to comment on Tony’s personal life. Tony is an exemplary teammate and member of the community and his status with us is unaffected.”
We’ll see if that changes depending on whatever happens to Rizzo in court, but the sports talker is “standing by their man” right now.
We also wonder if the situation would be different if WKNR was owned by another company, or if he was a personality on a non-male-targeted station.
We haven’t heard yet if his Sunday night show “The Rizzo Show” on Fox 8 is still on their schedule, though it’s obviously a much smaller piece of the Fox 8 puzzle than “The Really Big Show” is for WKNR. Rizzo was lead sports anchor for WJW until leaving to concentrate on radio, and then returned to his former TV home for the Sunday night show.
But yes, we were surprised to hear Rizzo on the air on “The Really Big Show” on WKNR on Monday, considering the controversy swirling around him. We expected him to be pulled from the air for a while, eventually returning as his legal situation went through the process until completion.
But as a “teammate”, in Good Karma speak, Rizzo is very clearly the MVP at the Galleria, and very much the Glue That Holds ESPN Cleveland Together. In a battle for sports talk supremacy with CBS Radio sports WKRK/92.3 “The Fan”, it appears Good Karma can’t do without Rizzo for any lengthy period of time…
WE all have problems.
Stuff happens when both spouses start drinking. But didn’t “Kathryn” know that getting police involved could jeopardize his job, hurt their income significantly — and ultimately, ruin the marriage? Not casting blame, just sayin’: Girl, you married a local celebrity whose reputation is Number One, second only behind his children.
You are not in Kansas (Florida) anymore.
No Rizzo today on RBS, so take it for what it’s worth
Personalities are regular people with a job in the public eye. They make mistakes like everyone else. Even though they are not admitting doing anything unjust right now