Paul Finebaum
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Paul Finebaum is an American columnist, author, television and radio personality based in Birmingham, Alabama. His primary focus is sports, particularly those in the Southeast. Finebaum was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He attended the University of Tennessee, where he received a liberal arts degree.
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[edit] News Reporter
Paul Finebaum arrived in Birmingham in 1980 and became a columnist and investigative reporter for the now-defunct Birmingham Post-Herald. As a reporter, Finebaum broke the story of Antonio Langham, a University of Alabama football player who signed a contract with a sports agent while still playing for the school, a direct violation of National Collegiate Athletic Association rules. Finebaum also broke the story of the firing of Auburn University coach Terry Bowden.[1] Finebaum continues as a newspaper columnist, now writing for the Mobile Press-Register twice each week, with syndication to other newspapers throughout the state.
[edit] Radio and Television
In 1993, Paul Finebaum began his afternoon sports-talk show on WERC-AM Radio, which quickly became the top-rated show in the market. The four-hour show is now syndicated to stations throughout Alabama, Finebaum has appeared as a personality on nearly every television station in the Birmingham market at one time or another, including a five-year stint as sports director for WIAT-TV, which was unusual in that many of his televised reports were done from his WERC radio studio (fitted with extra lighting for this purpose) during breaks in the radio program. He left WIAT in 2002. In January 2007, at the end of his contract with WERC, Finebaum moved his show to new FM sports/talk station WJOX-FM.
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The Paul Finebaum Radio Network, comprised of Finebaum with producers Pat Smith and Dave Sibley, was named by Sports Illustrated as one of the top 12 sports radio shows in the United States.
[edit] Publications
Finebaum's books include his popular I Hate... series, including I Hate Notre Dame: 303 Reasons Why You Should, Too, and several dozen similarly-titled works which humorously attack most major college athletic programs. As a spoof, his friend and colleague Tommy Charles published I Hate Paul Finebaum: 303 Reasons Why You Should, Too (ISBN 157587041X) in 1996. Finebaum's other books include The Worst of Paul Finebaum (ISBN 1881548120), a 1994 compilation of every newspaper column he has ever written; and Finebaum Said (ISBN 1931656037), a 2001 collection of columns and interviews.
[edit] References
- Barnes, Susan. (Summer 2005) "The Devil We Know". Tennessee Alumnus Magazine. Vol. 85, No. 3 - accessed April 16, 2006
- Paul Finebaum article at BhamWiki.com
- Paul Finebaum bio
- Paul Finebaum is "the most influential sports-talk personality in the Southeast" - Huntsville Times, August 21, 2003.
- "Paul Finebaum, the state's most influential sports columnist and talk-show host" - New York Times, May 4, 2003.
