The obvious pick for the “Toucher and Rich” job opening has been filling in on the morning show this week, continuing to spark speculation that the 98.5 The Sports Hub personality will be joining the show full time.
98.5’s Rob “Hardy” Poole, who’s the third chair on the midday show “Zolak and Bertrand,” has been floated for months as the replacement for Rich Shertenlieb on the popular morning show. Shertenlieb left “Toucher and Rich” last month after Fred Toucher signed a multiyear contract to stay with the morning show.
Hardy has been missing from the midday show this week, leaving a gaping hole as he fills in as the second chair on “Toucher and Rich.” His midday colleagues on Tuesday commented on Hardy’s future.
Host Marc Bertrand during the show read a listener’s email.
“With Hardy being test driven on the morning show this week, I predict Hardy is essentially gone, and you just cannot say it,” Bertrand stated from the radio listener’s email.
The emailer noted that the midday show would need a Hardy replacement in that case, saying that 98.5’s Tim McKone or Matt McCarthy would be “fine,” but the listener suggested rising star Kendra Middleton as the third chair.
Middleton last week told Mike Felger that she had interviewed for the “Toucher and Rich” open role.
“I don’t know that Hardy’s leaving,” Bertrand said on air.
“Yeah, I don’t know how well it went in the morning the last two days,” added Scott Zolak. “I think they’re very similar, he and Fred… It’s like having a salad, and you put vinegar and vinegar on it. You need vinegar and you need oil, you know? A little salt and pepper, a little garlic, a little basil. Bam! You got a salad.”
With Hardy filling in on the morning show, “Zolak and Bertrand” producer Tyler Milliken said he told Hardy that he was “proud of him.”
“So then it is a tryout and not a fill in?” Zolak asked in response.
“Did he get the gig?” Bertrand asked. “What does Milliken know that the rest of us don’t?”
Tuesday’s morning show with Toucher and Hardy started with Toucher saying he had “made a mistake.” Toucher didn’t set an alarm, so he started the 6 a.m. show from home.
“It’s the holiday season, my friend,” Toucher said from home.
Hardy later in the show commented on the early wake-up time for morning show producers and hosts.
“Let me tell you something you idiots, all you morning show idiots, waking up at 4 something is not healthy,” Hardy said. “It’s really not.”
After Monday’s morning show, Boston Radio Watch posted that Hardy on the morning show was “smooth.”
“I thought Hardy was great,” another account on X posted. “His talent on the Morning show will be a huge plus. His talent being gone from the midday show will be a huge loss which was clearly evident today.”