Chris Russo had his doubts, still does.
He has been on TV, but never had done a TV-only show before this year. That changed when MLB Network pegged the long-time radio host to have his own show — “High Heat” — this season.
“I was nervous as all could be early,” Russo said as the show reaches its two-month mark.
“I think I have settled down a bit. You have to get yourself geared up, you have to do an hour of baseball every day, a high, intense hour.”
Some have argued that it’s too intense, that Russo does too much histrionics and not enough analysis.
Russo said he understands those concerns, admitting it’s not easy to get genuinely emotionally invested in a baseball issue day in and day out through the course of a grueling six-month season.
“Biggest thing I have to worry about, which I’ve thought about, is I don’t want it to be forced,” the 54-year-old said.
“I don’t want to become some carnival act, where ‘OK it’s time for Chris to yell and scream again.’ You don’t want to be put in a situation where … you want the monologues to be spontaneous and real, you don’t want them to be canned and ‘he’s doing one right now because he has to fill four minutes. Let him scream about the length of games.’ I am a little worried about that.”
Russo, along with Mike Francesa, rose to prominence with the “Mike & the Mad Dog” show on New York’s WFAN, which was simulcast on YES Network. He bolted in 2008 to run his own network of shows on SiriusXM.
Russo is still on daily from 3 to 6 p.m. ET on satellite, and MLB Network built him a studio at Sirius’ Midtown headquarters from which to do his TV show.
The show consists of guest interviews, monologues and rants. There is feedback via Twitter and taped calls from viewers in the “Man Bites Dog” segment, but it is a far cry from the caller interaction he thrives on for his radio show.
“This show is about me and making sure I keep the show moving,” Russo said. “A lot of it is me talking baseball. Two or three guests that are 6-7 minutes, a little [producer] Bruce [Schein], giving Kristina [Fitzpatrick] who does updates time to shine. But it’s about me talking baseball. It’s baseball for one hour every day for 162 days a year.
“That’s a lot of baseball and you have to know how to handle that. You can’t pace yourself because you have to be energetic every day. So far not a problem, I don’t think it’ll be a problem, but when you get to three-quarters of the season, who knows.”
The show has increased ratings by 83 percent in the 1 p.m. time slot for MLB Network and created some controversies, notably with a scorned Nationals announcer, Charlie Slowes, who ripped Russo for mocking him for a botched call of Jason Werth robbing Daniel Murphy of a home run on May 16.
Nevertheless, people are paying attention.
“I’ve noticed it all year, the amount of people that know what’s going on with that show,” Russo said. “I don’t know if buzz is the right word, but I definitely sense some awareness.“