J. T. the Brick

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John Tournour (born November 23, 1965) better known as J.T. the Brick is a sports talk radio host based in Los Angeles, airing weeknights from 7pm to 11pm Pacific time (10pm to 2am Eastern) on Fox Sports Radio. Tournour is a graduate of the SUNY campus at Geneseo.

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[edit] Career

J.T., a former stock broker, got his start in sports radio after becoming a frequent caller to The Jim Rome Show. After winning Jim's inaugural 1995 "Smack-Off" championship title, J.T. was quickly offered a job hosting a late-night Sunday show at KMAX-Los Angeles. Ten weeks later, the station owner faced financial problems and cancelled J.T.'s show. A devastated J.T. volunteered to sell his own advertising in return for regaining the time slot. KMAX agreed, and the show continued.

From there, J.T. moved his show to KFMB-San Diego, where he only spent a few weeks, before being offered a show on the now-defunct Las Vegas-based Sports Fan Radio Network. J.T.'s late-night show lasted five years, until the network's demise in 2001. During this time, J.T. also hosted an afternoon show on a San Francisco-based radio station.

In June 2001, J.T. landed at the upstart Fox Sports Radio network, hosting an afternoon show. It didn't take long for the network to realize that J.T. was better suited for late nights, where his talent helped build the largest late-night syndicated sports show in the nation on SportsFan Radio Network. He remains on the late night shift today.

J.T. also hosted, until the end of the 2005 season, a Sunday night show, Fox Sunday Game Time React, where he discussed the football games of the day with Bryan Cox. That show was eventually replaced by a similar show hosted by John Fricke and Chris Landry.

J.T. is known for delivering all of his opinions in a very aggressive manner. J.T. makes well-known the fact he is a die-hard fan of the New York Giants and New York Yankees. He hates the Eagles, and despises the Boston Red Sox.

On May 29, 2006, J.T. celebrated his ten year anniversary as a sports radio personality.

J.T. made a guest appearance on CNBC's The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch on June 26, 2006, to discuss the feud between Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti, and Chicago White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen.

[edit] Gametime React

His late-night syndicated show, Gametime React, also known as "Sports Radio's Most Interactive Show." J.T. is known for giving die hard sports fans a chance to interact and voice their opinions on a nightly basis. He urges his callers not to ask questions because he believes it makes boring radio. Instead, his callers are encouraged to come strong with their opinions about sports. J.T. has little patience for boring callers, and often hangs up on them with a pre-recorded clip of J.T. shouting "TOW!" (rhyming with "how")

Tomm Looney, the voice of The Best Damn Sports Show Period, works alongside J.T. on Gametime React. Looney is best known for providing the three-times-hourly sports updates and for hosting the entertainment segment of the show which is called "Pop Looney."

During the 2005 NLCS, Albert Pujols smashed a game winning home run against the Houston Astros. J.T. was so excited that he accidentally called Pujols "Albert Hooblehoff" while live on the air. Since then, once J.T. mentions Pujols on his show, a snippet of the "Albert Hooblehoff" soundbite is played. Andrew Siciliano also plays the sound clip anytime a major leaguer hits a home run during his show.

In addition to his hosting duties, J.T. is a regular sports columnist for MSNBC.com.

[edit] Origin of nickname

The nickname "the Brick" comes from his time as a caller to The Jim Rome Show. A "brick" is a common slang term in basketball for a shot that bounces off the rim. Rome dubbed the New York Knicks as the "New York Bricks" for their lack of offense in the mid-90s. The term "Brick" was later extended to mean anyone from New York, especially J.T. with his thick New York accent.

[edit] Relationship with Jim Rome

To this day, there is friction between J.T. and Jim Rome, despite the fact they now both work for the same company (Premiere Radio Networks, owner and licensee of Fox Sports Radio), and share many of the same affiliates. Although Rome follows through with his policy of inviting all Smack-Off winners back for future competitions, he has otherwise cut all ties with The Brick.

J.T. made himself available for an extensive interview in Alan Eisenstock's 2001 book, Sports Talk (Rome declined numerous requests for an interview for the same book). In the interview, J.T. details his decision to leave a six-figure income as a stock broker to chase his dream of talking sports for a living. He also weighs in on his relationship with Rome, saying:

“ He's done everything for me. But he's done nothing for me (sic). It took Jim a while to get successful. I'm only in my fourth year. I've got two syndicated shows and I'm in the number four market (San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose). His fourth year, he was reading traffic. ”

Even today, the two often take subtle on-air jabs at each other. As an example Rome makes a point that he doesn't take lots of phone calls, stating that he doesn't want the fate of his show to be determined by said callers; J.T., on the other hand, makes the point that he includes callers as top priority of his own show. Those statements seem to hint at each other's opposite viewpoints.

On January 23, 2007, Rome was talking about former Jungle contributors who have gone into the sports radio business after they left his show. Rome said that J. T. the Brick has "an excellent show."

On February 7, 2007, J.T. said he was the best caller in American sports radio and then was asked not to call that show again. He then made a point to say that his show was not like that and all callers are welcome, and even if they are bad callers, they are welcome to call the show the next day and give it another shot. Though he never mentioned Rome by name, this was a clear reference to Rome's show. On May 2, 2007, JT announced he would end his 12-year hiatus from The Jungle by participating in the 2007 Smack-Off. However, he failed to make an appearance.

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