Courtesy the Los Angeles Daily News

(December 24, 2010) The head-scratching departure of Andrew Siciliano as part of the first major lineup move by newly installed KSPN-AM (710) program director Mike Thompson could be topped by the team that's about to replace him and Mychal Thompson in the 10 a.m.-2 p.m. weekday slot.

Max Kellerman, the current HBO boxing analyst and once the host of ESPN's "Around The Horn," has been signed to start work Jan. 3. Former NFL player Marcellus Wiley, who does a lot of TV work for the NFL this time of season, will likely join him but hasn't worked out a contract, according to several station sources.

Good luck to Kellerman, who knows Mike Thompson from their days at ESPN's New York affiliate.

If the L.A. audience knows one thing about sports talk, it's that loud-mouth East Coasters don't play well.

Siciliano, who some might wrongly pigeon-hole into that category, was more of a thoughtful, hard-nosed, lawyer-sounding broadcaster who often came off more exasperated than amused by Thompson's often one- and two-note contributions to the midday program.

Siciliano expected more.

He was by far at his best when working alone when Thompson was tied up on a Lakers trip, and he became what L.A. listeners to local sports talk had to consider a valuable asset. Their show lasted just one year.

Thompson, who has been on this week with fill-in Mark Williard, will continue to work in promoting the Lakers' broadcasts on 710-AM as a guest on other shows and stays on as the Lakers' game analyst with Spero Dedes, still under contract through the end of this season.

With John Ireland and Steve Mason on vacation this week - both their jobs are safe, sources add - former KSPN host Brian Long, who recently left to be the program director at the ESPN affiliate in Seattle, has been filling in, using an ISB line to make it sound as if he's in the same studio with another former KSPN host, Dave Denholm, who has his own line linking him to L.A. listeners from Cleveland.

That's local sports talk at its best.

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