Courtesy the St. Louis Post Dispatch

(January 7, 2010) Early returns from the pairing of Kevin Slaten with a 24-year-old woman who is fresh off a reality TV show with no significant professional broadcasting experience and little knowledge of St. Louis sports (and apparently sports history in general) produced a predictable one-word review.

Huh?

Slaten has made his mark in St. Louis sports-talk radio as the contrarian, as he hammers the take-no-prisoners, hard-line and no-nonsense approach to take on everything from the Cardinals to Mizzou to individuals and institutions. But the matchup with Ashlee Feldman, which began Monday as Slaten returned to KFNS (590 AM) after being fired there nearly three years ago by a previous owner, is perplexing.

On Day 1, there was a lengthy interview with actor Billy Baldwin. He was promoting a movie he was in that was going to air on Lifetime — a channel that's billed as the "ultimate source for women's entertainment." He also was asked about his role on "Gossip Girl," a TV program geared to teenage girls.

Feldman also has a daily pop-culture segment in which she said she plans to focus on "celebrity drama." Listeners already have been provided news about Kim Kardashian, heard Feldman say she is a big fan of Auburn quarterback Cam Newton because his 'skin is so smooth" and were provided with banter about how to differentiate types of lesbians.

She has been portrayed as being from Boston, where she went to Northeastern University, but actually grew up in New Jersey. That was evident when Slaten asked her about some former Celtics greats, including John Havlicek and Bill Russell. She evidently was stumped on knowing who they are because her response to Slaten was, "How old are you?"

This isn't a shot at Feldman, who has been placed in a bizarre position at KFNS. Station general manager Dave Greene is trying to be different than WXOS (101.1 FM), which has surged to the sports-talk listenership lead with its straightforward approach. Greene runs Grand Slam Sports, which bought KFNS last year and has moved much of the station's programming to more of a "guy talk" slant in trying to carve a niche that strays from basic sports talk. (Grand Slam also has sports-talker KSLG (1380 AM), and its tone falls between 101.1 and 590.)

But while Slaten still hammers away — he has ripped Cards manager Tony La Russa, the Rams and Mizzou this week — the mix of the jackhammer-to-granite style with "girl talk" is perplexing. Feldman sounds like she could be good on an entertainment show, and is energetic and likeable on the air. But this pairing puts Slaten in a position akin to having Randy Johnson mix an array of junkballs into his power pitching when he was in his prime.

What is the target audience here? Given other sports alternatives on the dial, it's difficult to imagine many people who tune in for Slaten's rock 'em, sock 'em routine sticking around long when "girl talk" airs. Slaten was a ratings force the last time he was at 590, in the pre-101.1 days. It will be interesting to see how this current approach fares.

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