Shapiro joins rival radio station 680/The Fan

David Dickey, president of the Fan, likened hiring his former rival to Red Sox star Johnny Damon playing for the Yankees or Brian McCann going to the Mets. “We’re in the here and now, not 2005 or 1995,” Dickey said.

This will be a homecoming of sorts. In 1994, 680/The Fan hired a 27-year-old Shapiro from Boston for its morning show. Three years later, with Andrew Saltzman, Shapiro launched Big League Broadcasting and his own rival sports talk station 790/The Zone. He worked mornings.

For the next 16 years, the Zone competed aggressively with the Fan. Shapiro’s often bombastic approach on the air and off was polarizing but effective in generating loyal listeners and advertisers.

After investing in stations in St. Louis that cost Big League millions, he and Saltzman sold out in 2010 for $6 million. Shapiro stayed on the Zone as an employee until June, when co-host Nick Cellini played knock-knock jokes as Steve Gleason, a former NFL player suffering from ALS, a serious, degenerative nerve disease. The offensive audio went viral and the radio team was fired later that day.