Podcast: Download
Jim Cuddihy with career advice ~
“I tell kids all the time, interns that come into my office, people who want to get into the business: ‘When you wake up in the morning, you better want to go to work. Figure that out. Do something that you love.'”
A Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen. This is Our Town and we have a special, special delight to have a guest that has made such an impact on the greater Washington area at both Home Team Sports, Comcast SportsNet, and now with MASN. We’ll get into that later, but right now I’m gonna say hello to Jimmy Cuddihy, the man from New York who took over Washington by storm.
Jim Cuddihy: Great to be with you, Andy. One of my heroes since I moved here to D.C. in 2001.
On Moving to Our Town
A Ockershausen: I love your story. When you first arrived in the city, your wife and your two little children, at the time, got lost and ended up going by Georgetown Prep.
Jim Cuddihy: You know, it’s-
A Ockershausen: The hated rival of Gonzaga Eagles at this point.
Jim Cuddihy: Kind of ironic, right? My little guy’s like five years old and we’re looking for houses. This is the first time they’ve moved down; I’d already been here a couple months. And we see this beautiful campus and we pull in and there’s a rugby game going on. I played, I had coached, I love the sport.
A Ockershausen: It’s your life.
Jim Cuddihy: I take a picture with my son and the ball’s half as big as him, right? And he goes to school, they do a father’s day present where they do cardboard cutouts of tools. And he cuts out a saw and he puts the picture in there and he writes, “To the best dad I ever saw.”
A Ockershausen: He’s five years old?
Jim Cuddihy: And to this day, I still have that in my office and he turned out to be a fantastic rugby player, Gonzaga High School, and now the captain of Saint Joe’s University rugby team. So it was ironic, that that young of an age, he-
A Ockershausen: Jimmy, it is all do to his experience at Georgetown Prep.
Jim Cuddihy: That’s right.
A Ockershausen: Prep-
Jim Cuddihy: He wouldn’t want to hear that. A Gonzaga guy wouldn’t want to hear that, but you’re right.
A Ockershausen: But your career has been in broadcasting, but you grew up in New York City and I love hear you telling stories about the guy … The guys you grew up with all became an important part of the city. Cops, firemen, workers, whatever they did, and you moved on. But you grew up in that atmosphere.
On Growing Up in Stuyvesant Town, New York City
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. And those guys. . . And those guys are still my best friends. We grew up in a neighborhood … Really one of the only communities in New York City called Stuyvesant Town. On the lower-
A Ockershausen: I know it quite well.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. It’s on the Lower East Side from 14th Street and 1st Avenue to 23rd Street.
A Ockershausen: High rise.
Jim Cuddihy: High rises. And they built them in the 50s for the returning war veterans.
A Ockershausen: Correct. I remember that.
Jim Cuddihy: So this kind of neighborhood, you would run home from school, drop your book bag down, and you’d go right out and play until 6:00 or 6:30 until it was dark. And sometimes your mother would open up the window-
A Ockershausen: Yeah. Parks and recreation on site, correct?
Jim Cuddihy: We had 15 playgrounds and every playground had a specialty.
A Ockershausen: Was that a project of an insurance company? Was that Metropolitan Life?
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. MetLife owned it, yeah. That’s right. That’s right.
A Ockershausen: I know a lot about it because my brother-in-law was a firefighter. He was a fireman then. After the war, when he came back, there was no place to live. They lived out, someplace at Floyd Bennett Field.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. Right.
A Ockershausen: There’s little Quonset huts out there. They couldn’t find a place.
Jim Cuddihy: Stuyvesant Town is rent controlled and my parents moved into a five-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in 1981. I’m the oldest of five. And-
A Ockershausen: ’81 was late. That thing was built in-
Jim Cuddihy: It was in the 40s. You’re right. No air conditioning at that point. And my parents still are in that same apartment and if I told you what they were paying for rent, there’d be a lot of … People would be jealous because of the rent control.
Jim Cuddihy at Super Bowl XLII and XLVI
A Ockershausen: I know you told me the story about taking your dad to the Super Bowl. Where’d you take him? To New Orleans?
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. As a bucket list thing, which I don’t have a bucket list but I’m checking these two off, I was fortunate enough to get two tickets to the Super Bowl. The one about six or seven years ago.
A Ockershausen: The Ravens?
Jim Cuddihy: It was … They ended up playing the Patriots.
A Ockershausen: Right.
Jim Cuddihy: Right? So I get these two tickets, they beat the Packers in the NFC Championship game, I FedEx to my dad’s office a note, and I said, “Dad, come and watch me. Come and watch with me as the Giants beat the perfect team.”
A Ockershausen: Had you believe that.
Jim Cuddihy: 50 yard line, 20 rows up, behind the Giant’s bench. If you walk into the empty stadium and said, “Give me two seats,” we would have taken those two seats. That’s what a great experience it was.
A Ockershausen: For your dad, particularly.
Jim Cuddihy: For my dad. And then five years later, I took my son when the Giants beat the Patriots again in Indianapolis. So I’m done. My bucket list is complete.
A Ockershausen: I said to somebody, When they made the miracle reception, it’s getting even for the Giants.” A guy caught the ball on his head.
Jim Cuddihy: That’s right. Tyree. That was David Tyree.
A Ockershausen: You were there, weren’t you?
Jim Cuddihy: I was there for that one, yes.
A Ockershausen: And your dad was thrilled. That’s a great thing to do.
Jim Cuddihy: And I was at the Super Bowl a couple weeks ago, so I saw that other miracle reception you’re talking about to Edelman.
A Ockershausen: Did you ever pay for a ticket?
Jim Cuddihy: That’s like asking if you ever paid for a meal in Washington, D.C.
A Ockershausen: I never do.
Jim Cuddihy: How dare you.
A Ockershausen: I never pay … I’ve been to five or six Super Bowl. I never bought a ticket.
Jim Cuddihy: I always have friends who help me out.
A Ockershausen: You know how to do it. Well, Jimmy, let’s get back to New York now. You went to Xavier High School in the city, a very famous Jesuit school in the city.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. Xavier High School on 16th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenue. And again, those guys … I have two sets of friends. One’s from the neighborhood of Stuyvesant Town, who are still my best friends, and then the guys who I played sports with at Xavier High School. I’ve played soccer and rugby and I played football one year as a kicker. And we played intramural together. Those guys are still my best friends and our kids call each others’ friends by “uncle” and “aunt” and-
A Ockershausen: Almost like the “dead end” kids of movie thing.
Jim Cuddihy: Lot of guys from Flatbush, lot of guys from Bay Ridge I hung out with. We traveled all around the world for soccer and rugby. We were in Barbados, we were in Hawaii, we were in Canada-
A Ockershausen: This was when you were in school?
Jim Cuddihy: That’s when we were between freshman year of high school. Went to Manchester, played soccer as a 13 or 14 year-old kid. And then as a rugby player, our last tour was to Hawaii. That year, we won the National Championship. That was 1985. So yeah, those guys are still my best friends. They really are.
A Ockershausen: Well, how did you transfer … I don’t know, that’s a bad word. Transit- from being a high school … And then you went to college.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah, yeah. So-
A Ockershausen: You didn’t go to St. Joe’s?
Jim Cuddihy: I didn’t. No, I went to Connecticut College for two years.
A Ockershausen: Right.
Jim Cuddihy: I was going to play soccer. The coach had recruited me. I got-
A Ockershausen: You were a soccer bum.
On Choosing Broadcast Career
Jim Cuddihy: I got a university scholarship. It was a division three school. I think they gave me 4,000, 5,000 bucks for the first year to go there. So I go there and play soccer. I go to two practices and they’re two-a-days. And they were tough. They were tough. There were some good players over there. And I enjoyed it. But one day, we’re at practice and I look over on the campus to another field and I see all these guys huddling around a tree. It was a Friday, afternoon to five o’clock. And I’m sweating. I’m dead from practice. And I look at those guys and I’m like, “What the hell are those guys doing over there?” And I look further, I get up closer, and they’re huddled around a keg. And I’m like, “What the?” And somebody said, “That’s the rugby team.” I said, “They’re got a rugby team here?” I called my father the next day, I said, “Dad, I’m done with soccer.” And he’s like, “You know you’re giving up your scholarship?” “Yeah,” I said, “Dad, yeah. I love rugby. Gotta do it.” So I did.
A Ockershausen: So you switched?
Jim Cuddihy: I switched. I switched sports and … I was a starter on the team and played there two years and was the backs captain my second year and then I transferred to Syracuse University and … Because of a major. They didn’t have communications as a major at Connecticut College. I tried to have them … I tried to create my own, but they wouldn’t go for it. So I transferred and stayed at Syracuse and I had a great two years at Syracuse.
A Ockershausen: Great school, of course, where there are quite a lot of famous grads. We were just talking about that. How did you transfer your sports career into this wonderful world of, originally, broadcasting, correct?
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah, well-
A Ockershausen: At the station in New York City, the TV station?
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. I was an intern at Fox 5 in New York City. I was on the assignment desk for the news shows.
A Ockershausen: WNEW TV. Far out.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah, right. Famous station. Right, yeah. But before that, I got … My first interneship was at Syracuse. I arrived on campus, I go to a seminar, and … There’s probably 150 kids at this big seminar. I hadn’t been into a class that big of a size. And the guy-
A Ockershausen: It’s scary, is it?
Mike Tirico
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. Guy’s giving a lecture and I was like, “Man, that guy’s a student. I know he’s a student.” So a student was giving the lecture. And I go down to him and talk to him afterwards and it’s Mike Tirico. And I said, “Mike, I really enjoyed that. I’m just new on campus. I’d like to get an internship.” Well, he’s the weekend anchor as a student on the CBS affiliate in Syracuse – WTVH.
A Ockershausen: Wow!
Jim Cuddihy: He was a weekend anchor. I believe as a Junior. And he hired me-
A Ockershausen: He’s so polished.
Jim Cuddihy: He was great-
A Ockershausen: He was polished when he was a kid. I remember-
Jim Cuddihy: We all knew. We all knew how good he was going to be.
A Ockershausen: Right.
Jim Cuddihy: So I worked for him for two years on the weekend at WTVH CBS in Syracuse. Great experience. Got me thinking about production because when you’re a kid and you go to Syracuse and you want broadcast journalism, the thing that you only know about is that you want to be on the air. You want to be on the air.
A Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Jim Cuddihy: But it was there working with Tirico and there working behind the scenes that I knew that I didn’t really have it in me to be on the air. I didn’t really want to be on the air. I wanted to be behind the scenes, to be a producer. And that’s what I ended up doing. That’s how I started.
A Ockershausen: You didn’t have a lot of talent, Jim.
Jim Cuddihy: Or looks. I didn’t have the talent or looks, I know.
A Ockershausen: But Tirico started as a kid. I know that his story … And now he’s gonna do the Olympics for … He’s replacing Bob Costas.
Jim Cuddihy: Amazing story.
A Ockershausen: That’s as big as you get.
Jim Cuddihy: Guy from Queens, just worked hard, is one of the best play-by-play guys you’ll ever hear, and I was really happy for him when … You saw him on The Today Show the other day, when they passed the torch.
A Ockershausen: Great. They’re really doing great.
Jim Cuddihy: One Syracuse guy to another. Yeah.
A Ockershausen: Well, Jimmy … But then you went into commercial broadcasting and then worked for the New York station. And then, at one point, you transferred to Philadelphia, obviously, for a job.
Jim Cuddihy: 1989, you’re a kid out of school, you’re waiting tables, you’re looking for your first job, and … It’s amazing that this happened to me. I went to my high school, Xavier High School, and they were going to hire me as rugby coach, soccer coach, and phys-ed teacher. Dream job. Could walk to school, summers off, bartend, would have made tons of money. All my friends were still there. All my friends were cops and firemen, working on Wall Street. It was a dream job. The same day, I get offered a job at KYW-TV in Philadelphia.
A Ockershausen: Right.
Jim Cuddihy: To be-
A Ockershausen: The CBS affiliate?
Jim Cuddihy: Back then, it was NBC when I first got there and then they transferred cities.
A Ockershausen: There was a swap. I remember that.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. I was there for the swap. So that day, I get offered the job in Philadelphia to be a production assistant on the Randall Cunningham Show. Randall was a quarterback for years-
A Ockershausen: Oh, I know. Number 12.
Jim Cuddihy: And he was gonna launch a half-hour entertainment show Saturday nights and the job paid six dollars an hour and it was only good from July through December.
A Ockershausen: Right. A season.
Jim Cuddihy: So I sit with my parents in the living room of this five bedroom apartment that they’re still in and they’re saying, “Well, are you getting benefits?” I said, “No.” They said, “How much are you making?” “Six dollars an hour.” They said, “Well, you’re getting this other job where you’re gonna be a phys-ed teacher, you’re gonna get benefits, and this great salary.” They said, “It’s a no-brainer.” I said, “Yeah, you’re right.” I said, “I’m going to Philadelphia. This is what you paid for. This is why I’m going to college. This is what I want to do.” And I did it. It was just … That was my dream, to be in television.
A Ockershausen: You know, your father was way ahead of his time and I want to come back and talk, about the fact that you had somebody giving you that great advice. And then you went to the top. And I mean that, Jimmy. You went right to the top. So we’ll be right back and talk to Jim Cuddihy about his illustrious career. This is Andy Ockershausen and this is Our Town.
[GEICO Commercial] Daughter: Daddy, where do babies come from?
Daddy: Honey?
Daughter: Mommy went to the store.
Daddy: You see, there’s a mommy and a daddy, right?
Daughter: Right.
Daddy: See, when they call GEICO, they could save a bunch of money on car insurance.
Daughter: Really? That makes them happy?
Daddy: Yes, that makes them very happy.
Daughter: That’s good.
Daddy: I’m glad we could have this talk, Sunshine.
GEICO Announcer: GEICO, because saving 15% percent or more on car insurance is always a great
answer. [End GEICO Commercial]
Announcer: You’re listening to Our Town.
A Ockershausen: Hi, this is Andy Ockershausen and this is Our Town and we’re talking to James Cuddihy, the New York Flash that ends up as the Philadelphia Flash, ’cause I met Jim when he came to the cable world, at least the cable world that I was in, called … It was Home Team Sports-
Jim Cuddihy: Home Team Sports.
A Ockershausen: That was just transition. And Jim had been with Comcast in Philadelphia.
Jim Cuddihy: That’s right.
A Ockershausen: Came down to our station here, in Washington.
Home Team Sports to Comcast SportsNet
Jim Cuddihy: Home Team Sports was an icon in the regional sports network industry. What a great, great facility they had. They were just famous for doing coverage of … Great production of baseball games and programming.
A Ockershausen: You know the story, when they were building that stadium, Edward Bennett Williams, and Larry Lucchino was a point man. They used Bill Brown-
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah.
A Ockershausen: You know, from – the Fox Bill.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah, I know who Bill is. Yeah.
A Ockershausen: To set that stadium up for the TV studio almost.
Jim Cuddihy: That’s right. Yeah.
A Ockershausen: And you inherited that.
Jim Cuddihy: I did.
A Ockershausen: And exploited it.
Jim Cuddihy: And you told me, I screwed it up. Yeah. We’ve rebranded as Comcast SportsNet.
A Ockershausen: No, we were hot then with the Orioles. The Orioles were our team, even thought they weren’t in Our Town. We had no other baseball, but we had the Caps and the Wiz.
Jim Cuddihy: That’s right.
A Ockershausen: But the Orioles was special.
Jim Cuddihy: And we had the ACC too.
A Ockershausen: Oh, God yes.
Jim Cuddihy: When we first got there, yeah.
A Ockershausen: And you got us the Big East. I’ll never forget that.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I got you the Redskins and Ravens too.
A Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Jim Cuddihy: Those are deals I do when I was . . .
A Ockershausen: We had so much going at our company, and still do, but Jim, you were there and started in the early 2001, right?
Jim Cuddihy: I got there in January 2001. That’s where I met you. I think one of the first things that we did was … I didn’t know I was staying. I was there consulting for helping Comcast SportsNet transition.
A Ockershausen: Right.
Jim Cuddihy: And then the guy who was … The GM down there asked me if I wanted to stay full-time. And I forget if it was you and Shuster and Bowden, but you took me to some clothing store so I could buy some clothes and suits ’cause I didn’t have any.
A Ockershausen: Jennifer … We all wanted you to stay. All the sales department wanted you to stay ’cause, even though you were the production … Production was always an enemy of sales, for no reason, but you were so helpful to the sales department. We loved it.
Jim Cuddihy: You know what? We had these … The name of that store was Britches, by the way. If you remember Britches in Georgetown, that’s right. They served wine and cheese, I remember that ’cause I hadn’t been in a store- … So I had these suits and I had some wine and cheese. It was fabulous.
A Ockershausen: It’s a long way from Philadelphia.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. It was. Yeah, you know what? I always felt like … I think one of the biggest problems with people in the industry … The industry’s called communications and the biggest complaint is that people don’t communicate.
A Ockershausen: They don’t talk.
Jim Cuddihy: So-
A Ockershausen: That is still true today.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. So what I wanted to do when I got there was include all of the departments in almost every meeting we had. And we had this thing called “Tuesdays at 2:00” where I would have the operations-
A Ockershausen: Oh, yeah. I remember that. That was so great.
Jim Cuddihy: The engineering, you, the sales because everything that was on the air … Every show we did, every piece we did … Some we could have been sponsors, some couldn’t have been, there were live shots … We had to integrate everybody in so they kind of understood the other departments, which I don’t think had taken place there. And then we gave the sales guys opportunities because that was it. I mean, we could produce programming, but you’ve got to sell it.
A Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Jim Cuddihy: So, yeah, you’re right. We did include the sales guys a lot and I love working with Wagner, Jeff Wagner.
A Ockershausen: Waggs.
Jim Cuddihy: Jennifer.
A Ockershausen: And Jennifer.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. Yeah. And yourself.
A Ockershausen: Drew Mills.
Jim Cuddihy: And Eric. Eric Shuster.
A Ockershausen: Eric.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah.
A Ockershausen: We love Shuster. But, Jimmy, you brought so much-
Jim Cuddihy: Do a whole show on him.
A Ockershausen: – activism to the programming department and we were active and the Orioles were great and we were great. And then things fell apart for Comcast to a point where losing the Orioles … It wasn’t a death blow, but it was really a blow emotionally, too. You know, we love baseball, the employees did. And doing the Orioles all those years was so important to it. And then one day, they just decided to start their own network.
Jim Cuddihy: And that’s been the trend, right? It’s either that teams are starting their own networks or they’re getting a big piece of the regional sports network. That’s what’s happening all over.
A Ockershausen: It’s what Comcast just did. Comcast SportsNet bounded with the Ted Leonsis
Jim Cuddihy: That’s right. That’s right.
A Ockershausen: And they have an organization now.
Jim Cuddihy: Right. Right.
MASN
A Ockershausen: But MASN stands alone and your career with MASN has been fabulous and I think that’s been so important to Our Town, to have MASN and to watch the games, to be an important part of … Even though the Orioles are away, they’re important to us. And now we have a Nats, we have a baseball team.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. Nothing’s more important to a regional sports network than the live events that they offer.
A Ockershausen: Oh, it is.
Jim Cuddihy: But then the second the ancillary program. The pre-game, post-game, and the other shows. And we’re really fortunate to have the Nats and the Orioles on our network.
A Ockershausen: Oh my God, I’m telling you, Jim.
Jim Cuddihy: And what we decided to do in the beginning was, not to do a news operation, but really just focus on those two teams and drive as much revenues as possible to the teams.
A Ockershausen: Well, it’s been a great … The strategy’s been fabulous. And the thing that we’re so close, Jimmy, so many times, to having two teams in the leagues in the baseball playoff. I mean, everybody I know that loves baseball wants the Orioles and the Nats to be in the World Series.
Jim Cuddihy: I could … It’s gonna happen. It’s gonna happen. Three of the last five years, both teams have been in the playoffs and-
A Ockershausen: Good teams too.
Jim Cuddihy: Right. And unfortunately, the Nats haven’t gotten out of the first round yet, but they will. Their pitching is way too good for them to be held down. And the Orioles offense and bull pen is spectacular.
A Ockershausen: Oh, incredible.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. You’re gonna see it. You will see the Nats and the Orioles in the World Series at some point.
A Ockershausen: And I hope we live long enough to see it. What I love is the two stadiums, are baseball stadiums-
Jim Cuddihy: That’s right.
A Ockershausen: They’re built for baseball and it’s so important. Remember? ‘Cause at one time, there were two stadiums. One was Memorial and old Griffith Stadium. They were a mess.
Camden Yards
Jim Cuddihy: Camden Yards is still, and it was voted again this year, the best baseball experience in the country.
A Ockershausen: It is. It’s incredible.
Jim Cuddihy: But what they did back then was incredible. And my office is on the right field foul pole-
A Ockershausen: I know, you’re right there.
Jim Cuddihy: Looking right into the stadium. So I get to see it every day.
A Ockershausen: You do have an office? Is that-
Jim Cuddihy: I don’t know why I still have an office, right? Right on the right field foul pole. Right on the right field foul pole. And I tell you what, those people at that stadium, they’re working 365 a year. Every day, I see people, grounds crews, working on the field. I see the guys cleaning up and painting and cleaning the chairs off, even in the winter.
A Ockershausen: It’s a year-round job. That is a great.
Jim Cuddihy: That’s why the stadium looks beautiful.
A Ockershausen: And then you have events there, and off-event. We don’t quite have that yet in Washington, but I know the Lerners want it.
Jim Cuddihy: Oh, it’s coming. It’s coming.
A Ockershausen: They’re working at it.
Jim Cuddihy: It’s coming. Nats do a great job with concerts and shows. I’ve been to a number of concerts there. The atmosphere around the ballpark is so much better. It’s a great Washingtonian crowd. I love going to … One of my favorite parts of going to a Nats game is going to that tailgate area of the fairgrounds, in the center field area of the stadium, that’s just alive. And then the people come in and have just as good a time.
A Ockershausen: I’ve been to a couple of your parties there. Remember the old bull pen party at … not at Memorial. That was at Camden Yard.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah.
A Ockershausen: That was so different, Jim.
Jim Cuddihy: I loved it. I was there one year.
A Ockershausen: I know. You know what that is. We’re gonna take another break here. We’ve been talking about MASN and all the good things that Jim has done and continue to do with two teams. That’s in great. That’s like life blood. We’ll be back here on Our Town. This is Andy Ockershausen.
[Commercials]Attorney Mike Collins : Are you still promising yourself or your spouse to get your will updated and a good basic estate plan in place? Are you finally ready to make sure you don’t leave a mess behind for your family to clean up? Give me just two hours and I’ll show you how. I’m attorney, Mike Collins, host of radio’s Legally Speaking Show. Come to my seminar and I’ll teach you what you need to know about wills, trusts, taxes, probate, how to keep your money in your family. Register now a mikecollins.com and I’ll even waive the tuition. That’s mikecollins.com.
Tony Cibel : Hi, Tony Cibel here, to tell you about Tony and Joe’s and Nick’s Riverside Grill at Washington Harbor in Georgetown. Spectacular new restaurant. We spent a lot of time rebuilding. You’ll love it. It’s really fantastic. For any information, you can go online to tonyandjoes.com. It’ll be a wonderful experience for the whole family. Call 202-944-4545 to make reservations. Everything is fabulous. You got to come down and have some wonderful food. [End Commercials]
Announcer: You’re listening to Our Town with Andy Ockershausen, brought you by Best Bark Communications.
A Ockershausen: Talking to Jim Cuddihy, the man who’s in charge of MASN for baseball. I make you in charge.
Jim Cuddihy: Don’t put it that way.
A Ockershausen: He shares. He’s got money. Jimmy, I’m so proud of what you have done and what MASN has done.
Jim Cuddihy: Thank you.
A Ockershausen: And the future’s nothing but … Looking so great for both Our Town and Baltimore. I hope, someday, we get a World Series.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. Like I said, we’re gonna get it because the teams are so good. I mean, tell me a better pitching staff than the Nats have. The Cubs? I mean, they’re equal. And I think they made a great off-season move to get Adam Eaton.
A Ockershausen: I do too.
Jim Cuddihy: That’s doing things right.
A Ockershausen: Well, the other thing we love about your MASN feed is Johnny Holliday.
Jim Cuddihy: The best. The best.
A Ockershausen: We love Johnny.
Jim Cuddihy: The best.
A Ockershausen: You know, he started here at WMAL many, many years ago and … He’s a DJ.
Jim Cuddihy: I know.
A Ockershausen: You know, he was a great disc jockey.
Jim Cuddihy: A New York DJ. A New York City DJ too, as well.
A Ockershausen: Absolutely. He’s a great guy.
Jim Cuddihy: I’ll tell you a little story about Johnny. When we first got … When I first went to MASN, that was like 2005.
A Ockershausen: Well, you had talked to him a couple of times when you were at-
Jim Cuddihy: That’s right. When I was at Comcast SportsNet. And a new ball club in town, the Nats … The first year when they were on MASN and only a few people were able to watch them, they didn’t have pre-game or post-game shows back then.
A Ockershausen: I know that.
Jim Cuddihy: When I get in, we started doing the pre-game and the post-game and the magazine shows and all those kind of things for the ball club. And we had to pick somebody to anchor this. Now, at that time, the other team was doing particularly well with their records and the Nats were new in town.
A Ockershausen: Slow start.
Jim Cuddihy: So what I wanted to do was make the Nats fans feel very comfortable with the team and the club, but they had not history. So get a face like Johnny, everybody knows him. I know he’s associated with Maryland, but people would come to be compelled to like the Nats, a lot because of Johnny.
A Ockershausen: Oh, absolutely.
Jim Cuddihy: Johnny’s the communicator between the two.
A Ockershausen: A genius move.
Jim Cuddihy: It was just the right thing to do because he’s so warm and welcoming in this town.
A Ockershausen: Absolutely. And nobody doesn’t love Johnny Holliday. Like Sarah Lee.
Jim Cuddihy: You’re right.
Madeline Cuddihy
A Ockershausen: Is that correct? But Jimmy, now also you’ve involved your family. At least, your daughter is now a fixture at Channel 9. Your little girl is all grown up.
Jim Cuddihy: A little girl who you’ve known forever.
A Ockershausen: Oh my God, what a great, great, great kid.
Jim Cuddihy: Visit your beach house on the seadoos and on the boats at your beach house years and years ago.
A Ockershausen: But you loved it.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah.
A Ockershausen: Maddy was such an important part of knowing her and knowing Thomas. Of course, Thomas has turned into a giant.
Thomas Cuddihy
Jim Cuddihy: Yes.
A Ockershausen: What is he, 6’4″?
Jim Cuddihy: He’s almost 6’4″, he’s about 220, he’s captain of the rugby team at St. Joe’s
A Ockershausen: He runs like a deer.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. He’s got long strides. He’s a very good player.
A Ockershausen: And had a great career in high school in rugby, correct?
Jim Cuddihy: He was part of the first team to win a national championship in rugby for Gonzaga.
Gonzaga High School Rugby
A Ockershausen: Gonzaga High School.
Jim Cuddihy: They’ve been around, I think, since 1986 and they’d never won the national championship, even though they were good enough to do it.
A Ockershausen: School’s been there for 100 years too, you know.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. And he-
A Ockershausen: I grew up in the north east. I know them-
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. And as a senior, he walked off the field a national champion and I was privileged enough to help coach that team.
A Ockershausen: You were not head coach. . .
Jim Cuddihy: That was my first year. No, I was the backs coach and the back-
A Ockershausen: And now he’s at St. Joseph and they’ve won. And you traveled, Jimmy. That’s something … You’ve milked it again.
St. Joe’s Rugby
Jim Cuddihy: He’s-
A Ockershausen: You’ve been to Chile, Rome.
Jim Cuddihy: I have, I’ve been to Italy, Chile, and Spain. He’s going to Bermuda in two weeks to play.
A Ockershausen: Is that right?
Jim Cuddihy: He’s been all around the … he’s been to Portugal, Uruguay, Spain … He’s been everywhere.
A Ockershausen: Wow.
Jim Cuddihy: Rugby … It’s hard to get great games in the United States because there-
A Ockershausen: Talent.
Jim Cuddihy: There some very good teams, but you have to travel to get great games. And we have to travel all around the world to get the competition we need to be able to play the standard we want.
A Ockershausen: And Thomas goes, of course.
Jim Cuddihy: He’s been … Since he was a sophomore.
A Ockershausen: When will he graduate from St. Joe? Another year?
Jim Cuddihy: About 15 months. Yeah.
A Ockershausen: Jimmy, does he have a future in pro rugby? Is there a pro sport?
Jim Cuddihy: There are some pro leagues out there. He’s good enough to do it.
A Ockershausen: Did he play anything else? Did he play lacrosse, or …
High School Baseball or Rugby – Thomas Cuddihy had to choose
Jim Cuddihy: He played baseball and when he was in seventh grade, I said to him-
A Ockershausen: He was a good athlete.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah, he was good athelete … He was playing baseball and he was … He was a good baseball player. And I said, “Look, you want to keep playing baseball or do you want to try rugby? You can’t do both. Your mom can’t drive you to both, so pick one.”
A Ockershausen: Right.
Jim Cuddihy: He picked rugby and he’s never turned back.
A Ockershausen: Right.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah, he loves it. He loves the sport. The sport’s been very good to our family.
A Ockershausen: And he has good marks and he’s gonna do school?
Jim Cuddihy: Yes. He actually does, yeah.
A Ockershausen: Great.
Jim Cuddihy: He actually is. And he wants to get into communications. He’s a business marketing major as well.
A Ockershausen: Would you take him some advice from somebody that knows-
Jim Cuddihy: Please. Tell me.
A Ockershausen: My wife.
Jim Cuddihy: Tell me. Janice. Janice does know.
A Ockershausen: Get out of broadcasting and don’t be … Study in school. Study history, study geography, do civics, get away from sports and get a broad education. It’s probably late for him now. . .
Broadcasting: Sales v Play-by-Play Career
Jim Cuddihy: What about sales? You made a lot of money in sales.
A Ockershausen: Sales is great.
Jim Cuddihy: I’ve been to a couple of your houses. Sales is the industry.
A Ockershausen: Does he want to be in sales?
Jim Cuddihy: I think he would be good at it.
A Ockershausen: That’s where the money is.
Jim Cuddihy: I tell you. Yeah.
A Ockershausen: One of my great stories of all time with a guy I worked for here, I said I wanted to be a broadcaster and do sports play-by-plays. He said, “There’s no money. The money is in sales.”
Jim Cuddihy: That’s right.
A Ockershausen: “And if you’re play-by-play, they can fire you tomorrow and get another one. But good salesmen are hard to find.”
Jim Cuddihy: You made a great career out of it.
A Ockershausen: I did. I milked it.
Jim Cuddihy: How many stations have you run in this market? Four or five?
A Ockershausen: Four.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah.
A Ockershausen: Well, it’s been a wonderful life. And we still are, thanks to Janice, we’ve started this thing Jimmy. We have been so successful in bringing back the past. ‘Cause the past is prologue. I tell all my young people that. You learn from the past.
Jim Cuddihy: Very important. That’s very important. What you guys do is very important.
A Ockershausen: And Jimmy, your career is unbelievable.
Jim Cuddihy: It’s been fun. It’s been absolutely fun. I tell kids all the time, interns that come into my office, people who want to get into the business… I said, “When you wake up in the morning, you better want to go to work. Figure that out. Do something that you love.”
A Ockershausen: Jimmy, you are so fortunate ’cause you’re so true. Ad your wife is fortunate to put up with your stuff too. She’s a wonderful girl.
Jim Cuddihy: Look who’s talking.
A Ockershausen: You too, bro.
Jim Cuddihy: Look who’s talking.
A Ockershausen: You got two wonderful kids and a great wife.
Jim Cuddihy: Thank you.
A Ockershausen: And the thing is, I feel as you do, no matter what it is, no matter how bad it is, I get up in the morning and say, “Man, what a great day coming.”
Jim Cuddihy: Nobody’s been more welcoming to Kristin and I and our family, besides you and Janice. Since we moved here in 2001, you’re some of our best friends. Some of the best times we’ve had have been at your river house, or should I say river houses ’cause now you have two of them down there. And being out on the boat and doing crabs and being on the seadoos.
A Ockershausen: We even had Henry Sacks . . .
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah. We had Henry. Have you had Henry on the show yet?
A Ockershausen: Oh, yeah. He’s been on.
Jim Cuddihy: All right.
A Ockershausen: He had his ukelele and played for us.
Jim Cuddihy: I gotta download that one. No, it’s been wonderful.
A Ockershausen: This has been Andy Ockershausen. I’ve been talking to Jim Cuddihy. A very, very important man in our community and important to all of us. And Jim, we’re so happy for you and we’ll be looking forward to the season.
Jim Cuddihy: I hope you’ll have me back sometime.
A Ockershausen: We love you, Jimmy.
Jim Cuddihy: Yeah, you too. I love you guys too.
A Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen, this is Our Town, and I’m so fortunate to have all these friends. And Jimmy’s one of the best.
Jim Cuddihy: Thank you, Andy.
Announcer: You’ve been listening to Our Town, season two. Presented by GEICO. Our home town favorite with your host Andy Ockershausen. Hew Our Town episodes are released each Tuesday and Thursday. Drop us a line with your comments or suggestions, see us on Facebook, or visit our website at ourtowndc.com. Our special thanks to Ken Hunter, our technical director and WMAL radio in Washington, D.C. for hosting our podcast. And thanks to GEICO. 15 minutes can save you 15 percent or more on car insurance.
Tell Us What You Think