Hacksaw put to local radio once again

After three years off the air, Lee “Hacksaw” Hamilton is returning to the radio airwaves.

“I still think I have the passion to do this,” Hamilton said in a interview shortly after he had been fired from all-sports radio Mighty 1090. “I’m a known commodity in this market. People always say to me, ‘Say what? You aren’t working?’”

Hamilton was in fact brought out of retirement last year to do weekend sports on XETV/Channel 6. But he and every other news and sports staffer at XETV was laid off in March because XETV went out of business and off the air.

Thanks to a sponsor that has agreed to underwrite his “Best 15 minutes in radio” segment, Hamilton will now be heard on the Mighty 1090, Monday through Friday at 5 p.m. in the middle of the Scott & B.R. Show.

Hamilton first cracked the mic on San Diego radio 30 years ago. Except for Ted Leitner, who arrived at KFMB-TV/Channel 8 in the late ’70s, no one else has spent more time broadcasting sports in San Diego than Hamilton. But, like Leitner, Hamilton is not afraid to go against the grain.

“A radio market study asked a lot of questions,” Hamilton said about a perceptual study that included him in the questions. “I was the most visible. I was the most liked and most disliked. At the end of the day I must be doing something right. My brand is relevant. What I do works in the market and in the country."

Hamilton says he spent a total of 26 years on all-sports radio, including the Mighty 1090 and its local predecessor, XTRA Sports 690.

“I grew up on Long Island listening to Howard Cosell. I listened to controversial talk-show host Joe Pyne. I saw that if you had information with opinions you could be successful....I’ve been on longer than anyone in the west.”

He says he takes it as compliment that nationally syndicated former colleagues like Jim Rome and Ben Maller occasionally do Hacksaw imitations. But he’s not happy with the way the Chargers treated him after he left after 11 years.

“It’s important to be fair, and fair means being critical when you need to be. If I don’t like the [player] trade, I will tell you. If you fired a coach and it was wrong, I will tell you why. I got along great with the Chargers until right at the end. When they went 1-15, I didn’t lie to the fans.”

Hamilton and the Spanos don't swap Christmas cards. “They got upset and still resent it to this day. The Chargers treated me really badly, almost ourtright discrimination. They wont give even give me credentials. They would not provide me guest passes when I left the station.”

“I don’t have a lot of enemies in this town. I don’t think Ted Leitner ever liked me even though I worked harder and was better prepared than him. If he doesn’t like me, okay. The only shortcomings I have as a person is I have a hard time forgiving people who screwed me.”