Talk of the town

A framed collection of WEEI-AM shirts dominates the wall behind Jason Wolfe's desk. There are photographs of the Celtics' Big Three -- Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale -- and of Carlton Fisk's home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. On the bookshelf are such titles as ''Red Sox Century" and ''Patriot Reign."

Only the mail strewn on the floor of his Brighton office, addressed to him at WRKO-AM, hints that Wolfe recently expanded his portfolio. After 8 1/2 years as program director of WEEI, during which he established it as one of the nation's premier sports stations, Wolfe is now vice president of programming at both WEEI (850) and WRKO (680). The turnaround he and his predecessor Glenn ''The Big O" Ordway effected at WEEI has Entercom Communications hoping that Wolfe can do the same for WRKO, that granddaddy of news talk radio where the late Jerry Williams worked.

''My initial goal is to make the station more exciting," says Wolfe, 38. ''When you listen to WEEI, you feel that you have to sit up a little bit in your chair. It's not background music. I'm not suggesting that 'RKO is background music, but if we can somehow adopt that same philosophy in a way that benefits 'RKO, I believe we will enhance the product."

The night before, Wolfe, wearing a tuxedo for WEEI's Fourth Annual Whiney Awards, breezes through the reception in Legends at the TD BankNorth Garden, hugs ''Jim the Wrestling Goon" and leather-clad comedian Lenny Clarke, and strides onto the Garden floor to check preparations for the Big O's big night.

The Whineys are WEEI's Oscars for the common man, a fete for fellows with handles such as Digital Dan Duquette and Fat Bastard Guy who call Ordway's Whiner Line to gripe or rant or ham it up.

The 350 listeners at the preparty nibble on oatmeal-crusted brie and carved sirloin and rub shoulders with Parish and NESN sportscaster Hazel Mae and WEEI morning hosts Gerry Callahan and John Dennis, who, hours earlier, zigzagged on air from observations about spring training to riffs on urine therapy. Wolfe, who is 5-foot-4, opens the ceremony, held in the Garden for the first time, and gives the 3,250 in attendance a glimpse of the man behind the short jokes they're accustomed to hearing on 'EEI. They hoot when the winning whiner behind a raunchy comedy bit called ''Matt Clement's Emergency Procedure" thanks his mother for letting him out of the basement.

The event, says Wolfe, ''is an incredibly powerful branding tool," another way to promote a ''guy radio" station that's honed its local focus, its opinionated on-air personalities, and its edgy, entertaining, slickly packaged, sometimes outrageous content.

''The philosophy on the air is to create the most entertaining product we can," Wolfe says. ''A core of listeners is going to listen to us no matter what. They're sports fanatics, and we're the sports station. There's a whole range of other people for whom sports is a piece of their lives who can still be drawn into this web."

Radio Ink named Wolfe top programmer of 2005, and Talkers magazine publisher Michael Harrison says, ''Jason Wolfe is to talk radio what Theo Epstein is to baseball." For seven of the past eight quarters, WEEI, already dominant among adult men, has been the top-ranked Boston-area radio station for all adults ages 25 to 54, helped, no doubt, by broadcasting in such a passionate sports town. Harrison nonetheless calls the ratings ''nothing short of phenomenal" for a sports station.

''Some of the most exciting talk radio in America is happening in sports talk, and WEEI is possibly the best sports talk in the country," says Harrison. '''RKO can only benefit because good talk radio is good talk radio."

Wolfe grew up in Lexington, the elder of two sons of a manufacturer's representative and a homemaker, and lives now in Canton with his wife and two daughters. He's a lifelong sports fan who played soccer and baseball. Old friends say he's a fun guy, though college roommate Brian Lee is circumspect when pressed for details. Wolfe's Entercom boss, Julie Kahn, calls him ''a rascal," and indeed his eyes twinkle and his face reddens when he laughs. Yet Wolfe has been driven from an early age.

In high school, he broadcast Lexington's football and basketball games on local cable. ''Jason came with notes and statistics," recalls Colby College sociologist Jonathan White, who still plays poker with Wolfe and other high school pals. ''He had a vision even back then."

Wolfe went to Syracuse University's liberal arts college when its prestigious Newhouse School of Public Communications rejected him. He worked at the college radio station, where he was the sports director his senior year, and interned with TV stations. During football season he'd arise at 6 a.m.

''He would joke around when we were watching games, but when it came to work he was very serious," says his college roommate David Ryan, who's now an ESPN announcer. ''If you made a mistake or were out of line with the format on the air, he'd say, 'This is business now, not friendship.' "

Wolfe turned down an offer from a radio station in Park Falls, Wis., and after graduation landed a job in Boston with a syndicated all-night sports show, where his duties included asking trivia questions. WEEI hired Wolfe as a producer in 1991, when it became a sports station. ''The key thing at that time was the celebrity status of the guests," Wolfe says. ''We thought that's what people would listen to." In 1995, WEEI, seeking a fresh approach, gave on-air talent Ordway the additional role of program director. Wolfe assisted him.

''We made it more sports entertainment," Ordway says. WEEI paired hosts, made them personalities, added banter and confrontation and comedy, and focused on the Patriots and Red Sox. When Ordway dropped his programming duties in 1997, Wolfe succeeded him.

''Jason and I were in the pits together from day one," Ordway says. ''He had a lot of confidence for a guy that young. If anything maybe too confident. Sometimes that can be misconstrued by people, but you have to have that kind of confidence and aggressive behavior to achieve in this business."

At a time when many other talk stations rely on syndicated shows, Wolfe manages a stable of local celebrities. ''His primary strength," says WEEI afternoon cohost Dale Arnold, ''is identifying people who can do the job and then letting them do it. He doesn't micromanage." Says Callahan: ''He gives you enough rope. Not too much rope that you end up on satellite. Enough rope that you don't feel afraid to speak your mind."

Wolfe's proved he can shake up a lineup. In 1999, in what he considers his ''biggest decision," he dropped the syndicated Don Imus and expanded Dennis and Callahan into morning drive time. ''I fought real hard to convince people this was the right move," Wolfe says. In 2002, he replaced Boston sports talk patriarch Eddie Andelman with Bob Neumeier. In 2003, WEEI suspended Dennis and Callahan after they likened an escaped gorilla to a Metco student. Wolfe says he was ''mildly involved" in the decision. A year ago, after Neumeier left the station over salary, Wolfe hired Michael Holley as WEEI's first full-time African-American host. Last fall, Wolfe replaced nighttime host Ted Sarandis with Mike Adams after Adams, then filling in, locked himself in the studio until Wolfe hired him on-air.

The Entercom conference room is full the afternoon after the Whineys when Wolfe convenes his first meeting with WRKO staff.

''If I've learned anything from the success we had at 'EEI, it's that we have to do it together," Wolfe tells the staff. ''We have to look at everything that's going on and put it all in the same bowl of soup and try to make it the best it can possibly be."

Back in his office, Wolfe says he has no timetable for making changes at WRKO, ranked 14th among adults ages 25 to 54. Indeed, he inherits a station that recently introduced ''Boston This Morning" and ''Taste of Boston Tonight." Meanwhile, morning host John DePetro has generated controversy for suggesting that the recently murdered Imette St. Guillen was ''asking for trouble" by being alone in a bar at 4 a.m.

''The only change I'm going to make immediately is to try to blend the philosophy of the entertainment, personality-driven production. How do we fit that in on 'RKO without making it sound like culture shock for the audience?" Wolfe says. ''The average listener on 'RKO for men is 59 and for women is 63. We can't compete with that average. We have to be at least 10 years younger."

Wolfe phones Kevin McCluskey, Harvard's director of community relations. WRKO is launching a search for the smartest person in Boston. Wouldn't it be fun, Wolfe recalls musing after Harvard president Larry Summers resigned, if the winner could be president of Harvard for a day? Wolfe leans back, phone to his ear. ''Kevin? Jason Wolfe. What's up, my man?" He presents the idea to McCluskey.

''You're saying it's a bit sensitive over there now?" Wolfe says. ''I've always been of the mind-set that when things are sensitive is the best time to laugh about them."

Jason Wolfe

Age: 38

Residence: Canton

Job: vice president of programming for WEEI-AM and WRKO-AM

Family: wife, Debbie, and daughters, Hannah, 8, and Sophie, 4

Drives: Blue 2006 Lexus

Early career dream: Going to Yale and becoming a doctor

Future plans: Celebrate 40th birthday with friends in Las Vegas

Favorite books: ''Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia" by Peter Maas, ''Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob" by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill

Favorite movie: ''The Godfather"

Favorite musician: Neil Diamond

Favorite restaurant: Davio's in Park Square

Favorite beer: Guinness

Highlight of sports career: Getting game-winning hit in Lexington Little League tournament semifinal at age 12

Embarrassing moment: Forgetting lines as Iago in high school production of ''Othello"

McCluskey never passes along the request.

''If you can't laugh at yourself, you're going to have issues," Wolfe says later. ''That's part of our whole success here. All we do is laugh at ourselves."