The Good - Madden doesn’t care what anyone thinks about him, which comes in handy when he rips apart Pittsburgh fans who can be a bit dim. He also does a great job at interviewing, and he gets some fantastic guests. He can be hilarious, especially when he’s hanging up on callers who don’t agree with him. He also knows hockey better than anyone in the local sports talk scene, and he’s well connected in the NHL world.
The Bad - He’s old, cranky and arrogant. You can hear the flem in his throat when he talks, and it’s pretty gross. His mouth is always full of saliva, so you get to hear him chew his spit and you can almost feel the spittle through the speakers when he slobbers words and smacks his lips. He often ends his sentences/thoughts with a hard “UH”, which is strange considering he reads his monologues. His monologues are usually just his column he writes for the local paper, and they are poorly written.
He’s obsessed with Liverpool soccer, so if there is a game on during the show, he will interrupt himself constantly to tell the audience what’s happening. It’s weird, but unique, I’ll give him that. No one in Pittsburgh except the Madden sycophants care about Liverpool soccer, but his ratings are so good, he doesn’t care. He proves this by threatening to quit constantly.
His memory slips often, and he garbles words or flat out misspeaks, and rarely corrects himself which can be annoying... but more frustrating is how he talks over EVERYONE, even his guests. It’s his show, and I understand when he does it to the average caller, but he does it to his guests as well, which gets tiresome. You can often hear the frustration in his guests’ voices.
His arrogance is off the charts, so if that particular personality trait bothers you, don’t bother tuning in. You won’t like him or the show. (There’s nothing like listening to someone brag about their supposed high IQ over and over. It’s like listening to Al Bundy talk about his 4 TD game at Polk High). He is also pretty vulgar, so he has that going for him.
He also gets fixated on a topic and will beat it into the ground for weeks or months. If you are a regular or semi-regular listener, you know this. Even if you agree with his POV, it’s exhausting. If you don’t agree, you’ll turn him off or tune him out. An example of this... he HATES Pitt, and he suffers from Pickett Derangement Syndrome (PDS). He can’t bash Kenny Pickett enough, even after the guy is long gone from the Steelers. It’s a bit demented. He’s still bashing the guy in May 2026, so you have to wonder what Madden’s obsession with Pickett is really about.
All in all, he’s an acquired taste. He likes what he likes, and hates what he hates (if you’ve ever seen him on camera, you know he hates brushing his teeth.) His ratings show people are tuning in, even if many in his audience hate-listen.
