The easy thing for management at 1250 ESPN -- and perhaps the smartest thing -- would have been to scour the country to find the closest thing it could to Mark Madden and put that person on the air from 3 to 7 p.m. every weekday.

After all, it was Madden's angry, tough guy (except when it came to the Penguins) approach to sports that garnered him a large following and made him the most talked-about sports personality in Pittsburgh radio.

It would have made near-perfect sense for the station to find a clone -- although perhaps a kinder, gentler one -- for Madden, who was removed from the air May 27 after making inflammatory remarks about U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

But that's not the direction in which general manager Mike Thompson chose to go. He went about as far from the Madden mold as possible. The new afternoon drive-time team at 1250 ESPN, now in its third week, are two guys who made their marks with humor in morning radio and a former athlete with very little radio experience.

Early reviews of the new show -- which features Scott Paulsen and Eddy Crow, with former Steeler Mike Logan to join the team at a later date -- have not been kind. It's been a bit of a culture shock for listeners used to Madden or conventional sports talk.

These guys are not conventional. Paulsen is a tremendously talented radio personality. He and Jimmy Krenn made the WDVE "Morning Show" the No. 1 radio program in Pittsburgh, a status it still holds. Paulsen voluntarily left that show in 1999. He since has had two other shows that did not go as well. Crow, a funny guy, did the sports news on the "Morning Show," but more recently did sports talk with Guy Junker on 1250 ESPN from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Logan, whose last year with the Steelers was 2006, did a one-hour segment with Madden last season.

A background in sports or journalism is not a prerequisite to running a successful sports-talk show. Although Madden came from print journalism, as does Joe Bendel of Fox Sports Radio 970, Ellis Cannon was a lawyer before coming to radio and has a highly rated show on WPGH weekdays from 6 to 8 p.m.

There have been some rough moments in the early going for Paulsen and Crow, but any time a pair is brought together for what amounts to the first time, it's going to take time. But time is a luxury not usually available for radio programs. While the show finds its niche, 1250 ESPN has to worry about losing listeners. Some could drift to Bendel, who also is on from 3 to 7 p.m., and there could be a mass exodus if and when Madden starts on WXDX.

Thompson is preaching patience.

"It's not like a new business where we can soap up the windows so no one can see what's inside. We have to present the show. We're digging deep, asking tough questions. What do we need? What are we lacking? It takes time for a show to jell. I think it's going to. I think we have a great mix.

"But you can't put on a masterpiece in a week. It's a work in progress."

With Crow moving from mid-day to afternoon drive time, the station plugged in Stan Savran to team with Junker, thus uniting the former TV partners on "SportsBeat." To many listeners this was like bringing two old friends back into their lives. It makes for informative, if not inflammatory, and comfortable listening. It's great to hear two guys who really know what they're talking about.

In a somewhat peculiar move, Thompson added Chris Mack to the mix, and the show is called "Stan & Guy with Chris Mack." Mack is the call screener/producer, as he was for "Junker and Crow," but apparently will get more air time, though he will not be a steady presence.

Mack, who has been suspended twice in the past nine months by the station for violations of company policy, was called "a talented guy" by Thompson and his occasional presence is presumably to attract younger listeners.

One change that might be noticeable to listeners of the station is both shows are taking fewer calls than in the past. Neither Thompson nor program director Jim Graci is a big believer in turning talk shows over to the callers.