After-hours sports radio with loose wiring.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller turns sports-adjacent talk into a late-night clubhouse full of regulars, callbacks, and odd errands. Mailbag questions can become fast-food doctrine, meet-and-greet logistics, old memories, or a story about a restaurant bill.
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The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller is a companion piece to overnight sports radio, but it does not behave like a polished postgame desk. It feels more like the room after the broadcast, when the regulars are still awake and every small update can become a production. The show is built around Ben Maller, mailbag rhythms, listener lore, and a wandering sense of comic escalation. It moves quickly. A caller from England, a meet-and-greet note, or a food complaint can become the entire engine for a segment. The sports identity is real, but the episodes sampled here spend as much time on the culture around the show as on games themselves. That culture includes Terry from England, Robbie the Mariner fan, Tommy in Atlanta, Brent from Seattle, Weed Man Hippie, and other names treated like familiar characters rather than anonymous audience members. The show assumes people know the clubhouse. It rewards listeners who enjoy callbacks, inside jokes, odd nicknames, and the feeling that a mailbag answer might take the scenic route through unrelated neighborhoods before landing. Food talk is a major comic pressure point. Fast food gets treated as a race against sogginess, cereal becomes a childhood grievance, and nachos demand immediate action. Travel and live-event planning also become material, from Cincinnati and Worcester dates to memories of Boston nights. Even logistics get a little grandeur. There is sentiment here, but it rarely arrives uncovered. Loyalty, change, and the survival of the show get discussed through jokes, mock complaints, and self-aware radio-business chatter. Ben Maller can sound grateful and irritated in the same breath. That tension is part of the appeal. The show is for listeners who like sports media as a living neighborhood, not just a scoreboard. It is blunt, shaggy, fast, and full of detours. The best moments come when a simple listener question opens the trapdoor into another story.
Made for: For sports-radio regulars who like mailbags, listener mythology, food arguments, travel stories, and off-topic riffs as much as box scores. It especially suits listeners who enjoy shows that feel lived-in rather than freshly scrubbed.
What sets it apart: The show treats its audience as part of the cast, turning callers, emailers, meet-and-greet plans, and old radio memories into recurring entertainment. Its sports angle is filtered through late-night banter, everyday complaints, and a dense web of callbacks.
Making the leap from radio to digital is now a reality for Ben Maller as he does it right before your eyes. The overnight host on FOX Sports Radio is double-dipping by featuring a weekly podcast with unique content and entertaining guests that can not be heard on his radio show. Not your garden-variety sports podcast, Ben mucks it up in a way that's not safe for work, but is sure to entertain. From sports to politics, science to trends, fascinating studies to prophetic parodies, this vehicle explores it all. A multimedia veteran, Ben helps solve life's problems one week at a time for all to consume.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Ben Maller turns mailbag questions, sports memories, and fan-community lore into loose, personality-led sports talk.
Ben Maller treats sports talk as an ongoing conversation with a well-established orbit of correspondents, guests, and recurring personalities.
Ben Maller's mailbags make room for NFL draft chatter and soggy nachos; your wandering attention is welcome.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A warm, crooked trip through meet-and-greet plans, Boston radio lore, and one late-night voice from the past.
The episode frames listener mail as a living map of a sports-radio community, moving from Tommy in Atlanta's RSVP for the April 25 Cincinnati meet and greet to plans around Boston on May 8 and 9.
A soggy-food gripe, a Seattle arrest story, and Weed Man Hippie keep this mailbag loose and funny.
The Fifth Hour works best when it settles into its two main threads: the complaint about fast food, cereal, and ballpark nachos going soggy or cold, and the Seattle story about a man arrested for the 98th time.
A loose, sports-adjacent hangout that turns Hollywood memories and an $11 dinner bill into the point of the story.
This episode drifts through Hollywood history, fake-famous culture, and cheap LA meals before landing on the joke of a fancy restaurant bill that came to $11.
A 17-year caller memory meets the price of a Cincinnati Reds game.
The Fifth Hour frames Dick from Dayton as the kind of caller who shows what sports radio can hold onto: a voice, a place, and a memory that keeps its shape long after the drive is over.
A loose wrestling roll call turns on a childhood glimpse behind the costumes.
A brief wrestling turn gathers Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Mean Gene Okerlund, the Junkyard Dog, Hacksaw Duggan, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and Bobby the Brain Heenan into an affectionate roll call.
A loose Sunday mailbag turns sports-radio awkwardness, listener lore, and temporary host chemistry into the main draw.
Transition shapes this Sunday mailbag, with Danny G gone by choice and Ben Maller testing a looser interim setup with Robbie in the room. Their rhythm gives the hour a relaxed sports-radio charge, moving from a painfully awkward Dan Patrick interview into the broader question of…
Football chatter opens the door to a Santa story built around a fire-truck exit and a Raising Cane stop.
The Fifth Hour splits a December Saturday between football anticipation and a holiday bit that lands Ben Maller in full Santa mode, needing help down from a fire truck.
Birdland nerves, familiar banter, Baltimore patience.
This episode features multiple podcast promotions from the iHeart network, including NFL Daily, The Clifford Show, and The Away End, with brief mentions of sports, entertainment, and upcoming content.
Ben Maller hosts the Sunday mailbag episode of The Fifth Hour, joined by guest Robbie the Mariner fan after Danny G's departure.
Ben Maller recounts his annual tradition of dressing as Santa Benny for a fire truck tour through town, describing the costume as a 'great equalizer' that brings joy across neighborhoods.
This episode features promotional segments for multiple iHeartRadio podcasts covering sports topics like the NFL Draft, athlete interviews, and comedy shows.
Terry from England, a listener since early 2017 who says he hasn't missed a show, co-hosts Ben Maller's Sunday mailbag.
This episode features promotional segments for multiple iHeart podcasts, including NFL Daily, The Clifford Show, and The Away End, focusing on sports, entertainment, and international football.
This episode features multiple podcast promotions from iHeartRadio, including NFL Daily covering the 2026 NFL Draft, The Clifford Show with raw conversations, The Away End discussing international football, and Games With Names with comedian Blake Anderson.
This episode features multiple podcast promotions from iHeartRadio, including NFL Daily covering the 2026 NFL Draft, The Clifford Show with raw conversations, The Away End discussing international football, and Games With Names with comedian Blake Anderson.
This episode features multiple podcast promotions from iHeartRadio, including NFL Daily covering the 2026 NFL Draft, The Clifford Show with raw athlete conversations, The Away End discussing international football, and Games With Names with comedian Blake Anderson.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller: Casper is a Ben Maller monologue about Danny G's reduced presence, solo-radio logistics, and an unexpected Eddie Garcia visit.
It starts with a food complaint.
Rob Parker and the host turn a Los Angeles dinner into a relaxed bit about money and ego.
Dick from Dayton becomes the main event.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller and Danny G Radio opens a March 22 mailbag around a "$156 million man" joke, MLB Opening Day 2026, and the Sweet 16.
This episode features promotional segments for multiple iHeart podcasts covering topics like the NFL Draft, sports media, and entertainment, with brief mentions of upcoming content.
This transcript features promotional snippets for multiple iHeart podcasts, including NFL Daily, The Clifford Show, and The Away End, with brief mentions of sports, entertainment, and upcoming episodes.
This episode features promotional segments for multiple iHeart podcasts covering sports topics like the NFL Draft and international football, along with entertainment content.