Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo is on Satellite Sirius/XM now, happy to be the producer of his own channel with fewer listeners and, if you believe his whining, for less money. You have to work harder to get his show now and lately, you have to work harder to listen.

After AROD ad nauseum last week, a caller wondered why “if a federal judge in the Barry Bonds Balco case couldn’t get access to the list of 104, how come not one member of the media hadn’t asked about the circumstances surrounding Serena Roberts gaining access?” While most people waited for a direct answer to a pretty good question, Russo sent out a satellite that talked about when he and his son are one day watching AROD threaten the home run record and how he’ll have to explain the ‘taint” of the record to his son.

Not a major offense on the surface, but atypical of the quality of Russo’s new show. Doggie has become a bit shallow and something of a conservative, perhaps setting himself up for a jump to Fox someday, more likely because he’s a parent, so he objects to questionable language, avoids racy topics and bores us with stories about yelling at his 10-year-old son’s basketball games. What’s next. “Mad Dog bites high school ref?”

Still working out some kinks (after six months), he’s got a support staff that has yet to distinguish. They try to do the thing where all the background studio guys chip in with banter, laughter and inside jokes, but you’ll never confuse it with Howard Stern or Imus. Pretty much, the “Dog” is the show and as far as building the channel, you get Gary Williams with the “First Word” in the AM, the “B Team” with ESPN’s relief man Bill Pidho and Bruce Murray which leads into “Mad Dog Unleashed” live from 2 to 7, and then what could be best termed “Mad Dog Repeated.”

For all the shows it’s mostly a guy talking sports, opinions and callers. There’s nothing new, no recognizable experts or “good get” call ins. With Russo’s show you get his novel opinions, but he continually gets caught with trying to fill.

He saw two nominated movies, but thought himself expert enough to critique the Oscar awards and show for most of an hour. Panning the award selections and Hugh Jackman as host, he declared such pearls as “that red carpet is a waste of time” and “bad job putting Jennifer Aniston right behind Brad Pitt.” Makes you think that if he was that weak on the Oscars, how far off is he on some of his “expert” sports views? That is the one area where the support staff is failing. They don’t seem to prop him up through his earphone. You can pretty much dismiss his opinions on anything outside of baseball and football. As always, if the San Francisco Giants are your thing, he’s your guy.

For all this, you can pay $10 to $15 a month, buy a special radio for another $200 for what has to be rated as mediocre radio, AND you still hear commercials, despite satellite radio’s appeal of commercial-free radio. Russo’s compensation must be tied to the commercials ala the Howard Stern model. And, Russo’s channel has the bottom-of-the-barrell kind of commercials…debt management, home income, legal protection, erectile dysfunction, life insurance, credit recovery, lock-of-the-week touts, car warranties, trucker services, how to improve your grades, IRS debt relief, sheesh. If you’re not depressed enough by the talk, the commercials are certain to kill your buzz.