Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814
So if a job is hard, it's okay to suck at it? (Phrasing, boom)
I don't need greatness from Derek Wills. But if I'm switching off his segments before they start, that's not on me. He is not a good radio personality, and when you're meant to be THE star of the station, that's a big problem.
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For a long time since the introduction of archaeology as a tool for discovering the past, practitioners and innovators were all quite terrible at it—by modern standards, that is. I think on an artistic level, the same can be said for practically any media form, but most recently for film acting. The point being that we are talking about a HIGHLY specialised skill that very few people instinctively do well. There is not much of any incentive for becoming exceptional radio hockey play-callers since there are not many jobs in the first place, and I suspect that on the whole they generally pay very poorly. So, is it an excuse to "suck" at it? At the moment, yes, and until there is the demand and training available to ensure that there is an abundance of highly skilled and well equipped hockey play-callers.
I am curious, as you seem to agree about my assertion regarding an extremely limited playing field, what do you believe the alternative is here? Sportsnet decided—wrongly, in my opinion—that Peter Maher should be replaced. Once that decision is made, they need to hire an adequate replacement. So, forget at the outset of luring a great play caller like Mike Emerich, or Chris Cuthbert, or John Shorthouse away from bigger markets that undoubtedly pay much better, to do the same job at a small, regional station like Sportsnet 960 that has a 3.5% share of the local radio market. It's just not going to happen.
So, what is the station to do? Should they just decide to leave the position vacant? Or do they fill it with someone even less qualified, and likely worse at the job?
In the end, this is really a silly thing about which to be angry or frustrated. Flames fans were very fortunate that Pater Maher was one of the best radio play callers of his era, but we should all have known that his replacement would struggle in his shadow. Wills is fine at doing his job—he is easily better than the vast majority of the rest of the population, he is almost certainly the best candidate that his employers had available to them, and there are plenty of listeners who do not experience exceptional angst from his play call. I would warrant that the VAST majority don't even notice if he is much better than average, because they do not care.