HNIC Panel Insights

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I'm not a Cherry fan and am not apologizing for anything he said but the main problem was that Rogers and CBC kept him around too long. He was pretty well anti-anything that wasn't Canadian for decades. He didn't like european players, didn't like american players (he attacked Burke for having too many american players on the Leafs), etc. It was only a matter of time until he did said something that would get him cancelled in today's culture. The transition from CBC to Rogers was the perfect time to move on from him and that timeline of Canadian hockey TV but Rogers didn't care that he was a ticking time bomb. All they cared about was TV ratings and they kept trotting him out weekly despite him being far past his prime and his dated ideologies not in sync with current times. I just think a network like Rogers should share some responsibility here for what happened as I think the were pretty reckless in keeping Cherry on the air.

In a sense though, I think we just have to acknowledge Cherry as amazing.

To be adored by that many people and offend so many more with a mere 5-minute-a-week window of opportunity?

That is nothing if not damned impressive. I mean, that takes some talent.

[cam_calderon]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

All they cared about was TV ratings and they kept trotting him out weekly despite him being far past his prime and his dated ideologies not in sync with current times.

This is a contradictory statement. If he was so out of touch, why would the ratings, in your words, still affect Rogers' decision to keep him on air?

Clearly Rogers thought there was a market for Cherry's incoherent rambling, because that's what people tuned in for.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by cam_calderon

This is a contradictory statement. If he was so out of touch, why would the ratings, in your words, still affect Rogers' decision to keep him on air?

Clearly Rogers thought there was a market for Cherry's incoherent rambling, because that's what people tuned in for.

Not contradictory at all. Clearly there was a market for it with the boomers. HNIC viewership watching his segment was of the elder demographic that grew up with him and there's a lot of those viewers. Do you think his segment was roping in new generations of viewership? I don't think so as I'm Gen X and even I tuned him out as outdated and irrelevant. Rogers actually tried in the beginning with Stroumboulopoulos to appeal to younger audience and basically abandoned that the moment they realized it wasn't resonating with the old generations that still watched intermission segments. I actually think it they had the stones to keep with what they started they may be in a better position today as witnessed by Ron's latest embarrassment, the younger generations really have no connection or even know what guys like Ron are talking about.

[cam_calderon]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Of course there was a market for it. HNIC viewership watching his segment was of the elder demographic that grew up with him and there's a lot of those viewers. Do you think his segment was roping in new generations of viewership? I don't think so as I'm Gen X and even I tuned him out as outdated and irrelevant.

I think the mandate from the executives was to recoup that ridiculous investment in the NHL rights. Cherry was still bringing in viewers, so why remove him from Sportsnet? Doubt they were thinking about long-term strategies to grow their audience.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by cam_calderon

I think the mandate from the executives was to recoup that ridiculous investment in the NHL rights. Cherry was still bringing in viewers, so why remove him from Sportsnet? Doubt they were thinking about long-term strategies to grow their audience.

Yeah, it was a bit of a clusterfata.

Again, say what you will about Cherry, but he drew eyeballs to TVs once a week.

I'd love to know how much they sold ads for on either side of Coach's Corner. It was probably pretty lucrative.

[cam_calderon]

Stroumbo was quite polarising, was he not? I remember a fair bit of pushback on these boards at the time. I can't recall how tight a leash he was on though.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by cam_calderon

Stroumbo was quite polarising, was he not? I remember a fair bit of pushback on these boards at the time.

I didnt like him at the time because he was an unapologetic Habs loving, Toronto-based hipster doofus.

But he was a good interviewer, seemed knowledgeable about the game and, frankly, probably just needed some time to get into a groove and grow into his role.

I also think canning Strombo, in hindsight, was a mistake. I think given time and a decent supporting cast he'd have grown into the position.

But SN smacked the 'Panic Button' and ran home to Momma and put Ron back in the seat.

[bluejays]

The Strombo thing was a case study in transition gone wrong. There was a ton of pushback for having him as the new face, me included frankly, at the time. HNIC was a Canadian institution and while it had to transition at some point, the way incompetent management did things was to ram it down suddenly. For something that was traditional they should’ve eased things along instead of having new faces running things in a next gen way. Today if they did that it’d probably be fine because it looks and feels different than ten years ago or whatever it was but at the time it was still seen as a national Saturday tradition. I think I was wrong like many others about Strombo. He’d have transitioned well but it was poorly executed on managements part by having new characters doing things different all of a sudden. The demographic of the boomer white male probably had a heart attack at the time and they had to revert back a bit.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by bluejays

The Strombo thing was a case study in transition gone wrong. There was a ton of pushback for having him as the new face, me included frankly, at the time. HNIC was a Canadian institution and while it had to transition at some point, the way incompetent management did things was to ram it down suddenly. For something that was traditional they should’ve eased things along instead of having new faces running things in a next gen way. Today if they did that it’d probably be fine because it looks and feels different than ten years ago or whatever it was but at the time it was still seen as a national Saturday tradition. I think I was wrong like many others about Strombo. He’d have transitioned well but it was poorly executed on managements part by having new characters doing things different all of a sudden. The demographic of the boomer white male probably had a heart attack at the time and they had to revert back a bit.

Screw it. I say we put a Semi-Senile Don Cherry back on the HNIC panel full-time and let the chips fall where they may.

Lets introduce a little Anarchy!

[bluejays]

Haha. He was entertaining yelling at random things, I’ll give him that. I did like particular characters they brought in over the years who they dropped as well. PJ Stock was pretty entertaining. I also liked Kypreos. But the tv powers that be change things on a dime on a hunch and in today’s climate bland is in. Can’t upset one advertiser. Play it safe.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Not contradictory at all. Clearly there was a market for it with the boomers. HNIC viewership watching his segment was of the elder demographic that grew up with him and there's a lot of those viewers. Do you think his segment was roping in new generations of viewership? I don't think so as I'm Gen X and even I tuned him out as outdated and irrelevant. Rogers actually tried in the beginning with Stroumboulopoulos to appeal to younger audience and basically abandoned that the moment they realized it wasn't resonating with the old generations that still watched intermission segments. I actually think it they had the stones to keep with what they started they may be in a better position today as witnessed by Ron's latest embarrassment, the younger generations really have no connection or even know what guys like Ron are talking about.

The guy was on the show for like 5 minutes of a 6 hour broadcast. It wasn't going to impact the ratings one way or the other.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

The guy was on the show for like 5 minutes of a 6 hour broadcast. It wasn't going to impact the ratings one way or the other.

Any people they put on still represent the package they want to present to the viewer and the vibes it brings. When things are off people get turned off. Surely the half hour of on air time isn’t much but if people don’t like the feel they’ll eventually just go elsewhere or won’t see it as traditionally must watch tv.

[memphusk]

Originally Posted by bluejays

Any people they put on still represent the package they want to present to the viewer and the vibes it brings. When things are off people get turned off. Surely the half hour of on air time isn’t much but if people don’t like the feel they’ll eventually just go elsewhere or won’t see it as traditionally must watch tv.

Are you sure? People around here can't even seem to ignore eachother.

[Ba'alzamon]

Hang on... are people actually claiming that folks tuned into 2hr hockey games specifically to watch Coach's Corner? Because... no. No they did not.

At best it kept people in the room between periods. And I know for a fact that some people left the room as soon as Cherry's suit stung their eyes.

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Re: Strombo

Ratings dipped and boomers complained. Despite Strombo being 40 something and not the young hipster those people thought he was.

Too many piercings and tattoos. Old people hate that ####.

[bluejays]

Yeah. He came across as a young hipster at the time. But man the guy looks super aged these days. The decline after being let go hit him hard no doubt.

[GirlySports]

Marek should be the host, or is he too nerdy, also a know it all?

[Toonage]

He'd be fine IMO, but they took him off of HNIC and TV almost entirely (aside from the simulcast of the Marek Show). Make of that what you will.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by Toonage

He'd be fine IMO, but they took him off of HNIC and TV almost entirely (aside from the simulcast of the Marek Show). Make of that what you will.

Still is chair one and probably the second most influential Hockey podcast though. (I don't listen to Chicklets but it's pretty clear it's number one, which also probably says something about the panel and Ron being past his prime.)

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Marek should be the host, or is he too nerdy, also a know it all?

He’s smarmy and wants to be McLean. He’s annoying to watch on tv and hear from. Two guys who want to be like McLean are Baukaskas and Marek. My dentist gets richer when they’re on tv because my enamel gets worn from grinding my teeth. I genuinely can’t stand on air hockey guys whose entire life and conversation revolves around hockey knowledge and being an encyclopedia. It’s goofy and too try hard.