"Take that Calgary Puck!" — SN960 and Calgary sports media discussion

[Harry Lime]

I'd assume they would be on the same charter as the team. The 3rd string goalie might actually talk to them, and they'd get some insight for the broadcast.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Being remote and disconnected from the team half of the time and not being able to see beyond the confines of the TV screen or between plays while being expected to feed the audience information they can't get at home must be incredibly frustrating.

Costs be damned, the travel should come with the job. How can they be insiders if they only get to see players at the dome, and not on the bus/plane/hotel/away rinks?

I don't think any one who works their way up to get a role at the NHL level put their time in to do what they've now reduced the job to. Like Loubardias said on BB, being at the rink matters.

[heep223]

Very happy Ball and Hrudey are back.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

How many people are we talking about? Two? Three if they have some type of engineer with them. Seems like a reasonable expense, businesses pay travel costs all the time. They typically fly on the team plane don’t they?

It seems very odd not to do this IMO.

You're talking about the company that won the bid for Canadian NHL broadcasting rights at $5.2billion and then quickly fired the talented guy who made all the HNIC montages that everyone loved for $60k a year.

[Boreal]

Originally Posted by jayswin

You're talking about the company that won the bid for Canadian NHL broadcasting rights at $5.2billion and then quickly fired the talented guy who made all the HNIC montages that everyone loved for $60k a year.

https://timthompsonfilms.com/

Don’t be like Rogers.

He has a name.

Tim Thompson.

He grew up with the Lindros boys , and was a pretty decent player in his own rite.

https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/....php?pid=27451

[BigFlameDog]

Yeah, I am pretty sure they just flew on the charter. So really hotel and per diem.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by BigFlameDog

Yeah, I am pretty sure they just flew on the charter. So really hotel and per diem.

It's actually amazing that Rogers is so cheap that they won't pay the basics. Flames are only on the road half the season so it's not even a weekly thing. I mean small businesses pay salesmen to go out on the road and stay in hotels every week yet this corportage giant is so cheap that they can't pay hotel and meals for a color and PBP people. I don't think there's a company out there that I dislike more than Rogers at this stage of my life. They are by miles the worst thing to ever happen to the NHL in Canada.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by troutman

I get that they miss a lot not being live on location, but from the network's perspective, it must be hugely expensive to fly the broadcast team around North America, put them up in hotels, and give them per diems? And do this for all their Canadian broadcast teams?

Not hugely expensive. But it’s low-hanging fruit for a company desperate to cut costs after spending over $5 billion for NHL rights in a market where broadcast audiences are relentlessly declining.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

It's actually amazing that Rogers is so cheap that they won't pay the basics. Flames are only on the road half the season so it's not even a weekly thing. I mean small businesses pay salesmen to go out on the road and stay in hotels every week yet this corportage giant is so cheap that they can't pay hotel and meals for a color and PBP people. I don't think there's a company out there that I dislike more than Rogers at this stage of my life. They are by miles the worst thing to ever happen to the NHL in Canada.

They fly Hrudey into TO every weekend too. It must be so frustrating for the radio crew.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

It's actually amazing that Rogers is so cheap that they won't pay the basics. Flames are only on the road half the season so it's not even a weekly thing. I mean small businesses pay salesmen to go out on the road and stay in hotels every week yet this corportage giant is so cheap that they can't pay hotel and meals for a color and PBP people. I don't think there's a company out there that I dislike more than Rogers at this stage of my life. They are by miles the worst thing to ever happen to the NHL in Canada.

Games are also only a few hours. They could send them out selling cell phone plans during the day.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

They fly Hrudey into TO every weekend too. It must be so frustrating for the radio crew.

And Bieksa, he flies in from Newport for just the one day too.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

It's actually amazing that Rogers is so cheap that they won't pay the basics. Flames are only on the road half the season so it's not even a weekly thing. I mean small businesses pay salesmen to go out on the road and stay in hotels every week yet this corportage giant is so cheap that they can't pay hotel and meals for a color and PBP people. I don't think there's a company out there that I dislike more than Rogers at this stage of my life. They are by miles the worst thing to ever happen to the NHL in Canada.

Salesman drive revenue though. I imagine leaving the radio guys at home has zero change in revenue and saves them money.

How long before the radio call is gone? Less than 5 years?

[Jetfire]

Originally Posted by Weitz

How long before the radio call is gone? Less than 5 years?

Yeah, I'd be surprised if it were 3 years the way sports radio has been killed off the past couple years.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Salesman drive revenue though. I imagine leaving the radio guys at home has zero change in revenue and saves them money.

How long before the radio call is gone? Less than 5 years?

Rogers paid the Flames for the rights and have a commitment to produce telecasts to a standard. Clearly in the day the standard was to send the PBP and color team on the road. Maybe the contract has clauses that they can keep them home now? Either way it's a lower standard when the PBP person is calling from TV feed rather than live over the ice.

It matters not how many years radio call has left as a radio call is no different than a streamed one as it's just different means of broadcast distribution. You still employ the same people to perform the same task.

[Incogneto]

Does anyone listen to the radio product? When I have listened, it hasn't lost it's quality being in a boardroom. Maybe that is kudos to Wills, or maybe they dont need to be on the road.

...and what insight could they possibly provide? He already is completely 1-sided with his assessments of the team.

[Electricprez]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

Being remote and disconnected from the team half of the time and not being able to see beyond the confines of the TV screen or between plays while being expected to feed the audience information they can't get at home must be incredibly frustrating.

Costs be damned, the travel should come with the job. How can they be insiders if they only get to see players at the dome, and not on the bus/plane/hotel/away rinks?

I don't think any one who works their way up to get a role at the NHL level put their time in to do what they've now reduced the job to. Like Loubardias said on BB, being at the rink matters.

Yeah, the way they've changed things is such a joke.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by Incogneto

Does anyone listen to the radio product? When I have listened, it hasn't lost it's quality being in a boardroom. Maybe that is kudos to Wills, or maybe they dont need to be on the road.

...and what insight could they possibly provide? He already is completely 1-sided with his assessments of the team.

Little things get missed when calling it off a monitor. Harder to see deflections, make out numbers and certainly tougher on the broadcaster to get a feel for the moment.

Last season, the Leafs crew were doing playoffs off monitors including Game 6 when the Leafs scored their biggest goal in 20 years. Joe Bowen called the wrong player's name and the call was butchered. Why? Because the iso-camera shot was on Morgan Rielly and not the goal scorer, John Tavares. If Bowen is in the arena, and sees everyone going after Tavares, there's ZERO chance he calls it as a Morgan Rielly goal.

Look at this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TX97dhJbfc

the product is just better with announcers in the venue. Sometimes it's subtle, sometimes it's massive.

[Jimmy Stang]

I could see the TV commentary and colour being used for the radio broadcast.

Occasionally I’ll be doing a bit of my “record the game, avoid the score, start late, catch up by skipping ads and intermission” routine and I’ll have to run an errand. So I’ll stream the TV broadcast in the car (video minimized, of course).

There are obviously differences between how a game is called on TV vs. the radio. But it is probably good enough for the low bar that Rogers has set for themselves, and it would be a bit cheaper. I’m surprised that they haven’t done this already.

[Harry Lime]

Radio is a training ground for a lot of television cast and crew talent, sports and news broadcasting. Roger's is going to wonder why the quantity of young broadcasters cratered, in a few years.

[sureLoss]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1704890642034196909