Ryan Leslie gone?

[worth]

I saw Ryan Leslie at the flames game last night. Cool story bro.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Weird bump, but Hockey central at noon has been insufferable since Kelly and Josh started hosting. These guys really don't know what they are doing.

Honestly, it's time to bring back Rome or even pump the Ontario feed back in.

I do wonder about their sales staff as t@t mentioned. My buddy works in sales at Corus on straight commision, he gets 14% on new business and 10% on existing renewals. You have to wonder if it is the numbers or if the existing portfolio is total garbage.

Also, Kelly shouldn't be running a seperate sales department (if he is), it should be Rogers running a sales staff for all the stations they have combined in Calgary. Are all stations in the Rogers portfolio doing crap in the calgary market?

Agreed.

Like Jiri, I rarely harp on personalities as most are really good people and its a very difficult job...a lot harder than most give it credit for.

But...

This clown show at noon is unlistenable. Humphies is not ready for this kind of exposure at this point and Kirsch is just not an on air type guy and should stick to program director. I know these guys read this board so I want to apologize for saying so, but guys...it just isnt very good radio.

I dont know if budget restraints are responsible for what's happened but there is little doubt in my mind that the next BBM book is going to show a steep downward trend for 960 ratings.

It's really too bad as they had something pretty good for a long run there.

[superfarmer]

Let's just be honest. The whole product is a joke top to bottom. Sportsnet is pure crap. And as far as worrying about radio personalities getting #### on, you chose this profession, you are fair game if you suck.

[FaFaFlamey]

At the end of the day, their ratings are bad. Third from the basement and I guess they feel they should do something.....anything. I think they should branch out and attempt covering other sports too.....not just hockey hockey hockey. You can't say "well that's where the ratings are".....cuz their ratings are brutal. Even 660 News kicked their ass.

[JiriHrdina]

For ratings you have to look at the make adult demo. The overall ratings don't matter to a station like 960

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

For ratings you have to look at the make adult demo. The overall ratings don't matter to a station like 960

They allow that on radio.

[Table 5]

I'm not really sure what you guys are expecting from a local sports station. Yes, the programming feels a bit thin at times, and there's lots of rehashing if you listen to it for long stretches...but honestly, I still find it a pretty entertaining thing to listen to.

I think the Flames play-by-play team is some of the best in the league. Peter Maher is a legent, and while Peter Loubardias can be a bit much sometimes, he's been a good addition. The morning show keeps taking hits with good guys being snatched away, but I think overall is a relatively entertaining product as long as you dont listen to all 3-4 hours or however long it is. Pat Steinberg is a solid contributor all around.

The early afternoon product definitely suffers, mostly because it's stretched thin...both in content and in talent. However, I would much rather have thin local content, than some American going on and on about college football or basketball.

I enjoy Prime Time sports at night...they do a good job of talking about bigger picture topics and non-hockey sports, even if there's a little too much baseball talk. I also like listening the occasional Hitmen broadcast and feel like their team does a solid job.

So apart from the thin lineup in the early afternoon, what exactly would you change?

[Hank Hill]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Agreed.

Like Jiri, I rarely harp on personalities as most are really good people and its a very difficult job...a lot harder than most give it credit for.

But...

This clown show at noon is unlistenable. Humphies is not ready for this kind of exposure at this point and Kirsch is just not an on air type guy and should stick to program director. I know these guys read this board so I want to apologize for saying so, but guys...it just isnt very good radio.

I dont know if budget restraints are responsible for what's happened but there is little doubt in my mind that the next BBM book is going to show a steep downward trend for 960 ratings.

It's really too bad as they had something pretty good for a long run there.

Agreed the noon show and afternoon is terrible. I'm starting to tune out. Humphries is way over his head. If 960 can't afford real talent like Leslie they should bring back the east Hockey Central and other shows from Sportsnet in other cities

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I'm not really sure what you guys are expecting from a local sports station. Yes, the programming feels a bit thin at times, and there's lots of rehashing if you listen to it for long stretches...but honestly, I still find it a pretty entertaining thing to listen to.

I think the Flames play-by-play team is some of the best in the league. Peter Maher is a legent, and while Peter Loubardias can be a bit much sometimes, he's been a good addition. The morning show keeps taking hits with good guys being snatched away, but I think overall is a relatively entertaining product as long as you dont listen to all 3-4 hours or however long it is. Pat Steinberg is a solid contributor all around.

The early afternoon product definitely suffers, mostly because it's stretched thin...both in content and in talent. However, I would much rather have thin local content, than some American going on and on about college football or basketball.

I enjoy Prime Time sports at night...they do a good job of talking about bigger picture topics and non-hockey sports, even if there's a little too much baseball talk. I also like listening the occasional Hitmen broadcast and feel like their team does a solid job.

So apart from the thin lineup in the early afternoon, what exactly would you change?

Yeah, I've always figured the whole point of all the Flames talk on the fan is that fans are supposed to tune in for a little while here and there, not listen to every single minute, because then yeah, it's going to seem repetitive.

It's radio, it's geared towards people tuning in and out throughout the day, not people sitting down and listening for hours.

[KevanGuy]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Come to think of it, we haven't been annoyed by certain jewelry store commercials lately. Although perhaps that's seasonal.

I, unfortunately, heard one of the ads on 1060 a couple weeks ago.

[Erick Estrada]

The station hasn't been able to overcome the loss of talent over the years. Richards, Kerr, heck even Andrew Walker were better than what's left today.

[nik-]

It's like a restaurant reducing their portion sizes when they start losing money and compounding the problem.

[DOOM]

Originally Posted by superfarmer

Let's just be honest. The whole product is a joke top to bottom. Sportsnet is pure crap. And as far as worrying about radio personalities getting #### on, you chose this profession, you are fair game if you suck.

You're wrong

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by Table 5

So apart from the thin lineup in the early afternoon, what exactly would you change?

1) The morning show has started to find it's niche, but a little more Warrener wouldn't hurt, as it stands he is still on for only 6 hours per week.

2) The sad Pinder / Boomer comedy bits are cringe worthy, enough to change the channel. If that is the pond you want to play in, at least look at finding some writers or some comedy talent.

3) If you have a funny idea, don't completely run it into the ground (i.e. Angry Elliot), was funny the first few times, now it seems like they substitute bleeps in after almost every interview he does and think it is funny.

4) Pat needs a decent co-host because he can't carry 4 hours by himself. Even if the only time you hear him is between 4-5PM when you are driving home (which most people do), he already sounds defeated and worn out because his best few hours are behind him.

5) Teach the guys how to conduct interviews and do some more that are outside of the locker room. Nothing fills time on air and is worse to listen to than gameday interviews and scrums. A whole lot of crap. "What do you need to do tonight to win", "You are coming off a tough loss, how do you turn it around". If you want to interview players, have them on the air and ask them real questions. A guy like Cammellari is actually a pretty decent interview and the guys are HC Toronto were actually able to have an entertaining conversation with him. Not one person can replicate that here in Calgary (this mostly applies to the afternoon show).

6) Let the interviews ask real questions of important Flames staff and personnel, instead of trying to suck up to them (like Ken King).

7) Have some knowledge of other sports beside hockey. How about talking anything NFL free agency related. How about holding a vote on their website, adopting an NFL team and following it throughout the year?

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by FaFaFlamey

At the end of the day, their ratings are bad. Third from the basement and I guess they feel they should do something.....anything. I think they should branch out and attempt covering other sports too.....not just hockey hockey hockey. You can't say "well that's where the ratings are".....cuz their ratings are brutal. Even 660 News kicked their ass.

After the station dropped Rome I wrote Kirsch a letter outlining a number of things I had a problem with at 960. He called and we had a 20 min chat about it.

I'm not sure if he was just trying to repeat some kind of PR speak or not but it sounded like he takes a very narrow view when it comes to ratings. He said that their ratings were doing really well, then mentioned a super specific demographic.

Regarding Rome he said he had books that showed where people turned the dial to at 10am when the show started. I had a hard time believing people would switch from Sports talk to easy listening music just because a guy comes on and talks NFL and NBA.

Personally I haven't listened to 960 for longer than a few min at a time since Rome was cancelled.

I was one of the ones who would go for more non-hockey talk. I told Kirsch that he was taking a niche radio station further into the niche by abandoning all other sports, something he didn't like to hear.

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

7) Have some knowledge of other sports beside hockey. How about talking anything NFL free agency related.

This was a big beef of mine. As far as I could tell, their NFL talk was: "This is how I'm betting this week". Ridiculous.

[moon]

Originally Posted by craigwd

Regarding Rome he said he had books that showed where people turned the dial to at 10am when the show started. I had a hard time believing people would switch from Sports talk to easy listening music just because a guy comes on and talks NFL and NBA.

I don't listen to terrestrial radio all that often but when I do it is usually FAN 960. If Rome is on I listen to music and I am a fan of other sports than just Hockey. Rome is horrible radio and I can certainly believe people switch off come 10, especially if they don't like "American sports."

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by craigwd

Regarding Rome he said he had books that showed where people turned the dial to at 10am when the show started. I had a hard time believing people would switch from Sports talk to easy listening music just because a guy comes on and talks NFL and NBA.

Personally I haven't listened to 960 for longer than a few min at a time since Rome was cancelled.

I'm one of the many who does turn 960 off when Rome comes on. It isn't that Rome talks other sports (although I do not give a frack about the NBA) it is that he's a grating personality on a show with too many inside jokes. I found Rome interesting about 12 years ago but now its pretty bad IMO.

Kirsh is right. Many of us tune Rome out.

[superfarmer]

Originally Posted by DOOM

You're wrong

You look like an idiot everytime you try to defend your love for everything Rogers. Read the majority of the posts in this thread. You are the minority, by far

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by superfarmer

You look like an idiot everytime you try to defend your love for everything Rogers. Read the majority of the posts in this thread. You are the minority, by far

He's actually right. You are wrong that the entire product is bad top to bottom.

Peter Maher is one of the best in the business, and the actual Flames Game production quality is fine.

Steinberg is pretty good, especially considering they don't give him a whole lot to work with and have been asking him to carry the afternoon show for over a year now.

Personally I like the morning show. It does miss Andrew Walker, but Pinder is becoming more comfortable in the role and I think that will improve.

The biggest gap is from 12-3. They need something in that time slot that works because it is too much to ask Steinberg to carry the program all afternoon and into the evening on days when there is a Flames game.

Also even though they signed up for the profession it doesn't mean you have to be an ass to the people.

[Erick Estrada]

Elliot Friedman must cringe every time he has to hear that silly bit of him cussing that got old after the first two weeks.