TSN: The Official Ottawa Sports Radio Thread - PART XII

[Golden_Jet]

I’ve been listening more of Sirius/XM NHL radio now. On channel 91.

 

[Beech]

JFC Creech is 35?!
Good lord I would have thought maybe 25.

he has been there 10 plus years.. You don't remember former Sens, present 67 coach Dave Cameron asking where "his little buddy was"..

 

[Do Make Say Think]

JFC Creech is 35?!
Good lord I would have thought maybe 25.

He has at least one older kid and another young one.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Out of all the employees to cut, the overlords chose two guys who could actually fill long stints of time on the airwaves. Lee was a jack of all trades - drop him into any situation and he'd stay afloat. Pre and post games, soccer, QB clubs, weekend shows, he's a grinder.

Simmer, love him or hate him, always brought an opinion with a little zing. Quite a shame for local radio.

I agree .. I liked Simmer because of the way he engaged with fans and he brought more NHL and WJC background than most. He was about making a call right or wrong. And he was usually about having fun. Was never a huge Lee fan but I respected him.

 

[StutzMeister]

Ya especially when it starts out, I got so irritated about the sweater jokes, so I tweeted him. Hard to say how he worded his tweet.
Having said that wasn’t a fan of Steve,

LOL - how else am i supposed to tell him how i feel - go knock on his door ? How i worded my tweet ? Hire a private investigator.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I agree .. I liked Simmer because of the way he engaged with fans and he brought more NHL and WJC background than most. He was about making a call right or wrong. And he was usually about having fun. Was never a huge Lee fan but I respected him.

Lee was insufferable but he was a solid host.

 

[lancepitlick]

Same as Steve Warne left, I'm sorry to see both Simmer and Versage leave. Lee has been there forever it seems like. It isn't really about them, it looks like the station is basically on the road to shutting down entirely and is shedding anyone that costs $$ along the way.

All three being gone is a net loss as they haven't been replaced with anything. I enjoyed Simmer's frivolity and experience in hockey and Lee I usually disagreed with, but he was extremely dedicated and a true pro. Hope they both land on their feet elsewhere. I doubt anyone else left at TSN1200 feels too great about their job security.

 

[Wondercarrot]

he has been there 10 plus years.. You don't remember former Sens, present 67 coach Dave Cameron asking where "his little buddy was"..

lol

 

[HSF]

no one said a 4 hour show.. but integrated into bit and pieces.. U sport will do well.

So say interviewing coaches, players.. brief snipits! You are right. A 4 hour show on U sports, would not be listened to by the parents of the players,, 10 minutes here , 10 minutes there. And watch.

what TSN failed to understand is: 12 hours, at 7 hours of broadcast is 350 minutes to fill.. divide that by 20 subject matters.. you are at 17 minutes.. we know hockey dominates, we know golf, baseball, a small number of other prime sports can suck up more time, so 10 minutes for he 15 other subjects and 40 minutes for the prime..

no repeats, no dead air, no hmms and haws.. now variety, intelligent talk, educate, keep interest.. instead, dead air and tak about what you had for a BBQ yesterday, because.. well you went to a BBQ and did not watch sports.

problem is; good luck in keeping up to date on 20 subjects... and do so in an 8 hour day, when you are on the air 4, and have 4 of pre and post show prepping. And then want to go to a BBQ in the evening!

Never understood why they don’t talk a bit more about the raptors or jays

I just figured the guys didn’t know a lot about those topics . Tsn 1050 is pretty good but they might also have a lot more money pumped into them. They have some quality talent there

 

[thinkwild]

I thought i heard that some of the electric car makers were even thinking of removing AM radio from their cars as the cars caused interference in the radio signal. The media landscape is getting disrupted on all sides it seems. Maybe The Athletic's pay model will start to catch on more.

 

[YouGotAStuGoing]

I thought i heard that some of the electric car makers were even thinking of removing AM radio from their cars as the cars caused interference in the radio signal. The media landscape is getting disrupted on all sides it seems. Maybe The Athletic's pay model will start to catch on more.

As a general rule when it comes to hard news, there's a baked-in resistance to paying for it considering it's been freely available for most of human existence, subsidized by advertising which isn't as freely bought anymore. The risk any media outlet runs with paywall or paywall-adjacent setups is that people will continue to get their news for free and simply look past the paid outlet. When credible news outlets gate their content, the less-credible ones are the ones that see the highest boosts.

The Athletic has worked in the short- and mid-term because they were able to poach away top talent and do in-depth report on individual team beats, at a time where traditional media was bleeding and cutting extra costs in entertainment areas was the obvious move.

But longer-term, I have my doubts. They recently went through a round of mass layoffs and introduced advertising when the initial hook was none, to say nothing of the buyout at the hands of the New York Times. All spells trouble, to my eyes.

 

[Micklebot]

I thought i heard that some of the electric car makers were even thinking of removing AM radio from their cars as the cars caused interference in the radio signal. The media landscape is getting disrupted on all sides it seems. Maybe The Athletic's pay model will start to catch on more.

AM radio will be phased out. Heck, Tan 1200 has already made the move to HD radio, hopefully HD radio will become standard on more vehicles.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

I thought i heard that some of the electric car makers were even thinking of removing AM radio from their cars as the cars caused interference in the radio signal. The media landscape is getting disrupted on all sides it seems. Maybe The Athletic's pay model will start to catch on more.

Automakers Are Starting to Drop AM Radio in New Cars. Here's Why

Some carmakers are leaving AM radios out of their new cars. They say it's because of audio quality, but it isn't that simple.

www.thedrive.com

 

[Beech]

Never understood why they don’t talk a bit more about the raptors or jays

I just figured the guys didn’t know a lot about those topics . Tsn 1050 is pretty good but they might also have a lot more money pumped into them. They have some quality talent there

they are trying their best. It is a difficult medium. It has always been. Radio is imagination of the mind. There is no visual to assist.

As a result, you are burdened with two talent requirements. 1) A painter's brush and image generation. And that painter's brush must be verbal. Effectively, you must create the painting via your words, voice and presentation. 2) An information transporter/conveyer.

Either of these on their own is difficult. Combined is that much more difficult.

Now, change their world in terms of resources, and you make a difficult job, near impossible.

Ottawa radio talent is on par wit the rest of the country. The personnel is good and we are fortunate. It is unfortunate, that we cannot support them better and have our own flourish

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

No Simmer in the Morning .. now means Lloyd in the Morning... he is like having a sleeping pill in the morning to get you going.

Nothing against Lloydy as a person. He seems like a good guy but ..

 

[Golden_Jet]

No Simmer in the Morning .. now means Lloyd in the Morning... he is like having a sleeping pill in the morning to get you going.

Nothing against Lloydy as a person. He seems like a good guy but ..

Good post, seems like doesn’t give JR much air, not a fan.

 

[Beech]

As a general rule when it comes to hard news, there's a baked-in resistance to paying for it considering it's been freely available for most of human existence, subsidized by advertising which isn't as freely bought anymore. The risk any media outlet runs with paywall or paywall-adjacent setups is that people will continue to get their news for free and simply look past the paid outlet. When credible news outlets gate their content, the less-credible ones are the ones that see the highest boosts.

The Athletic has worked in the short- and mid-term because they were able to poach away top talent and do in-depth report on individual team beats, at a time where traditional media was bleeding and cutting extra costs in entertainment areas was the obvious move.

But longer-term, I have my doubts. They recently went through a round of mass layoffs and introduced advertising when the initial hook was none, to say nothing of the buyout at the hands of the New York Times. All spells trouble, to my eyes.

a knowledgeable person. Excellent post.

When in 2000 the internet became the dominant mass media channel, it marked an end to over the air channels. It was the automobile in 1910 and the horse and buggy were on their last leg.

Then the cellphone in 2005/2006 (smart phone) and that was another nail in the coffin. Now, it is 1920. We have not only the automobile pushing the horse and buggy out, but we added asphalt to streets which accelerated the use of cars.

The symmetry is uncanny, nearly 100 years apart.

No one stood long enough to analyze, to devise a solution. To see how to save and maintain. The industry simply kept moving along as if nothing happened.

I am hoping you have seen the numerous post I have on arena funding.. Some of the most critical got missed and probably barely read. The NHL and other leagues were faced with funding issues.. How to get alternative funding sources to teams, to keep them competitive? As cost escalated, simple butts in seats where insufficient, regardless of how much you charged for everything. Media rights escalated and helped. but they too, are insufficient to bridge the gap.

Their solution. Community money. Community pay. Let the cities, provinces/states and countries they live in pay. Fund arenas, fund parking, sign government and private sector leases. Now a funding stream, continuous, constant and can bridge all financial gaps... essentially socialized sports, not unlike socialized medicine and education.

Radio needed solutions
1) shrink.. limit audience ship to 100,000 people per station. Eastern Ontario is 1.5 million. Issue radio licenses for 15 stations all told.
2) Government assistance in terms of public service and government ads at some dollar reflective of the industry's net costs and so say 5% to 10%. A station with 2 M in costs, gets 100 K to 200 K a year. 3 levels of government, that means 30-60 K each.
3) tax breaks on buildings and studios, etc. treat the industry as an arm of the public service.. give tax breaks. allow some write offs for leases/rent/ownership.

all the above with tight control on minimal local content rules, minimum local spending rules and so on.. local/Canadian ownership and the like. No unions, so that we don't have a public service issue and salaries and costs escalate to insane heights.

 

[aragorn]

Team 1200 sucks this week.

 

[L'Aveuglette]

f*** Bell Media right up the ass. Monopolies have zero qualms about cutting thousands of jobs just so a few shareholders can make a few more millions. It's disgusting and it needs to end now.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Team 1200 sucks this week.

Seems like the days are numbered. Sens coverage definitely took a big turn down. Hopefully something else will take their place with some of the real pros let go now and in the past. There is enough talent to have a good show.

 

[aragorn]

Seems like the days are numbered. Sens coverage definitely took a big turn down. Hopefully something else will take their place with some of the real pros let go now and in the past. There is enough talent to have a good show.

Maybe that's just a sign of the times where most are getting their info from Twitter real time & podcasts as so many are being started by the people who have been cut from these programs. How long before Lee Versage has a podcast or shares one with someone?

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Maybe that's just a sign of the times where most are getting their info from Twitter real time & podcasts as so many are being started by the people who have been cut from these programs. How long before Lee Versage has a podcast or shares one with someone?

Seems to be an over glut of these now with very mixed or questionable talent. Over exposure on at least one of them.

I'd like to see something with guys like Yorkie, Simmer, Warne , Versage , get a draft guru ; a prospects guy , maybe Chris Stevenson to cover the BSens .. make it fun, have great honest analysis of the team, the games, the roster... Breakdowns etc.

I know these guys work hard at it but .. you can start a pod cast but have no real strong hockey backgrounds so we end up with fanfare analysis, pandering for access and self promotion.

 

[Fandlauer]

It's at the point now where there are various podcasts that are better than the radio station. I don't see how cutting the two biggest personalities from the station is going to help. I feel like this is a purposeful death by a thousand cuts by Bell. If I were the remaining staff, I would be applying for new jobs before the inevitable.

 

[Beech]

okay.. so they say Henri Richard had CTE...

really! A hockey player form the 50's through the 70's.. No helmets and poor equipment in general..

in a sport with bare knuckle fighting...

Does anyone know if CTE can result from falls to the elderly.. he lived to be 84.. from around 75 or so, many people start experiencing instability and fall.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

AM radio will be phased out. Heck, Tan 1200 has already made the move to HD radio, hopefully HD radio will become standard on more vehicles.

Streaming TSN 1200 also… get the shows you want, when you want