TSN 690 and Other Montreal Based Media (Part 10)

[JianYang]

Nilan wasn't the smoothest at radio (to say the very least) but he had good connections and so he got good guests. He also had some good stories from his days as a player. Tony always had the worst line up of guests of all the main daytime shows (viz. Normand Flynn). I'd take Nilan back before I'd want Tony back at 690 and it was always BS, the reason why BellMedia fired Chris.

As a soccer fan I only miss Tony's soccer talk. He did provide good support for the Impact/CFMTL and amateur soccer in Canada which I appreciated. His hockey takes were mostly useless and uninformed.

Yeah nilan, has a good network.

I often listen to his podcast because of the kinds of guests he gets..... Right off the bat, he got chelios for episode 1.

Hes got that over marinaro, who usually has another media member as a guest. I don't recall any players on his podcast other than recchi and Ribeiro.

 

[Chili]

I remember when TSN tv went on the air (1984?). Was a revelation to have an all sports network. And the professionals they had: Jim Van Horne, John Wells, Dave Hodge, Jim Hughson, Gord Miller, etc. It was great.

Stopped watching Sports Desk years ago. It had become an infomercial for their programming. It seems likes it was just a cute girl reading the text. Even the hockey highlights were interspersed among other stuff.

Local radio is probably part a reflection for the way decisions are made down the 401.

 

[Mandala]

I mean they could talk junior hockey, european hockey, strategy in defense and offense, skating techniques, proper training in hockey, referees, new development for the equipment, upcoming technologies for advanced stats, concussion research in hockey, new helmets, improvement in women hockey, or... get Normand Flynn.

 

[Schooner Guy]

I remember when TSN tv went on the air (1984?). Was a revelation to have an all sports network. And the professionals they had: Jim Van Horne, John Wells, Dave Hodge, Jim Hughson, Gord Miller, etc. It was great.

Stopped watching Sports Desk years ago. It had become an infomercial for their programming. It seems likes it was just a cute girl reading the text. Even the hockey highlights were interspersed among other stuff.

Local radio is probably part a reflection for the way decisions are made down the 401.

Don't forget the legendary Vic Rauter and Geno Reda!! They also had a young rising star in Mark Jones in the mid-80s who moved on to make it big south of the border with ABC and ESPN.

Miller came in 5 or 6 years after TSN went on the air. He worked with Bobby Mc at the Hockey News and I wouldn't be surprised if Bobby Mc influenced Miller's hiring as Bobby was becoming a star.

TSN 1050 radio in Toronto has far more talent than TSN 690 in Montreal. I'm sure Bell allocates a MUCH higher salary budget to the Toronto branch.

 

[Chili]

Don't forget the legendary Vic Rauter and Geno Reda!! They also had a young rising star in Mark Jones in the mid-80s who moved on to make it big south of the border with ABC and ESPN.

Miller came in 5 or 6 years after TSN went on the air. He worked with Bobby Mc at the Hockey News and I wouldn't be surprised if Bobby Mc influenced Miller's hiring as Bobby was becoming a star.

TSN 1050 radio in Toronto has far more talent than TSN 690 in Montreal. I'm sure Bell allocates a MUCH higher salary budget to the Toronto branch.

Michael Landsberg is one of the others that goes way back, probably a few others too.

Before Twitter Bob McKenzie, Gord Miller and maybe some others used to post on these forums. I remember getting into one day with Bobby Mac about the 'Canada's Sports Leader' tag they gave themselves. Don't recall hearing that since they lost the hockey contract ha ha.

Used to listen to Leafs postgame sometimes. Jim Tatti hosting and guests like former a/gm Bill Watters. Quite different from 690.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Meh I don't miss Nilan on the radio. He had some interesting stories but he was really hard to listen to. Scrambled eggs.

I love Knuckles, but it's hard to understand a Boston accent from someone who didn't have a job taking and receiving blows to the head.

 

[waffledave]

I love Knuckles, but it's hard to understand a Boston accent from someone who didn't have a job taking and receiving blows to the head.

I don't mind the accent, but the stuttering and the "uh...ummm" every other word is just not good for radio. It really gets to you after a while.

 

[icerocket]

Honestly Tony and Knuckles should team up in a podcast.

 

[jackeymoon]

Knuckles' podcast is fantastic. No pauses, just straight talk and he's a beauty uncensored.

 

[Runner77]

Knuckles' podcast is fantastic. No pauses, just straight talk and he's a beauty uncensored.

Maybe that medium is better suited to him?

I’m much more selective about what I listen to. Because of the poor quality sports radio offerings in this market, I’ve gravitated toward non-sports talk radio and music and comedians on YouTube.

I’m not sure what podcasts I’d feel strongly enough about, to become a regular listener. There is a ton of stuff out there, I wouldn’t know where to begin.

 

[McGees]

I’ve all but stopped listening to TSN.
Guests these days are as bad as the hosts.
Instead, now I just listen to K-pop.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Michael Landsberg is one of the others that goes way back, probably a few others too.

Before Twitter Bob McKenzie, Gord Miller and maybe some others used to post on these forums. I remember getting into one day with Bobby Mac about the 'Canada's Sports Leader' tag they gave themselves. Don't recall hearing that since they lost the hockey contract ha ha.

Used to listen to Leafs postgame sometimes. Jim Tatti hosting and guests like former a/gm Bill Watters. Quite different from 690.

Michael Landsberg is one of the others that goes way back, probably a few others too.

Before Twitter Bob McKenzie, Gord Miller and maybe some others used to post on these forums. I remember getting into one day with Bobby Mac about the 'Canada's Sports Leader' tag they gave themselves. Don't recall hearing that since they lost the hockey contract ha ha.

Used to listen to Leafs postgame sometimes. Jim Tatti hosting and guests like former a/gm Bill Watters. Quite different from 690.

TSN did the first televised draft in 1985 at the Toronto Convention Centre. Wendel Clark draft year. Landeberg and MacKenzie were the hosts. I was there for the draft. My friend got Clarks autograph.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

I have mixed feelings on tanking myself depending on what lengths a team has to go to do so (and with some luck of the draw involved that was lesser a decade ago), but I also can't disagree top teams tend to be built around drafting top 5 for multiple years (Tampa, Colorado, Pittsburgh, Washington, Chicago, etc.).

I forgot if it was yesterday or the day before, but I remember listening to our two favorites at lunch for a bit and they brought up the whole anti-tanking position again. Usually I would just keep listening and hope Gallo and Campbell would mold a better argument for not tanking (whether that be moving up or adding picks, trading for younger players, etc.), but what I got instead was how the Habs should try and improve as much as possible this season, in a prime year to aim low, to attract high end free agents for the future, the plan with by far the least amount of correlation with winning cups.

Can't do it. Can't do it anymore, I'm done, they're hopeless.

 

[HuGort]

TSN did the first televised draft in 1985 at the Toronto Convention Centre. Wendel Clark draft year. Landeberg and MacKenzie were the hosts. I was there for the draft. My friend got Clarks autograph.

CBC did Mario draft briefly didn't they? I remember watching it on tv

 

[Scriptor]

I’ve all but stopped listening to TSN.
Guests these days are as bad as the hosts.
Instead, now I just listen to K-pop.

View attachment 575130

What a way to start the day with a few pop tarts!

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

I’ve all but stopped listening to TSN.
Guests these days are as bad as the hosts.
Instead, now I just listen to K-pop.

View attachment 575130

 

[JianYang]

Michael Landsberg is one of the others that goes way back, probably a few others too.

Before Twitter Bob McKenzie, Gord Miller and maybe some others used to post on these forums. I remember getting into one day with Bobby Mac about the 'Canada's Sports Leader' tag they gave themselves. Don't recall hearing that since they lost the hockey contract ha ha.

Used to listen to Leafs postgame sometimes. Jim Tatti hosting and guests like former a/gm Bill Watters. Quite different from 690.

Regarding, "Canada's sports leader", I'm pretty sure that started in the early 2000s when ESPN purchased a share of tsn. ESPN used to call themselves the worldwide sports leader or something.

This was also when they rebranded their flagship sports show from sportsdesk to sports centre, with the ESPN music.

David Pratt, who used to be the Vancouver correspondent in the early tsn days, said that the plan after this transaction was actually to change the name of the station from tsn to ESPN Canada, which he opposed greatly.

Still, from the logo change back then, and all the other changes, you could tell that this was basically ESPN Canada without calling it ESPN Canada... And it still is.

 

[Chili]

Regarding, "Canada's sports leader", I'm pretty sure that started in the early 2000s when ESPN purchased a share of tsn. ESPN used to call themselves the worldwide sports leader or something.

This was also when they rebranded their flagship sports show from sportsdesk to sports centre, with the ESPN music.

David Pratt, who used to be the Vancouver correspondent in the early tsn days, said that the plan after this transaction was actually to change the name of the station from tsn to ESPN Canada, which he opposed greatly.

Still, from the logo change back then, and all the other changes, you could tell that this was basically ESPN Canada without calling it ESPN Canada... And it still is.

Quite possible (circa 2000), don't remember. When I brought it up, probably on the main board, suggested they should hire a marching band with cheerleaders, pom poms, the works to trumpet their status. Mr McKenzie took exception. Agree on the ESPN angle but from memory believe they had some ESPN programming on there from the start while they were trying to fill their schedule.

 

[YukonCornelius 5thOA]

Regarding, "Canada's sports leader", I'm pretty sure that started in the early 2000s when ESPN purchased a share of tsn. ESPN used to call themselves the worldwide sports leader or something.

This was also when they rebranded their flagship sports show from sportsdesk to sports centre, with the ESPN music.

David Pratt, who used to be the Vancouver correspondent in the early tsn days, said that the plan after this transaction was actually to change the name of the station from tsn to ESPN Canada, which he opposed greatly.

Still, from the logo change back then, and all the other changes, you could tell that this was basically ESPN Canada without calling it ESPN Canada... And it still is.

Pratt told a friend of mine that Off the Record was all his idea and that Landsberg basically stabbed him in the back to make it his show.

However, Pratt himself is not the best source.

 

[Runner77]

Pratt told a friend of mine that Off the Record was all his idea and that Landsberg basically stabbed him in the back to make it his show.

However, Pratt himself is not the best source.

Not being the best source pretty describes 99% of Montreal’s sports media.

 

[Garry Valk]

I’ll miss Dumont. Liked how honest and candid he was, and his content during the worst of the pandemic was great and kept me interested. I hope he ends up a regular guest on 690 again.

 

[Schooner Guy]

CBC did Mario draft briefly didn't they? I remember watching it on tv

They sure did. CBC also did the WJC until TSN took over it in the early 90s.

Quite possible (circa 2000), don't remember. When I brought it up, probably on the main board, suggested they should hire a marching band with cheerleaders, pom poms, the works to trumpet their status. Mr McKenzie took exception. Agree on the ESPN angle but from memory believe they had some ESPN programming on there from the start while they were trying to fill their schedule.

I watched ESPN's Top Rank Boxing on TSN throughout the 80s which included Mike Tyson's rise. TSN didn't have NHL rights in its first year or two and original programming was weak. I remember lots of curling being on.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

They sure did. CBC also did the WJC until TSN took over it in the early 90s.

I watched ESPN's Top Rank Boxing on TSN throughout the 80s which included Mike Tyson's rise. TSN didn't have NHL rights in its first year or two and original programming was weak. I remember lots of curling being on.

Curling is a great sport. More strategy in the game than almost any other. Boxing on the other hand is idiotic.

 

[Schooner Guy]

Curling is a great sport. More strategy in the game than almost any other. Boxing on the other hand is idiotic.

Lol! I wasn’t critiquing curling in any way. I was just stating that TSN didn’t have much original programming in its early days and mentioned curling occupied a lot of its time slots..

Nothing wrong with a sport that you can play while half in the bag.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Never forget, TSN used to show Spelling Bees.