What a difference a month makes

Radio News from British Columbia

Postby radiofan » Sat Jun 24, 2006 10:02 am

I tuned into the midnight news on CKNW last night and was somewhat shocked when I heard a voicer about the Bertuzzi trade. The person doing the story wasn't a member of the CKNW news or sports department, it was a BN reporter.

On TV coverage of Canucks events of late, I've noticed no NW mics in the scrum...NEWS 1130 and TEAM 1040 are there, but no NW.

While listening to NEWS 1130 at various times yesterday, I heard regular reports on the goings on at Wall Centre from Cherni .. what kind of coverage did The Dog have?? Zilch..

A month ago, between NW and MOJO they had more sports people than probably every other station in the province combined. Today, they don't even have a lone reporter than can go out and cover major news events from the Canucks or anything else sports related in this town.

Not only did JJ and his hatchet crew shoot MOJO the pup between the eyes, they also killed off the once mighty and respected NW sports department.

It appears rather than retaining the ability to compete with any other sports department in the city, they simply pulled the lifeline and said screw it..we're no longer in the sports business.

Nothing against BN and their coverage, but a BN report on what will likely be the biggest news out of the Canucks for sometime is not what I would expect from CKNW.
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Postby tuned » Sat Jun 24, 2006 1:24 pm

I think NW has probably reached the "tipping point" where the gutting of content is going to start costing them audience although it hasn't happened yet despite many dire predictions. I think by this time next year they will be 2nd or 3rd overall in the market with an increasingly older audience. They've given up being the market leader in news, traffic and now sports so it is just a matter of time before ratings catch up with reality. I mean what's left at NW? It's a pretty thin gruel these days. It is amazing how decades of hard work can be undone in just a few short years. Shaw cable has no business owning the largest radio company in Canada. The forerunner to Corus and WIC was also in the cable TV business, Premiere Cable for those old enough to remember and the regulator forced them to get out of it.
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Postby Primitive » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:30 pm

tuned wrote: I think NW has probably reached the "tipping point" where the gutting of content is going to start costing them audience although it hasn't happened yet despite many dire predictions.? I think by this time next year they will be 2nd or 3rd overall in the market with an increasingly older audience.? They've given up being the market leader in news, traffic and now sports so it is just a matter of time before ratings catch up with reality.? I mean what's left at NW? It's a pretty thin gruel these days.? It is amazing how decades of hard work can be undone in just a few short years.? Shaw cable has no business owning the largest radio company in Canada.? The forerunner to Corus and WIC was also in the cable TV business, Premiere Cable for those old enough to remember and the regulator forced them to get out of it.

Not that I would ever defend Corus but...

Friday night it was covered for three hours wall-to-wall on Sports Talk from 9 until midnight. Farhan Lalji who would have been out to cover the story for NW was doing double duty for TSN and NW. He mentioned that he arrived at the station at 8:58 pm for the show.

On Sports Talk, he had Nonis, Bertuzzi's agent (who is also Pronger's agent and answered questions about Pronger), Luongo's agent, and a guy who runs a magazine which just had Luongo on the cover, who mentioned that Vanouver's goalie coach was Luongo's favorite goalie coach in Florida, so Luongo will likely sign with the Canucks.

For a guy who was obviously called by TSN at the last minute, the content on Sports Talk was still top-notch. It had the key people involved in both breaking sports stories.

I do agree that someone should have done a voicer but all of the other bases were covered. I hope Lalji fills in again this week. He did a nice job. Take a listen. Just scroll in 6 minutes on each file.

http://www.CKNW.com/dynamic/dynamic_audiov...?dt=20060623_21

http://www.CKNW.com/dynamic/dynamic_audiov...?dt=20060623_22

http://www.CKNW.com/dynamic/dynamic_audiov...?dt=20060623_23
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Postby tuned » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:47 pm

Three hours of good programming do not a station make. What happened to Sportstalk on the weekend? Where's the local talk show in the afternoon? Where are the live weekend talk shows? What's with all the kiddies on the air that sound like teenagers? Where are the Canucks and the Lions?
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Postby Primitive » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:56 pm

tuned wrote: Three hours of good programming do not a station make.  What happened to Sportstalk on the weekend? Where's the local talk show in the afternoon? Where are the live weekend talk shows? What's with all the kiddies on the air that sound like teenagers? Where are the Canucks and the Lions?

Agreed. The station is falling apart on the whole, and the newscasts sound like they're read by college kids, and the Lions and Canucks should still be there. I live back east and still listened to the games on the web, so no one is more pissed than I am at how badly NW has dropped the ball on sports.

Three hours doesn't make up for the crap on the air lately, but three solid hours DOES make up for the use of a BN voicer on the midnight newscast that immediately followed those three hours.
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Postby tuned » Sun Jun 25, 2006 11:04 pm

I actually listened to most of the three hours and although he covered all the bases Farhan isn't great at radio. He's to used to talking in TV soundbites and I found him hard to listen to and devoid of any personality. I hope they aren't planning on using him more often. Patterson on the weekends showed some signs of life although sometimes he did come across as being pretty arrogant but he was better than Farhan. I guess he got turfed and has resurfaced on 1040. I am a big Dan Russell fan and believe he's one of the only "real" guys that NW has but look at how he's been treated in the past. If I were Chum I'd be trying to lure him away to pound the last nail into NW's coffin.
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Postby Primitive » Mon Jun 26, 2006 7:40 pm

tuned wrote: I actually listened to most of the three hours and although he covered all the bases Farhan isn't great at radio.? He's to used to talking in TV soundbites and I found him hard to listen to and devoid of any personality.? I hope they aren't planning on using him more often.? Patterson on the weekends showed some signs of life although sometimes he did come across as being pretty arrogant but he was better than Farhan.? I guess he got turfed and has resurfaced on 1040.? I am a big Dan Russell fan and believe he's one of the only "real" guys that? NW has but look at how he's been treated in the past.? If I were Chum I'd be trying to lure him away to pound the last nail into NW's coffin.

I like Russell as well, and I like that he sometimes brings up the history of the Canucks and NW by playing old clips. I burned the 10th anniversary shows of the 1994 Canucks run to CD, and two years later, I still listen them quite often.

I agree with almost all of your points, but the one selfish reason I have for hoping Russell stays on NW is so I can listen on NW's archive anytime. Staying up until 3 eastern isn't an option for me. I hope that people don't forget about his show when the Canucks turn up on 1040. I wonder how all of the automated network stations around the province will get out of the Team broadcast and into Sports Talk. I wonder if they'll even bother.
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Postby GrumpyOldMan » Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:13 am

I doubt if Kermet the Frog would ever move to CHUM. And why would CHUM want him? "Open phones" and 12 year old callers with 2 word comments is not something I think they want...
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Postby Primitive » Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:44 pm

GrumpyOldMan wrote: I doubt if Kermet the Frog would ever move to CHUM.  And why would CHUM want him?  "Open phones" and 12 year old callers with 2 word comments is not something I think they want...

You obiously don't listen to the show. And he was already at Chum, so I guess they did want him.
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