Has Sports radio finally broken through?

[interiormotive]

Just curious to know if you all think that sports on the radio has received a resurgence since the TEAM 1040 took over the Canucks. Its almost as if they've made sports radio cool again, and not just for the macho.
I like what I am hearing on a number of fronts media wise, but sports radio seems to be on everyone's radar right now, even though the 'numbers' suggest otherwise.

Who is to credit for the great sound?

[glaherty]

The question will be, can you get the highly inexact BBM ratings to reflect it.
No matter what you think of how the games are sounding on 1040, you have
to KNOW that people are listening, will the BBM reflect that with what should
be a 2.5-3.0 share, or will NW's misdirection campaign fool the apparently
quite gullible voters? How are these ballots distributed by the way? Completely
at random? From a sales standpoint, 1040 is jammed to the rafters, there
is no doubt things are booming there, but it's fairly good all around right now
I understand. The Team is not a perfect product, but it is a station that uses
only "talk" to generate programming, so I'm always amused when it's compared
to music stations in terms of market reach.

[tuned]

The great sound of 1040? Obviously the poster works for Chum but I beg to differ on the "sound" of the station. It sounds mickey mouse just like everything else they do. The imaging is uninspired and just plain cheap sounding. What's with the same guy yelling "you're on the Team 1040" all the time? People will listen because they have the 'nucks just like any dog will be my pal if I have treats in my pocket. I have no use for Chum because I've dealt with them for two decades, have friends who work for them and have had to endure their sad sack stations polluting the airwaves. The company is run by a bunch of no-talent bozo's who got their positions through family connections. They are the bottomfeeders of Canadian broadcasting which is exactly why they haven't been very successful and wound up getting bought out. I am hoping BCE clears out the empty suits and cabal of menopausal nasties that run the place out of Queen Street.

[nuahcerpel]

Just curious to know if you all think that sports on the radio has received a resurgence since the TEAM 1040 took over the Canucks.  Its almost as if they've made sports radio cool again, and not just for the macho.
I like what I am hearing on a number of fronts media wise, but sports radio seems to be on everyone's radar right now, even though the 'numbers' suggest otherwise.

Who is to credit for the great sound?

This is my problem with great sounding radio...What a Joke!

Can you give me an example of what that is?

It's been quite some time since a Great Radio Sound has been around here.

There was a day when you were sourended by professionals.

Now you?re working with someone with little to no Experience.

The Best part is, ?they think there working at the big station?.

There is no Big Time Radio... It's long gone, & so are all the pros.
:blink:

[radiofan]

The question will be, can you get the highly inexact BBM ratings to reflect it.
No matter what you think of how the games are sounding on 1040, you have
to KNOW that people are listening, will the BBM reflect that with what should
be a 2.5-3.0 share, or will NW's misdirection campaign fool the apparently
quite gullible voters?  How are these ballots distributed by the way?  Completely
at random? 

The ratings will never be a true indicator for TEAM 1040. They seldom are for specialy stations. There is likely a lot of people who tune in 1040 while driving in their cars, and so the info doesn't get wriiten down on the ballot. Likewise with News 1130.

I would like to think people are smarter than NW thinks they are. Why can't NW let go of the Canucks and carry on with life as a News/Talk station? I wonder if they have ever considered the fact that not all of their audience is sports fans. So why bother with the Canucks pre and post games?

From a sales standpoint, 1040 is jammed to the rafters, there
is no doubt things are booming there, but it's fairly good all around right now
I understand.  The Team is not a perfect product, but it is a station that uses
only "talk" to generate programming, so I'm always amused when it's compared
to music stations in terms of market reach.

Look at KJR in Seattle. It has been all sports since the late 80's. It doesn't rate in the top 20 in Seattle, but it is a money maker. Anytime I have tuned into a Canucks or Lions game on the Team, I hear more paid for commercials than NW had. NW's broadcasts were loaded with PSAs and promos.

IMO Shorty and Tom sound just fine on 1040.

[glaherty]

The great sound of 1040? Obviously the poster works for Chum but I beg to differ on the "sound" of the station.? It sounds mickey mouse just like everything else they do.? The imaging is uninspired and just plain cheap sounding.? What's with the same guy yelling "you're on the Team 1040" all the time? People will listen because they have the 'nucks just like any dog will be my pal if I have treats in my pocket.? I have no use for Chum because I've dealt with them for two decades, have friends who work for them and have had to endure their sad sack stations polluting the airwaves.? The company is run by a bunch of no-talent bozo's who got their positions through family connections.? They are the bottomfeeders of Canadian broadcasting which is exactly why they haven't been very successful and wound up getting bought out.? I am hoping BCE clears out the empty suits and cabal of menopausal nasties that run the place out of Queen Street.

Well tuned, I've worked for Chum with the Team 1040 for the last 6 years,
off and on, and I couldn't possibly disagree with you more. 1040 has built
a market niche, from absolute SCRATCH, to become a fixture on the dial
for most males, and has become the rightsholders for the two main franchises
in the market. They also paid over 6 million dollars in rightsfees, but I guess they're just cheap. It is FAR from a perfect company, but I'll take the people I work
with there, and have been associated with for the past 6 years, over most
of the other organizations any DAY of the frickin week. They (we) have also
been a huge thorn in NW's side, if you doubt that, you should sit in on some
of their meetings, they are OBSESSED with the rivalry. We on the other hand,
are just happy to have a foothold in the market, and are trying to do our best.
I'll be happy to
discuss Chum's pros and cons with you, but you're so fixated and militant about
the cons I wonder how edifying it might be.

Lee Powell.

[monakitty]

Ya.

[cart_machine]

  ? The imaging is uninspired and just plain cheap sounding.? What's with the same guy yelling "you're on the Team 1040" all the time? 

Well tuned, I've worked for Chum with the Team 1040 for the last 6 years, off and on, and I couldn't possibly disagree with you more. 1040 has built a market niche, from absolute SCRATCH, to become a fixture on the dial for most males, and has become the rightsholders for the two main franchises in the market. They also paid over 6 million dollars in rightsfees, but I guess they're just cheap. It is FAR from a perfect company, but I'll take the people I work
with there, and have been associated with for the past 6 years, over most of the other organizations any DAY of the frickin week. They (we) have also been a huge thorn in NW's side, if you doubt that, you should sit in on some of their meetings, they are OBSESSED with the rivalry. We on the other hand, are just happy to have a foothold in the market, and are trying to do our best.
I'll be happy to discuss Chum's pros and cons with you, but you're so fixated and militant about the cons I doubt it would be very edifying.

Lee Powell.

Hi, Lee. I'm going to ask the same question as Tuned. What is it with the repetitive recorded liners? It's either "You're on the Team 1040!" or the same version with the first three words edited. Even CKO could afford to put a music bed behind their liners and their highly-talented, though now-aging, production manager changed them every few weeks to keep them fresh. (Though management didn't like the idea of one that went "We're the station BBM forgot - 96.1 FM, CKO!" )

The cold liners really should go.

Whether the station is "a fixture on the dial for most males" is debatable; I imagine NW, CFOX and JACK could probably drag out numbers from somewhere which "prove" the same thing.

cArtie.

[tuned]

You are a great broadcaster Lee but if you were in charge I bet you'd make some changes to 1040. My dislike for Chum as a company aside 1040 just doesn't sound slick. As I detailed in another post the 'nucks broadcasts sound lacklustre. It's not so much the individual talent on the station, I like Brooke Ward and Pratt & Taylor etc but the talent doesn't get much on-air support. It doesn't flow like it should and it's all because Chum is too cheap to spend the dough since they blew their wad on paying double or more to get the rights away from NW. Don't even get me started on QM and CFUN. QM/FM is a money machine because they run it on the cheap. Who spends less on their morning show talent? JRFM maybe? The overall presentation of NW is sitll head and shoulders above anything that Chum puts on the air.

[interiormotive]

Sorry I didn't mean to start a pissing match. I was just applauding what I personally thought was a good job by the team 1040. Whether they are better than whomever is secondary to the fact I simply enjoy it on the ground level.

As for the bells and whistles that come with station liners, that's again, an individual taste. I know repetiton is key to getting call letters and station ID's inside of people's subconscious. So keeping it simple makes sense to me.

I listen to a variety of Vancouver radio overall be it on the web when I am home in Kelowna, or down in Vancouver on work. I like Taylor and Pratt, I like Neil McCrae, and I am beginning to slide over to WX occasionally. I heard Greg Douglas on the other day, is he a staffer? Still 1040 is the cream of the sports crop, whether its rough around the edges or not. NW was right to pass on the torch, as the format was to thin for sports and talk radio. Team 1040 gives the Canucks the due they deserve even on night's they get beaten 6-0 (second time this year!).

Thanks all for the opinions, keep it positive!

N.D.

[Jack Bennest]

"The Team is not a perfect product, but it is a station that uses
only "talk" to generate programming, so I'm always amused when it's compared
to music stations in terms of market reach." - lee powell

glaherty: this is the part I disagree with. Both NW and Team 1040 rely mainly on talk
for their programming. But the numbers are quite different. There may be a historical
base for NW's numbers but they should erode and Team's should rise. Time will tell.

What I see - is that the sports sector for radio is limited. It's a niche market. The bulk
of the audience appears to listen to music - the beat, clear, cfox, qm/fm, cfmi, jr country.

Now the talk/news rub - CBC and CKNW with huge numbers in comparison to CFUN, WX, TEAM and o yea 'all day traffic' on JJ Johnson radio.

[Heard It On The X]

I heard Greg Douglas on the other day, is he a staffer?

He's on News1130 every morning during the 7:45 sports with Garry Raible.

[glaherty]

Fellas,(fellaettes?) I will pass on your comments about the liners etc.
You can talk to the people in management at the Team, and they
might actually listen. As for NW being mainly talk, well yes, but it was also
as I'm sure you know, a music hybrid format for many years, and at the risk
of repeating myself, could the NW management and programming crew do what
we (they) have accomplished at 1040, that is start pretty much from scratch,
and get ANYBODY to listen. I believe given what happened on 730, we know
the answer to that question. Appreciate your comments, some of them are
valid IMO, and it's nice to have a dialogue on it. If I were in charge there I
would make some changes yes, but I agree with 80-90% of how things have
been done. By the way, Mojo radio's demise, is not necessarily best for
the sports broadcasters in the market, it's always better to have a) competition
b)employment alternatives. We have picked up some of their people and
admittedly some of their show names, i.e. Canucks lunch, (thought I'd get
that in for fairness sake), but having them change format was a mixed
situation in some ways.)

lp

[johnsykes]

If I may humbly add my two cents worth...I commented several weeks ago about the dramatic station id's....I do understand repetition breeds higher numbers, or can do....the dramatics can tick people off too. Getting them toned down could be a major improvement.

One other thing....with a format like Team 1040...the station can and does do a far better job than NW re pre and post game shows. 1040 isn't afraid to spend the time on them.

A good weekend to one and all

J.S.

[glaherty]

This will be an interesting book, but I've already heard from good sources
at NW, that they're selling so well, they don't really care if they drop a point
or two in the BBM's. If there is no increase for 1040 with Canucks hockey
that should say something about the accuracy of the survey. You can't convince
me there isn't a listener increase, regardless of what anybody thinks of the
sound of the station.