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I almost never listen to the Fan 590, except when there's a Jays game on. When the broadcast ends, the station automatically switches to the filler programming of Westwood One Sports Radio from the U.S. A lot of the time, the stuff they're talking about isn't especially interesting to local sports fans, although not being one, I guess I could be wrong.
I've been listening to this "joining the network" in progress for years now and almost every single time they go back to one of their U.S.-based shows already in progress, there's only one subject they're talking about - football. Football, football, football. Always football. It's either the NFL or mostly the NFL (with college football also in the mix.)
Somehow, I never hear them referring to anything about Major League Baseball, whose season is still on, World Cup Soccer, which is at the centre of the planet's attention at the moment, or anything to do with the NHL, despite the recent draft. The NBA gets the occasional mention, but it's also out of season.
It appears the only "One" in Westwood One is the gridiron. The season isn't even on, and still it's the only thing they're going on about. I understand why the Fan is affiliated with this service and that they can't afford to have local hosts on in Toronto all the time. But my God, could there be a more irrelevant sports radio service for a Toronto audience? They may as well change their name to the NFL Network, because that appears to be all they're interested in.
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The NFL is, by far, the most followed and closely watched league in the US...... It's not even close. The average NFL fan knows more about the leagues other teams than fans do within the other leagues, making it easier to talk about at a national scale. Second, Westwood Ones has the NFL radio rights; it makes sense to promote your own product
As for why 590 airs it, they have no other option. Anything they would re-air would run the risk of being out of date, never mind that the stakes are so low on AM radio that it doesn't matter what they air on evenings and weekends
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I think Westwood One does amazing things with their properties.
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For the casual NFL fan like me, I have no interest until the regular season actually starts after Labour Day. For the more obsessed fans there is the NFL Draft, mini camps, training camp opening, the cutting of players and pre-season games. Lots of stuff to talk about. And that's just the NFL. Then you have NCAA football. There are at least ten college stadiums with larger seating capacity than Met-Life, which is the largest NFL stadium. There are some high school stadiums in the U.S. that would make my high school field look like a cow pasture.
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All of which is true and there's no doubt Americans are passionate about football. My only contention is that there are other sports that are currently in season to talk about. You know they're going to gab endlessly about the NFL once it gets underway and rightly so.
But what about the sports going on now? Shouldn't they get at least some attention, as well? I can't imagine, barring some big trade or a managerial firing, that we're going to hear a lot on Westwood One about Major League Baseball in the middle of January.
I suppose it shouldn't matter to me either way. I won't be listening in any event. But in terms of coverage, I would think the teams currently playing matter more than those whose seasons are still a long way off.
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Channel surfing this morning and both Toronto sports stations were talking about the Leafs. Admittedly, my listening sample-size was very limited — I have no doubt the World Cup game was discussed thoroughly. Point is though, football in America (and on W1) is akin to hockey here.