She reminded me of an analyst at the Olympics, they go into specific detail about various sports that they cover, figure skating comes to mind.

I totally agree. But I ask the question. Does CJCL have a program director and does he/she listen to the broadcasts?  Perhaps that’s a thing of the past and I’m really out of touch, but you’d think that other listeners have voiced similar concerns, Wouldn’t a PD review tapes with the producer of the baseball broadcasts and “talent” or have we reached a point where nobody in management cares at Rogers, because they own the team they own the stadioum and all of the unsold advertising avails promote their products.

They have to talk a lot because silence isn't rated. The PPM tone attaches itself to audio. No audio = no tone = no ratings.

The late Vin Scully was the master of silence. He knew when to shut up and let the crowd tell the story. And sometimes, it would go on for 20 secs. to a minute or more, depending on the situation.

Maybe the last of his kind. Today's crop could learn a lot from him. 

RA, your comment is a good one, but I doubt that this crop would take the time to "listen" "learn" and "improve". I remember back to tom cheek and jerry howarth, and even before they teamed up.   Back to the days of the Hewpex radio network....A couple of observations.  Tom and Jerry didn't speak constantly.  So you would hear crowd noise or at least a natural pause.  In the Dome and other stadiums there wasn't the constant bombardment of electronic noises. (everybody clap your hands, etc, etc)  Perhaps - and I'm speculating at home games, the play by play announcers have been told to "talk over" the stadium noise.  But there's another factor or two.  People like. Jerry Howarth did not simply ascend to the "big leagues". Howarth who practiced law for a while, worked the Pacific Coast League and some very small radio outlets.  It was very competitive and difficult to graduate to the "big leagues" for a play-by-play announcer.  These folks were In my view, professional broadcasters.   I am not suggesting that Ms. Shipman is not qualified, but honestly she's not in the league of Jerry Howarth or Tom Cheek.  I know she was a "softball" star shortstop in women's softball in Virginia or Tenessee,...But I don't think she's had the mentorship or training that some of her radio predecessors had.  Without being sexist, she probably has ascended because she looks very good on TV and broadcasters are under gov't pressure to have more gender diversity on the air.  There is one other thing, baseball commentators have become fixated on -- statistics.  I partially blame the blight of online gambling and the gambling industry's hold on broadcasters and the sports leagues.  So much of the broadcasts on radio are statistics based, odds of this, chances of that.  Remember, even 15 or 20 years ago there wasn't radar gun data on screen in the stadium for every pitch and in a lot of stadiums there's onscreen data as to the nature of the pitch, slurve, heater, etc.  I think that the data overload, contributes to the constant chatter.    I've been to a couple of games this year and the chatter doesn't seem to be much different on air, at those games,  than when they are broadcasting an away game from a booth in Toronto.  

Last edited by tvguy (September 8, 2025 3:32 pm)

I also think that there’s egos involved here and “the more I talk, the less rap room for my co-host”, like that guy who has to talk over you down at the pub!

Torontostan, perhaps you like betting on sports.  The point that I was trying to make, is that the constant barrage of statistical data, regarding the "odds" of something happening feeds into the fact that the major media companies have made mega $$$ deals with the betting industry.  I suggest you watch "The Big Board" on Sportsnet Blue Jays Central.   Although the segment is sponsored by(of course) by BET 365, Alana Rizzo, a young and talented broadcaster provides excellent information about the opposing team or the Jays lineup.  Contrast that with Blake Murphy, who appears on that segment several times a week.  Mr. Murphy is employed by Rogers.  His segment is skewed about 90% of the time to sports wagering stats.   I have a lot of friends who are baseball fans, and watch or listen to the games.  No one has admitted to me thus far that the sports betting segments are anything less than a tune-out and extremely irritating.  Is that because I am an old guy?  I don't think so.  We are fortunate enough to PVR Jays Pregame, Game and Post-game, so that we can build up a "buffer" to blitz through the wagering advertising and the Blake Murphy segments.

And my recollection of Tom and Jerry was that they called the game, and did not re-live the past glory days of Babe Ruth or some other has-beens