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After 670 days the Jays are back in Toronto at the Rogers Centre. Watching the Blue Jays/Kansas City welcome back opening tonight was very well done. Nice videos and the one of the fans welcoming the team back was touching. Just found out today the Rogers Centre has new turf and under cushion in the field. The new turf won't be removed for other events. Before the turf had been removed in sections for other sports or events that came to the stadium. Too bad they didn't follow through with real grass, but there was a rumour earlier in the year that Rogers is considering leveling the dome and building a new more traditional ball stadium. Whether any new stadium would have some sort of roof or real grass has never been mentioned.
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Complete with the radio play-by-play from Ben Wagner, the way it should have been from day one.
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It was great to hear a "real" radio broadcast. Ben is excellent and what a difference listening to last night's game than previous ones this season.
Thank you Rogers. You replaced the corporate suits with a Blue Jays fan sitting in a chair outside listening to the radio. And enjoying it!!!!
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For those who might not have seen this, it is a great, well written essay from Bo Bichette about what it means to be home for him and the rest of the players. Very nicely done.
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I had all but given up listening to blue jays games on radio when working around the house. Today, I tuned in to Wagner’s broadcast. Seems that going solo, he’s a much better broadcaster than when working with a side-kick. His descriptions of the plays were spot on, and hs anecdotes were not reepetive in the way that Tabby and Dan and Buck will come back to the same topic a couple of times a game and leave out pitching sequences. Finally when a pich is “way outside” - you hear about it, well described. I hope that the Rogers braintrust never repeats the mistake of thie first 100+ games of this season. It was an exciting broadcast, even though Manoah limited KC to only a couple of hits and no runs.
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This great article in Toronto Sports Media sums up everything that was wrong with the TV-on-radio broadcast and features quotes from a completely tone-deaf Rogers exec. about the move. He clearly has no idea that listeners hated the experience and in fact, proves he doesn't care one bit, openly criticizing the audience as complainers who don't like change.
Wow.
There's also a reference to the cost cutting at TSN 1050 and why the author doesn't hold out much hope that things are going to improve there anytime soon.
Jays Radio Returns & The Future Of TSN 1050
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RadioActive wrote:
This great article in Toronto Sports Media sums up everything that was wrong with the TV-on-radio broadcast and features quotes from a completely tone-deaf Rogers exec. about the move. He clearly has no idea that listeners hated the experience and in fact, proves he doesn't care one bit, openly criticizing the audience as complainers who don't like change.
Wow.
There's also a reference to the cost cutting at TSN 1050 and why the author doesn't hold out much hope that things are going to improve there anytime soon.
Jays Radio Returns & The Future Of TSN 1050
>> Management at Rogers are being pennywise and pound-foolish, hoping the audience won’t notice.
That says it all right there.
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A perfect example of the skill in which Rogers can pick their suits. Rob Corte, Vice-President of Sportsnet said, "I think we did a pretty good job. It was never going to be perfect. If he knew it wasn't going to be perfect, then he should have realized the possible negative fan reaction, had a plan and made an attempt to prevent it. His recent comments only underscore the fact that Rob Corte is blind to the positive response by the audience of the return to radio play-by-play. His recent broadcasting management skills only show the failure of inexperience to read his audience. They should demonstrate their concern for their audience and HR at Rogers should consider having a "chat" with Rob Corte. This is all based of course, if Rogers was "hands off" and let Corte make all the decisions.
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I noticed that Jerry Howarth was critical of the TV-on-radio move in the article, as he rightly should be. He rarely speaks out about his former employer, but did so in this case. I wonder if he'd still been behind the mic if this would have happened. Wagner is still relatively new, but Howarth is an institution in this field and with the Blue Jays.
I get the impression silencing him for part of the season would not have been so easily overlooked. Or perhaps they would have shunted him over to the TV side instead of Shulman.