The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » "Shuffle" happening at Sportsnet Radio

ED1 · September 29, 2021 1:01 pm

Anyone hearing anything about what's going on at Sportsnet Radio (590 Toronto/960 Calgary/650 Vancouver)? People on Twitter speculating that there's changes happening at the 3 radio stations today, and all stations have been running Jim Rome.

https://twitter.com/AHBSeaborn/status/1443252263624003587

RadioAaron · September 29, 2021 1:21 pm

Oh no....

Last edited by RadioAaron (September 29, 2021 1:21 pm)

eladb · September 29, 2021 1:35 pm

Here it is:
https://www.rogerssportsandmedia.com/whats-happening/sportsnet-unveils-new-multiplatform-audio-content-launching-oct-4/

betaylored · September 29, 2021 1:53 pm

Funny how things come full circle with Nick K. and Jeff Blair.

No more Hockey Central at noon, it's now officially Jeff Marek's show. He's more than earned it, and is another terrific hockey broadcaster who was one of the hosts, along with Greg Brady, of am640's Leafs Lunch going back ten years ago.

A bit offside that they haven't decided to air The Steve Dangle Podcast on their radio station to try and grab that audience. Their loss. Or maybe Steve wants to be able to have the freedom of a podcast.

tvguy · September 29, 2021 1:58 pm

Does that mean Scotty Mac will no longer be on mornings or gone from the FAN? I can't stand to listen to JD Bunkis.

RadioAaron · September 29, 2021 1:58 pm

Glad today's lineup is just to fill until the new shows begin. Looks like a genuine shuffle and re-investment rather than a salary purge. Adjusting the lineup seasonally by which sports are active makes a lot of sense.

RadioAaron · September 29, 2021 1:59 pm

tvguy wrote:
Does that mean Scotty Mac will no longer be on mornings or gone from the FAN? I can't stand to listen to JD Bunkis.

I have heard that Scott was let go.

eladb · September 29, 2021 2:06 pm

590 is also doing away with the top of the hour sports updates, as Alex Seixeiro announced on his Twitter account. He will continue to provide updates on 680 News.
https://twitter.com/alexfan590/status/1443272719580151815

cash · September 29, 2021 2:50 pm

So the jays are in the middle of their biggest series of the season and 590 is talking about US college football?

Rune · September 29, 2021 6:03 pm

Rogers can't help themselves. To do this today, during the biggest Jays series in several years, tells you 2 things. First, they don't care about The Fan and it's audience. There is no other explanation, although the timing probably has a lot more to do with their HR department than the programming department. And the other thing this tells you is they have no idea what good radio is, because if they did, JD Bunkis wouldn't be doing the morning show. Especially with 2 people nobody has heard of.

RadioAaron · September 29, 2021 6:16 pm

Changing your entire lineup, then having the new shows on air the same day is virtually impossible. The few days of CBS are unfortunately necessary. I have to wonder if they'd hoped to have this done in August, but inevitable HR delays brought them into the thick of the fall book.

RadioActive · September 29, 2021 9:49 pm

From The Toronto Star:

Nick Kypreos is back on the radio (and podcasts) with Sportsnet, talking Leafs and more Leafs

RadioActive · September 29, 2021 10:05 pm

Another change: Jays Talk, the post game show, will be taking phone calls for the first time this season. Before this, they were only doing texts.

cash · September 29, 2021 10:09 pm

So Jeff Blair is off most of the winter?

TheWiz · September 30, 2021 9:18 am

RadioActive wrote:
Another change: Jays Talk, the post game show, will be taking phone calls for the first time this season. Before this, they were only doing texts.

Hopefully, this means other shows will be opening up the phones as well. In the last couple years, the FAN has eliminated virtually all phone calls in favour of endless interviews from pundits who all say the exact same thing.

Text messages are fine, but can get boring since it's just the host reading.

betaylored · September 30, 2021 12:09 pm

TheWiz wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
Another change: Jays Talk, the post game show, will be taking phone calls for the first time this season. Before this, they were only doing texts.
Hopefully, this means other shows will be opening up the phones as well. In the last couple years, the FAN has eliminated virtually all phone calls in favour of endless interviews from pundits who all say the exact same thing.

Text messages are fine, but can get boring since it's just the host reading.

That's true, TheWiz. Unless you read them out of context the way Jay and Ryan do (used to do?) on Newstalk 1010's afternoon drive show every Friday afternoon coming up from the bottom of their final hour. Pretty hilarious and proof you can let your listeners do some of the heavy lifting if you know how.

Tomas Barlow · September 30, 2021 3:40 pm

Abandoning a consistent year-round lineup for your most loyal listeners so you can cater to listeners who drop in for one sport and then leave sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. Where do they come up with these ideas?

RadioActive · October 1, 2021 12:02 am

An assessment of the changes at the Fan, with the author noting that podcasts and on-air needs are different animals - and wondering how this can possibly work for an old-time legacy broadcaster.

Sportsnet radio changes see many let go in Toronto and Vancouver, new programming approach focused on podcasts

Tomas Barlow · October 1, 2021 12:40 am

National hockey shows don't work. The last thing a Flames fan wants is even more Toronto based hockey talk than they already get on TV.

dieter · October 3, 2021 1:50 am

cash wrote:
So the jays are in the middle of their biggest series of the season and 590 is talking about US college football?

I got in the car Saturday evening just as The Fan wrapped up its Blue Jays game coverage. Next up was their US affiliate (ESPN, CBS or whoever) promising hours of college football talk. I'm sure I wasn't the only person in the GTA changing the station at that moment.

Last edited by dieter (October 3, 2021 10:41 pm)

MJ Vancouver · October 3, 2021 11:22 am

Tomas Barlow wrote:
Abandoning a consistent year-round lineup for your most loyal listeners so you can cater to listeners who drop in for one sport and then leave sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. Where do they come up with these ideas?

Probably focus groups and bean counters.

cash · October 3, 2021 5:58 pm

dieter wrote:
cash wrote:
So the jays are in the middle of their biggest series of the season and 590 is talking about US college football?
I got on the car Saturday evening just as The Fan wrapped up its Blue Jays game coverage. Next up was their US affiliate (ESPN, CBS or whoever) promising hours of college football talk. I'm sure I wasn't the only person in the GTA changing the station at that moment.

The two sports I can't stand are College football and European soccer.

Radiowiz · October 3, 2021 6:55 pm

Tomas Barlow wrote:
National hockey shows don't work. The last thing a Flames fan wants is even more Toronto based hockey talk than they already get on TV.

The late great Team 1050/Team1200 agrees with you. Memories of a time when Ottawa listeners were fed up with hearing radio content that may as well yell "GO LEAFS GO!" non stop.

Rune · October 4, 2021 9:49 am

Had a listen to The Fan 590 morning show today...unlistenable

alangee · October 4, 2021 10:34 pm

Rune wrote:
Had a listen to The Fan 590 morning show today...unlistenable

Agreed. It was pathetically juvenile.

cash · October 4, 2021 11:45 pm

TSN should put McCown on from 2-4 and finish The Fan off for good.

echomaster · October 9, 2021 11:22 pm

cash wrote:
TSN should put McCown on from 2-4 and finish The Fan off for good.

Hail Mary, full of grace
I sooooo miss daily 4-7p McCown et al providing a comprehensive all sports update.
He was krusty but g-whiz compelling to listen to and provided tremendous back-story to everything sports.

Radiowiz · October 10, 2021 8:58 am

cash wrote:
TSN should put McCown on from 2-4 and finish The Fan off for good.

Wages are an issue. Both Roger and Bell are very stingy currently.
Therefore, your suggestion is about as funny as trying to get Tarzan Dan to to mornings on Z 103.
(if you've ever seen THEIR wages, lol)

torontomike · October 10, 2021 11:13 am

Radiowiz wrote:
Tomas Barlow wrote:
National hockey shows don't work. The last thing a Flames fan wants is even more Toronto based hockey talk than they already get on TV.
The late great Team 1050/Team1200 agrees with you. Memories of a time when Ottawa listeners were fed up with hearing radio content that may as well yell "GO LEAFS GO!" non stop.

I recently dropped a 1050 The Team Toronto retrospective episode of Toronto Mike'd. I think you'd enjoy it.

https://www.torontomike.com/2021/10/1050-the-team-toronto-toronto-miked-podcast-episode-925/