1 of 1- RadioActive
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Rogers & The Raptors: Ridiculous Radio
I’ve been unavoidably offline for a few days, but I couldn’t believe what I heard on Saturday afternoon. Rogers faced a bit of a dilemma, having the rights to both the Jays and the Raptors first playoff game. As always, the Jays were carried on the Fan 590, while CityNews 680 took the Raptors overflow.
OK, fair enough - they’ve done it before. But what they did after the Jays coverage ended was just ridiculous. Ben Wagner signed off, promoed Jays Talk, and then 590 immediately switched to the Raptors game, in mid-action. For about 3 minutes, 680 and 590 were simulcasting the exact same thing.
But then 680 suddenly cut off the Raptors’ game and rejoined its regular news wheel - which came on in mid-word of a business report. There was not a single second of warning to listeners tuned there to go to 590 to hear the rest of the match. Instead, it was just gone and people who had been tuned in since the opening tip-off were left in the lurch.
Hopefully, they switched over to 590, but I can’t help but wonder how many people who perhaps tuned in late had no idea what became of the game. A terrible disservice to listeners, who at the very least should have been warned they were about to lose the play-by-play and to tune it in elsewhere.
I can’t recall them ever doing anything quite like this before.
- Radio Bob
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Re: Rogers & The Raptors: Ridiculous Radio
Yet the bean counters keep laying off the humans and relying on automation and the overworked humans who are left.
- Tomas Barlow
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Re: Rogers & The Raptors: Ridiculous Radio
Are you sure there was no warning on 680? US TV Networks often do this when games overlap. The station the game is leaving from will sometimes leave the game on for a minute or two after the warning has been given several times and it's assumed everyone has made the switch.
For example when NBC had hockey it sounded something like this. "We'll be back after the commercial break when this game will move from CNBC over to NBC Sports Network. We'll see you there. *The commercials air* Then on both channels you'll hear, "For those of you watching on NBC Sports Network we now join game 2 of our double header which has been airing on CNBC. For those of you who have been watching on CNBC, we thank you for making the switch and joining us on NBC Sports Network." Then on CNBC the game will continue for another minute or 90 seconds before it abruptly cuts off and goes back to regular programming.
Last edited by Tomas Barlow (April 17, 2022 10:46 pm)
- RadioActive
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Re: Rogers & The Raptors: Ridiculous Radio
Yes, that's what I would have expected to hear. But I tuned in at least 3-5 minutes prior to the switchover and not a word on 680 that the cut off was coming. Nor did they "welcome listeners" over on 590.
I can't say for sure that the audience wasn't warned sometime before that, but you'd think the moment before the broadcast goes away, someone would have said something. Instead, it was just a straight cut-off and bang! - they were not only in the middle of a business report, but they cut into it in the middle of a word.
Important to remember that even if they announced this at the start of the game (and I have no idea if they did), listeners tune in and out throughout the broadcast and may have missed it. I certainly never heard any warnings in the few minutes I was tuned into both of them at the same time just to hear how the transition would go. I have to say I was very surprised by how badly it was handled on both stations.
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Thread Starter- Tomas Barlow
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Re: Rogers & The Raptors: Ridiculous Radio
RadioActive wrote:
Yes, that's what I would have expected to hear. But I tuned in at least 3-5 minutes prior to the switchover and not a word on 680 that the cut off was coming. Nor did they "welcome listeners" over on 590.
I can't say for sure that the audience wasn't warned sometime before that, but you'd think the moment before the broadcast goes away, someone would have said something. Instead, it was just a straight cut-off and bang! - they were not only in the middle of a business report, but they cut into it in the middle of a word.
Important to remember that even if they announced this at the start of the game (and I have no idea if they did), listeners tune in and out throughout the broadcast and may have missed it. I certainly never heard any warnings in the few minutes I was tuned into both of them at the same time just to hear how the transition would go. I have to say I was very surprised by how badly it was handled on both stations.
Wow. That's incredibly bad.
- Radiowiz
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Re: Rogers & The Raptors: Ridiculous Radio
Uh...
Doesn't Citynews also end their newscast @ 7pm reminding people that they can catch news on CityNews 680?
"Next news @ 11, you can also catch news on Citynews 680..."
Last edited by Radiowiz (April 18, 2022 9:56 am)
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- torontostan
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Re: Rogers & The Raptors: Ridiculous Radio
I was listening and it was exactly as RA described. There was no warning for us listeners. I will also say the start of the Raptors broadcast on 680 was also a mess. They cut-off a traffic report and abruptly joined a panel chatting about the Raptors. Then after about 15 minutes abruptly flipped back to the newswheel format. Just embarrassing.
Another thought: putting the game on 590 at the conclusion of the Jays game is a fine strategy, however I would've waited until the quarter ended before making the switch. Why do it in the middle of a play? Is getting back to the news quickly that important? There was no breaking news that I can remember. They should've simulcasted the game on both stations for a short while and then clearly announced the switch multiple times at the end of a quarter.