Greetings from Switzerland. It’s funny how when the Raptors are winning, the Leafs providing hope that their just isn’t ton to talk about in terms of sports media in Toronto. Everyone is saying the same thing on the Argos/CFL, the Blue Jays aren’t a story yet, despite raising the cheap ticket prices… It’s so true how negativity sells. Oh well, let the good times roll.

I haven’t seen this anywhere yet, so if it has appeared I apologize. Here are the ratings for January for sports radio in Toronto.

The first category is for men aged 25-54 in general:

Fan 590 – 4.9
Talk 640 – 4.7

As a comparison:

news talk 1010 – 3.9

As a standalone number/category that’s pretty impressive. I assume that the fan would look at this as the target demographic and to only be ahead by .2 is quite alarming. Consider that the Leafs weren’t much to speak of and 640 only does a few hours of sports per day. Comparatively, one could say that the rest of their programing (non-sports) is popular with guys in this bracket.

Morning show, again men aged 25-54:

640 – 6.8
590 – 6.1

For comparisson:

1010 – 4.3

Is anyone surprised by these numbers? The Fan morning show is a dog. Something has to give, Landry and Stellick are beyond stale. It’s sad that we in Toronto don’t have a quality sports drive to work radio show.

The lunch time shows, at least hour 1 noon-1pm again only for men 25-54:

The Fan’s Hockeycentral – 4.4

vs:

640’s Leafs Lunch 2.9

Ouch! I don’t want to keep repeating myself BUT:

Dreger is a great insider. Dreger isn’t a good host. The sooner 640 realizes that too much Watters isn’t a good thing the sooner the numbers will increase. Rotate REAL radio hosts through the lunch hour, talk to the hockey world at large and leave Watters to the Watters show (during hockey season only please). They have enough “insiders” to leave Wilbur to his errands with Cheech and the fellas at lunch time.

Kudos to the fan for winning this battle HANDILY.

By the way, when 640 goes back to non sports, and hour number 2 of hockeycentral kicks in the number grows to 5.3!

It shows you there is a huge appetite for hockey info in the city. It’s all in how you fill the time.

If you look at the pre-drive slots, where the Fan is alone in the sports world with hockey central and the Gameplan, the Fan holds it’s own in comparison to other stations in the same demographic. This isn’t the greatest time slot and it’s a tribute to the guys at the fan for keeping fresh, local content on all day long. I will be curious to see if this number grows should the Raptors continue to play well.

Here are the results from 1-4pm, again men aged 25-54

640 4.6
590 4.5

for comparison:

CFRB 1.9

Ok- the big boys. McCown vs. Watters:

First the same demographic, men aged 25-54

590 8.7
640 4.1

The Bobcat delivers. It’s really that simple. My comments on Wilbur are above, and they hold true. I have to assume that the lack of anything interesting to say about the Leafs in January couldn’t have helped Watters either but, the numbers speak for themselves.

Where it kind of gets interesting, and this is a trend is with the younger guys (18-34). In my opinion this is the Brady factor. The numbers in the same time slot but for the younger guys are:

590 4.7
640 4.4

Now, 640 isn’t winning the race, but it’s a hell of a lot closer then with the older demographic. This is the Brady factor because younger people will relate to his tone, sense of humour etc. as opposed to the show that McCown does. I also wonder if McCown not taking calls cuts into this demographic for McCown.

So, there you have it.

More later.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Here’s your bikini of the day from GetABikini.com

On Fan 590 Tonight-

- Grapeline with Don Cherry & Brian Williams at 4:45
- Bob McCown’s co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is John Shannon
- Nick Kyreos
TBA

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:

- Brian Duff of NHL Network on hockey

- Jim Barker, new Argos head coach

- hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Bob McKenzie at 6:10

I know, I’m an idiot for listening. It’s my own fault, I am, to a degree addicted to sports radio. I’ve said it before (get ready, you may see that a few times again) but I know it isn’t keeping sports talk fresh and interesting day in and night out. A member of my family has been banned from talking about sports because that’s all he does talk about- he has had to sit silently at meals cause he can’t talk sports. So I get that it’s hard and I respect the jobs that those in the biz do. I just wish that there were certain things that were done better. I am, I hope, the first to admit a screw up too by the way… I know I am not perfect either.

So here’s what has me peeved. Leading off tonight is the Bill Watters show. Actually, it’s Bill Watters. I’ve said it before (I warned you), but the guy is so full of bias on so many issues that he should be disallowed from talking about certain subjects(like that family member of mine!). Bill Watters can’t speak about the owners of any team in this town without spewing his bias. His arguments get more and more insane and annoying every time he goes there. Doesn’t matter if it’s MLSE- the Argos boys or Rogers. He just shouldn’t go there. He sounds like a bitter, bitter ex-employee or father of a terminated son. No one wants to hear that AND it makes the old guy so much less credible on other issues.

I’m not defending the Argos by the way, that franchise has dug such a hole and the league’s solution sounds much like filling it in with quick sand. How does anyone take anything that the team is doing seriously while the ownership issue is hanging out there? Seriously, why or how could anyone spend 2 cents on a single game ticket for this team let alone a package or season tickets? There is supposed to be a level of trust between ownership and it’s fanbase, that trust has been totally abused by the Argos.

Down the dial at the Fan things weren’t any better tonight. Kevin Allen was on Twitter around 7pm predicting that a deal with Kovalchuk was imminent. Then around 7:30 the actual deal started to circulate on Twitter. As late of 7:55 the night shift guys at the Fan590 were asking callers whether or not Canada would win Olympic gold????? IF they mentioned twitter, Kevin Allen or the trade I certainly didn’t hear it. Now, if you are going to be talking sports all day, at the very least they should be up on this type of thing. No Toronto team played tonight. It’s not like there was a bigger story tonight. I don’t understand why our only all sports station wasn’t all over this.

As Mike S. pointed out, I was wrong on my facts with the Edwards interview from the day before. I would love to blame the pain medicine, but I am not on any! In any event, take a read at this great article by the Bruins (perhaps homer) play by play guy- I think it’s great.

Sooooooo, Tampa Bay appears to be sold. Who’s next? Reports are rampant that the Dallas Stars couldn’t make payroll and the league was having do so for them. WOW- Where does it end? For more on that story read this excellent review. Does anyone know if the sale of the Lighning pays of the folks with the Detroit Pistons? Hmmmmmmm.

While on the topic of bias on the radio, did anyone listen to Richie Rich MacLean today? His chatting about a new mercedes was annoying enough but to listen to him go on about his old team??????? I kept praying for a transformer to go out at the Rogers campus.

Meanwhile, if you want to feel sorry for someone today, it should be those who are fans of the Atlanta Thrashers. Talk about an abused fan base! How many time does management allow high quality guys to walk for near nothing? Have these guys never thought about being proactive, dealing from a position of strength??????? Man oh man. There is a group of folks who have been loyal to that team and there doesn’t seem like there has been a lot of reciprocity. Check out this article- it tells it like it is.

That’s all I got….

Happy Friday…

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Well, for the time being the Toronto Argonauts belong to David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski, but that could change any day.

It’s no secret that the two men who have owned the boatmen since 2003 are looking to sell, and that David Braley is looking to buy. The problem in many people’s eyes is that Mr. Braley is also the owner of the B.C. Lions. The league has no rule against owning multiple teams, nor does it outlaw one team loaning money to another.

Braley helped Cynamon and Sokolowski pay half of their purchase price, half of their losses. In return, he was repaid with profits from a successful 2007 Grey Cup hosted in Toronto.

TSN’s Dave Naylor reports that the Argos are projected to lose close to $6 million this upcoming season. The reason for this comes from the mediocre product on the field. The team was a miserable 3-15 last season, and has no head coach in place after Bart Andrus was fired in December.

The team has a glorious opportunity to win back disgruntled fans this summer. The Blue Jays were marred by a brutal winter in terms of public relations. They dealt their best player (I know it was the sensible business/baseball decision to make, but the fact is it won’t get the average fan to the ballpark) and raised some season ticket prices by over 50%.

The CFL is the easiest league in which to rebound after a terrible season, what with 75% of its teams qualifying for the playoffs. My take on this is that although the $6 million mark is rather staggering — and I’m by no means a business major — it might be best to hold on for one more season. I don’t think that if Cynamon and Sokolowski wait for one more year Braley would lose interest, unless his goal is to buy low.

***

In other CFL news, commissioner Mark Cohon announced that he will once again be taking suggestions from fans on rule changes. Whereas last year he kept the floor open to all changes (thank God the single remained untouched!!), his only question to fans this winter is whether the overtime format needs to be changed.

The current format sees teams alternate possessions from the opponents’ 35-yard line. The team that scores the most points in a round wins. If after two rounds there is still no winner, the game ends in a tie.

To change this would be ridiculous. NFL fans moan and groan about how their sudden-death format is often decided by the filp of a coin. The current “shootout” overtime the CFL has is one of the reasons why three-down football is the most exciting around. I love the fairness, and it often turns into a great chess match between the coaches. If you go first, do you put the points on the board and hope your defence can hold, or do you go for the gusto?

The CFL would be nuts to change this system. The 2005 Grey Cup between Edmonton and Montreal went to double overtime, and it’s one of the most exciting games I’ve ever seen. Please Commissioner Cohon, don’t mess with a good thing.

- Marc Tessier

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight-

- open phones with McCown from 4:05 to 4:40
- Grapeline with Don Cherry & Brian Williams at 4:45
- co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is Stephen Brunt
5:25 Bob Elliott, Toronto Sun
5:42 Bob Nicholson, Argos President & CEO
6:05 Iain Page, Golf Channel
6:30 Matthew Sanderson, Founder of Playoff PAC
6:45 Kevin Martin, Olympic Curler

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:

- Bryan Murray, general manager of the Senators

- Dave Poulin of the Maple Leafs front office

- Bob “The Bear” Cowan with his Monday NFL pick

- Jolly Jonas Siegel from the ACC to preview tonight’s Leafs-Senators game

- hockey insider Ray Ferraro at 6:10

- show ends at 6:30 to make way for the Leafs pre-game show

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

There’s no baseball game tonight. In the NHL there are no Canadian teams in action. The NFL leaves Friday night for high school and college football. So what does that leave us with….CFL Friday night football. More importantly they’re rivalry games which are always more fun to watch. The early game has the Hamilton Ti-Cats making the trip down the QEW to take on the Toronto Argonauts. In the past this series has been lop-sided in the Argos favor, but this season the Argos are absolutely terrible. Since bringing in former Tennessee Titan offensive assistant Bart Andrus and allowed the first time CFL-er to call his own plays the teams offence has been – offensive. Not having a reliable quarterback or core of receivers do not help the matter. The defence has played well, but they spend far too much time on the field and in that situation it’s only a matter of time before the opposing team scores. On the other hand the Ti-Cats have gotten better. Granted they’ve lost four in a row, but they’re 6-9 on the season and tied for second with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the East. You also have to remember the Steel-town Tabbies haven’t sniffed the playoffs in five years.

In the late game it’s another provincial showdown as the Edmonton Eskimos battle the Stampeders in Calgary. Calgary sits in second place in the West with an 8-6 record. Edmonton (7-8)  is only three points behind, but are currently occupying the bottom spot in the conference. A win today for the Stamps and they clinch a post-season spot. This will be the fourth team these teams have met this season and so far Calgary has won two of three games. Both teams feature potent offences. Eskimo’s QB Ricky Ray is second in the league with 4097 passing yards and 20 touchdowns. Calgary’s Henry Burris is right behind him. Burris has thrown for just under 4000 yards and 19 touchdowns. On defence, Calgary has the clear advantage. The Stampeders are second in the league in points allowed (25.3) and turnover differential (+7).

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight-

- open phones with McCown from 4:05 to 4:40
- co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is jim Kelley
5:20 Nick Kypreos, Sportsnet
5:40 Bart Andrus, Argos Head Coach
6:05 Don Banks, SI.COM
6:30 David Branch, CHL President & OHL Comish
6:45 Keith Law, ESPN on the ALCS & NLCS

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:

- Brian Duff of NHL Network on hockey
- hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Bob McKenzie at 6:10

Word on the street is that 640 Toronto is adding at least 2 new sports oriented shows to their offering. I wonder what 2 times of the day Bill Watters can be on when he isn’t already? Seriously this is a good thing for us listeners in the GTA. First, hopefully it will take guys like Harry Capito off the air. Secondly and more importantly, it should pressure the Fan into providing even more compelling radio than they currently do. I remain amazed that there is enough for them to talk about all the hours and days that they are on, but having someone else doing it more often will help.

Ideas for shows?

Jonas Siegel is the Bachelor
Bill Watters talks Argos, Renegades and Rock Lacrosse- Show to be called My Kids Teams
Useless info starring Bob the Bear Cowan and Lou Schizas

Anyone else? Mike S????

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight-

- open phones with McCown from 4:05 to 4:40
- co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is Stephen Brunt
- Bob nicholson (argos)
- David peterson, pan am games chair
- Don banks, si.com
- Brahm Resnik, news 12 in phoenix
- Mike shaw, blue jays manager of team travel

On 640 with Brady and Watters:thanks to Mike S.

- Mark Johnson, USA Women’s hockey coach
- Discussion on the Phil Kessel situation

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight- thanks to Mike S.

- open phones with McCown from 4:05 to 4:40
- co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is James Deacon
- Brian Cooper in studio at 5:20 talking sports business issues
-Buzz Hargrove at 6:05 talking NHLPA coupe
-Ernie Els at 6:30
-Patrik LaForge at 6:45

On 640 with Brady and Watters:

- Buzz Hargrove of the NHLPA
- Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN on college football
- Dave Feschuk, co-author of a new book on the Leafs
- Eric Adelson, author of a book on Michelle Wie

TSM TAKE:

Mccown is back and not a minute too soon. What a night for sports radio! First we have the whole Coyotes/Balsillie issue, add to that the Maple Leaf letter and we have something “juicy” to talk about. Next, in case you have been living on the moon, Paul Kelly has been fired from his gig at the NHLPA. When it comes to issues like this, no one is better than Mccown to breaking down the issues. Add to that the new book about the Maple Leafs, the Blue Jays spiraling season, the Argos imploding season and there is a ton to talk about. Across the border there appears to be the makings of a mutiny at the University of Michigan where a few players have gone public with alleged NCAA violations. Have I forgotten anything?

Oh yes, indeed I have. It’s the start of the fall ratings season for radio. Why, is this ratings season different than all others? No, we aren’t eating unleavened bread this ratings system, we are living under a new system though and with the shitty economy this is the book that the advertisers are going to go by. This is the superbowl of sports radio starting today. Under the old system, people would fill out a journal (literally, pen and paper) and could only count the one station that they listened to in a given time frame. So if you got into your car and started with 680 news, and stayed there for 10 minutes, but the rest of the hour listened to 590, you would only record 680.

Industry sources tell TSM that on a test of the new system, 640’s the Oakley station made LARGE gains on the Fan and other morning shows. We are also told that both CFRB and 1050 am saw sizable drops in the amount of time listened to category. That makes sense given the new way in which audience is measured. Despite an almost Mccown free summer, on the test, PTS continued its dominance in the drive home hour.

I know that a test in the dead summer is not overly telling or indicative of much. Believe this, the folks at the stations are paying a lot of attention to what is going on. How they perform over the next several weeks will determine many a fates in the next year. CFRB, in case you missed it let some folks go last week as the economic impact continues to be felt in the industry.

So, who, what and where you listen going forward may actually start to matter. That’s a good thing in this market. Summer is apparently over and most of the big boys are back. It’s one of the only reasons that I look forward to summer ending…

TSM