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On Fan 590 Tonight

Bruce Arthur Co-hosts….

5:20 Kypreos

5:42 Doug Smith, toronto star

6:05 Don banks, si.com

6:30 Paul Kelly

6:45 John Buccigross, ESPN.COM

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.

- Steven Stamkos of the Lightning

- Dave Randorf of TSN on the Grey Cup

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

So the numbers are in for the first month of the fall ratings on the radio. This is the new People Meter System which should deliver a more accurate account on who is listening to what.

Here are the highlights as I know them:

Men aged 25-54..Total Share Of Audience

John Oakley — 7.7
590 Morning Show – 6.3
CFRB – 5.7

Cumulative Audience

Fan 590: 158,000
640 Toronto: 111,000

So fair is fair and fair is unfair- there is only one sports show in town and the closest comparison is Oakley…

Mike Stafford — 7.4
The Bullpen — 2.9

Same story here as the Bullpen is the only sports show in town. I suspect this isn’t that surprising to the folks at the fan. It’s not the best time of day, the show appeals to a very small but dedicated group of people. No one else talks ARGO football/ CFL and then, well there is Toth….

Leafs Lunch — 6.3 – older demo (35-49) 4.0
Hockey Central/baseball show (only 12-1pm) — 4.3 older demo (35-49) 5.4

leafs lunch — 18-34 4.6
HC/BC ——-18-34 2.6

weekly cumulative: 25-54 fan 590 152,000 640 101,000
daily cumulative 18-34 fan 54,000 640 30,000

640 has fewer people listening longer which leads to larger share of the audience

I seem to recall this being reversed. To be fair, again, HC didn’t have a full month. The baseball show in a baseball dead town took on half the month. This is a good sign for Dreger though. I am most interested to see this number in the coming books.

Prime Time Sports 9.0
The Bill Watters Show 4.6

PTS cumulative 207,000-weekly 75,000 daily
BWS Cumulative 138,000 weekly 39,000 daily

Mccown has a big lead. BWS makes in roads in this space there is no question. However, Mccown is Mccown.

Interestingly enough, the Watters show surpassed Mccown with the younger demographic, 18-34 men: BWS 4.8, Mccown 3.9

In the older demographic men aged 35-54: Mccown 10.2, BWS 4.4

I don’t think that is totally surprising either.

TSM spoke with Nelson Millman, the boss over at the fan about the latest “book”

“It is fine, not hugely different than what we have seen. Our cumulative are up, honestly it will take 6 months for this all to shake out and we can identify some trends. No programming decisions will be based on personal people meters. No one should rip their rotator cuff off padding themselves on the back from one month under the new system.”

Over at 640, Program Director Gord Harris offered this “Leafs Lunch has been a market-leading program for some time, and we are thrilled that TSN’s Darren Dreger, as the program host, has extended our lead over other news/talk and sports/talk competitors in both the Male 25-54 and Male 18-34 demographics. In fact, AM640 is the number one AM radio station in the Toronto market in those demos during Leafs Lunch. We are confident that, as the exclusive radio partner with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the only radio reporter who travels with the team to every game, and our unprecedented line up of hockey “insiders” (including TSN’s Darren Dreger, Bob McKenzie, Ray Ferraro, Pierre McGuire, and CBC’s Scott Morrison),

We are also very happy with the strong growth we have seen for The Bill Watters Show, going from approximately 10% of our competitor’s share of listening in Male 25-54 demographic before we launched the show, to over 50%. That in just two years since the launch. Even more gratifying is the tremendous growth we have enjoyed in the younger male demographic (18-34) where we lead both our news/talk and sports/talk competitors. As the host of The Bill Watters Show, Greg Brady brings not only a wealth of sports knowledge and experience to listeners, but a youthful enthusiasm and humour – because sports is, after all – fun!”

Interesting times at both stations for sure. Let’s see how this looks next month.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

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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
5:20 Ed Olzyck, NBC & VS
5:40 Bob O’Billovich, Ti Cats GM
6:05 Bill Daly, NHL’s Deputy Commissioner
6:30-7:00 Trent Edwards, Bills QB In Studio

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

- plenty of discussion on the Phil Kessel trade
- Jock Climie of TSN on the CFL
- Bob The Bear Cowan with his Monday Night NFL pick
- hockey insider Darren Dreger at 6:10

As the NFL season kicked off yesterday (minus Thursday’s official opener), I excitedly watched games and highlights throughout the day. Maybe it’s just me, but it felt like I was finally watching meaningful football for the first time in a long time.

What I really love about football Sundays is the chance to flip between games, watching as much action as I can cram into one day. I’m good watching just about any NFL game – Honestly, I had no rooting interest in the Jets-Texans clash, but I still enjoyed following Mark Sanchez’s first NFL victory.

Then, as I flipped to TSN, I laughed.

“CFL Football – B.C. at Montreal,” said my TV guide.

Yes, I’m Canadian.

Yes, I’ve watched plenty of CFL games. I know the rest of the country, especially out west, really likes the league. There is plenty of talent on the field, and lots of scoring. To be honest, I wish I liked it more.

But with the NFL on simultaneously, there’s no way I’m watching Canadian football.

Should I feel bad about this? Seriously, were any football fans in Toronto watching the CFL yesterday?

-DL

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On Fan 590 Tonight- thanks to Mike S.

5:20 Dan Shulman, ESPN
5:40 Peter King, Sports Illustrated… NFL Season gets going
6:05 George Gillett, Canadiens Owner
6:30 Doug MacLean, Now With Jim Balsillie Camp
6:45 Someone from Phoenix courtroom

-On 640 with Brady and Watters:

- Bob Probert

- David Naylor of the Globe & Mail on the CFL

- Mark Osborne

- Sean Baligian

Speaking of Toth, I don’t think he would take too kindly to this but here goes anyway. A friend of mine and I had a chat today about the state of the CFL and this market, Toronto. John Shannon on PTS took a strip out of the Argo’s coach Bart Andrus for how he handled the Bruce situation. Shannon called him something like the American College coach coming up here and putting his stamp on things… So my friend said in response that no respectable division one football coach, coordinator or assistant coach would leave that post to take a head cfl coaching gig. My response was that I thought (and I am rather clueless on these issues) that I think it would really depend on the market in the CFL. In my opinion, a guy would rather be the head coach of the Toronto Argos or the Hamilton Tiger Cats simply because of their geography and their market size. This is not a knock on Saskatchewan or Winnipeg, but I would think that it would be harder to attract that type of coach there for the typical stereotypical reasons.

My friend who is much more up on the college football scene than I, said that in his opinion it would be virtually impossible to lure a division one football coach to a head coaching gig to the CFL. Why do I raise this? Well it lead to a different type of discussion and one I want to turn to you. I said that, should an NFL team ever come to Toronto (and no this debate isn’t about that happening!) the whomever were to own that team would take on the Argos and that the CFL should become a legitimate feeder league for the NFL. I called it the IHL (or AHL) of professional football. I think this would be a great thing for the CFL. My friend rightly pointed out that the only way that would work was if the league maintained Canadian rules/content. I have no problem with that and agree.

What I am asking is this, if the CFL was the official minor league of the NFL would you watch more games, would you take more interest? I think I would. I think that the NFL teams would ensure that all facets of the game were top notch. This isn’t a knock on how the CFL does things. I just think that if it got the endorsement, the affiliation people would pay a hell of a lot more attention to it. I was reminded again today about how knowledgeable baseball fans are of their teams. I saw a couple of fan boards and chats debating the merits of trading minor league prospects I have never heard of. There was passion about current minor leaguers. If the Dallas Cowboys were affiliated with one of the Roughriders (sorry couldn’t help myself) I think that the interest in that team would be significantly higher as fans across North America would want to keep tabs on how their farm players were doing. I also don’t think it’s a bad thing to be a minor or developmental league. I don’t think it’s a slap in the face to the CFL. I think players would make more money, interest would be higher on television, coaching would be better, it would be a win win.

I am sure there are tons of things that I am not thinking about. I know there are logistical issues, unequal amounts of teams, how would it work etc. Maybe that is how the league expands, on the backs of the NFL. I don’t know maybe I am nuts, I am sure this is insulting as all hell to loyal CFLers. I just think it would generate a lot more interest.Maybe not in Toronto, the “event” city as one loyal reader once wrote about our fans. I think it would help grow the game.

Thoughts?

Reminder TSM will be at today’s Argo game. Catch all the action including live tweets and post game posts right here and on twitter!

TSM

follow us on twitter at @yyzsportsmedia

Here are the lineups for the shows at noon:

On Baseball Show:

TBA: but you can bet it will be trade deadline/roy halladay related

On Leafs Lunch:

Duff & Watters
1240 – Darcy Regier – Sabres GM

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:
Okay let’s face it there are a bunch of baseballs games and there’s a big battle in the CFL with the struggling BC Lions taking on the surprising Hamilton Ti-Cats (including the debut of Arland Bruce in the gold and black), but how can anyone look past the fact that today is the trade deadline in MLB? I’m not even going to try and compare this day with the hockey version of this day, because it’s not the same. There’s one enormous reason why today is worthy of the GOTD and it boils down to what is going to happen to Roy Halladay. Will he remain a Blue Jay until the end of this season? Will he end up going to a play off contending team in return for a some prospects? If anything today will also prove the worth of general manager J.P. Ricciardi. Today and what happens with Doc could make or break his entire legacy. It was presumed Halladay would be heading to Philly. There have been rumours about the Red Sox, Yankees and Rangers. We will just have to wait and see.

Here are the lineups for the shows at noon:

On Baseball Show:
Mike Wilner hosting today:

TBA

On Leafs Lunch:
12:40 – Dave Poulin – VP of Hockey Operations

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:
Who would have thought that conversations about the top spot in the CFL East would include the Hamilton Ti-Cats? Well that is exactly the case when the Tabbies (2-1) sharpen their claws for their game tonight with the hometown and undefeated Montreal Alouettes (3-0). Hamilton’s defence will be in tough trying to stop one of the most potent offences in the league led by savvy vet Anthony Calvillo. Montreal is averaging over 43 points per game and have outscored their opponents 133-53 in their first three games. The Ti-Cats defence is the best in the league against the pass. Defensive coordinator Greg Marshall has his incredibly young defence playing loose and having fun. On the other side of the ball Quiton Porter gets the start behind the centre, despite the last weeks come-from-behind victory led by former Blue Bomber Kevin Glenn.

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

On Fan 590 Tonight- thanks to Mike S.

- Open phones with McCown in the first hour

- Co-host at 5:05 is Bruce Arthur

- Former cyclist Steve Bauer on the Tour de France

- Blue Jays interim CEO Paul Beeston

- Bob Young, owner of the Hamilton Tiger Cats

- Jeff Blair of the Globe & Mail on baseball

- USA Today sports television critic Michael Hiestand

On 640 with Brady and Watters:

4:40 – SHANE O’BRIEN – CANUCKS DMAN

5:10 – DEWAYNE DEROSARIO – TORONTO FC

5:40 – SCOTT VAN PELT – ESPN GOLF ANALYST

6:10 – TIM THOMAS – BRUINS GOALIE

6:40 – GOLF DOCTOR W/ TERRY M.

6:45 – DAVID NAYLOR

Here are the lineups for the shows at noon:

On Baseball Show:
Alex Seixeiro Hosts

PAUL WHITE OF USA TODAY AT 1240

On Leafs Lunch:
Greg Brady hosting
1240 -Tom Kostopoulos

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:
Wow it’s like a giant black hole landed in the middle of everything sports and sucked all the games out of today. Coming off of yesterday’s All Star game, MLB doesn’t resume play until tomorrow. The same can be said about the CFL. Although it’s pretty funny that a Winnipeg scout was escorted out of Ivor Wynn during a Ti-Cats practise. That may actually be a sign of the appocalypse – I’m going to have to look it up. The PGA is in countdown mode to the opening round of the Open Chmpionship at Turnberry. For all of us on this side of the pond, tee offs start around at 1:30 am. Not surprinsingly, Vegas has Tiger Woods as the huge favourite to win at two-to-one odds.

Perhaps the real game of the day today is yours. Whether it’s a crucial softball game or a ‘friendly’ match play with a pal have some fun and enjoy your game of the day.