So many of you have emailed me about this that I thought I had better put it up. Doug Gilmour was on with Greg Brady today who was flying solo on the Bill Watters show. Brady was a tad bit fired up on the hockey and headshots things. In any event Gilmour who is usually a lousy interview in my opinion was beyond good especially when he talked about violence in the game. Certainly worth a listen.

Listen to the Chat here

Both drive home shows today took on Colin Campbell and the NHL on the hitting gate. Jim Kelley joined Mccown early on and their take was a failure at the top of the NHL to deal with the issue. Kelley talked about how someone(s) above Campbell was pulling strings and Kelley thought that Colin was either going to quit or get fired over this issue. The Fan 590 doesn’t have the Kelley audio up, however I thought Kelley was good on this point.

Up the dial, Brady went postal on the issue. Imploring that the execs in the game were ruining the game. On a few separate occasions calling for heads on platters. 640 Toronto doesn’t allow for all segments to be downloaded, however I suggest you take a listen in here for all the Brady stuff- it’s certainly entertaining, I’ll leave whether or not you think it’s accurate up to you. I will say this, if you are going to fly solo, you may as well come out firing like he did today. The best solo show he has ever had.

Speaking of good, did anyone hear Don Landry sign off on the big early this am, it was pretty funny. He was talking about the Texas Rangers manager, Ron Washington, the guy who tested positive for cocaine last year at the ripe old age of 57. Landry was really funny saying how, Washington had never done drugs before in his life and at 57 woke up and decided to try cocaine. The best part is that Washington came out tonight and admitted to smoking dope years ago in addition to popping a few pills. What’s next, he’s going to claim he was a Vietnam Vet?

Does anyone think I am nuts on this, but why do morning radio shows end at 9:00? No seriously. I drive my kids to school. I drop them at 845-850. I don’t really get into my car much before 8:30. Now, I understand tons of people drive a hell of a lot earlier than I do. However, based on the number of people dressed i work attire I see dropping their kids off with me in addition to the amount of traffic I see in the city heading downtown when I am, why not extend the morning drive to 10 am? Thoughts?

So apparently one or two people were listening to the Olympics on the radio. Not that radio ratings are akin to a boxing match, but this was as close to a knockout in the business as you can expect to see. The Fan enjoyed a huge ratings boost for the Olympics, the question of course is, what relevance will that have on advertisers and their tight budgets. I mean, the Olympics are over so there is no reason to expect similar numbers post Olympics. Advertisers know that, what this does help is for the next time there is a large event like this in Canada to guestimate what rates should be given approximate ratings.

Men aged 25-54: 6-9am
640= 5.2
590= 5.9

Overall, the Fan show, according to Zelkovich jumped from a 5.8 to a 7.5

Men aged 25-54: 4-7pm
640: = 3.8
1010 = 4.5
590 = 9.2

Overall, the Fan show, according to Zelkovich jumped from a 7.2 to a 12.0

Men aged 25-54: 1pm
640: 3.0
1010: = 3.9
590 = 5.3

the Fan show, according to Zelkovich jumped to a 5.7 in hour #2

Zelkovich has the bullpen getting an Olympic boost going to a 5.7 from 4.4 and the Game Plan saw a similar raise heading to a 6.2 from a 4.8.

The Olympic gold medal game landed the fan a 40 share! Huge numbers to say the least.

So what have we learned? Mccown is still on top. Hockey central at noon continues to blow Leafs Lunch out of the water. At some point, probably after the summer, if this continues, I would think that the folks at 640 are going to have to make a change to Leafs lunch. I don’t know how many times I can say it but Dreger isn’t a host and Watters all the time isn’t a good thing. Rotate the hosting duties amongst other talent and then put Wilbur on when and only when there is something really unique to talk about.

Zelkovich’s blog can be found here

follow all the media coverage here

What to do on NHL trade deadline when there aren’t many big fish available? Create buzz on what many thought was a dead issue. Brian Burke has said that he won’t ask Tomas Kaberle to waive his no trade clause. Tomas Kaberle has said he doesn’t want to go anywhere. Seems straight forward enough.

Nick Kypreos and Bruce Garrioch appear on Sportsnet this morning and start the banter. While they didn’t necessarily on where things stand they agreed that they believe that Tomas Kaberle will be dealt. They didn’t believe that the Kaberle camp has submitted a list of yet (one of the two suggested one was coming though).

Gord Stellick said on the fan 590 that he didn’t believe that anything would happen with Kaberle, or anyone else on the Leafs roster for that matter.

the guys at the fourth period have tweeted emphaticly that the Ducks inquired into Kaberle’s availability and were told he won’t wave his NTC.

Bill Watters is the one who brought reason to the scenario. Watters suggested that what could occur is that a list won’t change hands, and that rather Burke will get an offer he can’t refuse and he will take it to Kaberle’s agent. The agent will ask to talk to the team and either an extension will be worked out or no deal will be done. That my friends seems to make the most sense. I ask this rhetoricaly, after seeing this team last night, why Kaberle would want to stick around this season is beyond me given that he is a near certainty to be dealt this summer.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

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

Top of the am folks, last day in the office this am for a week as I am headed over seas Sunday night for a week. (if someone can help out with the radio posts please email, LT isn’t always available).

I was able to catch the bulk of the morning show on the Fan 590 this am. What a difference when Elliotte Friedman sits in for Dan Landry! No, really, forget listentable, forget entertaining, the show was GOOD. If I’m the new guy at the fan I would try to get Elliotte back on the fan as much as possible. I know he is at CBC, but in other cities guys hold 2 jobs and he’s better than many of the guys who do it in those places. He makes Stellick so much better too. I don’t care if Friedman had his cell phone off or not- he’s good to listen too.

The real highlight of the am was their interview with Brian Burke. Burke was ON this am. He answered questions directly, had a little fun with the Devils getting Kovalchuk just in time for tonight’s game (“really nice of Lou to pay back his old pupil”).

Interviews like that, and the entire morning show this am are the reason I am a sucker for sports radio. By the way, for those quick to bash Mike Komisarek, give the interview a listen. The guy dolled out more than 75k of his own money to buy tickets for kids with cancer to attend Leaf games. Quite amazing to hear Bruke tell it. Like a proud papa!

Here’s Burke with the revised morning show:

Listen to the Chat here

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

(I know NESN is a tv network but Edwards happened to be on the radio)

I was in the car today listening to the fan 590 enroute to physio for my rehabbing knee when Jack Armstrong started an interview with Jack Edwards who covers the Boston Bruins for NESN.

I’m not sure if anyone else out there caught the interview, but it was fantastic! It was everything we don’t get from Howard Berger or jolly Jonas siegel.

Edwards (is he the same guy who used to be on ESPN?) was informative, entertaining, opinionated yet respectful and certainly didn’t dump all over the Bruins fans. He called out there management for missing the boat to make a big trade two or three weeks ago, but didn’t sound like a raving lunatic in doing so.

Edwards comes across as Bruins fan but without calling the players by their nicknames, he didn’t have a love in with the hosts most importantly he sounded professional. He also didn’t sound like he had am agenda.

As I listened to Edwards I couldn’t help but be jealous that our radio stations don’t have a guy like this on to talk as the guy who lives, eats and breathes with the club.

Maybe one day we will, for now one can only hope.

I tried to find a link or clip but the fan didn’t have one. If anyone does send it along.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

So I have to admit, I haven’t heard the Tother since he has been on Newstalk 1010 (the old CFRB). I will try to take a listen tomorrow on the way in to the office (now that I can drive again). In the meantime, I am not sure if this is supposed to be funny or if it’s just plain stupid as it appears- you be the judge:

Happy, healthy and prosperious 2010 to all who our kind enough to visit this website.

I shall be driving the family home from Florida starting tomorrow. Should be a blast.

Sources are telling me this eve, that Mike Toth is on the verge of joining (if he hasn’t already) cfrb as the morning sports gut replacing Rick hodge. Toth recently of Sportsnet and the fan 590 is a guy whom ya either loved or loathed and apparently those lovers can find him on 1010am in the am.

Tsm