Lions in the local media (REVIVED thread 6-10-20)

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Scott Rintoul just informally dropped the news that starting Monday SN 650 has begun hiring ex-TSN 1040 staff starting with Halford & Brough, who will be the new morning show, replacing Cybulski (he of the THANK YOU JIM) & Solkowski. He also said Karen Surman will be joining him on his show.

Satiar Shah has just added that afternoon drive show host Andrew Walker and producer Mike English are also among those who are gone.


And here's the formal SN 650 announcement (adding that Don Taylor will be "making contributions" in some way).

and more details saying "Don Taylor is slated to contribute to the afternoon drive show a couple times each week."
https://media.sportsnet.ca/2021/03/spor ... -march-29/
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Here's more on the revamped Sportsnet 650 lineup from Patrick Johnston of The Province:

Mike Halford, Jason Brough take their sports radio show to Sportsnet 650

I found this snippet about the demise of TSN 1040 particularly interesting:
Despite posting solid ratings and still holding a solid stable of advertisers even through the pandemic, Bell cited ongoing losses at the station — sources have estimated as much as $12 million over the past decade — as the key factor in their decision.
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https://www.oursportscentral.com/servic ... /n-5679608
With only 10 days to go before their season start, Vancouver WhiteCaps announced a 2 year deal with Corus. Match broadcasts on AM730 (which will be a downgrade in signal reach from the former TSN Radio Network), and features on CKNW.

What's next for the Lions radio deal?
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BC 1988 wrote:
Thu Apr 08, 2021 9:24 am
What's next for the Lions radio deal?
Corus is the parent company of CJOB in Winnipeg, home of Bob Irving and the Bombers. They have been in sports radio just about forever (since Bob was young). I could see them interested in Lions games and a coaches show.
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Really enjoying 650.. like it much better than 1040..... heard a million times more relevant Canucks info from the talk show hosts than at 1040. 1040 is more like sports-themed radio personality am/pm drive type content.

not sure why I had never tried 650 before.. I was away from VCR for awhile so I knew CKNW, CJOR etc. not these newer sports stations. I think I went to 1040 based on combo of 1) simple google search or media coverage, 2) goodwill of Don Taylor (Don, if you read this, tell your agent), 3) don't laugh but probably proximity on the dial to CKNW (for whatever reason, I think stations way up or down the dial are harmed vis-a-vis listenership. wonder if there's been a study
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I would think for starters that when Sportnet took over the hockey biz, stations from other networks were probably left wanting for some of the most direct content. After all, when Sportsnet is your moneymaker, they are going to expect more access, more direct information than what trickles down from 3rd parties etc. etc. Unfortunately for Sportsnet, I don't really pay much attention to hockey as IMO, the Canucks have been overhyped, over discussed and all that loyal fandom has gotten them exactly what? A mediocre team that never seems to be able to quite get over the top. A couple of sniffs over the years but mostly mediocre seasons, missed opportunities and more of the same. Still rooting for CKNW to reunite with the Lions.
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cms22 wrote:
Sat Apr 17, 2021 11:03 am
Really enjoying 650.. like it much better than 1040..... heard a million times more relevant Canucks info from the talk show hosts than at 1040. 1040 is more like sports-themed radio personality am/pm drive type content.

not sure why I had never tried 650 before.. I was away from VCR for awhile so I knew CKNW, CJOR etc. not these newer sports stations. I think I went to 1040 based on combo of 1) simple google search or media coverage, 2) goodwill of Don Taylor (Don, if you read this, tell your agent), 3) don't laugh but probably proximity on the dial to CKNW (for whatever reason, I think stations way up or down the dial are harmed vis-a-vis listenership. wonder if there's been a study
I am enjoying 650 more since the last shakeup of ex-1040 staff being brought in. From Feb 9th-Mar 26th it was awful. I did the full immersion in it just like I had with 1040, and if those changes hadn't happened, I would have been very unhappy. In particular Dan Riccio is the most annoying personality with his exaggerated Italianisms applied to everything and ridiculously bad "Password" game show intro. This is all supposed to be funny, but is the opposite for me. The lineup change of moving him from "Reach Deep" to the afternoon drive means he is even more likely to annoy more listeners. (They did a Twitter poll about Password and it was just over 50% of listeners in favor of keeping it.) They put the teaser of having Don Taylor make occasional appearances in that time slot, but that isn't enough for me to devote precious hours waiting for that (and with the Donnie & Dhali TV show on CHEK, I get plenty of him on there now).

Right now I catch Halford & Brough in podcast form, Rintoul & Surman live, Bik and the Boss is a coin flip, and switch off The Peoples Show in favor of the new online Sekeres & Price--either live or podcast. I know many find Sekeres very annoying (much like I do with Riccio), but it's all about radio personality shtick--his works well with Price.
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cms22 wrote:
Sat Apr 17, 2021 11:03 am
Really enjoying 650.. like it much better than 1040..... heard a million times more relevant Canucks info from the talk show hosts than at 1040. 1040 is more like sports-themed radio personality am/pm drive type content.

not sure why I had never tried 650 before.. I was away from VCR for awhile so I knew CKNW, CJOR etc. not these newer sports stations. I think I went to 1040 based on combo of 1) simple google search or media coverage, 2) goodwill of Don Taylor (Don, if you read this, tell your agent), 3) don't laugh but probably proximity on the dial to CKNW (for whatever reason, I think stations way up or down the dial are harmed vis-a-vis listenership. wonder if there's been a study
I haven't listened to 650 at all since 1040 went bye-bye. I didn't listen to them before either unless I happened to be driving back from the coast and a Canuck game was on. Living in the Cariboo AM radio is pretty limited. The last AM station in PG shut down probably 20 years ago. Thus reception is solely at the mercy of atmospheric conditions. In winter they are pretty good. 1040 would boom in up in PG and FSJohn all winter long before fading later in spring. 650 must have a weaker signal or perhaps poor location of their tower as they never matched 1040 for reception. Usually when 1040 was booming in clear 650 would be scratchy with some static. When 1040 was scratchy with some static 650 would be nothing but static.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category: ... _Vancouver
It's all in the transmitter power. 1040 (and even AM 730) are Class B 50,000 watts, and 650 is still a pathetic Class B 20,000 watts (day), 4,000 watts (night).That's why people in the Valley are always complaining. Here in Richmond on AM radio I get sound akin to someone putting a sock over the microphones. Podcasts do solve the issue quite a bit, as does their online player--which has a 1 minute lag. I tried them on FM 96.9 HD radio 3 in my car and that is fine, but that goes to "Signal Lost" very easily.
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Since I retired several years ago, I haven’t listened to any radio except for Lions pre- and post-game shows. That’s about the only time I spend in my car on the Lower Mainland. I’ll check out the Rod Pedersen Show or catch the odd podcast or online stream if I know it’s CFL-related. I’m not interested in hockey talk.
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BC 1988 mentioned HD radio reception in a post earlier today. I 'm not a hockey watching or listening type of guy but I do like to listen to the Lions pre-and post game shows on the way to and from BC Place. Since I take the trolley bus downtown to the games, the radio reception on the AM band is mostly static, especially in the downtown core. BUT, I bought a portable HD radio before the season (that wasn't) and 1040 on the HD band came in very clear on the trolley bus during my pre-Covid test rides. I was looking forward to listening last year (that wasn't) and also, until 1040 went off the air (to me), for this years season.

I was pleased to hear from Rick Lelacheur that a pre and post game radio shows were important to the team in a future radio deal. I note that CKNW has a HD channel and for purely selfish reasons, I hope that a Corus contract is done and that the HD channel has the pre/post game shows on it. That will make my game day experience very much more enjoyable..... not that its all about me.....
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First rate interview with Barry Macdonald--making his first appearance in over 4 years--on Donnie & Dhali. I just watched it tonight (I pvr the show everyday). You can hear some difficulty in speaking with his Parkinson's. He was diagnosed in 2018 and he mentioned the link between that ailment with chronic depression (which he had suffered from regularly since he was 19.)

Even with that, he was still able to resurrect his legendary Tony Gallagher impression. :beauty:
Last week's Friday show is worth looking for--they spent some time with other ex-1040 personalities on what would have been the station's 20th anniversary. The new Sekeres & Price show did the same on Friday--leading off with a great interview with Dave Pratt.
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I loved listening to B-Mac and Taylor. They had so much fun together. Between their respective senses of humour and double-entendres they so often came right up to the edge of the line but managed to avoid crossing it and losing their jobs with it. One could just tell they would have loved to go "there" but managed to bite their tongues. I can't imagine where that hilarity went off-air when they broke for commercial.
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Hambone wrote:
Tue May 11, 2021 9:35 am
I loved listening to B-Mac and Taylor. They had so much fun together. Between their respective senses of humour and double-entendres they so often came right up to the edge of the line but managed to avoid crossing it and losing their jobs with it. One could just tell they would have loved to go "there" but managed to bite their tongues. I can't imagine where that hilarity went off-air when they broke for commercial.
Agreed. B-Mac & Taylor was one of the best matchups ever on 1040. Their humor worked while every attempt to match Bro Jake with someone was a failure (IMO of course, others would say Bro Jake was the best.)

One thing that Taylor did a lot of back then was his impressions of long-time Maple Leaf Gardens announcer Paul Morris applied to everyday life. I grew up in Toronto and was amazed the robotic monotone lasted 38 seasons from 1961-1998 (as a child I actually was impressed by that strange emotionless sound. He did game 2 of the Canada-USSR Summit Series). Taylor retired the shtick when B-Mac left. (No doubt there were some listeners annoyed at the Toronto-centric nature of the bit).
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BC 1988 wrote:
Tue May 11, 2021 12:43 pm
One thing that Taylor did a lot of back then was his impressions of long-time Maple Leaf Gardens announcer Paul Morris applied to everyday life. I grew up in Toronto and was amazed the robotic monotone lasted 38 seasons from 1961-1998 (as a child I actually was impressed by that strange emotionless sound.
First time I went to Toronto was for the 1989 Grey Cup. I had a ticket to the Leaf game vs the Rangers night before Grey Cup. It was also my first ever visit to Maple Leaf Gardens. Sitting in the end blues I was taking in the ambience of the venerable old palace on Carlton St. It was pretty cool but it wasn't until Morris' voice came over the PA system that it really sunk in that I was in MLG.
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