Pratt has more lives than a cat!?
Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 1:51 pm
Uggggghhhhhh, when you think David Pratt is finally banished from the local airwaves, he rises from the ashes AGAIN!! Now he will be returning to TEAM 10hockey and teaming up with Bro Jake in the mornings!???
There have been major changes brewing over the past few weeks at the CKNW and TEAM 1040 sports departments.
The following are the list of changes that are likely to occur or have been announced at CKNW or Team 1040.
CKNW
CKNW will be, for all intents and purposes, eliminating their extended sports coverage as both Sportstalk hosted by Dan Russell and the David Pratt show will no longer be on the air in the fall.
It is expected that David Pratt will still do the morning sports segments but there are rumblings which say there is a chance he maybe headed back to Team 1040.
As of right now it is expected that the five-minute morning and afternoon sports segments will be covered by David Pratt and Dave Sheldon. Stu Walters be the station’s only sports reporter.
Long time member of the sports department, Rick Quinton was let go in July.
Team 1040
Though nothing has been formally stated by Team 1040, it is widely believed that the Scotty and Company show will be no more as of early September. It is expected that Bro Jake, formerly of Rock 101 will take over the morning slot as of September 9.
There are significant aftershocks associated with the cancelling of the Scotty and Company show. The first of which is that Paul Chapman will no longer be associated with the morning slot as of Aug 9. Additionally, long time Team 1040 producer Paul DeBron who formerly produced Pratt and Taylor and was currently at the helm on Scotty and Company was let go August 6.
The firings did not stop at DeBron as 1040 talent Tyler Green, John Hadley and Joe Leary were also let go on August 6.
Speculation is rampant that Scott Rintoul will be moved to one of the afternoon slots on the radio station.
Perhaps, the most intriguing piece of tidbit regarding the various changes at 1040 is the rumour that David Pratt may re-join forces with Team 1040. If he were to join, it is speculated that he would be a part of the morning slot with Bro Jake. It is important to note that at this point Pratt jumping ship is a mere rumour but it is one that has been bantered about on Twitter and could potentially occur.
UPDATE: Jim Mullin is reporting that Dave Pratt will be indeed joining Bro Jake for the morning slot on Team 1040
SCENE & HEARD: Vancouver's radio version of Snakes and Ladders picked up its pace this week with more changes than you'll see on any given day at a tire shop.
It started with a 10-person bloodletting at Bell-owned CHUM Radio including the sudden Team 1040 sports exits of Joe Leary, Paul DeBron and Tyler Green.
Leary had been anchoring morning updates, DeBron was a producer who engaged in frequent on-air gabfests, while Green was an operator for Canucks' home games and co-hosted a soccer show. As is usually the case in the broadcasting business, none of them had the slightest inkling their days were numbered.
Leary, who referred to it as "a kick in the career nuts" after having been with the station for seven years, also had to break the news to Lions' centre Angus Reid that their sports talk show Saturday mornings on Team 1410 had been sacked.
While all of this was swirling around the third floor of the CHUM Radio offices on West Second Avenue, there was more to come, emanating from the Corus Radio tower across town.
Dave Pratt had second thoughts about joining Philip Till as part of the 'NW morning news and talk segment and opted to accept an offer to return to Team 1040 as co-host with Bro Jake for a new 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. show that debuts on Sept. 9. While Pratt's agent and lawyer Ron Perrick said: "Dave had two offers on the table and took the one he liked best," the official announcement from 'NW news director Ian Koeningsfest in a staff email read: "We regret to inform you that Dave Pratt has resigned effective immediately from Corus Radio and we wish him the best in his future endeavours."
('NW doesn't mean that, of course, but it was the polite thing to do.) Pratt working with stately newsman Till never did make much sense.
Each of them is tremendously territorial and it could have developed into another Clash of the Titans.
"Jake and I go back some 20 years and I worked with him for the last year-and-a-half at Rock 101," said Pratt, the cat with more than nine radio lives.
"With this new show we'll be two bad-ass guys going at it."
Neither Bro Jake nor Dan Russell had their existing contracts renewed by Corus. There had been speculation that Russell might surface as play-by-play announcer for the Vancouver Giants but that was snuffed out when the Giants let it be known that Blake Price and Brendan Bachelor of Team 1040 would be sharing the team's broadcasts this year.
Bachelor, who did the playby-play with the Surrey Eagles last season, will work the majority of the Giants' road games. It appears 1040's Jeff Paterson is the odd man out of the hockey club's broadcasting mix.
It is difficult, at times, to follow the bouncing ball in the broadcast business.
Unfortunately, bounce is the operative word.
drsport@telus.net Read the latest sports news at vancouversun.com/sports
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