Sports Talk Radio Thread

[Derk]

I generally drive to work in the morning with the radio off these days (unless I have left in on the night before after listening to Prime Time Sports). On the rare mornings when I want to catch up on scores from the night before I may have missed, Brady quickly reminds me of why I gave up on the FAN in the mornings and off the radio goes.

I didn't realize the disparity in the ratings either. I tried switching over to Richards for a while, but couldn't really stomach him, either.

[Justin]

Mike Richards is just awful. Easily the worst host on sports radio right now on weekdays. I can't believe TSN plucked this guy out of Calgary and made him the centerpiece of their new sports radio station ::).

He's Andrew Krystal 2.0, only a matter of months until TSN pulls the plug.

[Zee]

Mike Richards is just awful. Easily the worst host on sports radio right now on weekdays. I can't believe TSN plucked this guy out of Calgary and made him the centerpiece of their new sports radio station ::).

He's Andrew Krystal 2.0, only a matter of months until TSN pulls the plug.

I like the bits he does in the mornings, I think they're funny.  Recently they had that NFL films thing before the Superbowl it was hilarious.  When they bring on Victor Newman to tell him to shut the hell up it makes me laugh too.  I don't mind him at all.

[Corn Flake]

Mike Richards is just awful. Easily the worst host on sports radio right now on weekdays. I can't believe TSN plucked this guy out of Calgary and made him the centerpiece of their new sports radio station ::).

He's Andrew Krystal 2.0, only a matter of months until TSN pulls the plug.

he had huge ratings in Calgary. That's why they signed him.  Clearly it hasn't translated in Toronto. 

I don't mind his interviews, some of his jokes are ok.. just when he "tries" to be cool, he's the opposite.  Those theme songs are the worst. 

Krystal? Well nobody is that far gone. 

[Corn Flake]

Brady quickly reminds me of why I gave up on the FAN in the mornings and off the radio goes.

he's just so caustic all the time, even though he tries to put it off as being jokingly sarcastic.  Miserable sod.

[Nik]

he had huge ratings in Calgary. That's why they signed him.  Clearly it hasn't translated in Toronto. 

I'm not much of a sports radio person but I was watching TSN this weekend and there were a lot of ads for his show and, I don't know, the thing that really struck me is that there was all this "You ain't never seen a sports talk radio show like this before" and lines that, I assume, were meant to be clever and not once did they actually explain to me what, if anything, this guy said or did with the format that were supposed to be interesting.

They just presented him as a loud-mouthed middle aged guy which, frankly, represents 99% of what sports talk radio is.

The sad thing is that I think that TSN, if they wanted, could actually carve out a niche for themselves by being less stupid than what audiences have come to expect and actually present things in an interesting way. As is it seems they're content just to be The Fan-lite.

[Corn Flake]

They just presented him as a loud-mouthed middle aged guy which, frankly, represents 99% of what sports talk radio is.

yep and that's all he is, with the exception that he's more borderline homophobic, sexist and generally just a filthy middle aged man than the average host. 

[Justin]

Mike Richards is just awful. Easily the worst host on sports radio right now on weekdays. I can't believe TSN plucked this guy out of Calgary and made him the centerpiece of their new sports radio station ::).

He's Andrew Krystal 2.0, only a matter of months until TSN pulls the plug.

I like the bits he does in the mornings, I think they're funny.  Recently they had that NFL films thing before the Superbowl it was hilarious.  When they bring on Victor Newman to tell him to shut the hell up it makes me laugh too.  I don't mind him at all.

The Victor Newman impression is probably the only thing I've ever enjoyed on that show.

[iwas11in67]

I prefer him to Brady and Lang. I see them as unlistenable.

[KoHo]

Wasn't sure where else to post this but this thread seems (slightly) relevant. Popular 102.1 morning show host Dean Blundell made jokes on the air on Friday that playing in Edmonton must be so bad that it lead to Oilers prospect Kristians Pelss jumping into a river.

(Aside - a very sad story. http://www.edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/edmonton-oilers/Family+friends+teammates+mourn+Oilers/8532253/story.html)

This lead to Steve Simmons losing his shite at Dean Blundell on twitter:

@simmonssteve

What a stupid man @deanblundell is.  The death of a young man, Kristians Pelss, is no one's comedy. #idiot.

@simmonssteve

Sorry it's @ItsDeanBlundell who should be ashamed. Not @deanblundell
Sorry for the error. But rather disgusted by this.

@ItsDeanBlundell

@simmonssteve I'm the guy Steve.   Always accountable unlike you. Write more self promoting garbage and coach kids hockey you dipstick.

That reply led to this: https://twitter.com/simmonssteve/status/346050588770967552

I'm refraining from posting the actual tweet because of the forum's automatic censors. But yeah...click the link. This is right up there with Simmons getting publicly destroyed by Dana White and getting humiliated by Burke at his final press conference. He gets himself into the best situations.

[oakl0008]

Thanks for posting the Simmons-Blundell exchange KoHo.

As absolutely wrong as Blundell`s words on Kristans Pelss (RIP) and the Oilers were, Simmons managed to make himself look just as bad with his profanity laced tirade in that last bit. Think Simmons think! You`re supposed to be a pro dude! A cautionary tale to not tweet while fuming!  :o

In some dumb way I kind of wish it were Damien Cox that pulled this so people can bring it up every time he insults a fan or player.

[Corn Flake]

The all great and powerful Bruce Arthur chimed in on the Blundell thing, performing his standard judge, jury and executioner act he does in all things he comments on.  If you search it you will find it.  he tries to help out his little buddy Simmons with his mystical powers. 

I was listening the morning Blundell told that joke and it was far more pointed at Edmonton than it was laughing about the kid killing himself.  I didn't think it was that bad at all, really. 

Some of these sports media guys are incredibly over the top with their reactions, especially on twitter. They act like they are some sort of perfect symbol of humanity and never say anything in error. 

[KoHo]

I sent out a tweet saying "@bruce_arthur It's a shame 102.1 replaced Toronto radio legends @HumbleFredRadio with...err...@ItsDeanBlundell" and got a barrage of hate from Blundell's loyal twitter army.

[KoHo]

Jim Lang has been let go by the FAN 590 as their morning show co-host.

I guess the ratings weren't satisfactory to the suits but they cut ties with a good guy in Lang. Thought he did a good job on the morning show after bouncing around Sportsnet doing various things for years. Him and Brady were way better than the old duo of Landy and Stellick, and both of those pairs were miles ahead of the putrid Andrew Krystal experiment.

[Corn Flake]

Jim Lang has been let go by the FAN 590 as their morning show co-host.

I guess the ratings weren't satisfactory to the suits but they cut ties with a good guy in Lang. Thought he did a good job on the morning show after bouncing around Sportsnet doing various things for years. Him and Brady were way better than the old duo of Landy and Stellick, and both of those pairs were miles ahead of the putrid Andrew Krystal experiment.

I think they got rid of the wrong guy.  Lang asked interviewees questions in a way that made him sound like the male version of a stereotypical dumb blonde, but Brady is just so over the top with the critical opinions, holier than though opinions and slime level sarcasm... not to mention that the I'I'I'ummmmm I'I'I'I uuuuuhhhhh radio 101 mistakes.  If their ratings did fall (they were quite high last I had heard) then it's not Lang's fault for sure.

I thought Landry and Stellick were great.  Best part was they never took themselves seriously at all, had a lot of fun and were actually able to conduct some great interviews.  Something that is the polar opposite of almost every single sports radio host on air in Toronto right now.