I understand that the Zone gets excellent ratings and does very well for an FM all sports talk station. What is their coverage each sport like, what do they focus on? For instance to they talk much about MLB even though their isnt a team in Nashville? Thanks I'm just trying to get an overall feel about the station and its place in the Nashville Radio community
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1045 the Zone question
- Thread starter billygose
- Start date
104.5 The Zone is flagship for Vanderbilt football and basketball. The Zone carries/carried Belmont basketball. The Predators' games are broadcast on The Zone. In the past The Zone broadcast Memphis Grizzlies games if there was not a Vanderbilt, Predators or Belmont conflict. Citadel sister WKDF station is the Titans network flagship. Titans talk can carry the year. When certain sports are in season The Zone brings in "experts" or "insiders" Doug Matthews for football, Nick Hunter for baseball, "Hoops" Weiss and Drew Maddux for college basketball. The Vanderbilt coaches' shows are in season. The Vanderbilt baseball coach and MTSU basketball and football coaches are eager interviews. High school football talk is strong on fall Fridays. High school basketball, tennis, track, local running, golf, bowling and other minor sports get little air unless a local athlete does very well. The mixed martial arts talk is a little overboard.
If you heard this afternoon's "Pre-game Zone" with the No Talent Idiot Hack Host (Darren McFarland), how does he stay employed in Nashville Sports Talk Radio? He stated he could do a better job on Play-by-play than the crew that did the Titans game on Sunday. He can't even host a radio show without SOUNDING LIKE THE IDIOT THAT HE IS!!! Does 104.5 The Zone management not listen to the radio when that No Talent Idiot is hosting?
jwk1979 said:
To be fair, the play by play on the Titans/Bengals game was very lackluster and a source of angst for many Titans fans watching the game, especially when one of the announcers resorted to name calling.
And to be fair again, Darren knows he's not the station's top draw, and he's usually humble about it. But he's the workhorse every sports station needs, pulling 5 daily hours and an special assignments. He is grateful to have been in the right place at the right time, hosting a show with Willy on another station, when the great 99.7 sports debacle took place and the Zone formed but George was kept off the air. But how many of us, when we got that big opportunity by being in the right place at the right time, stopped to question our talent? Heck no, we jumped on it! Darren's smart enough to have done the same thing!
But let's get back to the original question. I think you can find out a lot about the Zone by going to http://www.1045thezone.com. Their best coverage is football, followed by hockey. The focus is on news and analysis, and they seem to have the best contacts in town. Some of them are due to the fact they or their sister station have flagship rights, and others are due to the fact that many of the announcers have worked with and around Nashville sports leaders for years. Among the other experts are several Tennessean writers, former players, former coaches, Houston Chronicle NFL writer John McClain, the state high school football guru, and "syndicated" contacts from CBS Sportsline, sports websites, and other media. The morning show features a walking sports encyclopedia and former local TV sports anchor, a former Titan, and a class radio guy who does great sports figure impersonations. The afternoon show features a long time local sports host who knows everyone among the leadership in the local sports scene, a walking sports encyclopedia and former Vanderbilt basketball/baseball player, and UK graduate who studied sports broadcasting. Jim Rome is carried mid-days and Dan Patrick is on delay for evenings when there are no games. Fox Sports Radio is featured overnights and weekends. Racing is covered through PRN and the widow of a NASCAR driver. There's a handful of local specialty programs and Bob Costas and The Huge Show on weekends. While the station has its detractors who say the hosts are "homers", I far more enjoy them over the acerbic style of national sports talk hosts like Rome and others.
courier37027 said:
actually...they call themselves the flagship station for VU sports, but the broadcasts are produced
by ISP sports in WInston-Salem...and WGFX takes the feed off the bird. ISP does produce and extra
WGFX-custom 30 minutes of pre-game prior to the network feed.
S
SwissVol
Guest
courier37027 said:
Yeah a real baseball guru. This guy spent the entire decade of the nineties finishing off the Atlanta Braves. In 1993: "Put a fork in em. The're done! 2001 or so: Now that Time Warner has the Braves, there best days are behind them. I think the BRaves won something like 10 straight divisional championships and 1 world series after Nick Hunter kissed off the Braves. LOL Keep up the good work Nick.
I do like Doug Matthews broadcasts though. Guy knows College football!
How many times have you all heard Andy Wiliams sing: It's the most wonderful time of the year?
Chris, I heard the same Vanderbilt "flagship" term used, somewhere near the hot dog or chili sponsor for football games. I knew ISP was heavy in the broadcast or production end, but not the extent. Thanks for the clarification.
Insofar as Nick Hunter is concerned, he seems to have some MLB teams' front office connections. I will agree the banter between Hunter and Plaster is a little overboard. Far too often the phrase "put a fork in them, they are done" makes its way into the cliche-heavy airwaves at 104.5.
Insofar as Nick Hunter is concerned, he seems to have some MLB teams' front office connections. I will agree the banter between Hunter and Plaster is a little overboard. Far too often the phrase "put a fork in them, they are done" makes its way into the cliche-heavy airwaves at 104.5.
And to be fair about The Zone's coziness with the Titans, George Plaster missed last season's story on the Billy Volek trade. SI.com scooped the story about Volek. Plaster was caught with his nose too far up the MetroCenter Team's posterior. He huffed and puffed for a few weeks. After fourteen years he also finally gave up the Watson Brown as "Greatest Vanderbilt Coach Ever' crusade. Plaster cut back on his free ticket talk. He and The Zone still err on the homer side, while knowledgeable outsiders like Seth Everett, Chris Lowe and others are brought in for journalistic integrity. The Afternoon Zone can sometimes be called George and His Two Yes Men.
S
SwissVol
Guest
courier37027 said:
One Sunday evening, I just happened to tune into George's Sunday TV show. I could not tell you what station I saw this program on. It was just one of those things where I just surfed on in. Anyway while I was watching, Plaster told Wilile Daunick that he was glad that Willie wore his tie that evening. Daunick made a big deal about wearing the damn tie just to please Plaster and yes the whole thing was just to much for me to watch. LOL
Anyway, What has happened to Bob Bell? I always thought of Bob Bel is one of Nashville's good guys in broadcasting, If he has a monster ego, he does not show it too much. He seldom got torked off at callers, which some sports talk show hosts spend more time getting torked off at the callers than actually talking sports. WEll, not Nashville, but some of those National shows.
N
NashRadio
Guest
Darren F + VU clarification
jetfli and courier are right: Darren is employed in Nashville by hooking onto Plaster. As long as George has a job in Nashville, so will Darren.
WGFF is the flagship station of VU sports, which just means their home station. ISP is a sports marketing company.
jetfli and courier are right: Darren is employed in Nashville by hooking onto Plaster. As long as George has a job in Nashville, so will Darren.
WGFF is the flagship station of VU sports, which just means their home station. ISP is a sports marketing company.
Re: Darren F + VU clarification
"flagship" generally means the station producing the broadcast...i.e....WIVK for UT sports...
and thanks, I'm familiar with ISP.
D Dean said:
"flagship" generally means the station producing the broadcast...i.e....WIVK for UT sports...
and thanks, I'm familiar with ISP.
Billy, welcome to Nashville. Baseball gets good air here, perhaps because of our town's proximity to Atlanta, Cincinnati, St. Louis along with the resident Yankeees, Red Sox and Cubs fans. 104.5's Kevin Ingram will keep the Cincinnati talk alive, although he has backed off his "Pete Rose did no wrong" stance. What is considered dirty play of other major leaguers, Ingram calls the same play scrappy for Rose. I am sure part of it is for show.
The bad news here is no Skyline Chili parlors. Bring your own or buy the can at Kroger.
The bad news here is no Skyline Chili parlors. Bring your own or buy the can at Kroger.
you'll hear alot of Baseball during the season b/c George Plaster is a huge Atlanta Braves fan, he would love to be their play by play announcer.
Nock said:
One Sunday evening, I just happened to tune into George's Sunday TV show. I could not tell you what station I saw this program on.
[/quote]
It's Fox 17 Sunday's at 9:30pm and Plaster is horrible in front of a camera, I have seen better on community access tv.
Nock
[/quote]
Well, now Nock, you haven't produced the "Tibbs and Nocks Great Jazz & Wine Adventures" for CATV show, now have you yet, Nock???
Huh. Huh??? The potential pinnacle of truly great local TV.
We could include a tribute to Plaster's wondering eye on TV. He looks more comfortable on raydio. Grey Goose Vodka might be a
sponsor for that part. That'll loosen everything up. Maybe that would help wash up The Zone so NFN could have two listeners.
;D ;D ;D
N
NashRadio
Guest
Sorry, I wasn't trying to insult anyone's intelligence
and I don't taunt, I just couldn't see how ISP could be the flagship station when they're not a station.
and I don't taunt, I just couldn't see how ISP could be the flagship station when they're not a station.
Re: Sorry, I wasn't trying to insult anyone's intelligence
not a taunt...not an insult...
just pointing out that there is NO VU flagship station...just an affiliate in the VU home market
D Dean said:
not a taunt...not an insult...
just pointing out that there is NO VU flagship station...just an affiliate in the VU home market
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