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Can Memphis really support 3 sports talk stations?
- Thread starter mh
- Start date
Programming is important, but if no one can hear it.... It all depends on the signal.
730 is abysmal. Drive along a road with overhead utility lines and the static is horrendous. At night the signal doesn't escape the I-240 loop. ESPN is great, but 730 needs to boost power if they want to play with the big boys.
560 is one paid commercial after another. I don't listen anymore. Not even to Lapides.
680 is a strong, clear signal. FOX National feed needs a local touch. Maybe Chris Vernon if 730 can't improve?
730 is abysmal. Drive along a road with overhead utility lines and the static is horrendous. At night the signal doesn't escape the I-240 loop. ESPN is great, but 730 needs to boost power if they want to play with the big boys.
560 is one paid commercial after another. I don't listen anymore. Not even to Lapides.
680 is a strong, clear signal. FOX National feed needs a local touch. Maybe Chris Vernon if 730 can't improve?
L
littlebigradio
Guest
...here we go again with Chris Vernon.....other than stuffing the Memphis flyer ballot box, what can he do well? I see no value in his show at all....If I want sports content, his show is NOT where I go. If I were 20 or thirty years younger and into silly antics and pop culture icons I might feel differently.
I agree about Vernon. He is part of today's generation that has to have some kind of gimmick to make people listen. Someone had told me something about him possible being syndicated but I would have to see it to believe it. That would probably negate any possible move to 680.
I have a very hard time listening to 560 as well especially with as many live commercials as they do regardless of the show.
I have a very hard time listening to 560 as well especially with as many live commercials as they do regardless of the show.
mh said:
I agree to an extent about Vernon, but if you look through the gaga, he's the best sports voice in Memphis.
I only listen to 560 if there's a football game on Sundays.
I'm listening to 680 a LOT more, mostly because 1) I cannot stand Stephen A. Smith at all and 2) I don't care about southern sports. I used to listen to 730 all the way out to Collierville (yes, with a lot of static). Now, not so much...
T
Tenn Radio Boy
Guest
Memphis cant support one sports station, much less than three.
The Q is the sports stations that is most brokered.
Lapides has a deal to split revenue, thus he is buying his time.
Rain Man buys his time.
The morning show is embarrassing.
No one is paying attention.
Just because you sit and watch ESPN in all your waking hours does not make you a great sportscaster, just a little strange.
The Q is the sports stations that is most brokered.
Lapides has a deal to split revenue, thus he is buying his time.
Rain Man buys his time.
The morning show is embarrassing.
No one is paying attention.
Just because you sit and watch ESPN in all your waking hours does not make you a great sportscaster, just a little strange.
I've asked this before, but when 730 was still a CCM station, they were supposed to be working on a power increase. Did that happen, or did it make things worse?
R
RoyBoy
Guest
I enjoy the Chris Vernon show because it is entertaining. He has fun doing his job and it shows. Unlike the boring SEC updates at Q and the total syndication at 68. Is the subject always sports? Is he sometimes a little over the top? Does he get a little juvenile at times? Yes - so what? It's still the most entertaining sports program in Memphis and perhaps the most entertaining talk show. There certainly isn't much competition from Mike Fleming who couldn't finish a sentence if you paid him a million bucks.
Radio is primarily an entertainment medium where boredom is the ultimate sin.
Verno is certainly not guilty of that.
By the way, I could hear 730 all the way to Collierville (along 385) fairly well yesterday.
The wind must have been blowing toward the East.
Radio is primarily an entertainment medium where boredom is the ultimate sin.
Verno is certainly not guilty of that.
By the way, I could hear 730 all the way to Collierville (along 385) fairly well yesterday.
The wind must have been blowing toward the East.
L
littlebigradio
Guest
If you're going to go comparing Vernon with Mike Fleming, I have to admit, you win....hands down! You definitely got me on that one.....how utterly silly of me!
R
RoyBoy
Guest
What's silly is that you ignored the fact that I compared him with WHBQ and 680 AM also.
anotherguy said:
It was approved when EMF owned it, but never got done (mostly because the VFW in West Memphis didn't want to sell some land that would've been needed next to the anntennas for it to happen at that array).
If I understood correctly, Simmons did construct another array for 730, but it doesn't seem like they've gone through with the power increase.
S
Sandscott
Guest
I love 680. I think if they stick to national sports (I cant take all the SEC or nothing talk) they will be fine.
OK, so it's Sunday afternoon. Two Memphis radio stations are airing NFL games, which are both available on local TV. Given, 98 has to air Titans; but why in the world would someone in Memphis run Kansas City/Jacksonville, especially when it's already on TV? Does Westwood One just offer one game?
Support three sports stations? Probably not, but I listen to all of them at some point during the day.
WHBQ is programmed and designed to make money, which it apparently does pretty well. There is substantial stability at 560 which must tell us something. I think Eli has been the PD for quite some time and, whether you like various hosts or not, the station sounds fine. Seems to me he certainly knows what he's doing.
680 might do well to stay all network. I had not heard of the switch until I was looking for Air America's latest disaster one day and heard sports instead. I like Fox Radio Sports, as opposed to the news side, and it offers needed relief from time to time.
One would think 730 must do something about their signal if they really want to be competitive. Except for 2:00-3:00 p.m. weekdays, I like the ESPN network. Maybe S.A.S. will grow on me, but I doubt it. All things said, it is ESPN for goodness sake. Too bad the local affiliate has such an inconsistent signal.
As for Chris Vernon, he is really good. Like all of us who are or have ever been in the business, there is always some fault to find. But my take is that he works hard, strives to be factual, has excellent guests and makes every effort to avoid boring radio. The extent of my personal contact with him was a fifteen minute guest shot on a Redbirds' pregame radio show six years go, so I'm not his public relations pimp. But I do know a bit about entertaining broadcasting and Chris is as sound as Memphis has to offer...better than most.
Now then, will all three sports stations make it? They will if they all turn a profit.
WHBQ is programmed and designed to make money, which it apparently does pretty well. There is substantial stability at 560 which must tell us something. I think Eli has been the PD for quite some time and, whether you like various hosts or not, the station sounds fine. Seems to me he certainly knows what he's doing.
680 might do well to stay all network. I had not heard of the switch until I was looking for Air America's latest disaster one day and heard sports instead. I like Fox Radio Sports, as opposed to the news side, and it offers needed relief from time to time.
One would think 730 must do something about their signal if they really want to be competitive. Except for 2:00-3:00 p.m. weekdays, I like the ESPN network. Maybe S.A.S. will grow on me, but I doubt it. All things said, it is ESPN for goodness sake. Too bad the local affiliate has such an inconsistent signal.
As for Chris Vernon, he is really good. Like all of us who are or have ever been in the business, there is always some fault to find. But my take is that he works hard, strives to be factual, has excellent guests and makes every effort to avoid boring radio. The extent of my personal contact with him was a fifteen minute guest shot on a Redbirds' pregame radio show six years go, so I'm not his public relations pimp. But I do know a bit about entertaining broadcasting and Chris is as sound as Memphis has to offer...better than most.
Now then, will all three sports stations make it? They will if they all turn a profit.
robgrayson said:
I think that's the case. 930 here in Jackson aired the same Chiefs-Jaguars game, too.
T
Tenn Radio Boy
Guest
Vernon sounds like a punk kid in the boys PE locker room. But then again, maybe that's what people like about him.
One sports station in the market is tough enough, not three. No one is making any money, but gets lots of comps in Tunica.
One sports station in the market is tough enough, not three. No one is making any money, but gets lots of comps in Tunica.
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