Does anybody at 'KNR actually LISTEN to their station???

[HeyYo]

I hate to post another anti-WKNR note, since there seems to be a lot of that here. But I just can't help myself. I've been listening for a very long time, and remember the days of Reghi, Needle, Ward, Kestecher, and others who made that place fun and interesting to listen to. Now...what a joke.

A few things I've noticed:

-Apparantly the hosts/producers do not check with each other. This morning (Friday), Brinda had new Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown on. This afternoon, five hours later, Roda had....yup, new Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown on. Brilliant, fellas, just brilliant. On top of that, it sure seems like the hosts have the same guests on all the time, especially Roda. Lemme guess, next week we'll hear from Brian Windhorst, Scoop Jackson, the Ohio State writer-dude, Pat McManamon, etc. Good guys, but how about some new flava?

-This youth movement thing is getting out of control over there. Over the past few weeks, myself and others I've talked to have noticed more of their kids getting more airtime. And it sounds like it; the product sounds so small-market, it's silly. Then they have the kids do some promos, which sound like an OCB project. I'm guessing upper-management (all one of them), either doesn't listen, doesn't get it, or deosn't care.

Yes, I know this is not old news, but I can't believe none of it is changing. How in the world this station is still on the air and getting ratings befuddles me.

Just my two cents.......

 

[nate81]

> Yes, I know this is not old news, but I can't believe none
> of it is changing. How in the world this station is still
> on the air and getting ratings befuddles me.

If anyone BUT Salem owned WKNR, the sports format would've been dead three years ago. It's the fact that Salem is a nationwide broadcasting conglomerate that keeps everything the way it is. It's crappy sports-talk, limited by all sorts of ways, but it's still there. So "you'll take nothing and like it!" ;D

Sell off 850 to a local group, and watch CC go in for the kill (flagship rights, billboards, the whole shebang)... so much so, it wouldn't be funny.

- nate81<P ID="signature">______________
Nathan Obral
University Partership Representative
Student Senate
Lorain County Community College, Elyria, Ohio

http://www.lorainccc.edu</P>

 

[jimmyradio]

KNR is such a sad story.

They have a monster signal at least during daytime hours that reaches just as far, if not farther than WTAM. Yet station management either doesnt have a clue about sports talk, doesnt care about the station, or a combination of both. The funny thing about KNR is how we talk about the young "talent" over there. Outside of Andre Knott whos left for TAM, KNR doesnt have any young talent. What KNR has is young people who work inside that building on broadview rd and as a result are thrown in front of the mic by Michael Luzcak to fill air-time. I listen to the new "WKNR Weekend Sports" (GENIOUS name guys - REAL creative) every saturday since theres no other sports talk on and these guys are just horrible on the air. Studdering, stammering, making stupid points - its just pathetic.

The funny thing is that after Paul Belfi took sportstalkcleveland away from KNR it looked like he might fall apart. Here we are in June and it looks like Bruce Drennan is going to be on STC soon (see the message board on sportstalkcleveland.com) which makes stc's lineup comparable to KNR's which is unbelieveable. Personally, I'll take the combination of Bruce Drennan, Joe Lull, Mr. Moohead, Nick Despons, Reid Ditzler and some of the other young guys over Greg Brinda, Kenny Roda, Mike Catan, Neil Bender, Josh Sabo, Jayson Gibbs and the rest of the KNR clan. That tells me how crappy KNR is that Id rather listen to a low profit internet station than them. (no offense mr belfi)

Hopefully someone buys WKNR soon so I dont have to sit in front of a computer to hear decent cleveland sports talk.

-jimmyradio

 

[WBBB]

Where have you gone Pete Franklin?

 

[jimmyradio]

> Where have you gone Pete Franklin?
>

Seriously. I cant believe Im sitting here talking about how some college aged kids on an internet station are some of the best sports talk in the city. No offense to them - I think some of them are on their way to big things, but still the state of sportstalk in this town is pathetic. I doubt more than one or two personalities from this market would be able to hold down any type of air position in a decent sportstalk market like Chicago or LA.

KNR was awesome in the early to mid 90's and was ok when Legerski ran things and had Kendall Lewis w/ Brinda and Bruce Drennan on 6-9am. The late John Antus, along with Ken Silverstein and Rich Passan made for some solid tier 2 talkers. Its amazing how far the station has slipped and how some of these board-op types have made their way onto the air now.

Where have you gone Mike Wolfe...

 

[TimL]

> > Where have you gone Pete Franklin?
> >
>
> Seriously. I cant believe Im sitting here talking about how
> some college aged kids on an internet station are some of
> the best sports talk in the city. No offense to them - I
> think some of them are on their way to big things, but still
> the state of sportstalk in this town is pathetic. I doubt
> more than one or two personalities from this market would be
> able to hold down any type of air position in a decent
> sportstalk market like Chicago or LA.
>
> KNR was awesome in the early to mid 90's and was ok when
> Legerski ran things and had Kendall Lewis w/ Brinda and
> Bruce Drennan on 6-9am. The late John Antus, along with Ken
> Silverstein and Rich Passan made for some solid tier 2
> talkers. Its amazing how far the station has slipped and
> how some of these board-op types have made their way onto
> the air now.
>
> Where have you gone Mike Wolfe...


Off Topic but ESPN classic has shown in the past a Cavaliers/Washington Bullets 1975-76 "Miracle of Richfield" playoff game with Mike Wolfe as one of the Bullets announcers.

 

[Tim]

I agree with those who say WKNR has really declined over the years...and that really is a shame. Sports fans in northeastern Ohio deserve better.

But, I also very much agree with the one poster who said basically...a so-so WKNR is better than no sportstalk.

For a sportstalk station to have higher-quality, mostly-local hosts...that's very labor intensive and expensive...the station must be a big money-maker. And, people in sports say to be profitable enough to have those big, local staffs...a station has to be the flagship of at least one major legue team (usually it's baseball)...which can be a huge ad revenue generator.

And, for a station to have the broadcast rites for a major sport takes ownership willing to spend big bucks to the rites fees. Unfortunately, nobody in Cleveland wants to risk competing with Clear Channel for those broadcast rites. And, without the deep revenue streams, WKNR simply won't make enough money to risk hiring and paying a huge local staff. Sad, isn't it?

 

[OldAkronite]

> If anyone BUT Salem owned WKNR, the sports format would've
> been dead three years ago. It's the fact that Salem is a
> nationwide broadcasting conglomerate that keeps everything
> the way it is. It's crappy sports-talk, limited by all sorts
> of ways, but it's still there. So "you'll take nothing and
> like it!" ;D

Here we keep thinking Salem is itching to A) sell off the station or B) change the format, and it's actually C) just keeping things status quo because that's the easiest thing to do.

If CC won't bite at its sales price, or if CC can't legally add the 850 signal to the Cleveland cluster...and no one else wants it...well, Brinda and Roda are contracted already, the kids are cheap, and the rest is ESPN.

There's SO much more WKNR could be doing. Hell, I'm wistful for the days of Peter Brown, of all people, in PM drive. But there's this giant mountain in front of them, and the only way to the other side is if CC buys them and makes it a home for sports content that won't fit on WTAM, or if someone like Infinity bought them. Those are your major two sports format group operators. And there's no sign Infinity is interested in adding an AM to its Cleveland portfolio.

-OA