Fox caller disses the Zone and Nashvillians

[jetfli]

Last night on Fox Sports Radio, as aired live on 104.5 the Zone, Shemon and Washington briefly discussed the incident of being yanked from the air in Nashville during the delay in the Nov. 21 Red Wings - Predators game. They downplayed the whole defibrillator bit. They went to a caller who was supposedly from Nashville (although he certainly knew a whole lot about FSR to be the average Zone listener), and who proceeded to dis "the Nashville station," never refering to it by any name. The caller said he loved Fox Sports Radio, having listened to it since "day one in 2000," and accused Nashvillians of being too "Bible Belt" to be able to deal with the comments made that night, as well as to deal with FSR in general.

Shemon said he used to "live in that part of the country" and "respected those views," but both he and Washington felt it was Nashvillians who were out of line in taking the comments so seriously. The hosts urged listeners to call the station and let them know how much they love Fox Sports Radio.

Now, I'm not originally from Nashville, having come here to work in media, but is it way too "Bible Belt" for me to believe a network shouldn't be bashing an affilliate like this, or allowing it? I'm not going to deny that there aren't people in the greater Nashville area that might like FSR (I just haven't ever run across one in person), but that phone call sounded way too set up. And to go as far to almost be taunting Zone listeners one moment, and then baiting them to call on the hosts' behalf is unbelieveable. Is this what passes for affiliate relations to FSR?

I remember back in the early days of the Zone, when word got out that Rick and Bubba would no longer be on the station. The show was pulled early because listeners were calling in to the show merely wanting to talk about it. At least those guys were being kind to the listeners and the station. The attitude the FSR hosts had was far worse. WGFX needs to dump Fox Sports just as quickly. If they won't or can't, they at least need to make certain they always have alternate program in the time slots hosted by these guys.

Please Zone, if this wasn't enough to make you and your management angry with this programming, at least come to the defense of your listeners and dump Fox Sports now.

 

[theradioman]

Jetfli....you must have been dreaming about Rick and Bubba. They were jerked because they were told by upper management not to discuss the matter -- and then they proceeded to rant about how upper management didn't support them, that the station had been through 8 formats, and that angry listeners should show up at the station's doors and "cause problems"

And if you believe in quality radio as you say, explain why the boys kept beating up on Nashville for the next 90 minutes -- when the show wasn't even on in Nashville. Im sure the people in Birmingham, Jackson MS, Mobile -- all enjoyed hearing about a Nashville radio station during their drive to work.

That shows hosts that are more interested in themselves than the listeners they serve. Unfortunately, it happens too often in our business. And it's sad.

 

[jetfli]

> Jetfli....you must have been dreaming about Rick and Bubba.
> They were jerked because they were told by upper management
> not to discuss the matter -- and then they proceeded to rant
> about how upper management didn't support them, that the
> station had been through 8 formats, and that angry listeners
> should show up at the station's doors and "cause problems"
>
> That shows hosts that are more interested in themselves than
> the listeners they serve. Unfortunately, it happens too
> often in our business. And it's sad.

I didn't personally hear but the early portion of what happened that morning with Rick and Bubba, and definitely not the part while they were off the air here. So you have answered one of my questions -- that the difference between what I heard on Fox Sports and what went on with Rick and Bubba was that management had told Rick and Bubba not to discuss the issue. Based on the information you've provided that was new to me, I have no debate with you on the "quality radio" issue you brought up.

But the annoyance factor for the listeners is still the same, the caller and these guys on Fox Sports were putting down the station and Nashville listeners. Surely it's not in the best interest of local management for that to continue either.