• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Hank-FM Colts Prez Show Abruptly Ends After "Perfect" Bid Thwarted

DToTheJ

DToTheJ

The day after the Indianapolis Colts benched star quarterback Peyton Manning and other key players, allowing the New York Jets to score 19 unanswered points and prevent the Colts from pursuing an undefeated NFL season, team president Bill Polian was so flummoxed by irate callers about the decision that he ended his weekly show on 97.1 Hank-FM (WLHK) ten minutes early.

Nobody's perfect, I guess.

Full story:
http://www.ibj.com/the-score/2009/1...s-himself-during-radio-show/PARAMS/post/15423

Meanwhile, the plot thickens: Indy's ESPN 1070 The Fan is reporting that Polian did not cut his show short at all:

"The last segment of the show timed out at almost exactly one-minute. Bob Lamey took that minute to promote the upcoming game, and that minute was not long enough to do anything but thank Polian and do the live promo, so I'm sure Bob excused Polian..."

It goes on to say that the reason why the last ten minutes of the hour were laden with so many commercials was because the host (Lamey) didn't want to "break format" with such a controversial topic, so he simply held the spots over until the end of the hour.

More from ESPN 1070 The Fan:
http://www.1070thefan.com/sterling/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10077484
 
Even if Emmis' representation of the conclusion of this show is correct [and very well may be], I believe the attitude Mr. Polian carries in general, and particularly in response to this decision, is the larger issue with the fans.

The end-of-show could have easily bottlenecked as is being described by Emmis management. What they cannot manage PR-wise, however, is Polian's I'm-smarter-at-this-than-any-of-you-so-I-don't-have-to-offer-any-explanation-of-my-decisions-to-you attitude.

He IS smarter than us regarding football personnel and business. He should be - he's dedicated his life to it. I don't believe for a minute there are many in his profession who do the job better.

He's less-than-smart when it comes to recognizing he's still in a consumer-driven business. We hear pro sports is a business all the time. True. The public are the customers. Can any retailer survive if they take the attitude with customers that you should buy my stuff if you know whats good for you cause I know better than you?

The aburpt ending of his radio show would have garnered much less attention if it didn't have the appearance of a gruff guy who was tired of dealing with his customers, as he always seems to be. :-\
 
The first story also reports that country music was being played in the final ten minutes of the broadcast. yesterday, I visited a Colts message board which promoted a "live blog" of the show, complete with a link to hear WLHK online. I have a feeling that the "music" the fans on the Colts message board may have heard at that point in the show might have been inserted by the station to cover up local spots on the terrestrial side. Just a hunch.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom