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Is Don Martin KILLING Fox Sports Radio

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sportsGM

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Is Don Martin killing FOX sports radio?

Seems Fox WAS doing great.
but since they have become a "national LA station" not sure it is working?

Rumor has it that more and more FOX affiliates are sick and tired of local LA hosts and local LA topics taking up the most of the national air time .....
(and affiliates now jumping ship to ESPN)

Perception is that Martin cares more about his local staion in LA than Fox Sports Radio.
And FOX is supposed to be, a network that covers national sports.
(The best sports radio hosts covering the best sports topics)

I am a fan of sports TALK radio and of Fox Sports Radio
I even like the LA point of view, just not srue nationally everyone does?
 
Of course he is. CC doesn't care about FSR anymore. Their theory is if it does not work in LA it won't be around anyway. To say they were doing GREAT is a gross overestimate. They were not bleeding anymore like they did in the Tom Lee days. I don't know what other affiliates are doing or if they even have a choice on the matter (as most cities have an ESPN of SNR affiliate). Don Martin is probably no different than any other CC foot soldier. He takes his orders from above.
 
The PMS show seems to be the biggest complaint among affiliates now. Way too LA-centric, and too often, not about sports at all. I know of a couple of stations that have seen their night ratings drop off signifiantly since the change from Andrew and Krystal. One station, owned by the same company that owns the sports station here, has found it so hard to sell ad time during the PMS show that they've resorted to running their required PSAs during that time. There were quite a few that were upset at the lack of a live overnight show, but those issues have been addresses.
 
PMS doesn't matter as a national show since most local station put their own talent on anyway. ESPN has nothing better in that slot and Sporting News may as well put up a tone as it has nothing to compete in ANY slot.
As for ESPN, they force their O & O's to run all of their crap programming those few stations with real management and sales will go local in morning or afternoon drive - depending on which show is the strongest on the local station.
Fox is fine as despite Patrick, Rome and Bruno being stand-alone shows, their line-up from 6am to 5am the next morning is just as strong if not stronger than any of the ESPN stuff. Other than Mike and Mike, ESPN doesn't exactly have stellar shows. Cowherd is too college driven and nothing else is better than average. Patrick, Rome, Bruno and Brick are at least 4 shows that stations can run. Sporting News only survives in those smaller markets with 3 stations and that 3rd station is usually a bad signal and desperate for syndicated programming over having to actually hire anyone locally.
So while Don Martin may be doing what Clear Channel tells him, he isn't killing anything. His deceased predecessor did more to damage that operation when he forced Bruno out and proceeded to make many bad decisions based on CC cutting back and bad hires across the board.
 
yeah. its been tough to listen to cc/fsr attempt the merge... obviously, its a train wreck and just waiting to fall apart into nothing. if a network that no one cares about is killed in the forest, does it even make a sound or elicit a reaction?

in any case, i still hope for a new challenger to espn. however, it will never happen in the current climate. past efforts come off like 5th graders with their parent's money trying to start a viable competitor to a monopoly.
 
radiogodzilla said:
PMS doesn't matter as a national show since most local station put their own talent on anyway.
Click to expand...

Completely disagree there. Among East Coast affiliates, they have nearly 100% clearance, outside of live event coverage. And that's where most of the complaints are coming from.
 
BRice16 said:
The PMS show seems to be the biggest complaint among affiliates now. Way too LA-centric, and too often, not about sports at all. I know of a couple of stations that have seen their night ratings drop off signifiantly since the change from Andrew and Krystal. One station, owned by the same company that owns the sports station here, has found it so hard to sell ad time during the PMS show that they've resorted to running their required PSAs during that time. There were quite a few that were upset at the lack of a live overnight show, but those issues have been addresses.
Click to expand...

From my perspective as a sports talk radio fan living in Texas, who is not in the radio industry, I absolutely love the PMS show. I can see how it might have to be an acquired taste for some (Much like Jim Rome's comparison in the mid-'90s of his own show to beer -- you hate it the first couple of times you try it, but give it a chance and eventually you will love it. Of course, that was a long time ago when Rome was still semi-entertaining). The people that claim that PMS is overly L.A.-centric and too often strays from sports topics are most likely the same troglodytes that worship at the altar of J.T. the Brick and bash Tony Bruno.

Sure, Petros and Money can be a bit one-sided when it comes to the West Coast, but any casual listener will learn pretty quickly that Petros is one hell of a football analyst, and together with Money they can talk intelligently about any sports topic imaginable. When you add to the mix their penchant for lighthearted highjinks and pop culture discussions, it makes for a very entertaining, well-rounded show. If you ask me, the only real mistake Martin has made was keeping that insufferable J.T. the Brick around this long. While Shemon and Washington were awful and deserved to get booted, I am a bit disappointed that Siciliano was shown the door. He would have been a perfect host for the overnight slot now occupied by J.T. Or even better, reunited with Tony B.
 
Hated PMS at first but its grown on me,,, Me too a listener from Texas... BTW if you haven't listened to Galloway and Co you are missing out. Randy gets it.
 
BRice16 said:
radiogodzilla said:
PMS doesn't matter as a national show since most local station put their own talent on anyway.
Click to expand...

Completely disagree there. Among East Coast affiliates, they have nearly 100% clearance, outside of live event coverage. And that's where most of the complaints are coming from.
Click to expand...

"Vic The Brick" is far more annoying... I would be surprised if he hasn't gotten more complaints than PMS.
 
WDFN in Detroit returned to mostly local daytime programming this week. Dan Patrick and Myers & Hartman show were replaced with local programming. A change to ESPN was in the works, but has been delayed. They still use everything from 6pm eastern to 7am with FSR programming.
 
That is all well and good for WDFN (they tried to replace Rome with two hours of Cowherd, but backed off at the last minute) but firing the previous airstaff - as well as losing the radio right to the Pistons - could be too much to overcome. Ditto with being on a mediocre AM signal.

God bless them for the effort, but it could be short-lived.
 
Who is this ROBIN BERTOLUCCI ?????

Do you think DON MARTIN reads this board ???
or will co workers tell him about this?
will he care ?
 
Don Martin is doing what he has to. Deliver in L.A. Fox sports can't compete with ESPN nationally, its not even competitive, so win in L.A.
People on this board become obsessed about the 'shows'. ESPN sells 75 percent 'BRAND' 25 percent personality. Ratings are secondary to ESPN. Here's a little secret, Mike and Mike get clobbered in all of their major markets (NY,PHI,BOS,D.C.DALLAS, 6 am hour in LA) AND nobody cares at ESPN, because they are a brand that creates 37 million dollars of revenue between the radio and TV show. Nobody on FOX sports even sniffs that.
Don Martin knows that. Thats why he's turned Fox radio into a heavy LA lean.
Nobody on syndicated sports gets dominant ratings in 'several' markets. MandM do okay in Chi town. Patrick only has one big time affiliate he's even live on, thats 570 in LA. rome peaked several years ago. and doesnt move the meter anywhere in the east.
ESPN sells brand. They are poised to dominate on several fronts for years.
Sporting news is completely irrelevant. It never even gets acknowledged on the conference calls I'm on. ESPN was offered to buy their affliates several years ago, and passed.
 
As a LA resident I can tell you that FoxSports radio killed our best local sports channel. I understand why fans around the country think PMS and Steve Hartman are too LA centric. That's because Fox and Don Martin want it both ways: more ratings that come from syndication as well as appeasement for LA fans that crave their daily dose of Dodgers, Lakers, UCLA and USC. The ratings are up from the meager showing of an independent KLAC but the coverage is the worst of both worlds. Here in LA we think it's not enough and it sounds like out in the rest of the country it's too much.
 
Nathan Obral said:
That is all well and good for WDFN (they tried to replace Rome with two hours of Cowherd, but backed off at the last minute)
Click to expand...

could be an ESPN problem there...ESPN wants most of your day filled with ESPN product
 
This topic seems to be getting a lot of views do you think it is because Don Martain is so well known or well liked or ? in radio circles?
 
As a LA resident I can tell you that FoxSports radio killed our best local sports channel.

I used to be a big fan of XTRA Sports 690 when I lived in San Diego. Clear Channel killed it when they merged it with then-XTRA Sports 1150.
 
bordeaux said:
Don Martin is doing what he has to. Deliver in L.A. Fox sports can't compete with ESPN nationally, its not even competitive, so win in L.A.
People on this board become obsessed about the 'shows'. ESPN sells 75 percent 'BRAND' 25 percent personality. Ratings are secondary to ESPN. Here's a little secret, Mike and Mike get clobbered in all of their major markets (NY,PHI,BOS,D.C.DALLAS, 6 am hour in LA) AND nobody cares at ESPN, because they are a brand that creates 37 million dollars of revenue between the radio and TV show. Nobody on FOX sports even sniffs that.
Don Martin knows that. Thats why he's turned Fox radio into a heavy LA lean.
Nobody on syndicated sports gets dominant ratings in 'several' markets. MandM do okay in Chi town. Patrick only has one big time affiliate he's even live on, thats 570 in LA. rome peaked several years ago. and doesnt move the meter anywhere in the east.
ESPN sells brand. They are poised to dominate on several fronts for years.
Sporting news is completely irrelevant. It never even gets acknowledged on the conference calls I'm on. ESPN was offered to buy their affliates several years ago, and passed.
Click to expand...

Very interesting read. Doesn't make sense to me though. And wasn't Jim Rome's evening show very popular nationally a few years ago?
 
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