Because of that, I recall your talk shows after the game getting NOTHING but Pirates calls. Chris Cross and Bruce Keidan coming on and talking nothing but Bucs after the game, and producing lively shows with lots of callers. The same with Perry Marshall.
Chris encouraged that because we felt it crucial to the station - and to the city. It didn't really happen to any great degree when Cigna hosted the show (yes, it happened, but not nearly so much.) So what you heard was "by design", not by accident.
At one point I remember Marshall put a moritorium on Pirates calls. He just was sick of everyone calling in with a single subject.
And that was OK with us, too. By the time an hour or two had elapsed - and KD's signal was reaching 40 states (or was it 38? I forget) - it was time for something else. But having the program before lead up to it was an invitation to keep calling, so Perry had to put a "closed" sign on the door some nights. (And he was a Pirate's fan, FWIW. But it wasn't good programming for the listeners in Iowa to talk all Pirates all the time, see?)
Well, as Karma goes - and as I related in another thread - they were great for us when Cigna took over because they were on a tear right at the end of whichever season it was. Well. They paid us back in spades in '84 and '85. We did our best, but when the team stinks, when they are disrespectful of the fans, when there is drug abuse going on in the clubhouse - and when people in town are losing their jobs and watching millionaire baseball players refuse to run out a ground ball - well, there's only so much you can do.
(Which is why the Bob Prince thing happened. It never would have if the team hadn't been sinking so dramatically.)
OK, I'm done here. Thanks for the conversation. (Incidentally, I would not be surprised to find out that the Pirates had great time-spent-listening back in the 1980's, perhaps far better than some major markets. Remember that the games were television only on KDKA-TV (with a few more on cable which few people had), which carried only about 40 or so. In LA, Chicago, and New York it was common to have 120+ games on television. You would expect real fans to migrate to the tube, and radio listening to be consequently less - and those listening to radio doing so either because they were just casual fans tuning in for the score, or regular fans hopping in the car to run to the store. A bit of an exaggeration, perhaps, but not that much.)
Chris encouraged that because we felt it crucial to the station - and to the city. It didn't really happen to any great degree when Cigna hosted the show (yes, it happened, but not nearly so much.) So what you heard was "by design", not by accident.
At one point I remember Marshall put a moritorium on Pirates calls. He just was sick of everyone calling in with a single subject.
And that was OK with us, too. By the time an hour or two had elapsed - and KD's signal was reaching 40 states (or was it 38? I forget) - it was time for something else. But having the program before lead up to it was an invitation to keep calling, so Perry had to put a "closed" sign on the door some nights. (And he was a Pirate's fan, FWIW. But it wasn't good programming for the listeners in Iowa to talk all Pirates all the time, see?)
Well, as Karma goes - and as I related in another thread - they were great for us when Cigna took over because they were on a tear right at the end of whichever season it was. Well. They paid us back in spades in '84 and '85. We did our best, but when the team stinks, when they are disrespectful of the fans, when there is drug abuse going on in the clubhouse - and when people in town are losing their jobs and watching millionaire baseball players refuse to run out a ground ball - well, there's only so much you can do.
(Which is why the Bob Prince thing happened. It never would have if the team hadn't been sinking so dramatically.)
OK, I'm done here. Thanks for the conversation. (Incidentally, I would not be surprised to find out that the Pirates had great time-spent-listening back in the 1980's, perhaps far better than some major markets. Remember that the games were television only on KDKA-TV (with a few more on cable which few people had), which carried only about 40 or so. In LA, Chicago, and New York it was common to have 120+ games on television. You would expect real fans to migrate to the tube, and radio listening to be consequently less - and those listening to radio doing so either because they were just casual fans tuning in for the score, or regular fans hopping in the car to run to the store. A bit of an exaggeration, perhaps, but not that much.)