Sports Radio?

[Element9]

Is there any sports station in America more pathetic that WGR?

Bills owner and President Ralph C. Wilson goes before the local media to explain what he considers a threat to his team's long term viability and the very same day WGR is on the air vilifying him and stiring up the notion that the Bills are going to pull a Baltimore Colts-like getaway.

It's particularly sad when some of the callers address the issues more objectively and rationally than the sports "experts," especially the sports genius and his incoherent "uh, uh, y'know, I mean, like" partner in the afternoon.

What's especially galling about WGR is their talk show hosts' penchant for using sound bites out of context and truncated or edited to support the point of view of the hosts. I wish my comments pointed to only one or two hosts, but sadly, they apply to each uniquely talented sports talk host that makes WGR the incredible (in the true sense of the word) sports station that it is.

-9-

 

[SirRoxalot]

W-GRRRRR....

Sports? Is that what they call the meandering stream of unconsciousness that surrounds the tiresome syndicated programming on 550 AM?

Each time I mistakenly hit that button on my car radio, it reminds me of how much I miss WNSA. Even Howard Simon is virtually unlistenable at this point, thanks to the "input" of Jeremy White.

And I won't even mention the board-ops masquerading as "sports"casters doing "sports" updates.

 

[wired]

> Is there any sports station in (North) or (South)America
more pathetic than WGR?

> Highly Doubt it. "yes we is the worst" -wgr sports 55.

Get this one: I chime in (after being prompted to do so, by
a very talented-i must say-morning host) ...to contribute to
the topic the morning show was currently discussing (the buffalo
sabres) and the hit from darcy tucker..So I decide to call in :

The "Dude" screening the calls, mispronounced my name, then he *sighs*
and says, "alright.."(pauses)..and says "well...tell u 'whut' I will
pass along the question,and hopefully the can get to it."

Slightly confused (since the morning show duo Wanted callers to add to
this discussion) I continued to listened for another ten minutes or so.
I was hearing other callers say generic statements: "yea, i agree it was a cheap shot..what do you think?" and, the host saying yea, it was" ..
or callers being 'soo out there' --- the morning team will obviously disagre (100%) and re-establish the point, "It -in fact, was A cheap shot"

My inquiry would have been asking if it is wrong..not to go after
Darcy Tucker, since he may be a healthy scratch that game any way..
but perhaps the payback would be..more on mats sundin, or a running
of the goalie..to "send the message" I dont know if this is wrong/right..
but certainly would be a topic to discuss on a sports station..

..Soo I continue to listen and my inquiry which would have been
presented (in about 10 seconds) and then I hang up to hear the answer
was never addressed.. but, the same point driven home a dozen times over,
Sabres player need to remind darcy tucker that is a cheap shot, and
the team may be ready for payback...following the next commercial break,
I turned off WGR and havent went back !!

Winner of the station's most embarassing sabres moment: (this season)
Following an impression sabres victory, the talent/host started to
argue which chant ("go sabres go") or ("lets go buffalo") is more
'PC' / then decided to say the more acceptable chant. The talent
who in fact, remained nameless, said these "kids" and 'new-schoolers'
have this "go-sabres-go" chant...quote: "I am sorry, that is *NOT* the
chant, it is "Lets go buffalo" He continued to inform the fans,
attempting to 'educate' them, if you go to a game, please..know
the chants..and when to use them "Go-sabres-GO"...no, i cant justify
or give endorsement to "go sabres go" ( Sorry, I just can't ).

Nevermind, the 2 goals in under a minute to rally from behind..or,
the fact, the goaltending was outstanding, but get obessed with
"go sabres go" [vs] "lets go buffalo"

pathetic...

 

[Bob1370]

> Is there any sports station in America more pathetic that
> WGR?
>
> Bills owner and President Ralph C. Wilson goes before the
> local media to explain what he considers a threat to his
> team's long term viability and the very same day WGR is on
> the air vilifying him and stiring up the notion that the
> Bills are going to pull a Baltimore Colts-like getaway.

WGR's skepticism about Wilson's intentions may be justified. Remember, the Bills may be small market---but they remain among the most profitable franchises in the league, partly because they have not invested as much as many other teams in the quality of the on-the-field product...or in promotion, marketing and fan amenities. It's a franchise run on the cheap, the results on the field show it, and Wilson has known that at least up to now, an entertainment-starved region has been willing to support a mediocre product with capacity crowds. So he keeps his checkbook closed knowing that up to now, fans haven't called him to account and probably won't.

WGR hasn't exactly done the best job of articulating the reasons why it's skeptical...in thet regard, they miss Chuck Dickerson, who for all his bluster and bombast DID do a good job of critical analysis of the team and the organization, in the way only a former insider could. But they're right to take what comes from One Bills Drive with a pound of salt...and so should Western New York fans.

 

[dj_niceshot]

The replacements

> Sports? Is that what they call the meandering stream of
> unconsciousness that surrounds the tiresome syndicated
> programming on 550 AM?
>
> Each time I mistakenly hit that button on my car radio, it
> reminds me of how much I miss WNSA. Even Howard Simon is
> virtually unlistenable at this point, thanks to the "input"
> of Jeremy White.
>
> And I won't even mention the board-ops masquerading as
> "sports"casters doing "sports" updates.
>

All solid points. But if you could make the change, who would you have in place?
It's widely agreed that dogs singing Jingle Bells would be better than the current situation @ GR550

Given a real budget, what would the station look like? Thoughts?

Mornings:
Mid-days:
Drive time:
Evenings:

Pro Teams
Play/Play

What about syndicated? Dan Patrick? Tony Kornheiser?

 

[promorobot]

Could not agree more! WGR is the WORST local sports talk station in the country. Mike Schopp's contempt for his callers (and the city) is obvious. He is just buding his time until he gets the call up full-time to ESPN radio. His partner can barely string a coherent sentence together.

Both Simon and Schopp were MUCH better on WNSA (and on the independently produced Simoncast.) I have to believe there is a "suit" lurking in the background, controlling what is being discussed and how.

What's surprising to me is Entercom, who owns 'GR, also owns probably one of the best sports talk stations: WEEI, Boston. There is usually good debate between the host and semi-regulars who usually are newspaper reporters. Not sure if there are enough of them in Buffalo to make it work.

You may recall a post I made earlier that 97 Rock should have created mostly-Bills sports station on WHLD. I'm still convinced WGR could be taken out in one book.

PTR



> Is there any sports station in America more pathetic that
> WGR?
>
> Bills owner and President Ralph C. Wilson goes before the
> local media to explain what he considers a threat to his
> team's long term viability and the very same day WGR is on
> the air vilifying him and stiring up the notion that the
> Bills are going to pull a Baltimore Colts-like getaway.
>
> It's particularly sad when some of the callers address the
> issues more objectively and rationally than the sports
> "experts," especially the sports genius and his incoherent
> "uh, uh, y'know, I mean, like" partner in the afternoon.
>
> What's especially galling about WGR is their talk show
> hosts' penchant for using sound bites out of context and
> truncated or edited to support the point of view of the
> hosts. I wish my comments pointed to only one or two hosts,
> but sadly, they apply to each uniquely talented sports talk
> host that makes WGR the incredible (in the true sense of the
> word) sports station that it is.
>
> -9-
>

 

[RayDio20]

complaining about phone screeners??

Is this what we have sunken to? Complaining that a phone screener didn't put you on the air? Honestly... I agree that they have MAAAAJOR problems, one would think that they'd be reaping the benefits of having the rights to a winning team in Buffalo, yet I here more Sabres talk on other morning shows not even a part of Entercom. It seems they just want to piss and moan about the Bills and how defunked they are. There are many problems with WGR, but to complain about the phone screeners? Goodness... I just think that Entercom doesn't even care about WGR, when it was a talk station owned by Mercury, it was deep in the heat of battle with WBEN, I think Entercom just bought it to rule the market in News/talk, which, ultimatly worked... Its a flanker station

 

[fake_name]

> Is there any sports station in America more pathetic that
> WGR?
>

WHTK in Rochester is worse. Their only local show 10am-Noon with Brad Davies is good. I enjoy listening to it when I can. Unfortunately that's all they have. Nothing else is local. Come Bills season all you have to listen to is the Bills Radio Network on WCMF. Be thankful you have WGR in Buffalo.

WGR's biggest fault, in my opinion, is that Schopp can be a condecending arrogant a$$ to callers and that silly "good cop, bad cop" broadcast style they do seems a bit contrived at times. I like Bulldog. His opinions are smart and he's nice to even the worst callers. I liked him better by himself back when he did nights at WBEN. Listening to Schopp on ESPN Radio on Saturdays is fun. He tries to be nice to all callers so as not to piss off the boys in Bristol, but you can tell its killing him to do it.

I like Howard Simon and Jeremy White in the mornings except when they don't talk about sports. Hearing Howard talk about the "hottie" WGR Ball Girl contestants was disturbing.

Brad Riter does a great job at night. It's a different kind of pace and flow than the other WGR shows. I've heard some people criticize that, but I've always enjoyed it. I liked evenings more when Jeremy White was with Riter.

I even like that high school sports show on saturday mornings. With the wealth of schools in the Western New York area it's good to give these kids some play on the local sports station.

I think WGR does an alright job. You should give them a break once in a while on this board.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

Re: complaining about phone screeners??

> Is this what we have sunken to? Complaining that a phone
> screener didn't put you on the air? Honestly...

> I just think that Entercom
> doesn't even care about WGR, when it was a talk station
> owned by Mercury, it was deep in the heat of battle with
> WBEN, I think Entercom just bought it to rule the market in
> News/talk, which, ultimatly worked... Its a flanker station
>
I could very easily offer an opinion about all of this, but I'll refrain. Buffalo, at #52, is a small radio market. Everybody knows everybody else and it's not uncommon to bump into people who you've worked with or may someday work with again.

I'd only like to clarify that Mercury did not own WGR. When Mercury purchased WGRF and WUFX from Rich Communications in 1995, WGR-AM and WWWS-AM were not part of the deal. Keymarket optioned the AM stations, first as an LMA, then purchasing them.

WGR moved from 464 Franklin Street to the spacious (a pinch of sarcasm) 695 Delaware Avenue radio barn. Thanks to the engineering genius of Tom Atkins, the move was for the most part, smooth. Behind the scenes, it was organized chaos. Look for the paperback "How We Moved Two Radio Stations In One Night" coming to a bookstore soon.

Those were unsettled days. Within a period of 18 months, Keymarket was purchased by River City, which was primarily a TV group. River City merged with Sinclair, another TV group which had a yearning to create a synergy with radio. ("Synergy" was a big buzz word back in the day. CEO's were throwing it around like nickels but it was easier spoken about than implemneted.)

In December of 1999, the FCC approved Sinclair's sale of its radio division to Entercom.

Thought you'd appreciate the clarification.

-Jim

 

[wired]

Re: complaining about phone screeners??

> Is this what we have sunken to? Complaining that a phone
> screener didn't put you on the air? Honestly...

>>>I didnt care about being on the aire, (even said Pass my question
along). I just wanted my sports issued addressed...
Bottom Line: it wasnt.

Solicate callers, and then host/co-host have their own discussion...one or two callers on aire, and then back to the cohost praising the brilliance of the host...followed by a commercial break, and *REEEALLY* Opening the phone
lines and encouraging Callers "We Want to hear from You!"
Come Back: and the host/cohost just chit chat about whatever's on
their mind..oh yea, occassionally some buffalo sports talk too.
-
Just a different way of doing sports radio i guess.