Who's minding the Hog store?

[Bat Fastard]

I listened to parts of the Arkansas - Mississippi State basketball game last night and I wonder who's minding the store. The game sounded like a good one (State, 82-80), but things have certainly gone downhill on the radio.

Mike Nail sounds slower and more deliberate in his presentations, although he still delivers the mail. I have never been a fan of Rick Shaeffer and wonder how he keeps his gig. I guess being the ultimate "homer" plays well to the suits on The Hill. Still, the worst of it all last night was the engineering on-site. My guess is that they had a "crowd mic" for natural sound...which is a common practice. This one, however, had some woman sitting in close proximity and screaming "w-h-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o" every ten seconds or so and it was SO loud, it frequently overrode Mike's calls. It went on this way the whole night.

I can't think of any argument that can excuse this. Surely, someone at the switch HAD to notice it. Perhaps there was no crowd mic and this woman had extremely well-developed lungs, but she made hard to listen to.

To quote Pink Floyd: "is there anybody out there"?

 

[wxman76]

I noticed the vocal lady over the mic, too.

I think Mike Nail has annouced that this is going to be his last year. I have loved having Mike as the voice of the Razorbacks, but it is probably overdue.

I haven't heard who will be the replacement but if they decide to go local, Scott Inman would probably the safe choice.

 

[rgseark2009]

ISP has the rights to the radio broadcasts and non-conference TV games not carried by ESPN or CBS. Its likely they outsourced their production to the same people that did the radio under the ARSN/KATV banner. I listened briefly to the AR broadcast but since I live in earshot of a station carrying the Miss State broadcasts, also took a listen to Jack Cristal's PBP.

As candidates for next year's Razorback PBP prospects, my money is on Scott Inman. His only drawback is the KATV anchor gig, and a possibility of him getting job offer to a larger market TV station.

Other possibilities? (NOT a complete list)

Steve Sullivan
Jimmy Dykes
Grant Merrill
Chuck Barrett (hopefully not)
Dale Nicholson III

 

[kjl]

Yes, that woman yelling the background on Thursday night's game was distracting. Mike Nail is the only voice I know of my beloved Hog basketball so I really hope they can replace a legend like him well. Rick Schaeffer can stay or go doesn't really matter to me, but if they are going to replace Nail they might think about putting former Hog Blake Eddins in that color spot, I really enjoy his analysis. I would like to see that senario, but probably not going to happen.

As far as Inman I predict he will be Nail's replacement, but to be honest I am not a big Inman fan calling basketball games, he is alright on the TV games at least. I think they need to look or I guess listen to Geoff Haxton from Oral Roberts, young guy and very good at calling basketball games painting a good picture of whats happening.

 

[justgohogs]

This is indeed, Mike's last year of Razorback P-B-P. ISP has not 'outsourced' production of their games. Just because you're a big company doesn't mean you're good at what you do. And, in my experience, ARSN/KATV did some things better than ISP and some things not as well. They were, it seems to me, more responsive to criticism in trying to correct problems.

 

[Stack]

Somebody feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (like I need to say that), but I think that Mike Nail had a mild stroke, which is why his delivery is so slow and deliberate.

 

[Triple Fake Jerry]

I did some color with Grant Merrill when he was a kid getting started at KARV in Russellville. He probably won't get the gig, but it's nice to see him in the discussion at least.

 

[MontyRowell]

I did some color with Grant Merrill when he was a kid getting started at KARV in Russellville. He probably won't get the gig, but it's nice to see him in the discussion at least.

Grant would be a GREAT choice...