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Why no hockey talk

F

futballfan

Guest
I'm always baffled at this time of year that there is so little hockey coverage/talk on Sports Radio. I'm not buying the old line that no one wants to hear it. Conversely, I think hosts don't know it well enough and chose not to invest the time to really learn hockey. Thoughts...
 
I would think, with all the hotly contested playoff games so far this season, there would be plenty of hockey talk but probably only in cities with a large hockey presence/history.

The Kings are probably the talk of the town in El A seeing as they are in the process of knocking off the President's Cup Canucks - and doing it with authority. This ain't yer daddy's Kings!

Nashville has played tough against Detroit and deserves mention as do the Coyotes up against the Stanley Cup winning Blackhawks. Both the Preds and Dogs goalies are stories in themselves.

The biggest series to date though is probably the major collapse of the Penguins. Who would have thought all their talent would disappear against the Flyers?

Surely there is plenty to talk about - I'm sure they're doing it in Canada.
 
There has never been much hockey talk in south Florida, despite a 19 year history of an NHL team, the Panthers, who actually made the Cup finals 1995-96 (getting soundly beaten). Only in May-June 1996 were we treated to that much hockey talk here.

I cannot really pay attention to local play-by-play on the radio, either, although sometimes we'll get audio highlights of he-shoots-he-SCORES, and then some line which has nothing to do with hockey (maybe lines from a movie or whatever)....

cd
 
You're getting hockey talk now.....

My question for hockey fans is this....are the fights we're seeing in the various series tied into the fact that hockey is not paid much attention? Is this an attention seeking action on the part of the players and the NHL?
 
sprtschick said:
You're getting hockey talk now.....

My question for hockey fans is this....are the fights we're seeing in the various series tied into the fact that hockey is not paid much attention? Is this an attention seeking action on the part of the players and the NHL?
Click to expand...

So you're saying the NHL is encouraging or condoning fighting to boost attention? If that's your question I would respond "no". Fighting in hockey has always been a double-edged sword. Fans do like an enforcer punishing an opposition player who takes liberties with your star. And most often it is Tough Guy vs Tough Guy so fairly even and no harm done. The thing that seems to be different this playoff is the number of severe cheap shots. No true fan wants to see any player, especially a skilled player, injured as a result of a cheap shot or intent to injure.

As far as hockey getting attention.....there are markets where hockey is very popular, moderately popular and completely ignored. No amount of WWE-type behavior will change that.
 
More than a bit of it in Boston on both WBZ-FM (which has Bruins rights) and WEEI.

>>probably only in cities with a large hockey presence/history.
 
Not an industry insider, but just posting as a (n obsessed hockey) fan, here's some theories from me as to why we don't hear hockey talk:

1) ESPN has rights to the NBA, not the NHL. Whether by choice or not, ESPN prefers not to discuss hockey.

2) Fox Sports Radio is based in LA, not a hockey savvy area.

3) Yahoo Sports Radio, apart from Szabin in the morning, has little hockey to offer.

Here in Pennsylvania, I truly think the NHL is covered and talked about more thoroughly than the NBA. The state is covered well by pro teams in the NHL, AHL, ECHL and even a team in Junior hockey In Erie. The NBA has the 76ers and even in their home city, they ranked 4th out of 4 of the Big 4 pro sports.

Most of the radio talkers, gleefully profess their ignorance of the sport. Several of the more well known ones like Colin Cowherd, Doug Gottlieb and Dan Patrick, profess their love of the NBA. For the most part here in PA, the NBA doesn't even register. The NHL - on the other hand - is all over the map, especially now with the Penguins-Flyers playoff battle.

Seems like the only national talker who will discuss NHL hockey is Jim Rome.

So to get my hockey fix, the TV is always on NHL Network. And to heck with the radio!
 
timmyb said:
1) ESPN has rights to the NBA, not the NHL. Whether by choice or not, ESPN prefers not to discuss hockey.
2) Fox Sports Radio is based in LA, not a hockey savvy area.
3) Yahoo Sports Radio, apart from Szabin in the morning, has little hockey to offer.
Click to expand...

I think you've nailed it right here.

Its not that ESPN ignores hockey altogether, but they don't focus on it -- because they have the rights to the NBA, they have many NBA analysts on staff. And we all realize that ESPN Radio is just a marketing gimmick for the rest of the ESPNpire.

FSR doesn't do much hockey because they'd rather do another "guy talk" segment.
 
ESPN HATES hockey. I mean, hates it, with a white-hot glowing passion.
I think they'd talk about tiddly-winks before spending substantial time on the NHL.

Conversely, on local sports stations here in Pittsburgh there is a lot of hockey talk
(particularly now that the Pens have done a first-round el foldo). I think that's a
function of the fact that we are in a northern market, the team has done well in
recent years, and Pittsburgh really does not care for the NBA much.

Can you sell hockey talk in Macon, Georgia? I kinda doubt it.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
ESPN HATES hockey. I mean, hates it, with a white-hot glowing passion. I think they'd talk about tiddly-winks before spending substantial time on the NHL.
Click to expand...

ESPN hates anything that they don't broadcast - especially if they used to have rights but lost them.

Conversely, on local sports stations here in Pittsburgh there is a lot of hockey talk (particularly now that the Pens have done a first-round el foldo). I think that's a function of the fact that we are in a northern market, the team has done well in recent years, and Pittsburgh really does not care for the NBA much.
Click to expand...

The NBA hasn't been in Pittsburgh since it was called the BAA (Pittsburgh Ironmen, 1947). The Condors/Pipers were an ABA team that didn't make it to the merger (1968-72, with part of the 1969 season in Minneapolis).

Can you sell hockey talk in Macon, Georgia? I kinda doubt it.
Click to expand...

You didn't like the Macon Whoopee? Neither did folks in Macon since that team only lasted a few years. ;D
 
I don't think there's any mystery that ESPN and FOX are wary of talking hockey because they don't have the contract. I've always felt ESPN talked too much basketball, though I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of the sport.

Regardless, usually when a host talks basketball I usually tune out.

Hockey, meanwhile, historically has been a sport that could gather a lot of attention if talked about the right way. Scott Ferrall turned hockey talk into the most hip, colorful, and brash sports talk show in America in the 1990s; "Ferrall on the Bench." Mark Madden in Pittsburgh has made a career of talking hockey and was one of 12 sports talk show hosts highlighted in an Sports Illustrated feature on sports talk shows 10 years ago or so. Steve Somers helped establish WFAN by catering to New York Rangers fans and playing up their rivalry with the Islanders. WEEI often is able to gather the biggest possible audience by putting a hockey guy and a basketball guy on the same show and letting them fight it out.

At the risk of playing up negative stereotypes, a show that talks hockey is going to attract a hockey audience, which usually is a young, white male from the suburbs- thus meaning he probably has some money and likes to spend it on recreation. Perfect demographic no matter where you're at.

Basketball, meanwhile, is more urban. It's audience isn't as wealthy; isn't one of the appeals of the sport that "anyone can afford to play- all you need is a ball?"

Just a thought, but in sports talk it isn't so much what you talk about but how you talk about it. But since the nuances of hockey (and, for that matter, NASCAR) aren't quite as mainstream as those of football, basketball, and baseball, could talking hockey be of benefit for a host because you could teach the listener something he might not know and bond with the listener who already is hockey saavy?
 
KeithE4 said:
You didn't like the Macon Whoopee? Neither did folks in Macon since that team only lasted a few years. ;D
Click to expand...

The Macon Whoopee were one of the All Time Top Ten Names for a sports franchise.
Cool logo too....a menacing looking Whooping Crane wielding a hockey stick.

When I lived in Flint, Michigan someone wanted to buy the local minor league hockey team
and rename them the Stones. I think they ran into legal difficulties with Hanna-Barbera though.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
KeithE4 said:
You didn't like the Macon Whoopee? Neither did folks in Macon since that team only lasted a few years. ;D
Click to expand...

The Macon Whoopee were one of the All Time Top Ten Names for a sports franchise.
Cool logo too....a menacing looking Whooping Crane wielding a hockey stick.

When I lived in Flint, Michigan someone wanted to buy the local minor league hockey team
and rename them the Stones. I think they ran into legal difficulties with Hanna-Barbera though.
Click to expand...

Oh man, it's like the old Steven Wright joke:

The Stones, I love the Stones. I see 'em every chance I get. It amazes me that they've been doing it all this time. Fred and Barney.*

[*I first heard this in 1985, and some things never change!]

cd
 
KeithE4 said:
FreddyE1977 said:
ESPN HATES hockey. I mean, hates it, with a white-hot glowing passion. I think they'd talk about tiddly-winks before spending substantial time on the NHL.
Click to expand...

ESPN hates anything that they don't broadcast - especially if they used to have rights but lost them.
Click to expand...

did they even like it when they HAD it?
 
I hear a little hockey now and again but I remember the last time I heard Hockey Talk was last year on the ESPN Radio show All Night with Jason Smith and it was all about the scary riot in Vancover
 
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