Wow!! ESPN Radio Should Be Embarrassed!

[ButtnPushr]

Whoever is doing the sports updates for The Michael Irvin Show needs to go back to school to learn how to read! I've heard 2 updates in 2 days, and whoever does it is awful. He trips over words, mispronounces most names, and doesn't flow. It's painfully obvious he's reading. He sounds like a 4th grader trying to read aloud in front of the class. I think his name is Clarence (something). Please check it out, it's amusing! This guy is in a Top 5 market and he sounds worse than a guy from Waco. It makes me sad, mad, and makes me laugh! It's definitely worth tuning in for..

 

[DFW_Radio_2000]

Sweet, I gotta check it out. Finally a reason to tune to ESPN! Albeit, because of a train wreck, but still...

 

[johnqdoe]

Ticket tickers are usually no better. Both stations really sound bad in this department more often than not.

 

[Steve Eberhart]

The problem is they all want to sound like Rich Phillips, who is excellent on the rapid fire delivery and sounds awesome. Some can pull it off, many can not.
It's another example of people trying to do something they just aren't capable of doing. Most would be perfectly fine doing a "normal" paced delivery but for some reason, either by choice or being told to, want to emulate Rich.
SLOW DOWN YOU MOVE TOO FAST....

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

Whoever is doing the sports updates for The Michael Irvin Show needs to go back to school to learn how to read! I've heard 2 updates in 2 days, and whoever does it is awful. He trips over words, mispronounces most names, and doesn't flow. It's painfully obvious he's reading. He sounds like a 4th grader trying to read aloud in front of the class. I think his name is Clarence (something). Please check it out, it's amusing! This guy is in a Top 5 market and he sounds worse than a guy from Waco.

To the best of my knowledge, I've never posted in the forum with negative remarks about a specific air talent. Generally my thoughts concern technical matters, broadcast history and other non-personal subjects.

So, as charitably as I can possibly put this, the night traffic reporter on WBAP (*not* Ben Martin who I hear on Friday, the other more ``youthful''-sounding person) doesn't sound like top 5 market material to me. For all I know, he's a prince among men and a dedicated worker dispensing timely and accurate information.

But his delivery, at least to my ears. is not up to the 820 standard established by Jimmy Stewart, Don Day and the like. This may be more of an indictment what radio has become than a critique of that individual's speaking skills. And it may be just my specific tastes, YMMV.

 

[oldmanradio]

The problem is they all want to sound like Rich Phillips, who is excellent on the rapid fire delivery and sounds awesome. Some can pull it off, many can not.
It's another example of people trying to do something they just aren't capable of doing. Most would be perfectly fine doing a "normal" paced delivery but for some reason, either by choice or being told to, want to emulate Rich.
SLOW DOWN YOU MOVE TOO FAST....

"I'm not talking too fast; you're listening too slow."
-- B. Mitchel Reed, KFWB, LA, WMCA, NYC

 

[SiriusTrouble]

".............and boom goes the dynamite!"

 

[oldiesfan6479]

SLOW DOWN YOU MOVE TOO FAST....

That's a bizarre statement there, Harper...er, Steve. <wink>

 

[MikeShannon914]

So, as charitably as I can possibly put this, the night traffic reporter on WBAP (*not* Ben Martin who I hear on Friday, the other more ``youthful''-sounding person) doesn't sound like top 5 market material to me. For all I know, he's a prince among men and a dedicated worker dispensing timely and accurate information. But his delivery, at least to my ears. is not up to the 820 standard established by Jimmy Stewart, Don Day and the like. This may be more of an indictment what radio has become than a critique of that individual's speaking skills. And it may be just my specific tastes, YMMV.

HA! And I thought I was the only one to notice. (Well, me and about 10 others who've said something to me about it.) All I can say is, you get what you pay for. Metro may look at overnight traffic as the "training shift," but we sure didn't at Traffic.com. With that 42-state coverage during overnight hours, AND the Midnight Trucking Show reeling in a lot of the traveling audience, I'd say it's a pretty damn important shift. We had the most conscientious guy on staff doing that shift on WBAP. Alan Barnes is sorely missed.

And the browbeating we often took at Traffic.com from WBAP management (Shomper included) over traffic reports and traffic reporters, and even having a few instances where we were "ordered" to replace <whoever> at the traffic desk...What I hear now is a dramatic departure. We would NEVER have been allowed to get away with the kind of third-string sound you hear now. I don't get it, but guess what, it's not my problem anymore!!!

Sure, I'll agree, might be the nicest guy in the world...but to use a 50,000 watt blowtorch to learn the trade? That's a failure at the MANAGEMENT level at Metro. Send the guy to KAAM.

(And Bob, you had the Prince of Traffic working with you back at KQZY/KRSR 105.3...John McCarty. Your expectations of today's traffic reporters may be set too high!)

 

[oldmanradio]

Supersonic speed reading

Steve was right about talking faster than you are able. Practice ... and you probably can learn to read faster.

But the great UCLA basketball coach John Wooden told his teams, "Be quick, but don't hurry."

Or as Dirty Harry once said, "A good man knows his limitations."