Friday, August 13, 2004
Friday link round-up and a TEAM1200 trade
The Citizen has a good precis of the Renegades' offensive line situation. It appears to be available to non-subscribers too.
John Robson has an entertaining column (this one is behind the subscriber wall - How to be Spiderman) about the Olympic spirit. On a similar note (and also behind the wall), Martin Cleary continues his series of profiles of Olympians with links to the region.
Don Brennan reiterates (in a roundabout fashion via Montreal) the great value of going to a Lynx game.
J.R., Man of the People, and the voice of reason, on the morning show, has been "traded" from the TEAM1200 to the BOB FM morning job. Promotionally, CHUM has milked this well. From the tongue-in-cheek press release mirroring the Gretzky trade, to the remaining hosts talking about it constantly, CHUM is doing a great job in cross-promoting its stations. You have to give them credit for that, though if it stretches on any longer it'll be pretty irritating.
From a programming point of view, he'll be missed. On the morning show, J.R. was a stabilzing presence, keeping Steve and especially Jungle Jim roughly in line (if you can call it that). By contrast, my drive in this morning included a 60-Second Shootout that took about 5 minutes, a traffic report that JimJ interrupted about 7 times, and 10 minutes on the resignation of NJ Gov. McGreevey. After a 20-20 sports break, JimJ took over the host's chair, which admittedly was very funny, but which I think would grow old in a hurry. I think Steve would/will make a solid morning host, but who (or if) they bring in as the third guy/gal will make all the difference in how the show turns out. This morning they has regular caller Angry Al co-hosting but he didn't really say enough in the 20 minutes I was listening to get a good read. Dean and Buzz also hinted at Steve Lloyd Wednesday afternoon, a possibility I think would work well.
I didn't get a chance to listen to it often, but when I did, I always enjoyed the first hour of Sportscall that J.R. hosted. In strk contrast to the morning show, it was strictly sports, with top-notch interviews and talk.
Finally, this year J.R. has been hosting the Renegades pre-game show. He's been a marked improvement over He That Shall Not Be Named (except in a lawsuit filed by Tie Domi). Although we won't find out until the 'Gades take on the Ti-Cats next week, presumably Buzz, host of the afternoon show and the weekly Renegades show, will take his spot. Assuming that's the case, that's one spot that won't drop off in quality.
Of course all this raises more fundamental questions like, "Does it even matter?" (not really), and "Why are you listening to sports radio instead of CBC, The Bear, or a CD?" (I don't know? I can't help myself.)
However, those are questions that will have to wait for another day.
John Robson has an entertaining column (this one is behind the subscriber wall - How to be Spiderman) about the Olympic spirit. On a similar note (and also behind the wall), Martin Cleary continues his series of profiles of Olympians with links to the region.
Don Brennan reiterates (in a roundabout fashion via Montreal) the great value of going to a Lynx game.
J.R., Man of the People, and the voice of reason, on the morning show, has been "traded" from the TEAM1200 to the BOB FM morning job. Promotionally, CHUM has milked this well. From the tongue-in-cheek press release mirroring the Gretzky trade, to the remaining hosts talking about it constantly, CHUM is doing a great job in cross-promoting its stations. You have to give them credit for that, though if it stretches on any longer it'll be pretty irritating.
From a programming point of view, he'll be missed. On the morning show, J.R. was a stabilzing presence, keeping Steve and especially Jungle Jim roughly in line (if you can call it that). By contrast, my drive in this morning included a 60-Second Shootout that took about 5 minutes, a traffic report that JimJ interrupted about 7 times, and 10 minutes on the resignation of NJ Gov. McGreevey. After a 20-20 sports break, JimJ took over the host's chair, which admittedly was very funny, but which I think would grow old in a hurry. I think Steve would/will make a solid morning host, but who (or if) they bring in as the third guy/gal will make all the difference in how the show turns out. This morning they has regular caller Angry Al co-hosting but he didn't really say enough in the 20 minutes I was listening to get a good read. Dean and Buzz also hinted at Steve Lloyd Wednesday afternoon, a possibility I think would work well.
I didn't get a chance to listen to it often, but when I did, I always enjoyed the first hour of Sportscall that J.R. hosted. In strk contrast to the morning show, it was strictly sports, with top-notch interviews and talk.
Finally, this year J.R. has been hosting the Renegades pre-game show. He's been a marked improvement over He That Shall Not Be Named (except in a lawsuit filed by Tie Domi). Although we won't find out until the 'Gades take on the Ti-Cats next week, presumably Buzz, host of the afternoon show and the weekly Renegades show, will take his spot. Assuming that's the case, that's one spot that won't drop off in quality.
Of course all this raises more fundamental questions like, "Does it even matter?" (not really), and "Why are you listening to sports radio instead of CBC, The Bear, or a CD?" (I don't know? I can't help myself.)
However, those are questions that will have to wait for another day.
