1290 funny (review) New Sports Radio coming?

[RAFS]

If I had to guess, it will be Sportsnet 580. Rogers still owns the rights to that. Hustler is also doing a regular appearance on Sportsnet 960 every Friday. Must mean something.

 

[Mud Turtle]

I may be the only one in Manitoba listening to the new comedy station, but I’m really liking it. Nice change of pace for my 3 minute drive to work. Just enough to hear one bit.
It puts me in a good mood.

 

[Hollywood3]

I may be the only one in Manitoba listening to the new comedy station, but I’m really liking it. Nice change of pace for my 3 minute drive to work. Just enough to hear one bit.
It puts me in a good mood.

I don't mind the option. But the short bits make it hard listening after 15 minutes.

 

[drumzan]

If I had to guess, it will be Sportsnet 580. Rogers still owns the rights to that. Hustler is also doing a regular appearance on Sportsnet 960 every Friday. Must mean something.

Hustler also has regular appearances on CJOB

 

[KingBogo]

With FM you have access to lots of people who listen to the radio on their phone (many if not most Androids have an FM tuner), and lots of people have portable FM-only radios. That could offset the loss of far flung rural listeners.

Couldn't you just listen to AM online?

 

[RAFS]

Hustler also has regular appearances on CJOB

Don't mess with my dream!

 

[Al Camino]

I found these because because of how much I disliked 1290!
The reason it isn’t sports anymore is because it wasn’t very good. I was ok with most of the on air talent aside from Kevin O. Toth wasn’t great but like Jay Richardson before him he didn’t put much effort into learning anything and tied himself into knots to explain his position.

For me it was the content that sucked. You could tune it at anytime and get the same opinions on just about everything. They seemed to exist solely to carry TSNE water...all the time.

I have no issues with hosts discussing politics and sports and an intelligent host with good guests can have that discussion but 1290 didn’t have either so when they did it was a train wreck.

So in closing it 1290 reminds me of that HBO show The Newsroom. It’s fondly remembered as a very good show. But when you rewatch it as I did during lockdown, it was abjectly pretty bad in a lot of ways.

 

[PaulPooley]

If so please don’t let Kelly Moore anywhere near it. Cant stand listening to him, his voice, the way he asks questions, or his opinions.

I’d take Kevin O over Kelly any day of the week.

Kelly Moore seems like he would be a really good guy. However, anyone who encouraged him to pursue broadcasting as a career- with that voice - was barking up the wrong tree.

 

[MrBoJangelz71]

Was missing TSN radio initially, then got into listening to Hustlers podcast along with Illegal Curve and Weib and Renny, and find now I actually prefer the podcast format over listening to live radio.

For those living in poor reception areas, downloading a podcast for you drive works better.

 

[The Blue Baron]

I’ll take just about anything now! Even, gulp, Johnny Tooth.

 

[David Mandel]

Confused as to how the OP has any information about how it’s doing in the ratings. The ratings for the period it’s been operating isn’t out yet and won’t be out for months.

Also should point out 1290 did terrible in the ratings. This is essentially close to no cost and would make far more sense financially even with far lower ratings.

1290 did not do terrible in ratings. Actually for a size of Winnipeg and the options for radio content in Winnipeg 1290 pulled in fantastic #'s.

Also. I'd like to add that Sports Radio is booming! More so in the U.S.A - Majority of sportscasters have now turned to Radio even over t.v with networks. There are approximately 2,000 jobs in medium markets that pay over $120k.

There are average 3 sports radio stations in every medium market and they do extremely well. The small markets which Winnipeg would be too big for have learned how to operate sports radio stations with affiliating with major sports networks but still locally or regionally owned. Obtaining local college or minor league broadcasting rights is a big boost for these channels and many get regional rights to join a pro sports teams radio network that has ties with fans in their market.

 

[cheswick]

1290 did not do terrible in ratings. Actually for a size of Winnipeg and the options for radio content in Winnipeg 1290 pulled in fantastic #'s.

Also. I'd like to add that Sports Radio is booming! More so in the U.S.A - Majority of sportscasters have now turned to Radio even over t.v with networks. There are approximately 2,000 jobs in medium markets that pay over $120k.

There are average 3 sports radio stations in every medium market and they do extremely well. The small markets which Winnipeg would be too big for have learned how to operate sports radio stations with affiliating with major sports networks but still locally or regionally owned. Obtaining local college or minor league broadcasting rights is a big boost for these channels and many get regional rights to join a pro sports teams radio network that has ties with fans in their market.

No they didn't pull in fantastic numbers. If they were pulling fantastic numbers they wouldn't have changed formats. The last radio rankings they didn't even break the top ten in the market. That's abysmal.

 

[BigZ65]

1290 did not do terrible in ratings. Actually for a size of Winnipeg and the options for radio content in Winnipeg 1290 pulled in fantastic #'s.

Also. I'd like to add that Sports Radio is booming! More so in the U.S.A - Majority of sportscasters have now turned to Radio even over t.v with networks. There are approximately 2,000 jobs in medium markets that pay over $120k.

There are average 3 sports radio stations in every medium market and they do extremely well. The small markets which Winnipeg would be too big for have learned how to operate sports radio stations with affiliating with major sports networks but still locally or regionally owned. Obtaining local college or minor league broadcasting rights is a big boost for these channels and many get regional rights to join a pro sports teams radio network that has ties with fans in their market.

Reality disagrees with several points in your take here.

1290 did awful in Winnipeg. A few of their hosts pointed to demographic numbers being alright, but if you listened to who was advertising on that station they clearly did not have good numbers. Their number one advertisers were very small local deli's and a vasectomy doc (guys can only get one so it's not exactly bustling biz). They drew low-tier local advertisers, you wouldn't even have bigger local businesses and retailers buying ads. The fact they turned down a relatively low-priced option on Jets rights tells us they were hemorrhaging cash.

Can't speak much to US media markets but it's not really applicable here. Also know that most of the national shows I used to listen to from the US are now exclusively podcasts, ESPN basically simulcasts everything on multiple platforms not really running "radio" stations.

 

[drumzan]

Reality disagrees with several points in your take here.

1290 did awful in Winnipeg. A few of their hosts pointed to demographic numbers being alright, but if you listened to who was advertising on that station they clearly did not have good numbers. Their number one advertisers were very small local deli's and a vasectomy doc (guys can only get one so it's not exactly bustling biz). They drew low-tier local advertisers, you wouldn't even have bigger local businesses and retailers buying ads. The fact they turned down a relatively low-priced option on Jets rights tells us they were hemorrhaging cash.

Can't speak much to US media markets but it's not really applicable here. Also know that most of the national shows I used to listen to from the US are now exclusively podcasts, ESPN basically simulcasts everything on multiple platforms not really running "radio" stations.

Not according to Michael Scott...

Snip snap, snip snap, snip snap!

 

[David Mandel]

No they didn't pull in fantastic numbers. If they were pulling fantastic numbers they wouldn't have changed formats. The last radio rankings they didn't even break the top ten in the market. That's abysmal.

So i checked their measured ratings for cost and TSN1290 got a 4.2 while the best rating station CBC radio got a 4.8 which means TSN1290 basically could get make as much money as CBC radio but salaries or management created a divide in their overall profits that are not shared.

So basically it's irrelevant what you think or how TSN1290 did. Any staff from the station would never know the actual profit or value it had for ownership.

The overall brand of TSN1290 was extremely positive and even more than CJOB for the demographics that matter as its a sports station not a weather station or political network.

The problem was that Thompson sold the station to Bell for a reason to gain a partnership for TNSE which then turned TSN1290 into what many experts in the industry would believe was a totally undervalued property.

 

[David Mandel]

Reality disagrees with several points in your take here.

1290 did awful in Winnipeg. A few of their hosts pointed to demographic numbers being alright, but if you listened to who was advertising on that station they clearly did not have good numbers. Their number one advertisers were very small local deli's and a vasectomy doc (guys can only get one so it's not exactly bustling biz). They drew low-tier local advertisers, you wouldn't even have bigger local businesses and retailers buying ads. The fact they turned down a relatively low-priced option on Jets rights tells us they were hemorrhaging cash.

Can't speak much to US media markets but it's not really applicable here. Also know that most of the national shows I used to listen to from the US are now exclusively podcasts, ESPN basically simulcasts everything on multiple platforms not really running "radio" stations.

Its not really applicable. A business is a business. TSN1290 was extremely undervalued. Their problems are not known if they had any, but the radio industry is booming. It makes one wonder was 1290 purposely sabotaged or was knocking off all TSN networks at once a cost saving move for a paper move to receive Trudeau's free $$.

None of it makes sense!

 

[David Mandel]

Reality disagrees with several points in your take here.

1290 did awful in Winnipeg. A few of their hosts pointed to demographic numbers being alright, but if you listened to who was advertising on that station they clearly did not have good numbers. Their number one advertisers were very small local deli's and a vasectomy doc (guys can only get one so it's not exactly bustling biz). They drew low-tier local advertisers, you wouldn't even have bigger local businesses and retailers buying ads. The fact they turned down a relatively low-priced option on Jets rights tells us they were hemorrhaging cash.

Can't speak much to US media markets but it's not really applicable here. Also know that most of the national shows I used to listen to from the US are now exclusively podcasts, ESPN basically simulcasts everything on multiple platforms not really running "radio" stations.

And I have no idea what you are talking about. lol

ESPN simulcasts on multiple platforms. Maybe you part of the audience that doesn't understand or got fooled by TSN1290 ESPN overnight radio. There are multiple ESPN radio stations and TSN1290 got their online content streamed for overnight except for 1 hr in the evening.

Podcasts? majority of sports radio stations do not do podcasts. However PODCASTS are not referred to as such by name no longer. Basically a repeat or archive show is now called podcast. And national sports radio stations which we never got in Winnipeg since 15 yrs ago are extremely popular but they balance it around on regional affiliates. There are only 3 maybe 4 stations that broadcast as nationally syndicated out of the original station.

 

[Al Camino]

Reality disagrees with several points in your take here.

1290 did awful in Winnipeg. A few of their hosts pointed to demographic numbers being alright, but if you listened to who was advertising on that station they clearly did not have good numbers. Their number one advertisers were very small local deli's and a vasectomy doc (guys can only get one so it's not exactly bustling biz). They drew low-tier local advertisers, you wouldn't even have bigger local businesses and retailers buying ads. The fact they turned down a relatively low-priced option on Jets rights tells us they were hemorrhaging cash.

Can't speak much to US media markets but it's not really applicable here. Also know that most of the national shows I used to listen to from the US are now exclusively podcasts, ESPN basically simulcasts everything on multiple platforms not really running "radio" stations.

Totally right about the advertising. You can always judge a show by who is paying for add time.

 

[Hollywood3]

It was peculiar that they had few, if any, national ads. I would've thought that national companies would buy packages nation-wide.

 

[Zhamnov5GoalGame]

It's too bad that Winnipeg no longer has Sports radio but the truth is I stopped listening a couple of years ago. When I'm driving I listen to podcasts and that was the only time I listened to 1290. I was a pretty loyal listener until about 2019 and then I moved away from it.

I haven't listened to one second of CJOB since they acquired the Jets rights.

I will say that listening to 1290 downtown was infuriating. When you get within a couple of blocks of Portage and Main the static would get so bad that you couldn't listen. Not great for when you are stuck in traffic. I get the comments about needing AM for rural listeners but with the problem above it made being on AM total junk. Too bad there wasn't a better solution for all of those problems.

I was surprised that TSN radio didn't create shows from content on the other stations.
i.e. TSN Edmonton may spend several minutes talking about the Jets on a given day.
Over the course of the week you could have edited those sound bytes into a show. Basically what are other markets saying about your team.

That would have been one way to add cheap content that already existed and was about the local team.

 

[Hollywood3]

It's too bad that Winnipeg no longer has Sports radio but the truth is I stopped listening a couple of years ago. When I'm driving I listen to podcasts and that was the only time I listened to 1290. I was a pretty loyal listener until about 2019 and then I moved away from it.

I haven't listened to one second of CJOB since they acquired the Jets rights.

I will say that listening to 1290 downtown was infuriating. When you get within a couple of blocks of Portage and Main the static would get so bad that you couldn't listen. Not great for when you are stuck in traffic. I get the comments about needing AM for rural listeners but with the problem above it made being on AM total junk. Too bad there wasn't a better solution for all of those problems.

I was surprised that TSN radio didn't create shows from content on the other stations.
i.e. TSN Edmonton may spend several minutes talking about the Jets on a given day.
Over the course of the week you could have edited those sound bytes into a show. Basically what are other markets saying about your team.

That would have been one way to add cheap content that already existed and was local.

I could not believe the lack of national programming.

 

[tbcwpg]

I could not believe the lack of national programming.

National programming administered by TSN as a national broadcast would have the same issues that people have with TSN on TV - a larger focus on Toronto over other markets.

 

[jetsmooseice]

Couldn't you just listen to AM online?

I suppose for those with large or unlimited data packages on their phones it would work.

As for 1290's ratings generally, I suspect it probably wasn't the ratings that did them in so much as it was the costs of running a sports station, particularly one that actually holds the rights to local teams. 1290 was a pretty labour intensive operation with all of the hosts and producers, plus the costs of acquiring Jets' broadcasting rights. There's a reason most radio stations just play music... you get it fairly cheap and you only need a couple of people to make the operation run on a daily basis.

Sports radio in smaller markets probably works well if your station is totally dependent on network/syndicated stuff. For instance, some town in Minnesota where they just hit play on Jim Rome and whoever else all day, not much local content.

I wonder if sports radio will make a comeback in Winnipeg but more on that American model where it's all network stuff out of Toronto or wherever. Yeah it wouldn't be as popular here, but it would be a hell of a lot cheaper.

 

[Al Camino]

I suppose for those with large or unlimited data packages on their phones it would work.

As for 1290's ratings generally, I suspect it probably wasn't the ratings that did them in so much as it was the costs of running a sports station, particularly one that actually holds the rights to local teams. 1290 was a pretty labour intensive operation with all of the hosts and producers, plus the costs of acquiring Jets' broadcasting rights. There's a reason most radio stations just play music... you get it fairly cheap and you only need a couple of people to make the operation run on a daily basis.

Sports radio in smaller markets probably works well if your station is totally dependent on network/syndicated stuff. For instance, some town in Minnesota where they just hit play on Jim Rome and whoever else all day, not much local content.

I wonder if sports radio will make a comeback in Winnipeg but more on that American model where it's all network stuff out of Toronto or wherever. Yeah it wouldn't be as popular here, but it would be a hell of a lot cheaper.

I was always disapointed in their local coverage. I'm not certain it would make much difference though. Speaking for myself I would have enjoyed some regular WHL and Goldeyes coverage. During the Wheat Kings two Memorial Cup runs there was barely a peep from them. There are plenty of leagues in Senior and various levels of Junior in the province I think they could have made a cheap 30 minute show once a week.

 

[SUX2BU]

Isn't there a thread for radio talk out there?