"but apparently kids under a certain age these days need constant change and personalities they can "relate to" or they feel neglected and go postal.
this is the thing though... even the kids of today still want Ron in there, not George. The kids that are watching (20-somethings) also grew up with Ron. So why would booting Ron out be a good thing? What they did just made no effing sense.. on ANY level.
The younger viewers still look up to "older" guys as the role models, or the mentors - just look at colleges, or universities as an example. 20-somethings who go to post-secondary schools often have older professors -and they view these professors as the most knowledgable, trusted and helpful people who will guide them through their education experience and hopefully offer tips when they graduate. They look up to them.
This is just like Ron Maclean. The younger viewers see him as a comfortable, educated hockey guy who knows what he's talking about. They're accustomed to him. Even the kids born in the 80s and 90s grew up watching hockey with Ron, and were adjusted to him, and trust him as their hockey guy. They don't give a sh- that he's 56 - and quite frankly, they don't even know his age, nor do they care one single bit.
So where did the whole George thing come from in the first place? Was he brought in to attract those 14-year olds who don't watch hockey? A 43-year old, middle aged man, supposed to attract a younger crowd? Crazy. Well guess what- those 14-year old "newbies" will watch hockey whether it's George OR Ron - the age of the host doesn't mean squat to hockey fans. Infact, the older the host, probably the better, because we place more trust into an older guy because we automatically suppose he has the larger knowledge base and experience. Younger fans look up to older role models just like they look up to their college professors or any other older person in a position to mentor or guide them.
The younger viewers today also grew up with Ron, so taking him off the broadcasts was also off-putting to them as well. For the kids who never watched hockey in their lifetimes - it wouldn't matter if it was a 43-year old middle-aged George, or a 56-year old middle-aged Ron - neither of them would be a factor in whether or not they liked to watch the broadcasts because neither of them necessarily conect with a younger person's lifestyle - because to a person in their teens or early 20s, BOTH George and Ron are "old guys".
Rogers is making a good move by attemtping to re-capture the faithful audience that they alienated in this whole process. Those millions of fans were the real fans who were watching and generated the revenue. To exlude them any longer would have been catastrophic, so good on them for bringing back Ron while there was still time - had it gone on too long, they would have lost that audience forever, and would have been so much harder to reel them back in - because life goes on - they would have moved on to other things in their lives and would not care one bit about HNIC anymore - they would have accepeted that it was simply " a thing of the past" and it was good while they had it. But it's only been 2 seasons, so that's enough time to fix the mess and keep those fans around before they leave forever.
