TSN 690 & Other Montreal sports media Thread VII

[hotcarle]

You've got to be kidding me. Congrats, you've gotten pretty far. You must have real talent. I don't know about Simon, he and his free coffee are a true irritant but I have a feeling you would have done better. I hope you didn't give up.

Life gets in the way. I'm ok though. I have other fulfilling things going on though. I think Simon does a good job.

 

[Runner77]

Life gets in the way. I'm ok though. I have other fulfilling things going on though. I think Simon does a good job.

Simon has staying power. We can't like everyone, I happen to have my favorites. He does however have a memory for a lot of trivia that he likes to rattle off in his inimitable rapid-fire style of broadcasting. He also seem to be well-liked by the Bernstein fellow who is associated with The Fourth Period. Whenever Simon fills, that guy always gives him time.

Wondering what your take is on the new generation of sportscasters with the station like Campbell, Gallo etc.

I don't know if it's because I was privileged to have been able to listen to some very sophisticated and well-spoken sports hosts but I find myself to be easily irritated by what appears to me to be ill-prepared sorts who haven't done their classes, who come across as rather raw and self-entitled. I remember the days when broadcasting was something you honed and where you never got a job with a major station, you worked in the boondocks before you could get a sniff at the big time.

Now, if these guys no longer need to go through all that well at least come prepared for the job.

 

[HuGo Sham]

Simon has staying power. We can't like everyone, I happen to have my favorites. He does however have a memory for a lot of trivia that he likes to rattle off in his inimitable rapid-fire style of broadcasting. He also seem to be well-liked by the Bernstein fellow who is associated with The Fourth Period. Whenever Simon fills, that guy always gives him time.

Wondering what your take is on the new generation of sportscasters with the station like Campbell, Gallo etc.

I don't know if it's because I was privileged to have been able to listen to some very sophisticated and well-spoken sports hosts but I find myself to be easily irritated by what appears to me to be ill-prepared sorts who haven't done their classes, who come across as rather raw and self-entitled. I remember the days when broadcasting was something you honed and where you never got a job with a major station, you worked in the boondocks before you could get a sniff at the big time.

Now, if these guys no longer need to go through all that well at least come prepared for the job.

wait, tsalikis won a contest? and marinaro was bagging groceries and then given a radio spot?

 

[dinodebino]

Simon has staying power. We can't like everyone, I happen to have my favorites. He does however have a memory for a lot of trivia that he likes to rattle off in his inimitable rapid-fire style of broadcasting. He also seem to be well-liked by the Bernstein fellow who is associated with The Fourth Period. Whenever Simon fills, that guy always gives him time.

Wondering what your take is on the new generation of sportscasters with the station like Campbell, Gallo etc.

I don't know if it's because I was privileged to have been able to listen to some very sophisticated and well-spoken sports hosts but I find myself to be easily irritated by what appears to me to be ill-prepared sorts who haven't done their classes, who come across as rather raw and self-entitled. I remember the days when broadcasting was something you honed and where you never got a job with a major station, you worked in the boondocks before you could get a sniff at the big time.

Now, if these guys no longer need to go through all that well at least come prepared for the job.

Melnick sees Gallo as his heir. He says it practically every day.

 

[Tighthead]

Melnick sees Gallo as his heir. He says it practically every day.

Although if Jay Farrar wanted to cross the hall he might jump the queue.

 

[hotcarle]

wait, tsalikis won a contest? and marinaro was bagging groceries and then given a radio spot?

"Team 990 next radio star" in 2005. Simon won a TV, Robert vairo or herb luft TV/radio school scholarship, and weekend radio show.
Marinaro was working at the airport, and was a regular caller to a show. Did an internship I think , then got a show with Joey Elias.

 

[hotcarle]

Melnick sees Gallo as his heir. He says it practically every day.

This makes me uneasy.

 

[hotcarle]

Although if Jay Farrar wanted to cross the hall he might jump the queue.

He's got a great voice and it interesting. He's a good host.

 

[dinodebino]

This makes me uneasy.

Oh! How come?

 

[hotcarle]

Oh! How come?

He's no Melnick....but I'm guessing you were being facetious

 

[Tighthead]

He's got a great voice and it interesting. He's a good host.

He and Melnick are buddies, travel together and hang out a fair bit.

Pretty sure Mitch has more free time these days.

 

[Corson27]

Melnick sees Gallo as his heir. He says it practically every day.

The day that happens is the day I completely stop listening to tsn690. Mitch does a good job keeping Gallo to adult conversation, and Gallo to his credit is capable of insightful thoughts, but on the post-game show, when Mitch is not around, he is a complete idiot.

 

[sandviper]

wait, tsalikis won a contest? and marinaro was bagging groceries and then given a radio spot?

So, in a city as big as Montreal, TSN 690 could not find a few people with actual journalism backgrounds?

I haven’t listened to 690 outside of games since April. Guess I won’t rush back.

 

[Runner77]

So, in a city as big as Montreal, TSN 690 could not find a few people with actual journalism backgrounds?

I haven’t listened to 690 outside of games since April. Guess I won’t rush back.

The recipe has been to take in these gophers, train them to take calls and handle station equipment, gradually get them on air and eventually offer them a graveyard show on the weekend, like 7AM or mid afternoon on a Saturday. They're basically doing their training in house and are allowed to spew whatever they want when they end up on air, even if they sound like total dunces. Sometimes it has produced some half decent sportscasters but more often than not, you end up with individuals who should never have been given access to a mic.

 

[HuGo Sham]

The recipe has been to take in these gophers, train them to take calls and handle station equipment, gradually get them on air and eventually offer them a graveyard show on the weekend, like 7AM or mid afternoon on a Saturday. They're basically doing their training in house and are allowed to spew whatever they want when they end up on air, even if they sound like total dunces. Sometimes it has produced some half decent sportscasters but more often than not, you end up with individuals who should never have been given access to a mic.

matthew ross is also atrocious...who wants to start a sports podcast with me?

 

[hotcarle]

matthew ross is also atrocious...who wants to start a sports podcast with me?

There's probably enough listeners just on this site to get it off the ground.

 

[CAR3YPR1CE]

690 is pretty much a gong show. Beyond Melnick and the morning show(minus the utterly useless Moffat) there is nothing worth listening to. It's really a sad state of affairs for Montreal sports.

Now with Boone retiring, the quality of Canadiens reporting is at an extreme loss.

When Pat Hickey the alcoholic, Stu Cowen the default, and Eric Engel's the unatheletic are top of totem, we should all be extremely concerned.

 

[lo striver]

I switched to talkSport (UK radio station) a few years back. Could not take those 690 wannabies anymore. Don't understand how that radio station is still in business.

 

[jackeymoon]

Melnick has no say on who replaces him and he knows that. He's probably pumping Gallo up so that he(Gallo) continues working for what I assume is less than the industry standard.

For what it's worth I met Melnick IRL a few years back and he wasn't all that friendly. Swear all I said was "hey man I'm a big fan of your show, nice to meet ya!" and he looked up at me, mumbled under his breath and walked away. I still consider him the best on air talent at 690 but that experience really soured me.
I also met Gallo at a bar and he was pretty chill, hanging out with all the afternoon crew minus Melnick, who I gathered isn't exactly a popular guy.

 

[jackeymoon]

690 is pretty much a gong show. Beyond Melnick and the morning show(minus the utterly useless Moffat) there is nothing worth listening to. It's really a sad state of affairs for Montreal sports.

Now with Boone retiring, the quality of Canadiens reporting is at an extreme loss.

When Pat Hickey the alcoholic, Stu Cowen the default, and Eric Engel's the unatheletic are top of totem, we should all be extremely concerned.

Moffat is a punching bag and you know it.

Stu Cowan "The Default" is hilariously on point

 

[waffledave]

Engels is an interesting story. He started off, as far as I can tell, on Eklund's site. Used that and turned it into a real career, pretty amazing. Eklund had asked a bunch of people to join his site and contribute to his blog way back when. Including myself. I refused for a number of reasons, and I did not have the drive or commitment or frankly, the talent, to make a career out of it.

 

[hotcarle]

Melnick has no say on who replaces him and he knows that. He's probably pumping Gallo up so that he(Gallo) continues working for what I assume is less than the industry standard.

For what it's worth I met Melnick IRL a few years back and he wasn't all that friendly. Swear all I said was "hey man I'm a big fan of your show, nice to meet ya!" and he looked up at me, mumbled under his breath and walked away. I still consider him the best on air talent at 690 but that experience really soured me.
I also met Gallo at a bar and he was pretty chill, hanging out with all the afternoon crew minus Melnick, who I gathered isn't exactly a popular guy.

That's funny. I met him too, and said the same thing. It was at the Jazz festival. He looked like he was waiting for me to elaborate about what I liked about the show (I think he mentioned on air that he likes that). My friends were leaving though, so there wasn't time to chat. But being the jazz festival, our way was suddenly blocked by a crowd or something, and we stopped and stayed there. And he was kind of looking at me seeing if I'd come back to talk. But the moment had passed and it would've been awkward to go back.

 

[sheed36]

I switched to talkSport (UK radio station) a few years back. Could not take those 690 wannabies anymore. Don't understand how that radio station is still in business.

And yet Melnick made a remark a while ago that TSN690 draws much better numbers than their Figland counterpart TSN1050 so I'll take his word for it being true.

 

[Runner77]

That's funny. I met him too, and said the same thing. It was at the Jazz festival. He looked like he was waiting for me to elaborate about what I liked about the show (I think he mentioned on air that he likes that). My friends were leaving though, so there wasn't time to chat. But being the jazz festival, our way was suddenly blocked by a crowd or something, and we stopped and stayed there. And he was kind of looking at me seeing if I'd come back to talk. But the moment had passed and it would've been awkward to go back.

I've also met Melnick on two occasions. On one, his Billy Bob Productions outfit was presenting Frank Marino making a comeback. Melnick was wearing a black leather jacket which I thought looked odd on him. I just saluted him, had a very short convo and left it at that. On the second time, I bumped into him at Place Alexis Nihon. It was in 2004, he was headed to a presser by Jeffrey Loria. We spoke for roughly 5 minutes. He saw that I knew my baseball so he asked to suggest questions he could ask Loria and I obliged. I couldn't believe it, lol. We had a pretty good talk about the Expos and the whole time, he was gracious. I'm lucky I had a positive experience with him as most times, I've often heard that when fans meet public figures, their encounters can shatter the positive image they have of their public persona.

 

[Omar]

I switched to talkSport (UK radio station) a few years back. Could not take those 690 wannabies anymore. Don't understand how that radio station is still in business.

Hawksbee & Jacobs!