With Rogers Sportsnet650 am joining Bell TSN1040 am in the Vancouver Sports Radio market last month it is appropriate to review how the two stations stack up against each other, albeit with a small sampling.
Neither station is really good New York, New York radio and perhaps it's unfair to want that since the market sizes are hugely different. Almost every time slot on both stations, save Dan Riccio's 7-10pm weekly slot, has some issues holding them back.
Every single radio host in every slot on both stations is left-wing on the political spectrum. Some are left-wing to the extreme. They are products of the Canadian university systems which can only turn out non-independent thinkers and left wing students. (Ok, some people do make it out of the systems as normal human beings and right wing, critical thinkers :-) ). So every time any of these on-air sports stations drift discussions into politics they forget 70% of their audience is predominately right wing.
Sportsnet 650 went into the Indo-Canadian market with affirmative action hiring.
TSN 1040 actually improved with the departures of former cast-members landing on Sportsnet 650.
But what is the tale of the tape?
EARLY MORNING SHOWS
With the departure of Satiar Shah from TSN1040 the morning show added Karen Surman to David Pratt and Bro Jake.
Sportsnet counters with veterans Steve Darling, James Cybulski and Mira Laurence.
Surman sounds incredibly nervous each and every time she speaks. The media is not the right business for her.
Both shows wade into politics and they're ill-equipped to do so. There's nobody on the right side of things to counter their bizarre thoughts and they ramble into Communist territory. Darling, Laurence and Cybulski fare no better when in the deep-end of thinking regarding politics.
On sports, Pratt's over the top statements are often insane, however, they are amusing. And Jake is playing out the string waiting for retirement. He went to school with Howard Stern, don't you know?
Guest wise TSN1040 brings on bartenders from Ottawa, for no apparent reason, and Province Sports reporters and one time NFL kickers.
Cybulski is over the top caffeinated. Darling is ... Darling is on the air. Laurence is very good, and quite frankly it probably should be her show with guests. It kind of makes sense because she's been doing the radio gig longer than anyone else.
There's no humour on either station. Both shows are annoying and can sound like chihuahuas at times. But they have their moments.
So with Surman and Cybulski cancelling each other out it comes down to Darling and Laurence, both BC products, verses a Maritimer and an Albertan. Darling and Laurence strike the right tone most of the time with a BC audience, which kind of makes sense, right?
A small victory to - Sportsnet 650.
MORNING SHOWS 9-12 am
Sportsnet 650 has Jawn Jang and Sattiar Shah.
TSN1040 has Jason Brough and Mike Halford.
If it wasn't for Sattiar Shah this would be a clear and decisive victory for Sportsnet 650. Jawn Jang is by far the best person in this time slot.
Brough and Halford have incredibly high opinions of themselves and think they are funny. They went from university to parlaying being jackasses into jobs. They are the kids in high-school who won't shut up, ever.
Jang is thoughtful, easy to understand, and has very good opinions on sports.
Shah is not good. He sounds like a very nice person, and I think he probably is a very nice person. And I think he has some good takes. But his speech impediment makes it incredibly difficult to listen to him. While I appreciate he's trying hard, and God bless him for doing so, it's not the right business to be in for him. It's radio. And I'm judging radio and how it sounds. And I'm sorry for being rude but it's radio.
Because Jang sounds pretty good and is reasonable he carries his show across the finish line first for a narrow Sportsnet650 victory.
I expect the Sportsnet650 show to improve over time as they are new and when their producer drops-in, you can hear he has talent and a great voice and needs more air-time; the Kurtenblogs have been annoying Vancouver for years. It's probable that Riccio will be moved here.
Open phones from 9-10 would be a good idea for either show. It worked for Rafe Mair and Jack Webster.
NOON SHOWS
TSN1040 presents Don Taylor and Bob Marjanovitch for the noon hour.
SPORTSNET650 has Alex J Aulds with Shah.
Aulds sounds good. No, he sounds terrific. And he played in the NHL for Vancouver.
While Taylor has a ton of experience and sounds great, he can't compete with Aulds' baritone and hockey takes.
Both Marjanovitch and Shah do their best but... It is what it is.
Victory Sportsnet650.
EARLY AFTERNOON SHOWS 1-4
Sportsnet650 offers up Perry Solkowski and Randip Janda.
TSN1040 serves up Marjanovitch and Taylor.
This must seem like dejavu all over again for Marjanovitch as he co-hosts a radio station facing elimination. Marjanovitch was an upgrade over Scott Rintoul on the BC Lions games. But then again, you could have had a carved watermelon calling the games and been an upgrade on Rintoul. Marjanovitch tries hard but sucks. This would have been an easy victory for TSN1040 based on Barry MacDonald and Don Taylor. However, since MacDonald retired due to mental illness, it left TSN1040 without a real professional radio voice. Taylor does his best but the input of peewee Ryan Henderson, who shouldn't be on radio because of a speech impediment, ruins the show.
The takes are stale and old and it sounds bad.
I'll be honest, I thought I would hate Solkowski with a passion but boy was I wrong. He's really good. The first week was terrible, however since then Solkowski has grown into the gig and he sounds good. Janda is on the show, transferred from Rogers owned Omni. If Solkowski continues to get better he could approach Barry MacDonald territory, and that's hard to do. They sound good. It's fresh. It's fun.
Victory Sportsnet650
AFTERNOON SHOWS 4-7
TSN1040 has Ottawa/Toronto native from print media Matt Sekeres co-hosting with Blake Price from Manitoba.
Sportsnet650 has Andrew Walker from Calgary/Toronto and Scott Rintoul from Kelowna.
It would be hard to imagine anyone who sounds worse than Sekeres on radio were it not for Tom Mayenknecht. Sekeres, while I'm sure a very nice person, shouldn't be near a microphone. Price's lisp is also troubling. Their show is at times bizarre. Their non-stop political takes are asinine.
However, that being said, some of their hockey takes are worth listening to, if you overlook the "Frank Corrado" and the fact they may have pushed the Canucks off their radio station. However, both the station and Canucks say it was over a money issue. We'll probably never know what happened.
Walker is spectacular. Set aside for a minute where he's from - he's simply fantastic. If it weren't for Dan Riccio - he would be easily the best set of pipes on any radio station in Vancouver. Hell, he may be even better than Riccio when it comes to pipes. He sounds good. His views are moderate and make sense. If it wasn't for Rintoul's non-stop "isn't it? isn't it? isn't it?" this would be a clear victory for Walker.
This was a super close decision. One man verses two.
Nod: Sportsnet650. Walker carries the day proving sounding good on radio is usually a good idea since it's radio.
EVENING SHOWS - 7-10 pm
Sportsnet650 Dan Riccio from Toronto.
Since TSN1040 stops live broadcasting at 6pm clear victory Riccio.
That being said, Riccio's victory would come against anyone, he's that good.
He sounds good. He's interesting. He's not trying to be smart nor obnoxiously funny. The show's producer is good. They sound good.
They may have the best show in Vancouver radio, period.
This is as close to Dan Patrick as anyone has come since ... Dan Patrick.
Victory Sportsnet650
WEEKEND SHOWS MORNING
TSN1040 has Tom Mayenknecht in the mornings.
Sportsnet650 has Adam Forsythe
Forsythe is good.
Mayenknecht shouldn't be near a microphone. On top of that his takes on business are hilarious. I'm not sure it's supposed to be.
Forsythe is clear, professional, easy to listen to.
Victory Sportsent650
WEEKEND SHOWS
TSN1040 has Brook Ward from 10-2.
Sportsnet650 has Dave Sheldon from 2-6.
Ward is fantastic and his decades of experience show. He's funny. Really funny. Good pipes. Thoughtful.
Sheldon does stay on the air a long time though and has the Sunday slot to himself. Unfortunately because of his speech impediment it's hard to understand him.
Ward is probably the best on-air talent at TSN1040 but perhaps he doesn't want to take on the daily grind of a weekday show, you would think they have offered it to him. He must have declined.
It's a TIE only because Ward isn't on Sundays.
It would be a slam dunk TSN1040 if they put Ward head-to-head.
ON AIR SPORTS PRODUCTS
Sportsnet650 has the Canucks.
Brendan Batchelor and Corey Hirsh.
TSN1040 has the BC Lions with Mirjanovitch, Whitecaps with Peter Schaad, and Vancouver Giants.
While Mojo does suit the BC Lions, no one listens to the show because it's the CFL, with all due respect. Schaad is God awful.
While I thought I would hate Batchelor, I was wrong. He's pretty good. And Hirsh was a huge upgrade from Dave Tomlinson. Hirsh is really coming into his own.
Victory Sportsnet650.
It's hard to compete with having the only game in town.
PRE-GAME POST-GAME
TSN1040 offers up Blake Price and Jeff Paterson pre and post game Canucks.
Sportsnet650 has Aulds and Joey Kenward.
While it is interesting to see if Paterson is going to ask someone a stupid question in the post game scrums, and somewhat entertaining, it's hard to get past the real experience and great sounding voice of Aulds. And it's hard to get past Price and Frank Corrado or Goldy or Dahlen or any of his bizarre love-ins with petit hockey players.
And then there's Iain MacIntyre. He steals the show for Sportsnet650 whenever he's on.
MacIntyre is a star.
Victory Sportsnet650
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Overall - Sportsnet 650 has a pretty easy victory over TSN1040.
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It's going to be a tough go for TSN. Once they lost the Canucks broadcasts they became pretty irrelevant. Even if they had kept the Canucks the shows on Sportsnet650 are better in almost every time slot and they have more time slots.
Guests such as Ray Ferraro and Bob MacKenzie can keep TSN1040 going for awhile but it's the on-air personalities that drive wedges into the sports listening audience and they can't seem to help themselves. It's probably a management issue.
I don't think they'll survive for too much longer.
But we'll see. Bell Media has deep pockets.
You never know.
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