Big Changes At 1500 ESPN

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fraternity2017 said:
KFAN has thrived with the built in advantage of having the Vikings and Gophers rights and having the iHeart connections and being on FM, they’ve thrived and the content has gotten complacent. Would love for 1500 to come out with a really polished, top of the line sports-focused group of shows to really give KFAN some competition


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Agree, would love to see a real sports station in the market. You would think that KFAN would be more Gopher friendly (or at least not bash them) since they broadcasting the games. Barreiro’s show would be the hardest to beat, but just book regular insider guests and then you take away his draw.


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Maverick said:
Antidotal is the opposite of dotal. Everybody knows that!

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You’re right, I just plugged away on the keyboard and spellcheck took it. As you can guess, I meant anecdotal.


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alchemy2u said:
KFAN is an enigma. The morning show is so juvenile and full of dick jokes, it should be easy to complete against. The PA show is were you can get your Vikings fix, but it is so full of PA wanting to hear himself talk. The Noon to 3 common man show is one of the most unlistenable programs on radio. Some people think he has a sophisticated sense of humor, but it basically dead air and should be easy pickings for 1500. Barreiro biggest asset is his regular guests.


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KFAN really messed with Common's format and made him turn his three-hour tour into a sports show. I still listen periodically, but I find the show a shadow of what it was when it was caller-driven with all the monikers. I agree it wasn't for all tastes then and probably didn't fit perfectly on an all-sports format, but now all we ever seem to get is a shift-by-shift analysis from Tenna B after every Wild game.

Reusse's still one of the best sportswriters ever to put pen to paper in this market, but he's become a Johnny One-Note on just about everything, as in "Things were so much better in my day." Reusse's just a few years older than I am and I share the sentiment periodically, but I just choose to shake my head and sit back and enjoy the differences in the modern era and appreciate it for what it is.

Soucheray was a good columnist when he was with the StarTribune, but when he moved across the river, he just turned into a lazy curmudgeon. It's not about his stances on issues. It's about his reductionist attitude on just about everything. H.L. Mencken--another noted curmudgeon--summed up that attitude concisely when he wrote: "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."
 

50PoundHead said:
KFAN really messed with Common's format and made him turn his three-hour tour into a sports show. I still listen periodically, but I find the show a shadow of what it was when it was caller-driven with all the monikers. I agree it wasn't for all tastes then and probably didn't fit perfectly on an all-sports format, but now all we ever seem to get is a shift-by-shift analysis from Tenna B after every Wild game.

Reusse's still one of the best sportswriters ever to put pen to paper in this market, but he's become a Johnny One-Note on just about everything, as in "Things were so much better in my day." Reusse's just a few years older than I am and I share the sentiment periodically, but I just choose to shake my head and sit back and enjoy the differences in the modern era and appreciate it for what it is.

Soucheray was a good columnist when he was with the StarTribune, but when he moved across the river, he just turned into a lazy curmudgeon. It's not about his stances on issues. It's about his reductionist attitude on just about everything. H.L. Mencken--another noted curmudgeon--summed up that attitude concisely when he wrote: "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."
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Good summary, Joe and Pat were real good at one time, but they have been mailing it in for a long time. I just didn’t see any humor in the common man’s bit, found it extremely boring. The problem with him is he isn’t a sports guy, no interest in anything that requires a little work or preparation. Another problem with non-sports guys is that all they basically do is read box scores. We can do that online.
A group of hungry young sports journalists could fill the air with side stories from all of the teams in town. Stories of what it was like playing in the minors, why did they choose the Gophers, how did they start out in the pros, what was it like back home, etc, etc... adding color to the sports teams and players in this area. The best part of Dan B’s show is when he has Lou Nanni on telling stories of his days the Esposito brothers. Or when they have on some of the old wrestlers telling stories of the old days. This area is a hotbed of sports stories and history. Laziness is the only reason a station couldn’t fill up it’s time will all sports. There are plenty of other stations to hear the news, political talk, etc. A real sports station is our little escape from all of the other crap. And real sports doesn’t mean 10 hours of a couple of guys arguing with callers about who is the greatest BB player, or what calls were missed last game. Make in informative.


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The thing Reusse brought that many new hosts can't are actual stories of what happened in the past from a first hand account.

Maybe that's not important to enough listeners, but having Mackey talk about the Vikings pre-Randy Moss is him reading from sport reference .com.

Soucheray on the other hand was just a complainer with sidekicks who thought he was always on point (or funny).
Soucheray said the other day that evidently they get a lot of podcast listeners... then he asked if people for example could "podcast" in their car?
 


Today they talked about how they're going to do more digital and more online content than AM radio content, which makes sense. Also confirmed more sports talk again.

I would assume they get a similar amount of podcasters and streamers to actual live radio listeners and it's literally free to stream something from a website/app or post a podcast online, when I assume there are built in costs to broadcasting an AM radio signal. So they'll probably lean into streaming, podcasts and other digital content.
 

fraternity2017 said:
Today they talked about how they're going to do more digital and more online content than AM radio content, which makes sense. Also confirmed more sports talk again.

I would assume they get a similar amount of podcasters and streamers to actual live radio listeners and it's literally free to stream something from a website/app or post a podcast online, when I assume there are built in costs to broadcasting an AM radio signal. So they'll probably lean into streaming, podcasts and other digital content.
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That might be a good strategy. I listen to podcasts (including podcasted radio shows from the day before) far more than normal radio because there are fewer ads and I can pick and choose what I listen to. However, they still need to use common sense. I podcast the Mackey-Zulgad show but listen to them pretty infrequently. They break the show into four podcasts, and the summaries tend to be something like:

  • Hour 1: The guys open the show talking about the Vikings QB situation.
  • Hour 2: Chip Scoggins joins for most of the hour and weighs in on the Vikings QB situation.
  • Hour 3: Doogie has the scoop on the Vikings QB situation.
  • Hour 4: Questions of significant importance, including whether Kirk Cousins is a top 5 QB.
They have a lot of time to kill, I get it. But they need to change it up a bit (including some non-sports talk, which is why I don't mind Common Man), and a two-hour podcast might be more interesting than four hours on the radio.
 

I'm kind of sensing Mackey may not be a regular on the radio side of things. He left after the first segment for meetings. He's probably the biggest proponent of the streaming services and podcast on the website. The station may not want someone with experience to be part of a show but it feels like they have other plans for him.
 

Buttcheeks McGaffigan said:
I'm kind of sensing Mackey may not be a regular on the radio side of things. He left after the first segment for meetings. He's probably the biggest proponent of the streaming services and podcast on the website. The station may not want someone with experience to be part of a show but it feels like they have other plans for him.
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I listened to the first segment and that's essentially what he said. He made it sound like he was getting pulled into bigger and more important things and that if he has the time despite his very busy new schedule, he will try to join for an hour here and there if his very busy schedule allows now that he's going to be doing even more important things.

Sounds like more time with Matthew Collier -sp with Judd.
I like Matthew, but he's good in short doses.
Similar to Paul Charchian. You think you'd really like him to have his own show, but then you realize there is only so much you can handle.
 



It seems like KSTP has to get a companion FM signal if they want the actual radio part of this to work. I only listen to their shows on podcast, but the few times I tried to get the Twins when they still had them, it was a crapshoot. Sometimes you could get a signal 250 miles away. Sometimes you couldn't get one 20 miles away. It's why AM radio is dying. Even WCCO is not a sure thing anymore. I don't know if there's more interference or car radio antennas just suck now.
 

howeda7 said:
It seems like KSTP has to get a companion FM signal if they want the actual radio part of this to work. I only listen to their shows on podcast, but the few times I tried to get the Twins when they still had them, it was a crapshoot. Sometimes you could get a signal 250 miles away. Sometimes you couldn't get one 20 miles away. It's why AM radio is dying. Even WCCO is not a sure thing anymore. I don't know if there's more interference or car radio antennas just suck now.
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The problem is Hubbard only owns two FM stations in the market. 94.5 isn't changing formats and I can't imagine they'd change 107.1 even if the sports formats potential is better.
 

Face The Facts said:
I listened to the first segment and that's essentially what he said. He made it sound like he was getting pulled into bigger and more important things and that if he has the time despite his very busy new schedule, he will try to join for an hour here and there if his very busy schedule allows now that he's going to be doing even more important things.

Sounds like more time with Matthew Collier -sp with Judd.
I like Matthew, but he's good in short doses.
Similar to Paul Charchian. You think you'd really like him to have his own show, but then you realize there is only so much you can handle.
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I wasn't sure if he just meant these next few weeks or the foreseeable future. I could see him hosting "Whine-Line" after the Vikings games and than doing a couple of podcast shows during the week.

I think Collier is a near lock for something if he wants it. He's a mixed bag for me.

It's not that far away from the lineup change. It sure seems like they'll go with in house talent but maybe they'll grab someone. It was mentioned that the schedule may not be fixed until October.
 

From what has been said, it sounds as if management is more concerned with on-line content and podcasting than they are with the actual over-the-air AM Signal.

that may make sense with a younger demographic that is more tech-savvy - but does that demographic even listen to traditional radio any more?

I still think there is a niche for an adult sports-talk format - as opposed to the juvenile shtick that takes up most of KFAN's lineup. Paul Allen is almost unbearable during Vikings season. listening to him, you would think that every player on the team will be a 1st-ballot Hall of Fame inductee. And beyond that, it's all catch phrases and cutesy nicknames. I literally can't take more than 5 minutes of that before I have to turn it off.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
From what has been said, it sounds as if management is more concerned with on-line content and podcasting than they are with the actual over-the-air AM Signal.

that may make sense with a younger demographic that is more tech-savvy - but does that demographic even listen to traditional radio any more?

I still think there is a niche for an adult sports-talk format - as opposed to the juvenile shtick that takes up most of KFAN's lineup. Paul Allen is almost unbearable during Vikings season. listening to him, you would think that every player on the team will be a 1st-ballot Hall of Fame inductee. And beyond that, it's all catch phrases and cutesy nicknames. I literally can't take more than 5 minutes of that before I have to turn it off.
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I would say yes, a lot of young people are into podcasts and on demand radio for topics they enjoy.
 

Buttcheeks McGaffigan said:
I'm kind of sensing Mackey may not be a regular on the radio side of things. He left after the first segment for meetings. He's probably the biggest proponent of the streaming services and podcast on the website. The station may not want someone with experience to be part of a show but it feels like they have other plans for him.
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Today Mackey said he is the acting program director (hence the meetings) and that the Zulgad/Mackey show will continue in some form and perhaps at a different time.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Today Mackey said he is the acting program director (hence the meetings) and that the Zulgad/Mackey show will continue in some form and perhaps at a different time.
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Sounds like a big move for Mackey.
Big promotion.
 



Buttcheeks McGaffigan said:
I wonder if he'd take the job full time?

Some form? You don't think they'd move that show to a podcast?
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Don't they need content for the radio station? I mean what is the alternative? Christian or country music on the radio and sports online and podcast? Or just ESPN national programming on the radio signal?

Also, the timing of this is a cluster. Opening of the NFL season is peak ratings time for sports radio, and it seems likely they'll pull everything off the air 9/7 and not have the new schedule ready for launch for several weeks after. This move should have been done in March.
 

howeda7 said:
Also, the timing of this is a cluster. Opening of the NFL season is peak ratings time for sports radio, and it seems likely they'll pull everything off the air 9/7 and not have the new schedule ready for launch for several weeks after. This move should have been done in March.
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All of the shows they cancelled were awful. I wouldn't tune into them for any reason besides Twins coverage. They know exactly nil about the Vikings or Gophers.
They could grab a couple of amateur podcasters and get better takes.

Point being, one half of a season of good coverage is worth more than one full season that nobody listens to.
 

hello-world said:
All of the shows they cancelled were awful. I wouldn't tune into them for any reason besides Twins coverage. They know exactly nil about the Vikings or Gophers.
They could grab a couple of amateur podcasters and get better takes.

Point being, one half of a season of good coverage is worth more than one full season that nobody listens to.
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Did they cancel the MINNESOTA REAL ESTATE SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW?
 

Souch is going to a podcast, issue is how is he going to do that without his random callers calling in the waste time?
This will be tougher work for Souch.
 

Hockeytown said:
Did they cancel the MINNESOTA REAL ESTATE SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW?
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You too can have your own show if you sell your own commercials. (Just buy airtime).
 

50PoundHead said:
Reusse's still one of the best sportswriters ever to put pen to paper...

Soucheray was a good columnist when he was with the StarTribune, but when he moved across the river, he just turned into a lazy curmudgeon. It's not about his stances on issues. It's about his reductionist attitude on just about everything. H.L. Mencken--another noted curmudgeon--summed up that attitude concisely when he wrote: "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."
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Totally agree on Reusse, and in the “Monday Night Sportstalk” days he was a hell of a storyteller.


Agree on Joe, too. Never understood how a self-described math phobe could claim a special ability in logic.

Still, they created some awesome shows together. Christmas carols and and Thirsty Santa...
 


Did Mackey before the "Right that Down" segment say Mackey and Judd are staying together but they may move?
 




Does anyone know if ESPN cut ties with 1500?

I noticed Courtney Cronin (ESPN beat writer who covers Vikings) made her debut on PA's show a few weeks ago and has since been on several times. Now today, Kevin Seifert is making his return to Dan Barreiro's show. He was a frequent former guest on Barreiro's show until the ESPN deal with 1500 KSTP a few years ago.

There must have been some deal in place to prevent the ESPN talent from appearing on KFAN, which makes me think that ESPN and 1500 might be cutting ties?
 

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