The end of Dave Lee? Gopher broadcasts moving to KFAN 1130 and 1500 KSTP

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Pewterschmidt said:
I'm 100% behind this move. Sometimes you need to go on the offensive. By taking their product to KFAN, the most negative, skewed voice in all of sports in this market towards the Gophers, you force a more objective position because they now have a stake in the relationship. I'm not saying it'll be (or should be) all lollipops and sunshine with their heads buried in the sand but it prevents a prominent player in this market from purposefully taking the negative spin on every Gopher story or topic. Before today, KFAN went out of their way to find anything possible to criticize the Gophers, often throwing accuracy in reporting by the wayside. Today, they'll have to take at least an impartial approach to their coverage of Gopher football.

Not to mention that this means no more Dave Lee. I see KFAN being more innovative when it comes to pregame broadcasts, coach's shows, etc. I always thought a booth should be set up to do pregame in a tailgate lot and make it an event.

Also, it was time for the Gophers to attempt to try for the younger demographic.
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+1
 

Iceland12 said:
Did you ever listen to the North Star broadcasts when Steve Cannon did the play by play? Cannon who was great on The Cannon Mess couldn't remember the names of North Star players let alone guys on the other team. Breakaways that involved more then one player left Cannon ap·o·plec·tic!

All that said Dave Lee made him sound like Ray Christensen or Vin Scully! I hate KFAN from 9:01am on, but I'm pleased that they got the rights. I hope they get a new voice altogether but nobody is worse then Lee.

Saw your avatar, but can't give you a No Prize for this. :drink:
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I always felt it was better when his 'co-host' Morgan Mundane took over.;)
 

I don't hate the FAN as much as most of you all. Although I have always hated the negativity they brewed around the U, they were pretty good with following the Gophs when Puffy was on with PA. PA didn't add anything to the bit, but I felt Puff was the 'man' at the station with the Gopher knowledge. Ever since he 'fell off the wagon', the coverage went into the abyss.

Flash forward to the hiring of Kill.. and it seemed right from the get-go everyone at the FAN took interest in some level. I remember hearing Danny B. talk UP the program shortly after his first or second interview with Coach Kill. My first thought was, "Wow, Kill might win over the FAN"

I think some of ya'll are so set in your ways that you aren't even looking at the big picture... This is a good thing. Notwithstanding all the good stuff KFAN will have on the Gophers, but the partnership with all of Clearchannel's radio network is the key. KDWB, K102, etc are going to broadcast more Gopher related ads. More exposure = good. And if Kill does the 'impossible' and turns the program around.. The increased radio coverage of the Gophs is going to exponentially increase fandom.

All my opinion, of course..
 

WHB Brewer said:
I certainly hope we can finally get rid of that embarrassment!
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... an embarrassment that has pumped over $3 million in to the building of TCF Bank Stadium? An organization that supports Gopher Sports even in the worst of times?

People die all the time. No one consciously thinks about funeral planning, but if you have a guy who pumps $'s in to your programs ad budgets, then you don't turn him down. It's not cool, but it's as embarrassing as you think. How many dedicated alums do that?
 

Formo said:
I don't hate the FAN as much as most of you all. Although I have always hated the negativity they brewed around the U, they were pretty good with following the Gophs when Puffy was on with PA. PA didn't add anything to the bit, but I felt Puff was the 'man' at the station with the Gopher knowledge. Ever since he 'fell off the wagon', the coverage went into the abyss.

Flash forward to the hiring of Kill.. and it seemed right from the get-go everyone at the FAN took interest in some level. I remember hearing Danny B. talk UP the program shortly after his first or second interview with Coach Kill. My first thought was, "Wow, Kill might win over the FAN"
I think some of ya'll are so set in your ways that you aren't even looking at the big picture... This is a good thing. Notwithstanding all the good stuff KFAN will have on the Gophers, but the partnership with all of Clearchannel's radio network is the key. KDWB, K102, etc are going to broadcast more Gopher related ads. More exposure = good. And if Kill does the 'impossible' and turns the program around.. The increased radio coverage of the Gophs is going to exponentially increase fandom.

All my opinion, of course..
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Maybe Danny B and the rest knew the FAN was in serious negotiations for the Gopher rights.
 




Calling Ruth Kozlak.

Dave Lee Faves "another golden gopher first down" said softly like he was telling a child that the family pet had died.
 

josh087 said:
Good idea. Get some real professionals so that we can try to make the Gophers as similar to the Vikings as possible. That's how every other university broadcast does it. They never have former players as analysts. :rolleyes:
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Sarcasm noted, but that's my biggest fear of the Gophers going to KFAN. I cannot stand to listen to Vikings radio play-by-play. Pro wrestling announcers are more professional. And Tokyo Rose was more objective and spewed less propaganda than P.A. does.
 



If there are gaps in the coverage, stations will eagerly step up to fill it. This is good for local stations, they can get an audience that otherwise would have been listening to WCCO. If there are people listening, there will be a radio station that will want to cover it. Gopher sports will beat the ratings of whatever else that local station was running.
 

Here is a list of the Football affiliates from the Gopher Radio Network. Sorry if a repost.

City
Ada/Mahnomen
Aitkin
Albert Lea
Alexandria
Austin
Bemidji
Benson
Brainerd
Crookston
Detroit Lakes
Duluth
Ely
Fairmont
Fargo, ND
Glenwood/Alexandria
Grand Rapids
Hutchinson
Little Falls
Mankato/Owatonna
Marshall
Minneapolis/St. Paul
Montevideo
New Prague
Owatonna
Park Rapids
Redwood Falls
Red Wing
Rochester
St. Cloud
Thief River Falls
Walker
Wadena
Waseca
Windom
Winona
Worthington
 

Ewert86PC said:
... an embarrassment that has pumped over $3 million in to the building of TCF Bank Stadium? An organization that supports Gopher Sports even in the worst of times?

People die all the time. No one consciously thinks about funeral planning, but if you have a guy who pumps $'s in to your programs ad budgets, then you don't turn him down. It's not cool, but it's as embarrassing as you think. How many dedicated alums do that?
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It's only an embarrassment because it points to the average age of many Gopher fans, as well as the ages of the only people who can remember when the U had a good football team. If the Gophers were contending each year for titles, nobody would care that they're sponsored by a funeral home.

Listen to some of the other Big Ten broadcasts, and some of the ads they run. It's a lot of farm-related stuff, which probably doesn't apply to most of us.
 

There's nothing embarrassing about a funeral home buying air time on Gopher games. They pay the same as anyone else.
 



RodentRampage said:
There's nothing embarrassing about a funeral home buying air time on Gopher games. They pay the same as anyone else.
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Or put it this way; there a lot of comericials out there that are a lot more embarrassing. I'm sure many people think some of the Hooter's commericials(for example) are rather embarassing.

I will also add that some posters think we need to change the demographics of the Gopher fan base by getting rid of the older crowd. These are the ones who have supported the Gophers for many years. What we need to do is add to the the fan base, not change it.
 

It always works to alienate your best customers, doesn't it. Imagine in a restaurant going up to a table and saying "You've been eating here regularly for 50 years. It's embarrassing. Get out." That restuarant would close really fast.
 

RodentRampage said:
It always works to alienate your best customers, doesn't it. Imagine in a restaurant going up to a table and saying "You've been eating here regularly for 50 years. It's embarrassing. Get out." That restuarant would close really fast.
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And so you don't think there are any issues with the fact that this team has done nothing worthwhile to attract younger fans in the past, say, 30 years? You don't think there are issues with the student section being empty? I'm 38 - I don't know anyone my age or younger who gives a **** about this team, but I know a lot of people who drop thousands of dollars on season tickets to the Vikings, Twins, Wild, and Gopher Hockey and even more on merchandise for those teams.

People laugh at the primary sponsor being a funeral home, because it's such an easy joke to make.
 

discochris said:
People laugh at the primary sponsor being a funeral home
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Why are you calling them the primary sponsor? They are one sponsor of many. They have a commercial that plays in the game. Much like AT&T, TCF Bank, Ford, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, McDonalds and any number of others. It isn't like the funeral home is the only commercial that plays in the game.

I fail to understand the outrage. So, someone gets to use them as a cheap punchline if the Gophers do poorly. So what? You certainly can't believe that will make someone not be a fan, can you?
 

People laugh at the primary sponsor being a funeral home, because it's such an easy joke to make.
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No, they don't. A miniscule number of people may, but it is insignificant.
 


discochris said:
It's only an embarrassment because it points to the average age of many Gopher fans, as well as the ages of the only people who can remember when the U had a good football team. If the Gophers were contending each year for titles, nobody would care that they're sponsored by a funeral home.

Listen to some of the other Big Ten broadcasts, and some of the ads they run. It's a lot of farm-related stuff, which probably doesn't apply to most of us.
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If you ask a funeral home, they will tell you that their targets are not just the older people. When someone 50+ dies, most of the burden and plans are put on the children. Planning a funeral doesn't always start when the person actually dies. From my experiences with my grandparents deaths, it's much easier to have a lot of the arrangements figured out ahead of time, so you don't have to worry about as much stuff when the person actually passes away. A lot of the pre-planning involves the kids, which would usually mean people ages 25-50.
 

GophersInIowa said:
If you ask a funeral home, they will tell you that their targets are not just the older people. When someone 50+ dies, most of the burden and plans are put on the children. Planning a funeral doesn't always start when the person actually dies. From my experiences with my grandparents deaths, it's much easier to have a lot of the arrangements figured out ahead of time, so you don't have to worry about as much stuff when the person actually passes away. A lot of the pre-planning involves the kids, which would usually mean people ages 25-50.
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Which is why you see so many funeral home and cremation commercials on KFAN, 1500 ESPN, Cities 97! Sorry but Washburn is strictly targeting the elderly demographic by throwing all their advertising dollars at WCCO with Ray Christensen (whom I love) doing the voiceover. While it is smart to plan for retirement and death of parents at age 20-25, this is not who Washburn is targeting.
 

goldengophers said:
Which is why you see so many funeral home and cremation commercials on KFAN, 1500 ESPN, Cities 97! Sorry but Washburn is strictly targeting the elderly demographic by throwing all their advertising dollars at WCCO with Ray Christensen (whom I love) doing the voiceover. While it is smart to plan for retirement and death of parents at age 20-25, this is not who Washburn is targeting.
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Did it ever dawn on people that Washburn was advertising simply to support the Gophers?? They will likely be sponsoring Gopher programming next year on KFAN and ESPN, so it isn't as if they would only do WCCO or concern itself with old people. Bill McCreavy is a die-hard Gopher booster and is showing his support by spending lots of money to help support Gopher coverage on the radio.
 

I don't care who is supporting the Gophers just so they support the Gophers.
 

tjgopher said:
Did it ever dawn on people that Washburn was advertising simply to support the Gophers?? They will likely be sponsoring Gopher programming next year on KFAN and ESPN, so it isn't as if they would only do WCCO or concern itself with old people. Bill McCreavy is a die-hard Gopher booster and is showing his support by spending lots of money to help support Gopher coverage on the radio.
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Bingo, I bet we will see this continue. It would guess it worked out nicely for Bill that he was able to support Gopher Athletics and reach is target audience.
 

In a semi-related note. I think I remember reading on here that a particular gopher football sponsor from the owl city was basically using intimidation (threat to pull sponsorship) to ensure that Dave Lee remained the voice of gopher football. It will be interesting to see if anything happens there.
 

Iceland12 said:
Did you ever listen to the North Star broadcasts when Steve Cannon did the play by play? Cannon who was great on The Cannon Mess couldn't remember the names of North Star players let alone guys on the other team. Breakaways that involved more then one player left Cannon ap·o·plec·tic!
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Cannon also did some Gopher hockey. When the action heated up he would go, "And the Gopher player checks the Badger."
 

Silvio said:
In a semi-related note. I think I remember reading on here that a particular gopher football sponsor from the owl city was basically using intimidation (threat to pull sponsorship) to ensure that Dave Lee remained the voice of gopher football. It will be interesting to see if anything happens there.
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I mentioned this earlier this week, but I first read it from another poster here (I can't take credit for initiating this rumor). I would suspect that Dave Lee would make the choice to keep his day job regardless of what Federated thinks or wants. I still think that if Dan Rowe is still in town, he'd be a great choice. I thought he was excellent as the Vikings radio guy before babbling PA took over.
 

so do we know for certain DL is done?

Sounds like from reading this thread that DL is probably gone. Even some email claims he is done from KFAN. I guess I need to wait until there is an announcement of who actually IS the new voice of the Gophers before I crack open a Yuengling or Nordeast in celebration.

Go Gophers!
 

I think they should throw Sid in the booth with the unemployed Sheen and soon to be unemployed Gaddafi and see makes the most sense.
 

4four4 said:
Every local sports team plays the second fiddle in this state.



That can change.



The Minnesota legislature will not want to lose the millions and millions of tax dollars from the 100 million dollar Vikings payroll. Money talks. They are not moving.
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That is so not true. They pay state income taxes to the states in which the games are played. Since half of them are away, well your figure goes down by half.

Payroll in 2010: $91.5 million. Highest rate of income tax in Minnesota according to the Minnesota Department of Revenue is 7.85%. Well, if all the players paid this highest rate, the revenue collected from half the games played in Minnesota would be about 3.5 million annually. Let us put that puny amount in perspective for you: One month of the 66% state contribution to a publicly funded stadium at its current project cost, that puny income revenue would pay for a little more than 1.23 monthly payments to the stadium if the money was dedicated.

It is no wonder why this country is up to its eyeballs in debt. We have people like you spewing out random pointless, baseless crud.

Reply any and all of you. I did GH a public service...
 

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