The sports-only FM outlet has better ratings, but is still well behind the numbers Entercom had hoped.
The flagship home for the Oakland A's has seen a dramatic drop in national ad sales--more dire: an increasing amount of network shows on the weekend, not a good sign.
So far,
Developing...
UPDATED: John Dickinson, who was their only reporter and fill-in talk show host has been let go. He was given severance.
*Follow me on Twitter
The Game has constantly made fun of KNBR in nasty commercials, bragging how great they ate of a station. Well ladies reality has hit amd it turns out that ya suck. Once you laid off it will be funny to see jow many of you aplly at KNBR....especially Dibs
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous 11:34 PM- Please do yourself a favor. . go down to your local junior college and sign up for a course in ESL. They can help you in developing clean sentence structure, proper usage and most of all, grammar. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteThe Game is a shit station. Instead of trying to create their own niche, they try to compete with KNBR and it's a battle of who is dumber.
ReplyDelete@1134: The interns at KNBR need to learn how to use spell check.
ReplyDeleteUh...11:34, isn't KNBR going through the same thing? Pot to kettle, pot to kettle.....
ReplyDeletenice looking
ReplyDeleteTo say that The Game "has better ratings" isn't really true. Their share has been basically flat since they came on the air. The slight bump in cume recently could be attributed to the start of baseball season. There's a heavy emphasis on Giants talk. On weekends, I thought they always carried mostly network shows outside of A's games. The exception being Sunday afternoons where they've placed the "win a job for a year" contest winner. He's absolutely horrendous.
ReplyDeleteThe morning show, whatever they call themselves, has got to be among the least desireable things I've ever heard. Dan Divley is painful to listen to. They leave nearly everything to be desired.
ReplyDeleteI've only listened to John Lund once, briefly. I didn't think he was bad except to say I thought it was weird hearing him discuss and admit that his man package was...small. Way way way TMI buddy. Who says that, true or not?
The afternoon show is ok, but that has nothing to do with Eric Davis. He is the Game's Bob Fritzgerald. He doesn't seem to bring much to the table despite being an ex player. He seemingly often bites his tongue because guess what, HE WORKS FOR ONE OF THE TEAMS HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE GIVING AN OPINION ON! Conflict, anyone? Not surprisingly, his partner consistently makes points that are more relevant and make more sense than his do - and again, he is a former player. They could either let the other guy go solo or simply upgrade the bumping gums that is Eric Davis.
Finally, besides Damon Bruce, I'm not sure there is a better sports talk host better than Chris Townsend.
I.Love.That.Guy.
I wish I had to drive when he's on the air. He's a pleasure to listen to. Interactive, makes great points, no fluff or sugar coating. Incredibly knowledgeable and gets after it.
Honestly, if all local sports talk host took a cue from Damon and Townsend, we'd all be much better for it.
The Game would easily be my go to station if:
1. The signal wasn't so shitty and
2. It was on AM - Its an annoying extra step to shift my receiver from AM to FM but whatever...
The pissing contest between interns at the GAME and KNBR is very amusing. Both stations suck big time but each one tries to point out how the other sucks more. In terms of grammar and spelling the GAME interns win.
ReplyDeleteFirst mistake this station did was to go to the FM band.
ReplyDeleteSecond mistake, is the low signal. Maybe this is tied to the FM band. Who knows.
Third FM is for rock music not baseball or any sporting events.
I'll listen to "Who's Next" before I listen to the Devil Rays.
95.7 has bashed KNBR since the moment they went on the air, but they are basically the same, except 95.7 has more hosts without any local cache or experience. And the morning show is an unlistenable circle jerk that makes me embarrassed to be a sports fan.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of quality sports programming in the Bay Area can barely fill 1/3 of a station, much less three.
I'm really sorry to hear about John Dickinson. He was a solid reporter, and very hard working. He was at all of the local baseball games, covered Raiders' practices religiously, and was one of the best radio sports reporters I've heard.
ReplyDeleteI know that 'The Game' has to cut corners to survive, but Entercom isn't going to amount to much more than Cumulus if they keep cutting away the little talent that they have.
Big mistake!
Here's a novel thought. Would it be possible to program serious sports talk? The closest thing I hear these days is Marty Lurie. He talks serious about the Giants. It would certainly be possible to do this about the Niners and Warriors. You might lose the fringe but credibility would increase. I really don't like the bad jokes, sexual innuendo and crude talk. Marty Lurie is way above that and his show is great. Eric Davis could do this with the Niners and the NFL. People crave this and yet stations give us clowns who laugh at their own bad jokes.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
DeleteFor once I would like to hear someone speak the english language.
Second we are tired of numbskull sophomoric humor. Fit for the 18 year old crowd.
Think, Tolbert and Byrnes, Murph and Mac.
But sadly, being an adult on KNBR is the exception.
Marty does a great show...but the reason he's able to not get into the 'noise and nonsense' that other shows at KNBR and 'the Game' have to fall is simple. Marty pretty much CONTROLS his own show. Marty brings in his own sponsors and they pay him, he isn't paid by KNBR unless he's filling in for someone else on the weeknights.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great arrangement for KNBR as well, and can sell some of the airtime when Mary is doing those long 3-4 hour post game shows on the weekends.
Marty lives and breathes baseball, and it's his life right now.
Bay area listeners are lucky to have Marty on the air, but don't expect other shows like his to follow, unless someone wants to go
out and beat the bushes for sponsors.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned that Marty did this same kind of show for almost a decade on the A's radio station(s) before joining KNBR in 2010. The A's however, gave him very little help and encouragement, but that's typical. With the exception of Ken Korach and a few other folks in their front office, Lew Wolff and Donald Fisher have turned them into a minor league organization, and they have been just that, pretty much since those two took over ownership.
Hiring the doltish Bob Geren (Billy Beane's buddy) and letting him run the team on the field from 2007-last year was also a mistake, as the A's were at best mediocre over the last five years, and that turned off the fan base even more. Bob Melvin is at least keeping this current group of youngsters from falling off the map...although it would help if they scored a few runs once in awhile!
Two thumps up at 11:51 and 1:31 observations on Marty Laurie and the state of sports talk radio.
ReplyDeleteThe only good thing about 95.7 is that the have the Westwood One Sports package of superbowl and other NFL games. Wonder why knbr gave up or was outbid for it? Reception is very poor in San Jose. As for townsend he is terriable repeating himself often and his voice is terriable high pithced whinney.
ReplyDeleteInteresting..THEGAME still has John Dickinson's work on their webpage..type his name and many lists. On KNBR'S..Ralph has been almost wiped clean..one mention of his name is all I could find. And that's probably not going to last. 28 years of his KNBR worked..wiped clean.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problem with the Game is the signal. Can barely get it in many places of the EBay. Boost the signal. The content isn't horrific, it's certainly no worse than KNBR's non-Giants game content. They get pretty decent interviewees in between the canned bits of the on-air dudes...
ReplyDeleteI really hope the Game is able to stay around because KNBR is unlistenable, with the exception of Damon Bruce on 1050. I used to enjoy the Rise Guys when they were on in Sacramento. Dibley still sounds like he hasn't found a way to gel with the other two, though. For those who think they screw around too much, they were far more juvenile at the Sac station. Lund is a tabula rasa. When Papa is on with him I really enjoy the show. Anybody else and I don't listen as much. I'd love to have somebody like Drew Remenda alternate with Papa (although I don't know if he'd have time given his Canadian show). Tierney and Davis are really hit and miss also. Tierney talks too much, but he's quiet compared to how Barbieri was at KNBR so I can live with it. Townsend is great. I'd put him in Lund's spot so he wasn't pre-empted by baseball as often. Ultimately, they need to get the Raiders and a more powerful signal if they're going to have a serious chance to be successful.
ReplyDeleteThe Game needs to act like a real flagship station and devote as much time to the A's as KNBR devotes to the Giants. I like the Rise Guys and Chris Townsend; can't listen to the other daytime guys. I think Rich may be wrong about The Game's weekend programming. Seems to me they are using a lot of local voices and only switch to Yahoo in the evenings and overnight.
ReplyDelete