Lame Duck Raiders Bad Business for Entercom; 'The Game' (95.7 FM Sports); Gruden Doesn't Do Weekly Show with Damon Bruce Who Is Pretty Pissed Off; With A's Leaving, The Game Has Little Game; Wednesday Sports 415 Media Schmooze

 SPORTS RADIO is quite lucrative to the station because sports in general is huge; big business jock radio dominates the media landscape even if you're not inclined to follow sports; that said, the revenue streams that are generated make gargantuan globs of money for local and national outlets.

The Giants are healthy money makers for KNBR and Cumulus even if the team stinks; they drive the car and butter the bread; so to, the 49ers. Relationships are vital to the cog that brings in the big dough; the GM; the star players and non-star players do frequent interviews on their respective flagship station. KNBR relies on its weekly chat with Kyle Shanahan, 49ers coach; John Lynch; its GM also does the talk circuit. Teams around the league and their home stations have similar relationships. It's called business and it benefits both.

Except for the Raiders and Entercom and its stations; KCBS (all news and carrier of Raiders' football games on Sunday) and 95.7 FM (The Game)

Jon Gruden, that coach racking up the big money (at $10M a year for 10 years) doesn't do a Monday call-in show with PM drive host, Damon Bruce even though he's contractually obligated; by extension, so too the Raiders. It's to the point now that Bruce routinely rips Gruden and the Raiders about this situation --I don't know if that's good business to air your dirty laundry but I applaud Bruce for being honest because the Raiders, even in good times, are absolutely the WORST sports franchise in the world to conduct business with; Entercom and its minions are experiencing this for the first time and are both embarrassed and royally ticked off.

Beyond the obvious discomfort is the fact that the Raiders horrific act on and off the field is bad business for their broadcast partner; try to sell Raiders' football now when the team is one foot out the door in Oakland and headed to Las Vegas probably next year (playing in a college stadium when the new one will be ready, maybe, in 2020).

Damon Bruce

Gruden doesn't do any shows. The worst part is the Raiders organization doesn't care and almost flaunts its giddiness --some things will never change.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE...

"The Game:" has a lame duck Raiders and a soon-departed Oakland A's who will leave its flagship come 2019. As Susan Slusser of the Chronicle reported the A's will be on a more franchise-friendly station --maybe KFRC if they can buy the current religious station; or snatch up some AM or FM outlet that will actually talk about the team. 95.7 FM hosts rarely talk A's baseball even when the team shined like it did this year.

Yes, frankly in good times, the A's don't generate the same traction as do the Giants but given the fact that KNBR is so embedded with the Giants that's never been surprising.

To its credit, KNBR builds its entire talk structure around the team. The A's haven't been able to garner that treatment with The Game. It's unpleasant if you're an Athletics fan but it's fact.

Then again, with the Raiders about to become extinct on their Entercom client and the A's on a different station for 2019, that leaves the Warriors as the only sports team (and a golden one) left.

Good sports-talk radio is mostly host-oriented but having teams on the domain not only brings in more money and revenue streams, but prestige too. That counts both ways. Just ask KNBR and Cumulus during the Giants' run of championships in 2010, '12, and '14.

Jason Barrett Leaving 95.7 The Game As PD; Pens Cute Letter That Doesn't Provide (Real) Details; The Real Reason(s)

 Jason Barrett, the embattled PD of all-sports 95.7 FM The Game is leaving the station in June.

Here, he spells out in roughly a few couple thousand or so words why he's leaving...it reads lovely and cutesy and cuddly and all that but other than mentioning family, Barrett conveniently leaves out the specific reason(s) why.

Funny, I'm not surprised. I've been wondering for some time how Barrett has been able to hold down his Entercom gig despite the station's relative irrelevance and truth be told, The Game, while holding down marginal demos like adult males who covet beer, boobs and sports, has never reached a ratings crescendo --hell, hasn't even come close.

 You're probably going to read the press-release version of this and take it as the positive gospel but it's mostly bull. It's anecdotal verbal messing that's designed to imply that the honest PD misses him and wants to explore his next life. Which would be nothing out of the ordinary and make perfect sense only Barrett doesn't mention some of the things that more than likely accelerated his departure.

As I said, The Game has never registered any real traction in the Bay Area. Never. Its attempt to be an alternative to KNBR, which would have been nice, hasn't materialized. Part of that is sports-radio on FM doesn't work, especially when it's hard to actually listen to that station. The Game's signal is barely audible in most parts of the Bay Area. I can pick it up fine and even better on my car stereo but I'm in the minority. That's not Barrett's fault but it's on his ledger that other variables are and were--

*It was Barrett who hired contest winners--listeners--who became immediate air talent on the radio station. That would work well in, say, Tulsa--not so much in the Bay Area. Furthermore the idea of placing contest winners on the radio station speaks volumes about Mr. Barrett's style of management.

*Both the A's and Raiders want out on The Game. The Raiders have been looking for an alternative for months now because they're unhappy with their Bay Area flagship--so too the A's who have complained about promotion and are also unhappy with the signal. Again, that's hardly Barrett's fault but there's ways to schmooze the suits and get around this--Barrett didn't get the memo.

*The constant reshuffling of the air-talent. There's been a significant fallout on Barrett's every-other-day rearranging the furniture on The Game--his mishandling of the morning show features has been woeful and disruptive --the very best morning show, "The Rise Guys", were held out to pasture and replaced by a startling bad current program whose hosts like to talk about their penises --how thought-provoking and creative.

Simply stated The Game went kaput before our very eyes and ears. There's nothing wrong with that --hell, lots of radio stations are like restaurants --most fail even under the best of intentions. And while everybody would relish an alternative to wildly less-than-mediocre KNBR, The Game struck out. For now and more than likely, the future too.

Uh, The New Dicks on 95.7 FM/The Game's New Morning Show Talked About Their Dicks Thursday Morning

 What a genius Program Director over at the all-sports 95.7 FM, (The Game)--he recently hired his 27,000th new morning show. It doesn't matter what their names are because the show is terrible. I'm being kind.

I tried to listen. Really, I did. This, (Thursday), morning the new boy wonders had a bit: they spent about five minutes talking about measuring their penis with a ruler.

Ha ha.

Shit, what talent. And here I thought these guys were dicks. (They are, but anyway.)

Well, they're confirming one thing: what a bunch of dicks. New Dicks. The New Sound for Sports? God help us all.

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All-Sports 95.7 FM and Potential Talent Pick-ups

Lost amid the announcement that Entercom's 'All-Sports' 95. 7 FM would become the new radio home of the A's and Sharks, (and possibly Cal and/or Stanford football) is the fact that the station would undoubtedly be looking to supplant its staff with talk hosts, commentators, sports news people and yes, personality-driven talent.

Here's some potential players that could be headed to the new FM outlet:

*Damon Bruce: Largely taken for granted at KNBR and placed in the outer oasis at sister-station, 1050 AM, Bruce is talented and offers a big name for Dwight Walker, the Entercom market manager, (who worked at KNBR in the pre-Cumulus days)

Although Bruce' forte has become a tad muted, he nevertheless has enough of a following and could be a real draw as a potential talk-show host at a station looking for some buzz. Bruce' energy and shtick would be a bold move. Another factor: Bruce has no contract at KNBR and has bitched quite openly about his meager compensation.

*Greg Papa: The Raiders' PBP broadcaster and "Chronicle Live" tonsil is a very good radio host and would give the station a big name and provide a Raiders forum for Eastbay/SF fans. Papa is knowledgeable, funny, and has generated a strong following. He's also fairly adroit at the talk-show game, (he hosted a KNBR show and has filled in from time to time for others.)

*Roxy Bernstein: Bernstein, (who calls Cal basketball and did Florida Marlins broadcasts) is a most underrated talent in the Bay Area broadcast scene. He also has built up a numerous Rolodex of big-name contacts that would make for some great guests. Bernstein is currently a part of the Sports Byline line-up on 860 AM. (JJ and the Mouth)

*Barry Tompkins: A longshot, but the highly-respected Bay Area veteran announcer would be great for a weekly show. His stories and background make him desirable, but given his Fox Sports college football/basketball duties, there's a good chance he'd pass. Who knows, money talks.

*Ray Woodson: One of KNBR's only true voices of reason, the veteran sports newsman would be a great presence on the FM airwaves. Woodson is a seasoned newsman and has a funny personality. Not brash and obnoxious like a few of his co-horts, he'd be good for an outlet that needs dependable and capable air talent. Woodson fits that bill. The perfect sports updater.

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