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Sports Radio running thread

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by RokSki, Apr 26, 2007.

  1. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    I mentioned to a fellow Northern Californian online last night, if it weren't for KNBR and KCBS, AM would be dead to me. Not much else there but religious or ethnic programming.
     
    maumann likes this.
  2. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    Fixed, although FM is headed down the same road thanks to iHeart, etc.
     
    maumann likes this.
  3. BitterYoungMatador2

    BitterYoungMatador2 Well-Known Member

    Radio was my dream gig until I talked with a local Pittsburgh host when I was in college and he warned me there’s no such thing as general talk anymore, it’s just sports and political talk. Listening to the advice was probably the best thing I ever did.
     
    wicked and maumann like this.
  4. maumann

    maumann Well-Known Member

    I don't know if any of the AM stations I worked for between 1978-1992 have any actual full-time employees, other than perhaps WPTF in Raleigh and KFBK in Sacramento. The others are shuttered, used as repeaters for FM or in the case of WMEL, owned by the Catholic church and syndicated.

    And as wicked said, FM is conglomerate homogenization.

    It was fun until it wasn't. Glad I wasn't the last rat on the sinking ship.
     
  5. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    I wanted to do pbp, even though I sound like I have a mouth filled with marbles. I leaned into print journalism in high school because it appeared to be more stable. I wouldn't have to work for free *as much*. I could cover a game and actually get some cash, even if it worked out to $3 after taxes and traveling. I probably should've just started at the post office at 18 instead.
     
  6. maumann

    maumann Well-Known Member

    I was going to be the next Ernie Harwell but college didn't really explain that I should have majored in advertising.

    I went to the 1980 Winter Meetings in Fort Lauderdale with my resume and air check in hand and there were a couple of announcer openings posted in Podunk. When I inquired, the team's general manager said, "OK, I like your voice. So we'll sell you the rights to the broadcasts. You then need to find a radio station willing to sell you the air time. And you get to pocket whatever sponsorship you get to pay your salary (and cover your overhead)."

    What? I thought I just had to talk! I actually have to pay to do this?

    That's when I decided doing the agate for the Sun-Sentinel for $5/hour was the better option.
     
  7. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    I bought airtime in high school (using those hard-earned newspaper pennies) because I was convinced I'd be the next Al Michaels. I sounded like a Smurf who mumbled — not exactly hire-worthy. Again, would've been better getting a job at the post office or UPS.
     
    maumann likes this.
  8. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

    I’d have been better off starting in a straight job too. But I’d always have that unscratched itch wondering if I could have been a sports writer.
     
    maumann likes this.
  9. MTM

    MTM Well-Known Member

    I have a similar story. I was going to be the next Vin Scully. My school didn't do play-by-play of sports, so I would tape games and air edited versions on my weekly sports show. I was probably the only one who listened to them.

    After graduation in 1983, I interviewed at an all-news station in Thousand Palms, CA that paid, IIRC, $6/hour. I would have taken it if it was offered. Had a friend who edited some weeklies who needed help with sports and that led to a 33-year career in print.
     
    ChrisLong and maumann like this.
  10. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    Been tuning in KGO on and off today while running errands. Just about everything coming from the MGMXL network (radio people, apologies for getting the name wrong), save for Jim Rome 9-noon (simulcast with KNBR 1050) and CBS Sports Radio overnight.

    Not being a sports bettor, wondering what happens after football season, especially if the two sports betting propositions on the November ballot go down in flames as expected. But Cumulus will love it no matter what - no local hosts to pay!
     
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2022
  11. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    I went to college thinking I could do pbp, then the college radio station gave me a soccer game as a tryout. My guess is that soccer weeds out a lot of people, it sure did me. Next stop was the college paper.

    And yeah, my brother started as a cashier at Publix supermarkets at about the same time as I got into sportswriting. His money was better than mine for a while and his benefits were better for many, many years.
     
    maumann likes this.
  12. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    What a waste of a prime dial position and strong signal.
     
    HanSenSE likes this.
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