The Comment Section
There were some questions in the Ask Me Anything I didn’t get to because I’m an idiot and forgot to say it was over, so figured I’d answer a few of those here. I might make this a somewhat regular feature– answering random comments in a loosely-edited post.
Le Batard with Stugotz is the only listenable sports radio (funny, no hot takes, don’t take themselves seriously) but they would never fly with a fan base like ours.
Ten years ago when I was in my early twenties I would listen to WIP all day at work — now I can’t listen to a single local show on either station.
Is it them or me?
Same boat, had it on non stop up until about 2006 (27 years old) , now can’t get through a segment.
Actually listen to a lot of Fantasy Sports channel on Sirius XM. Covers off on all sports very well.
I agree. The quality of local sports talk radio has largely shit the bed, and I think there’s a few reasons for it:
- I’ve had radio people mention this to me, and I think it has some merit. Previously, you had journalists become sports talk radio stars. Angelo Cataldi, Mike Missanelli, Glen Macnow, Anthony Gargano– all writers who went to radio. Like them or hate them, their opinions carry some weight because they’ve been there. Now, each of them has carved out their own niche and become a character (or caricature of themselves in some cases), which makes up both the best and worst of sports talk radio, but all of these guys and many others are quite good at their jobs because, to put it bluntly, they know what the hell they’re talking about. All those folks – writers – took a leap and made sports talk radio into the medium that it is today. That means the current crop of up-and-comers, largely, are people gunning to become radio stars without actually doing the part of being a sports journalist. I’m not passing judgement on them – many of them are quite good and some I’d consider friends – but consider the career track of the first wave of sports talk radio stars (journalist, columnist, radio host) and the second (radio station intern, producer, host). Can you see the problem?
- Besides the overall lack of talent, the days of making big money in local sports talk radio are pretty much done. All the guys mentioned above, along with Tony Bruno, Al Morganti, Rhea Hughes and Michael Barkann, all pull or pulled in pretty decent incomes. There is way too much uncertainty in the business now for that trend to continue. I’m not sure anyone will ever make $500k per year in local sports talk radio again.
- The format mostly sucks. Once you listen to a good podcast you realize just how awful the sports talk radio format is for listeners. Commercials every 12 minutes, teases to get you to stick around so the station gets a ratings credit for the next quarter hour, and the overall idiocy of callers waters down the overall product, which can feel tired and stale compared to a very specific podcast of your choosing. For example, I listen to the Fantasy Labs podcast every week for a smart breakdown of the upcoming Draft Kings slate– it’s informative, interesting and is actually useful. A show like that would be too niche for radio, but what most radio stations don’t get is that most people can create their own station with a podcast app (or, even easier, download our Liberty Podcasts app!). This happened with music stations once everyone had an iPod, and now it’s happening to talk stations. So, you’re left with a lower IQ audience and people who may only be listening to radio for its relative ease of use in the car, like how you might put on the local news at night.
My advice to sports talk radio stations would be to harness their advantages – studios, production quality, connections, hosts, guests – and leverage them to produce top-notch quality programming for both radio and on-demand formats, such as podcasts, which aren’t going anywhere and will soon become the norm for spoken audio content much like watching Netflix is the norm for watching TV and listening to Apple Music, iTunes or Spotify is for listening to music. I feel like most radio stations treat podcasts like they’re just an outlet on which to re-post their current shows, without realizing that they open up entirely new possibilities for format and programming. Also, as general advice to mainstream media– stop relying on former athletes, officials, politicians and pundits to comment on a given topic, because often those people make the least insightful analysts because they’re just part of the spin cycle, and more discerning millennials are able to see right through their bullshit. For example:
ALL CAPS opinion I have the BEST take.
Are you really going to vote for Hillary after all the terrible possibly evil things she has done?
Begrudgingly, yes. Look, let’s be honest, this election has nothing to do with Republican or Democrat anymore and has everything to do with voting for who’s least likely to destroy the country (democracy!). Hillary is a lying crook who has more scandals than maybe any previous serious presidential candidate and doesn’t exactly have the best track record as a senator or Secretary of State. But Trump is genuinely dangerous. I don’t think he’s an evil person, but I do think it’s people like him who become fascists. They’re used to getting their way and never being told “no,” but then all of a sudden, when they’re not in control anymore, they go off the deep end and use fear, intimidation and mistruths to preserve their power. We’re already seeing it with Trump. Imagine if he were president. How do you think he would handle criticism, bad press, a foreign leader telling him “no”? Horribly. Mitt Romney not being able to use a Wawa machine and having “binders full of women” doesn’t seem so bad now, does it? This whole election is fucked, but the country will be decidedly less fucked if Hillary wins.
What do you think of the Finneran Pavillion naming? Why do geese fly hundreds of miles at a clip but insisit on walking across roads in traffic?
So VU Hoops had a great post detailing some of the renovations at the Pavilion. Sadly, no expanded seating capacity, no raising the roof (except on a barrage of threes from the sharp-shooting Villanova Wildcats HEYYO!), and no students surrounding the court. Those were the things Villanova people wanted, but because all the people who live near campus in Radnor suck – hey, fuckstick, you moved near a 150 year-old-university, don’t be so surprised when it wants to act like a university and build stuff – Villanova is stuck doing mild renovations to improve the concession area, add permanent seats behind the baskets, put the students on both ends of the court, and other mostly cosmetic upgrades. It’s fine, but ultimately disappointing and, I assume, the sort of thing that will keep Villanova playing at the Wells Fargo Free Checking Accounts You Didn’t Know About Center for the foreseeable future. That’s fine, it’s been working out for the program:
Photo credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
As for the geese thing– I don’t know, but I assume it’s the same reason why Doug Pederson decides to punt because he has three timeouts and then blows a timeout before he punts.
Kyle, you said Designated Surivor is terrific. I find it to be hanging on by a thread.
It has the potential to be a great show but does not live up to it. Maybe because it is on ABC. I find it to be too soft and fake. I say it gets the boot after season 1.
Fair point. There’s definite concerns there, and typically I don’t go for network dramas because they’re usually simplistic and formulaic, but this has a really good premise, Kiefer Sutherland is great*, and it has potential to have multiple layers. Oddly enough, I find that now that I have a kid and generally more overall responsibility, binge-watching shows on Netflix is tougher and more daunting than it used to be, and suddenly network TV makes a little more sense– sometimes you just need something quick and easy for an hour or so. I know that goes against my radio argument, but there is something to be said for passive consumption options.
*When he shouted “25% [more certain]” in the pilot, I yelled out loud, “Jack is back!”
I’m getting a tattoo of the Philly skyline, Do I include the Comcast building?
Absolutely. You have to. Like them or hate them, the Comcast building defines the Philly skyline. In fact, I’d include the new building that looks like a giant middle finger or, if you get it high enough, your dick.
Biggest douche and nicest local media guy you’ve met?
I’m not going to call out any douches because they may have otherwise been kind to me, but here’s an obvious one– Tim Panaccio once emailed the Flyers and complained about me and said I was an asshole who blogged in his parents’ basement (which was actually true for a short period of time). He’s a douche. Nice guys? Many. I’ll leave out people I’ve had extensive encounters with so it doesn’t seem like I’m playing favorites, but I’ve met several others and I perceived them as ultimately pleasant– John Clark, Jeff Skversky, Leslie Gudel, Steve Bucci, to name a few.
Two Q’s:
Which beat writers for their respective Philly Sports teams do you enjoy the most?
Rank the 4 teams in order of most likely to win a championship next.
Been a long-time site reader, keep up the good work!
This is a loaded question, but I’ll go by team.
Eagles: Tim McManus– I think he’s the gold standard. I always felt Jeff McLane played favorites and didn’t want to burn sources because the Eagles came to him with stuff, but he’s been killing it lately and is highly, rightfully critical at times. The Eagles beat writers, overall, are pretty good.
Phillies: Ryan Lawrence is as solid as it comes, and Jim Salisbury, though more of a “friend of the organization” than an insider, gets most of the stories.
Flyers: Haha. Frank Seravalli did actual reporting… and now works with TSN. Look at that!
Sixers: Derek Bodner.
Most likely to win a championship:
- Eagles– they have the quarterback and can be true contenders in a year or two with a good draft and a few free agent moves
- Flyers– you can say they should be number one on this list and I won’t argue with you
- Sixers– still a few years away
- Phillies– it’s gonna take a while
Why do you have an axe to grind with WIP?
Almost ALL of your articles…regarding radio…are praising 97.5 and shitting on WIP (or the people that work there).
I don’t. This is such a misconception. Sure, for about a year I was mostly negative towards them, but this had a lot to do with Andy Bloom and Josh Innes, BOTH OF WHOM GOT FIRED. I’d say I was pretty spot-on in most of my criticism. The station pushed aside or parted ways with Glen Macnow, Rob Ellis and Anthony Gargano ostensibly in favor of Innes and now they’re left with an afternoon show… coming soon. I just call it like I see it. Right now, neither station is doing much positive or negative… they’re both just sort of existing in this weird middle ground. I know people at both stations, have connections at both, and have written plenty of negative stuff about 97.5, Dwayne.
Do you know any strip clubs in philly that do extras?
True story (which I think my wife knows): We went to Ervs in Allentown, a BYO strip joint in a strip mall, for my friend’s bachelor party in 2008. 10 p.m. rolls around and we see people just going at it on one side of the bar. Not the strippers, not making out, like actual clients performing cunnilingus on bar stools. It was swingers night! You needed a significant other to get a wristband to enter the sexy* side of the bar, and one of the members of our party, who shall go nameless because he was married at the time, somehow obtained one for himself and… well, God knows what happened. I never made it over to the other side of the bar and things are generally fuzzy from there on out, but there exists a picture of me covered in chocolate sauce with a big smile on my face. You can use your imagination. So, yeah, go to Ervs.
*Sexy is used ironically here as it was mostly middle-aged people from the slums of Allentown. It turns out, you can contract a venereal disease simply by looking at a crestfallen vagina!
How excited are you that it seems as if the Philly sports scene has finally turned a corner and we might have potentially 3-4 superstars (Wentz, Embiid, Simmons, Gostisbehere) and good teams to watch finally. Does that = more page views/readers then during the years of shitty sports teams?
Very excited. It absolutely means more readers when things are going well. Stuff like Morning Wood, making fun of other teams and posts about beloved players just don’t work when the teams suck. I’d much rather be a cheerleader than a snarky prick– it’s more fun and profitable.
When do you guys start getting more direct access to players? I’ve always thought the sports/pop-culture blog arena could use some more player interaction. Like, find a way to hang out with Jason Kelce on Mondays and capture how high HE is on Carson Wentz.
I think you’ll see that we’ll get more access soon as we’re gonna start to add in some more traditional coverage as the teams get better, but I don’t think we’ll ever be like buddies with the players the way maybe Barstool is. We’re way too critical for anyone to feel totally safe doing stuff like that with us (even though we’d never use the access for gotcha moments). That doesn’t mean we won’t or can’t get interviews, but it’s just a different tone that we have. I’ve always thought we’re somewhere in-between traditional sports reporting and Deadspin or Barstool (though Deadspin has gone completely off the reservation and turned into a mundane hipster site lately). There are a million sites trying to do bro and pop culture and I don’t think there’s much else we can add there.