News

Harry Mayes and Rob Ellis Seem To Have a Problem with a Podcast

By Kyle Scott

Published: Jun 13th, 2017 · 3:23 PM EDT

---

In midst of a rambling 15-minute segment that touched on everything from the MLB draft, to Mark McGrath, to young millennial women speaking with a “vocal fry,” Harry Mayes and Rob Ellis decided to weigh in on podcasts, and one might ultimately conclude that the medium has crawled inside their head and taken a big ol’ dump.

After speaking about some nonsensical segment with Coach Camille yesterday that apparently spiked the online listening meters, Rob mentioned they should have him on again, and then, something something podcasts:

Harry: “I don’t think he could put back-to-backs together. It sort of like podcasters.”

Rob: “Yes.”

Harry: “You know, they only got one in them per week. That’s about it.”

Rob: “You mean the guys who beg for questions on Twitter, and do one day per week and rip the people who do five days per week, those guys?”

Harry: “The back to back days are tough.”

Rob: “I know. That’s for the big boys. That’s where you separate the men from the little boys.”

I can’t imagine who Rob was talking about. None of the weekly podcasters I know of rip sports talk radio. I do, however. But we record three times per week, at 6 a.m., before working for the rest of the day. I’d give my left testicle to work four hours per day from 10-2.

You mean the guys who beg for questions on Twitter? I don’t know, Rob, is that who you mean?

Good thing they’re above that.

Here’s the thing: Whether podcasts record once per week or three times per week, obviously it’s easier to program for a few hours rather than four hours of live radio per day. But again, that’s sports talk radio’s problem. I don’t know how many times I’ve said that the problem with it has little to do with the hosts and producers (in fact, we’ve actually repeatedly complimented Harry Mayes on the podcast) but rather the medium itself– much like the problem with newspapers was the format, not the reporting. It’s the need for 18 hours of live audio in a world where people don’t need live audio most of the time that breeds asinine topics like this…

Of course, the 97.5 mid-day show has pivoted recently and begun to read mean Tweets, mix it up with more “thought provoking” topics, take listener questions, and include more segments. I wonder who they’re take their cues from.