Radio-TV Observer

A special USA-365 supplement by Mark Smith

8-9-2005

We are all media observers. We all watch, listen and read and we know what we like.

Media is a business designed to make money off the public by entertaining them. It often does not have redeeming value, logic or a moral base. But it isn't required to. I ask you to accept TV, newspapers and radio as the creative, possibility and mistake-laden free form entities that they are.

Don't make too much of what is said, written or aired. It isn't about you, it's about them.

That also applies to anyone who dares to be a critic.

(8-9-2005) Clearly the 'competition' between WJOB (1230) AM and the Region Sports Network (WWCA and WCFJ) has not lessened.

Last month, the RSN lined up several of the Hammond Chiefs games in the Ohio Valley Regional national baseball tournament. It would have been a natural for the RSN, which would have aired the games on WWCA (1270) AM.

Days before the tournament began, WJOB (1230) AM, which is home-based in Hammond, was instructed-asked-ordered to carry not only the Chiefs games but games involving other teams from outside Lake County.

If you're waiting for me to explain why WJOB could or should carry a baseball game between the Three Rivers, Kentucky all-stars and the Terre Haute Rasta Braves, I'm going to let you down on that one. I don't know.

In my mind, the ONLY reason WJOB carried the games was so the RSN couldn't. I can almost guarantee you that no one was listening when Putnam County, West Virginia teed it up last Friday against Zanesville, Ohio .

WJOB has put a lot of events on local radio in the past year but they need to use a little more perspective about what should and shouldn't be on. I'm sure the live broadcast from Pirogi-fest in Whiting had more listeners than all the non-Chiefs baseball games combined.

I sense that WJOB, under new management for about 15 months now, is still into the thrill of 'playing radio' and airing everything it is possible to air. I'm also sure that the financial realities of endless live broadcasts will chill that thrill. When it comes to broadcasting a match up between two teams that are a combined 800 miles from Lake County, the sooner the better.

I'm sure many of you love NASCAR and the aura of the circuit is very colorful an d spirited. But I'm afraid that if local newspapers think that an entire page devoted to NASCAR is going to get people to buy their paper they are as mistaken as Jude Law was when he figured Sienna would mind if he and the Nanny turned their kids mattress into a well-named tramp' o line.

I love the good-old-boy spirit of the whole thing and the drivers seem to have a lot of personality. But NASCAR is dull as all get out on TV and everybody knows it.

The highlight of last weekend's Brickyard weekend in Indianapolis (Aug. 5-7) was when a rainstorm delayed the short track race on Saturday night and the announcers got to interview the drivers and mechanics. That was good TV. But it's not a good sign when the fans and drivers are more entertaining than the races.

NASCAR's 'Race for the Chase' is a little too long and drawn out. If Dale Ernhardt Jr.and Jeff Gordon don't make the top-10 for the 'Chase' in September, ratings wont be pretty for the rest of the year. And despite all the impressive in-camera technology and spirited commentary, NASCAR races are as boring as Indy-car races. There are too many caution periods, too many cars in most races and too much of the competition is mechanical and not human. And I'm someone who wants to like it.

Let me see. Rafael Palmiero banned 10 games for shooting juice. Barry Bonds doesn't play all year and whines like a 7-year-old. Sammy Sosa can no longer hit his weight and its still somebody else's fault. But none of them were on steroids? Sosa and Palmiero are both former employees and (by their own words) friends of President Bush. But neither of them would cheat or lie? And if you turn on Chicago sports radio, who's the Devil? Dusty Baker.

Didn't the Post-Tribune's John Mutka choose an odd time to bad mouth Ryne Sandberg? The day after he was elected into baseball's Hall-of-Fame. It shows you how petty and shallow Hall-of-Fame voting is. It shouldn't come down to personality, but it clearly does.

All you need to know about sports journalism is the supposed Cubs 'trade' for Texas second baseman Alfonso Soriano in the last week of July. the Post-Tribune actually super-imposed a Cub hat on a quarter page picture of Soriano on its lead sports page on July 29 just to suck you in.

What did the Post-Tribune know about secret negotiations between the Cubs and Texas? Probably nothing. There was no byline, except to say that the Post got the story from the Chicago Sun-Times, a big brother in their newspaper family. They added a special 'Post-Tribune Illustration' to fool you readers into thinking the trade was imminent or even remotely possible. The nugget of truth supposedly was that Cubs' general manager Jim Hendry called Texas GM John Hart. That's like reporting that the sky is blue. Hendry probably calls every GM in baseball the week before the trading deadline and asks about a half dozen players. He'd be fired if he didn't.

Was the Soriano-to-the-Cubs deal made? Of course not. It was probably never even discussed. Why would it be? The Cubs second baseman Todd Walker is one of their best players and Soriano has said repeatedly he won't play left field, the Cubs only every-day player hole. The Sunday of the trade deadline, Soriano played for Texas, Walker played for the Cubs and you got played.

Clearly the local newspaper needed a lead sports story and Valpo U hosting a camp for deaf players or Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez announcing his retirement for the year 2006 (the other Post back page stories that day) weren't' sexy enough. The Post-Tribune isn't to blame for the bogus baseball deal story directly because they didn't make the story up. The Sun-Times did. The Post just copied it and 'illustrated” it. When the baseball trading deadline comes around, newspapers seem to desperately need rumors. If none exists, they probably make them up because they are under pressure. Newspaper editors can be 'Runaway Brides' who make up stories when they need a convenient story to get them out of the kitchen.

The best thing that ever happened to Rafael Palmiero was LA Dodger pitcher Derek Lowe. While Palmiero's continued use of steroids has exposed him to ridicule, the walk of shame must be shared by Lowe, the former Boston Red Sox pitcher who left his wife and three children last month to move into an apartment with Fox-Sports-Los Angeles on-camera jock-model Carolyn Hughes.

Hughes, a former Miss New Mexico, has been removed from her job as Dodger pre-and post-game 'reporter' while her bosses investigate her probing interview style with the LA pitcher.

This escapade does not speak well for serious women reporting on male sports. There is still a double standard. The idea that women get interviews with men that male reporters can't get is accepted as the norm. The idea that men wait outside women's locker rooms while women freely enter male lockers is also accepted. The trade-off is that women can't be allowed to do undercover investigations of the local pro roster in search of future husbands or sugar daddies.

Lowe's lowlife actions speak for themselves. Many athletes are spoiled little boys who will grab any female who's not nailed down. He'll get his. Lowe can shack up with all the info-babes he can get a hold of until the judge orders him to send half his check back to the wife and kids he ditched. Then, he won't be able to afford the high maintenance home-wreckers and he'll have to go back to groupies.

The interesting question is for Fox Sports, which is known for hiring top-loaded female 'reporters' like Lisa Guerrero and Lee Ann Tweeden, who attract male viewers because they look like Vegas strippers.

Will Fox wait until the stink blows over and put Hughes back on the air to take advantage of her 'reputation?' Men will watch a female who's easy on the eyes and ratings will rise if she's just easy, period.

It stokes the fires of fantasy. The Fox Network is never going to be held back by journalistic ethics. They're proud of the fact that they have a conservative slant on news. It'll be interesting to see if Fox Sports will go so far as to pimp out female 'talent' to suck in low-class viewers.

MEDIA NOTES: The Chris Ramirez/Chris Lanin talk show is back on the air. Actually, it was never off. The "Chris and Chris” show has been aired for almost a year on WCFJ at the un-Godly hour of 8-10 a.m. a time when only their next of kin could listen.

Now, comes the good news that Chis and Chris will air has been moved to 3-5 p.m. every afternoon, a time when normal people can tune in. The 3-5 p.m. time slot is perfect for prep sports because it allows the hosts to do a Friday show and still get to the ballgame. One joke of local radio was the game night taped preview broadcasts with biting comments and bold predictions that NO ONE EVER HEARD because the only folks who cared were at games.

Chris and Chris fill the talk gap left by Tommy Williams' summer absence while WJOB aired minor league baseball through the end of August. I love 'The Preacher' but I don't know what they're talking about from 6-7 every night now on WJOB.

It's time to get a copy of the 13^th annual Regional Radio Sports Football Guide. It lists every school in the state of Indiana and is a must for any football fan, player, coach or broadcaster.

Sign of the times. WGOM, the station that carried Goshen football in the glory days, has gone all-Spanish and isn't carrying anything but the World Cup. As much as I talk about the RSN, the Regional Radio Sports Network and WJOB, we who follow sports in NW Indiana are lucky to have them.

Everyone seems to have the same ideas when it comes to scheduling. The RSN and Comcast Cable will both be on Route 2 for the August 19 season opener between rivals Lowell and Crown Point. Although they have not announced it, WJOB will probably be there as well. (And of course, Internet Radio USA-365.com covers all Crown Point football games anyway.) I understand that it's easier said than done, but the region would be better served if local radio could work together and do different Friday night football games, at least during the regular season.

Often times, you can hear two other broadcasts in the background of a local radio production. I realize that some areas are more lucrative than others. Lowell supports football very well and Crown Point is one of the more affluent towns in NW Indiana. But if half the people are listening to one station and half are listening to the other, one station might be better served grabbing all of a lesser audience and set of sponsors. The only problem is, one station would have to step back. That's unlikely.

The RSN did air the American Legion regional game between Highland and Crown Point on tape delay from Plymouth on July 29. Chris Ramirez did the broadcast by himself and the (fortunately) fast moving game came off well. Hopefully, the American Legion Regional, which will always feature two NW Indiana teams, can become a staple for local radio.