WCCO radio talent still bitter about losing Gophs

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wait!what?

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Today, i spun past 830 on the radio and shtbag Steve Thompson was saying how this may be the gophs last BT BB win and how the U mens hockey team is 3rd best in the state. yer station sux now more than ever.
 

Sad to say that he may be right on the hockey thing.
 


That's their shtick on Sat & Sun afternoons - rip all the teams in town to show how much smarter they are.
 

I've seriously never heard of this guy before this thread was started.
 


What's the bid deal? I listen to KFAN AND KSTP everyday and they constantly criticize and make fun of the U and their athletic teams. It is what the local media does. Every Gopher fan should be used to it by now.
 

Who?

AM radio is dead. Stop listening to zombies.
 


At least people under 80 listen to KSTP and KFAN, and it is very clear that WCCO has made some serious mistakes under the current CBS corporate ownership.

Considering the massive power that the once independent WCCO had in the 50s, 60, 70's and even 1980's it is sad that management let the whole thing slide away slowly. They have a clear channel signal and that is important.

WCCO made a number of mortal errors and letting Twins Baseball and Gopher Football and Basketball go away was big. Keeping those audiences would have been a hook to get people to hear the on air talent, had there been any.

Part II\
The legendary WCCO talent started to get very old in the late 1970's and 80s. After that the on air talent started to retire an die. The main problem was that the WCCO listener market was dying at a higher rate than the talent, and station was viewed as toxic by most other demographics.

Baseball and Gopher Sports would have helped in masking these problems, but CBS Radio management did not see it the same way.

Regardless of whether AM was dead or not, CBS needed to make a big move 5-10 years ago by hiring up Tom Barnard, Dan Bareiro, and may be Soucheray/Russse at any cost and keeping all the sports teams. Today the WCCO Radio brand is crap and no one cares who John Williams or who John Thompson is, it really does not matter. KQRS is not about the music, the music is total crap, it is about Tom Barnard talking for three hours every day. For real music, people listen to the Current, not KQRS to hear REO Speedwagon, Rush, or some other crap they play on the Barnard show. Despite all these trends, KQRS still has good ratings due to the impact of Tom Barnard, and the music had nothing to do with it. WCCO did not pay for talent and that is why they are and forever will be the "old neighbor" in Barnard terminology.
 



The biggest thing that killed WCCO was the CBS take over. New York owns the station, they never added talent and those they had either retired or were let go. There are two revenue time slots morning drive and afternoon drive. They had at one time Charlie Boone with Roger Erickson and in the afternoon they dominated with Steve Cannon. They are no where at either end of that equation now. Add that to Dave Lee on play by play drove listeners away screaming.
 

Too bad. I really missed the days of Boone & Erickson, and Steve Cannon.

There is no comparison to what's out there now for our driving pleasure.

Different crowd, different generation. Different approach about sports talk I guess.
 


SJUgopher said:
5th.
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I'm not really a hockey fan, but are you guys saying there are a couple of MIAC teams better than the U? I can't believe you seriously think Bemidji and St Cloud are better. Hopefully you are being ridiculous and my sarcometer is off. :confused:
 



Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
I'm not really a hockey fan, but are you guys saying there are a couple of MIAC teams better than the U? I can't believe you seriously think Bemidji and St Cloud are better. Hopefully you are being ridiculous and my sarcometer is off. :confused:
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Well, Bemidji beat Mankato and Duluth both of whom beat us this weekend. Transitive property is the sports fan's favorite tool!
 


Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
I'm not really a hockey fan, but are you guys saying there are a couple of MIAC teams better than the U? I can't believe you seriously think Bemidji and St Cloud are better. Hopefully you are being ridiculous and my sarcometer is off. :confused:
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We finished fourth in a tournament of Minnesota teams this weekend, and the fifth team didn't get to participate.

I know we like to criticize local media for ripping local teams, but realistically the teams deserve it. As a collective bunch, they have been pretty bad over the course of recent history. The football team finally put together a nice season this year, but how sad is it that since I started really following the Gophs when I enrolled at the U in 2006, the best football or basketball season I have seen was a 5-3 B1G season that featured a blown double digit lead to our biggest rival.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
We finished fourth in a tournament of Minnesota teams this weekend, and the fifth team didn't get to participate.

I know we like to criticize local media for ripping local teams, but realistically the teams deserve it. As a collective bunch, they have been pretty bad over the course of recent history. The football team finally put together a nice season this year, but how sad is it that since I started really following the Gophs when I enrolled at the U in 2006, the best football or basketball season I have seen was a 5-3 B1G season that featured a blown double digit lead to our biggest rival.
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Yup. If you don't want to be criticized in the media, then just win baby. The football team is starting to, but it's just a start. Basketball has been mediocre to bad for the majority of my life, and the hockey team should be a national title contender every year. When they return nearly everyone from a team that played in the national title game last year, and struggle as bad as they have this year, they deserve some heat.
 

Not having to listen to Dave Lee do Gophers football games is a rare gift that brightens my whole football season. Moving the games away from WCCO was a great thing.
 

Indi1006 said:
Not having to listen to Dave Lee do Gophers football games is a rare gift that brightens my whole football season. Moving the games away from WCCO was a great thing.
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Completely agree, the entire production on KFAN is superior.
 

Indi1006 said:
Not having to listen to Dave Lee do Gophers football games is a rare gift that brightens my whole football season. Moving the games away from WCCO was a great thing.
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Yep. Once in a while, I'll dial up 'CCO early am for a laugh to hear Sid bumble thru his bit. And Dave Lee will be doing his dreadful folksy act; and it will make me so grateful Gopher sports are no longer on that station.

Oh, and Steve Thompson is the biggest assclown on radio. Can't believe he has stuck around this long.
 

Aren't these guys the home of St. Thomas football? I'd be a little bitter too if I was covering D3 sports.
 

OP needs to change the title. You lost me when you put "WCCO" and "radio talent" in the same sentence.
 

Stopped listening to that station long ago....Yes the bitterness was detected quite easily. WCCO got what they deserved...Dave Lee was absolutely terrible at the play-by-play. Steve Thompson does nothing but whine and complain and Mike Max is two-faced a-hole when it comes to the U. And the st thomas thing...wow...99.995% of the state population could care less about them. Good plan WCCO ! hahahahahahahaha.....................................
 

harley_gopher said:
Stopped listening to that station long ago....Yes the bitterness was detected quite easily. WCCO got what they deserved...Dave Lee was absolutely terrible at the play-by-play. Steve Thompson does nothing but whine and complain and Mike Max is two-faced a-hole when it comes to the U. And the st thomas thing...wow...99.995% of the state population could care less about them. Good plan WCCO ! hahahahahahahaha.....................................
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I hate it when people exaggerate their points. Everyone knows it's closer to 99.999%.
 

Ah yes, Steve Thompson. The only radio voice that is in fact more annoying to listen to than Mike Max. And what is with the weird mid-word and mid-sentence pauses with that Thompson guy? Let alone the fact 99% of the stuff that comes out of his pie hole seems to be complete and utter rubbish whether he is talking about the U of M or virtually any other topic.
 

wait!what? said:
Today, i spun past 830 on the radio and shtbag Steve Thompson was saying how this may be the gophs last BT BB win and how the U mens hockey team is 3rd best in the state. yer station sux now more than ever.
Click to expand...

So, they should lie instead? I don't think it is being bitter if you are saying the truth.
 

wait!what? said:
Today, i spun past 830 on the radio and shtbag Steve Thompson was saying how this may be the gophs last BT BB win and how the U mens hockey team is 3rd best in the state. yer station sux now more than ever.
Click to expand...

He's 100% right. Do you watch the hockey or ball team at all?

It's mind-blowing to me how anyone who says a negative word about a sports program from the U is automatically a horrible journalist with no credibility. You're not the only one around here.

News flash, this University has been running out nothing but garbage as far as major athletics for the past two decades, at least (outside of Hockey, if you call that major). Get a grip on reality and stop crying about the media deservedly ripping into the University's athletic programs.

Maybe it's time you get on the University's case for athletic incompetence if you're so tired of hearing about it.

Some people have standards for the public school representing our fine state athletically across the nation. If you don't hold those people getting paid to do so (Coaches, AD, etc) to any sort of standard, then why do you hold journalists getting paid to cover them to any sort of standard? At least the reporters can say that they are actually doing the job they were hired to do.
 

TheBulldog said:
He's 100% right. Do you watch the hockey or ball team at all?

It's mind-blowing to me how anyone who says a negative word about a sports program from the U is automatically a horrible journalist with no credibility. You're not the only one around here.

News flash, this University has been running out nothing but garbage as far as major athletics for the past two decades, at least (outside of Hockey, if you call that major). Get a grip on reality and stop crying about the media deservedly ripping into the University's athletic programs.

Maybe it's time you get on the University's case for athletic incompetence if you're so tired of hearing about it.

Some people have standards for the public school representing our fine state athletically across the nation. If you don't hold those people getting paid to do so (Coaches, AD, etc) to any sort of standard, then why do you hold journalists getting paid to cover them to any sort of standard? At least the reporters can say that they are actually doing the job they were hired to do.
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If you actually believe that, how about a friendly wager? I say the Gophers win at least one more Big Ten basketball game. I'll give you 5 to 1 odds, you can pick the amount, and loser donates to a charity of the winner's choice.
 

The most talented Team and the Best Playing Team are completely different things. Gopher Hockey are playing like the 4th Best 'Playing' team in Minnesota right now, but definitely they are the most talented. I'm sure the other schools and their fans would agree. Because of the tradition and pipeline of talent- every team gets 'UP' to play them.

It seemed to me like some Light bulbs turned on during the 3rd Period Saturday night vs UMD. Unfortunately, it was too late and the single shot on goal that UMD got that period went in.

That being said- The Gophers are still probably the 2nd Best 'Playing' team in the B1G . If this team finds some heart, I don't think this season is a total bust yet. They might still make some noise. Of course all of the local radio stations are ready to light themselves on fire like they do with every Minnesota team that underperforms.
 

TheBulldog said:
He's 100% right. Do you watch the hockey or ball team at all?

It's mind-blowing to me how anyone who says a negative word about a sports program from the U is automatically a horrible journalist with no credibility. You're not the only one around here.

News flash, this University has been running out nothing but garbage as far as major athletics for the past two decades, at least (outside of Hockey, if you call that major). Get a grip on reality and stop crying about the media deservedly ripping into the University's athletic programs.

Maybe it's time you get on the University's case for athletic incompetence if you're so tired of hearing about it.

Some people have standards for the public school representing our fine state athletically across the nation. If you don't hold those people getting paid to do so (Coaches, AD, etc) to any sort of standard, then why do you hold journalists getting paid to cover them to any sort of standard? At least the reporters can say that they are actually doing the job they were hired to do.
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Let's see - one statement is a prediction and the other is an opinion. I don't think we can consider either one to 100% correct (yet, in the case of the prediction). Both the men's hockey and basketball teams deserve some criticism for how they are performing, but what 'something-called' Steve Thompson said has an agenda.

I didn't listen to his remarks, but I bet he didn't dig too deep into the problems of both teams. Did he breakdown recent recruiting classes or styles of play? My guess is he just made some smart-ass remarks about the U because he thought he was being cute. I would welcome intelligent sports talk about the struggles of these two teams, but you won't find that in this market.
 

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