Local Sports Radio

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Here is a non-draft thread to chat about anything else...

 

As many now, I spent the last 20 years in Portland without a local NFL team.  In some respect that was a blessing, because the local sports stations when not covering the Ducks or Blazers, talked about all the NFL teams.  Portland has a love hate relationship with Seattle so the Mariners and Seahawks don't get preferential treatment there. They routinely had interviews with local media from all the markets especially if there was a big matchup ahead.  

Now that I am here in Cleveland it is awful.  Even when the Guardians and Cavs are winning, all they talk about is Browns football.  I assumed homer coverage but didn't think it would be this bad.  They don't even do simple segments like around the NFL or top 5 stories of the day. When the Sunday Ticket YouTube thing was announced last week, the local radio hosts were stunned anyone would want to buy it because they can see all the Browns games for free. Several callers actually called in and said, hey you know there are lots of people in Cleveland that are fans from other teams.  Yet virtually no other NFL coverage.

I've not listened to local Buffalo radio since 1988.  I'm wondering what it is like in Buffalo.  And for others on this board that live outside of WNY, what is your experience like?

[TheyCallMeAndy]

I’m in Syracuse, I tend to listen to Podcasts. 

[BarleyNY]

I was born and raised in Cleveland. I lived most of my life there. They are a football town through and through. NFL, college and high school. No other sport is close. Growing up my Fall weekend sometimes consisted of going to a good HS football match up on Friday, watching the Buckeyes and other college games on Saturday and then the Browns and NFL games on Sunday. Note that I often had no connection to either school team. But I knew I’d see a bunch of future D-1 players and probably an NFL player or two.

 

Some Cleveland recommendations:

- West Side Market. TaKe some time on a Saturday morning to do your grocery shopping there. Dozens of local vendors selling produce, meats and any number of fresh, handmade foods. Literally one of my favorite places anywhere. Grab a gyro from Steve’s Gyros while you’re there. They’re great. 

- Get to the Cleveland Museum of Art. It’s a much nicer museum than most cities have. Lots of Asian stuff, particularly from Japan. They had a curator in the WW2 era that worked to preserve a lot of art in Japan. After the war they thanked him by gifting the museum a lot of artwork. 

- Go to see the Cleveland Orchestra. Even if you’re not a classical music fan go see them at Blossom. If you have kids take them to a family friendly show. A couple times a summer they’ll show movies with the score dropped and play it all live. Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc. Pack a big picnic and get there hours before the show starts to sit in the sun and eat and drink. BTW, bringing your own alcohol is permitted for those shows. They usually have a small fireworks show after. Great date, great with friends and great for families. Lawn seats are inexpensive and kids are always free. 

Edited April 24, 2023 by BarleyNY

[DrDawkinstein]

41 minutes ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Here is a non-draft thread to chat about anything else...

 

As many now, I spent the last 20 years in Portland without a local NFL team.  In some respect that was a blessing, because the local sports stations when not covering the Ducks or Blazers, talked about all the NFL teams.  Portland has a love hate relationship with Seattle so the Mariners and Seahawks don't get preferential treatment there. They routinely had interviews with local media from all the markets especially if there was a big matchup ahead.  

Now that I am here in Cleveland it is awful.  Even when the Guardians and Cavs are winning, all they talk about is Browns football.  I assumed homer coverage but didn't think it would be this bad.  They don't even do simple segments like around the NFL or top 5 stories of the day. When the Sunday Ticket YouTube thing was announced last week, the local radio hosts were stunned anyone would want to buy it because they can see all the Browns games for free. Several callers actually called in and said, hey you know there are lots of people in Cleveland that are fans from other teams.  Yet virtually no other NFL coverage.

I've not listened to local Buffalo radio since 1988.  I'm wondering what it is like in Buffalo.  And for others on this board that live outside of WNY, what is your experience like?

 

WGR talks about Bills, Sabres, Fantasy Football, Gambling, and then anything else. They do not do "news around the league" unless its big news (like Rodgers to the Jets, and even then it's barely covered).

 

Here in Atlanta its similar. But college sports dominate with UGA (and GATech, Ga State, etc), so you get some coverage of other college football teams, but only as it pertains to how it affects Georgia. Then it's Braves, United, Hawks, Falcons (almost in that order). Not a lot of talk outside of the local teams.

 

That is pretty standard. It's all homer coverage in every city because most folks just want to hear about their hometown teams. And Atlanta is a VERY transient city with a lot of other allegiances.

 

I do highly recommend that all local-Buffalo people get a taste of sports media outside of Buffalo. So they can hear that fans all over the country have the same concerns we do, also think their OL is horrible, etc. It was definitely an eye-opening experience that helped change my perspective on the following the team.

[uticaclub]

You should expect nothing but Browns coverage in Cleveland and Bills coverage in Buffalo. They are plenty of other outlets that have national coverage. A quick recap of the league is fine but when i tune into WGR (from the west coast) I want nothing but Bills and Sabres news

[Ethan in Cleveland]

1 hour ago, BarleyNY said:

I was born and raised in Cleveland. I lived most of my life there. They are a football town through and through. NFL, college and high school. No other sport is close. Growing up my Fall weekend sometimes consisted of going to a good HS football match up on Friday, watching the Buckeyes and other college games on Saturday and then the Browns and NFL games on Sunday. Note that I often had no connection to either school team. But I knew I’d see a bunch of future D-1 players and probably an NFL player or two.

 

Some Cleveland recommendations:

- West Side Market. TaKe some time on a Saturday morning to do your grocery shopping there. Dozens of local vendors selling produce, meats and any number of fresh, handmade foods. Literally one of my favorite places anywhere. Grab a gyro from Steve’s Gyros while you’re there. They’re great. 

- Get to the Cleveland Museum of Art. It’s a much nicer museum than most cities have. Lots of Asian stuff, particularly from Japan. They had a curator in the WW2 era that worked to preserve a lot of art in Japan. After the war they thanked him by gifting the museum a lot of artwork. 

- Go to see the Cleveland Orchestra. Even if you’re not a classical music fan go see them at Blossom. If you have kids take them to a family friendly show. A couple times a summer they’ll show movies with the score dropped and play it all live. Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc. Pack a big picnic and get there hours before the show starts to sit in the sun and eat and drink. BTW, bringing your own alcohol is permitted for those shows. They usually have a small fireworks show after. Great date, great with friends and great for families. Lawn seats are inexpensive and kids are always free. 

All great suggestions !

Art museum is world class and I've been multiple times already.  They have a couple of amazing Renoir pieces in their regular collection.

Same thing with the Orchestra. Truly world class

 

West Side Market was a bit of a disappointment but went in Oct. Hopefully wi;l be better this summer

[SoCal Deek]

It could be worse. You could in Los Angeles where all you get is 24/7 of these idiots debating who’s better….Kobe, Michael, Magic, etc. UGH!!!

[Johnnycage46]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

WGR talks about Bills, Sabres, Fantasy Football, Gambling, and then anything else. They do not do "news around the league" unless its big news (like Rodgers to the Jets, and even then it's barely covered).

 

Here in Atlanta its similar. But college sports dominate with UGA (and GATech, Ga State, etc), so you get some coverage of other college football teams, but only as it pertains to how it affects Georgia. Then it's Braves, United, Hawks, Falcons (almost in that order). Not a lot of talk outside of the local teams.

 

That is pretty standard. It's all homer coverage in every city because most folks just want to hear about their hometown teams. And Atlanta is a VERY transient city with a lot of other allegiances.

 

I do highly recommend that all local-Buffalo people get a taste of sports media outside of Buffalo. So they can hear that fans all over the country have the same concerns we do, also think their OL is horrible, etc. It was definitely an eye-opening experience that helped change my perspective on the following the team.

 

I would even say the afternoon show tends toward gambling first (Schopp might have a gambling problem) and hockey (both Schopp and Bulldog appear to bigger hockey fans than football fans (not to say they are NOT football/Bills fan))

[DrDawkinstein]

8 minutes ago, Johnnycage46 said:

 

I would even say the afternoon show tends toward gambling first (Schopp might have a gambling problem) and hockey (both Schopp and Bulldog appear to bigger hockey fans than football fans (not to say they are NOT football/Bills fan))

 

You aint wrong. They love gambling (and are paid well to talk about it by sponsors like FanDuel and DraftKings). And they love hockey, which is a product of the Bills pulling coverage a long time ago and giving the game broadcasts to 97Rock for a while. WGR stopped covering football for a while out of pettiness and spite, and was pretty much a hockey station (luckily for them that coincided with the Sabres being good in the 00s). On top of their own preference for the sport. They're still struggling with properly covering football even all these years later. Luckily the morning and daytime shows werent around for that, and have pretty decent football coverage.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by DrDawkinstein

[Dan Darragh]

What do you expect from a city that gave up their glorious baseball history by changing the name of the Indians and couldn't support a hockey team?

[Don Otreply]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

WGR talks about Bills, Sabres, Fantasy Football, Gambling, and then anything else. They do not do "news around the league" unless its big news (like Rodgers to the Jets, and even then it's barely covered).

 

Here in Atlanta its similar. But college sports dominate with UGA (and GATech, Ga State, etc), so you get some coverage of other college football teams, but only as it pertains to how it affects Georgia. Then it's Braves, United, Hawks, Falcons (almost in that order). Not a lot of talk outside of the local teams.

 

That is pretty standard. It's all homer coverage in every city because most folks just want to hear about their hometown teams. And Atlanta is a VERY transient city with a lot of other allegiances.

 

I do highly recommend that all local-Buffalo people get a taste of sports media outside of Buffalo. So they can hear that fans all over the country have the same concerns we do, also think their OL is horrible, etc. It was definitely an eye-opening experience that helped change my perspective on the following the team.

Quite true, and those O-lines, they are pretty much terrible over most of the league, and has been this way for a long time. There seems to be a dearth talent coming out of the college ranks for decade plus, seems like there is not much importance placed on developing O-line guys in the minor leagues…,

[LittleSammy]

Here in Detroit the local sports talk station "97.1 - The Ticket" is owned by the same company that owns WGR. The on-air personalities are worlds better than at WGR. But. in fairness to WGR, here we have the Lions. Wings, Tigers and Pistons to digest in addition to UM and MSU. College fb and bb are big here. Tough to fill time with just Bills and Sabres talk.

[Donuts and Doritos]

4 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Here is a non-draft thread to chat about anything else...

 

As many now, I spent the last 20 years in Portland without a local NFL team.  In some respect that was a blessing, because the local sports stations when not covering the Ducks or Blazers, talked about all the NFL teams.  Portland has a love hate relationship with Seattle so the Mariners and Seahawks don't get preferential treatment there. They routinely had interviews with local media from all the markets especially if there was a big matchup ahead.  

Now that I am here in Cleveland it is awful.  Even when the Guardians and Cavs are winning, all they talk about is Browns football.  I assumed homer coverage but didn't think it would be this bad.  They don't even do simple segments like around the NFL or top 5 stories of the day. When the Sunday Ticket YouTube thing was announced last week, the local radio hosts were stunned anyone would want to buy it because they can see all the Browns games for free. Several callers actually called in and said, hey you know there are lots of people in Cleveland that are fans from other teams.  Yet virtually no other NFL coverage.

I've not listened to local Buffalo radio since 1988.  I'm wondering what it is like in Buffalo.  And for others on this board that live outside of WNY, what is your experience like?

 

You can listen to WGR & really any station these days online to see what you think for yourself. WGR uses Audacy. I like their morning show w/ Jeremy White. Obviously there's also really good podcasts on YouTube out there too.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

2 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

It could be worse. You could in Los Angeles where all you get is 24/7 of these idiots debating who’s better….Kobe, Michael, Magic, etc. UGH!!!

Oh that would be awful.

[elijah]

WGR is garbage imo 

 

Jeremy was much better before being teamed up with Joe 

 

Sal is terrific but can be a bit condescending without ever realizing and catching himself

 

Chris Brown I thought was one of the best talents before becoming full time and I had consistently wished for him to be full time, and be careful what you wish for I suppose

 

Steve Tasker doesn’t belong anywhere that he needs to use his words

 

Bulldog is meh. Not necessarily bad but definitely doesn’t offer much value. 

 

I used to HATE Schopp and thought he was insufferable with constant pessimism, but since the Bills have became a good team I think he’s a legitimate talent and honestly the best person on WGR. The whole gambling talk is annoying, in regards of people complaining. It’s the way sports are trending, and honestly gambling in general is a very strong look at what consensus on sports are. Betting odds tell a lot of a story. 

 

TL;DR, Despite all having their downfalls, Jeremy, Sal & Schopp aren’t terrible. They’re actually pretty good. The rest of WGR, especially Joe DiBiase and Nate Geary are blah. Nothing against these guys personally, just always been a pet peeve of mine. The greater population of Buffalo looks to this station for their sports talk and you just can’t often tune in and hear anything knowledgeable or any sort of valuable insight. They’re all better fit for podcasts imo, it’s annoying to me that a radio station doesn’t employ better quality talents. 

[DrDawkinstein]

54 minutes ago, elijah said:

TL;DR, Despite all having their downfalls, Jeremy, Sal & Schopp aren’t terrible. They’re actually pretty good. The rest of WGR, especially Joe DiBiase and Nate Geary are blah. Nothing against these guys personally, just always been a pet peeve of mine. The greater population of Buffalo looks to this station for their sports talk and you just can’t often tune in and hear anything knowledgeable or any sort of valuable insight. They’re all better fit for podcasts imo, it’s annoying to me that a radio station doesn’t employ better quality talents. 

 

Agreed on most of this. I dont find Sal that condescending as much as I sympathize that he has to deal with WGR Callers for a living, and they deserve whatever they get from the hosts.

 

I'll give Joe and Nate some wiggle room. They are both VERY young, and new in their broadcast careers, so a lot of growing and improving left. I think we'll see them become pretty decent over the years.

[flaz]

I highly recommend giving ESPN Soutwest Florida a try. The app is easy to navigate and there is a good deal of written content as well. 2-6 is Sheeman and Shepard, it's must listen entertainment sports radio. They cover the gambit, from college to pro. The hosts are older, seasoned vets and the producer (30) brings a younger perspective. 

 

They do national interviews and the hosts are from other parts of the country so there isn't just one sport or region that gets the bulk of attention. They encourage listener participation and every texter and caller get a name. Harry Caray is a Bills Fan and appointment radio at 5:30 on Fridays. 

 

I've listened to sports talk across the country and I think this show takes the cake. Since this area is a melting pot there is no regional bias. 

Edited April 24, 2023 by flaz