MEDIA COLUMN:

The Vanier Cup game was held last week featuring the Saint Mary’s Huskies and just how did the media coverage do?

Then, came the Vanier Cup.

Let’s start with the Uteck Bowl.

Kudos to Q104. They were all over this big time local event on a briskly Saturday afternoon.  I believe Q104 is a sponsor of the Huskies, regardless they deserve some kudos in being at the event, Emcing it and doing reports on location before and during the game.  And they are a MUSIC STATION!

If I were handing out medals they get the gold for the Uteck Bowl.

Silver goes to, believe it or not, Seaside fm, that somehow (thanks for cell phones) got scores on air and in the world of sport, the ‘score’ is the most important piece of information a fan wants to hear.

Bronze goes to the small info radio station 97.9 who did updates after each score.

So for the most part, two tiny weenie radio stations provided information that the big boys and their 100,000 watt signals didn’t do.

Where was News 95.7 don’t they learn?  Why they give us hour after hour, of boring NCAA news, views, previews, what coach in the Big Ten is doing that the others in the SEC aren’t.

Does News 95.7 have 10 people in their audience who really care about this NCAA stuff?

I would rather hear the great Dofsky’s ads (you know, the ones where buddy says “I pork the hole in the bag, puff it in the microwaff and ping….) then hearing about how Missouri state is going to stop the wishbone offense of Texas Christian, or is the Texas Southern or Texas A&M (Agriculture and Mayonnaise).

I’m harder on them because I expect more. They (95.7) did a good job on the recent Tropical Storm Noel but can’t find a way to get their boy, Scott (the sports guy) MacIntosh on the air during the national football semi final in this country?

As for the rest of them, well the fact is many of the stations on the weekend are on auto pilot.

I’m not so concerned about the Uteck Bowl but really cared about the Vanier Cup.

It is a big deal. It doesn’t happen every year. In fact this was the Huskies first Vanier since 2003 and only their eighth in nearly 50-years. They had a big run during the Blake Nill era but national championships don’t come easy.

The Vanier is the Grey Cup/Superbowl of college ball in this country and is geared for a market like Halifax.

But the media reviews go from good to pathetic.

First of all I don’t ever want to hear a radio station talk about their advantage of ‘immediacy”.  In fact one station (News95.7) keeps running that silly promo which states: “If you’re reading it’s history, if you’re hearing it …it’s news.”

Give it up guys, for it is the papers, both dailies that led in Vanier Cup coverage.  Monty Mosher of the Herald and Jody Jewers of the Daily News went up and covered it.  So until radio does the same, let them take a back seat to the papers guys.   In fact, if it wasn’t for the morning papers most stations would be in a panic for they just re-write (most not giving credit to the papers) what they read.

Yep, the papers paid for Monty and Jody while the electronic media with the exception of CBC TV were shut out.

And you should hear the excuses I got when I spoke to some radio bosses.

On the TV side, CBC-TV and the news with Jim Nunn wins hands down. During Vanier week they had a nice piece on back-up QB Ted Abraham, talked to his parents and his athletic director at CPA, his old high school.

Well done by Linda Kelly.

Then on the Friday of the big game, Colleen Jones spoke to SMU coach Steve Sumarah.   

But where were the other TV stations?

ATV, usually a bastion of leadership in just about everything, took a pass on this one.  One of their bigwigs (ND Jay Weatherbee) told me they normally send Paul Hollingsworth to these events but Paul was involved in his book launch in PEI.  He wrote a nice book on Brad Richards.

OK, fair enough, but they could have sent someone else and they have the money.  Why didn’t they do it?

I think ATV does a good job but they really blew this one.

And Global, well, News boss Allan Rowe said that they no longer do sports ever since they stopped their Sportsline show a year or so ago.  “We went to the last one (2003) and would have sent camera guy Ray Bradshaw to this one, if we still had the show.”

He told me that Global Toronto ‘would be covering’, what ever that means.

Bottom line for Global was it had a great chance to do something big and didn’t but that may be the reason we will be getting our Global news out of Vancouver in the future.

Other than Nunn and his show, the other TV guys dropped the ball.

But they didn’t drop it worst than the radio guys.  I’m starting to wonder, other than mindless repetition of music, what is radio good for?  I allude to the music, much music, or even ‘much more music’ stations.

Other than Seaside-FM I gave up listening to radio for music years ago. Why should I hear the same song over and over and over again when I have my own that I can play?  It seems I am not the only one with this thought.

I listen to radio for news, talk and info so my dial is constantly being switched to CBC Info morning, News 95.7 and the CJCH Rick Howe open  line show.

JC Douglas of Q told me:  “We did our part in the Uteck Bowl. We could not spare anyone to go to Toronto.”
 
Another told me “we would like to wish the Huskies the best and really support them,” How nice.

In others words we will support them as long as we don’t have to spend a bloody nickel or cent.  

That same sentiment was echoed by Allan Gydick, the operations manager of CHNS radio, known as Hal FM on your dial.  And they could use every listener they can muster. They’ve been a total disaster since they hit the airwaves in the summer of 06.

I wonder if this Gydick guy has a clue on being current, local and tied to the community.

First, he told me he was strictly a music station and that to his knowledge CHNS radio has never sent people to cover such events as music stations don’t do that.

He also told me that under the CRTC regulations he was not obligated to do so and asked if I was aware of the CRTC?  I had to hold my laughter as I have been up in front of the CRTC numerous times in getting radio licenses.  In fact I may be up to see them again, in the near future, as I am working on two radio licenses.  As yes, sports will be part of the programming.

I didn’t have the heart to tell Gydick that his news director, Mike Cranston probably sitting not that far from him, did cover the Vanier Cup for CHNS radio.  Mike Cranston was flown to Toronto years ago and took in the Vanier game when he worked for CHNS ‘Oldies 96”.  I remember driving and listening to a few of his reports from the SkyDome.

And I certainly didn’t tell Gydick that “CHNS, the station that doesn’t cover sports” sent me all over the country in the five years I worked for them and to Russia to cover the 1972 Summit Series.”

I suggest he check his facts before blowing out smoke.

News 95.7radio and the MacIntosh kid got some reports, spoke to a few players and the coach but for being the News-Sports-Talk station, I’m sorry I expected more.

Maybe not Tropical Storm Noel coverage but if they want to become part of this community it will take more than disaster coverage to get ratings and this was a gold mine. It was a national title and for all stations, there are many, thousands of former SMU alumni in the area and they may not follow the regular season but come Uteck and Atlantic Bowl they are interested. Much, like many who don’t follow the NHL until the playoffs?

And don’t give me the line that ‘it’s not in the budget’ because I will throw you one back and that is: “Go sell it.”

I can list 4-5 sponsors who were former SMU athletes, who control pursues that could have been approached.  Dugger McNeil and Fred MacGillivray come to mind right away and within a minute’s thought I could list many more.   

It’s the fact that NO station even pitches or makes the sales presentation that gets me.  With the rate cutting and lack of respect for rate cards that go on in this field, any station, especially News 957/ Hal-FM/C103.5 could have made in roads.

Heck, the Jesus Loves You station (CJLU) could have made money instead of begging for it on a seemingly daily basis.

Now, in fairness, News 95.7 covered the game with play by play but the fact is there are not that many cars on the road on a Friday night and if one is interested he/she will head for a TV set.

While News95.7 did carry the play by play from the Fan radio in Toronto they did a very poor job of telling or promoting this fact. I drove up to Halifax from the south shore on Thursday and listened to the station for hours and nary a word about the Vanier being on their airwaves.  Did Toronto forget to tell us?  Na, that couldn’t happen?

The best coverage came from CBC radio.  Info morning had several pieces on it including a great interview with starting QB Ted Abraham.  Host Don Connolly had Ted on air at 7:15 in the morning the day before the game.  That means an hour earlier in Toronto where Abraham had to leave the room, which he shared with injured MVP player Eric Glavic to speak to Connolly.  Glavic was sleeping.

Thursday afternoon on CBC Mainstreet (a program that doesn’t seem to have an identity --- are they news, entertainment, artsy-fartsy---all the above, none of the above---) CBC reporter Nina Corfu had a great piece.

She went to Saint Mary’s and spoke to kids who were heading on a bus and making the trek to the Rogers Centre, formerly known as the SkyDome. It was the best piece I heard all week. I only wished she had stayed on the bus and filed periodic reports for us who listen.  

I grew up when radio was local-immediate and the pulse of the community.

And why can’t a CBC piece be repeated. They repeat the top stories all morning so why couldn’t Corfu’s package air on Info Morning?

Yes, radio blew it, again.  This media is getting worse and worse, year in and out.  Machines and ‘much more music’ don’t cut it and haven’t in years. One of these days those in radio will get the led out of their heads and realize that they must not only talk a good game to the CRTC but mean what they say when they speak about local involvement.

The only local involvement I hear is trying to take the sponsors money.

As for radio sports, I know we have TSN, Sportsnet etc on the TV side but they deal with the Leafs, the Superbowl and the national stories.

But who talks about our Mooseheads, Wolverines, Dal Tigers and Huskies and the Vanier.  It doesn’t have to be much but the answer is radio and once in a blue moon there is a big time sports event that deserves talent and money thrown at it.

The Vanier was one of those…and other than CBC radio and TV the others blew the job.

Thank Gawd, I’m not a CRTC commission at a hearing I would have plenty of questions.

You can reach Alex J at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it