Portland's Media Cyclone -- Revisited

by Ben. on Jul 1, 2008 7:01 PM PDT

Disclosure: Blazers Edge Head Honcho Dave is a regular contributor to 95.5FM The Game's afternoon programming. I did not consult with him or discuss this column with him prior to writing it. This is particularly impressive because I consult with him on a near daily basis (well past the point of annoyance) about many topics, including, of late, my dwindling sanity.

It has been nearly 2 months since my last major post on the Portland Sports media scene, "Portland's Media Cyclone." If you missed it (or are new around these parts), here's a quick synopsis of the post's main points:

1. 95.5 The Game has launched, offering a competitor to 1080 The Fan.
2. 1080 needs to attack its new competitor while it has the chance, making clear its competitive advantages to its listeners or risk losing them.
3. The Portland Tribune has cut down to a single print issue a week and is moving its content online.
4. The Tribune needs a new website design.

Well, It's been two months and things are moving quickly. Very quickly.

Radio

Check out this insightful article from Mr. Eggers discussing the emerging battle between The Fan and The Game. While both sides start off playing nice, The Game's program director James Derby, finally, casts some stones at his competition.

"I think the city can support two" sports talk stations, he says. "That being said, we want to be the one. If the other station goes out of business, they go out of business. "We want to be the destination for the sports listener. We’re putting out a better product than The Fan, and listeners are finding that out."

Halfway through that quote I started picturing a youtube video with a skateboarder (like this one). There goes The Fan, slowing meandering down the road and then, when you reach the part where Derby goes "If the other station goes out of business," it loses its balance, starts wobbling and then, in unviewable horror, genatilia is being sacrificed to the concrete.

What a bloodbath. I applaud and admire Mr. Derby's confident (cocky?) stance. Reminds me a little bit of... Jerryd Bayless. But that's one of the perks when you are the better-funded, better-connected (Blazers, Ducks, etc.) station with a better signal and, it would appear, a better finger on the pulse of the market (ie. no Mariners). You get to pop off quotes about your competitor going out of business and sound reasonable doing so.

As for The Fan, it remains unclear exactly what their gameplan is. On the airwaves their new tagline (I'm paraphrasing) "Independent Sports Radio... with ESPN" is so contradictory that it's not worth analyzing. In the article, Erin Hubert, Entercom Radio's Portland VP, leads with the (legit) record ratings drawn by Isaac and Big Suke. Suke himself states,

"Our (Arbitron) numbers are better than anybody who’s ever been at this station," Scukanec says. "It’s not even close. I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve done. We’ve all built this thing. It’s not just me and Isaac. Over the last five years, I feel like all of us have built it from a little engine that could to the No. 2 station for men, period, in Portland (behind KGON). We beat everyone in our demographics. We work hard and do a good show."

And that may be true. But 3 hours of drive time radio doesn't make a radio station, at least not when you are competing heads up in a relatively small market against an opponent like 95.5. Unless the game plan is to attach radio transponders to Isaac and Big Suke and turn the station into an all-day Truman Show style marathon (note: please do not do this). Again, The Fan seems devoid of strategic solutions and, worse, comes across like it has lost the urge to put up a fight.

Worse yet, while the Arbitron numbers are not yet in, a rough estimate of the two stations' website traffic already shows The Game is pulling equal numbers to The Fan, in its first month of existence no less. (If anyone has more exact numbers, please pass them along.) Word of mouth, and common sense, would indicate that the forthcoming arbitron numbers should show similar results.

What does that mean? Without a big lead in the afternoon subsidizing its Arbitron ratings (a paltry 1.7 overall in Winter 2008, according to arbitron.com), The Fan is going to be seriously hurting once the fall and winter sports seasons come along and listerners flock to The Game for the Blazers/Ducks/etc..

To make a long story short: there might not be too many more of these updates to pass along in the future.

Postscript: Ironically, the downfall of The Fan might not actually have much to do with The Game at all. Don't believe me? Check out the last few years of Entercom's stock price; you could (quite easily) skateboard down it. Trading at roughly 30 as recently as Q1 2007, it now hovers like a dead butterfly at less than 7. Say goodnight.

Internet

Quick quiz: from where did I pull the article discussed above? That's right, Portland Tribune dot com. Although my last post on sports media urged (demanded?) the Tribune to overhaul their website, I am now ready to backtrack from that slighly.

Why, you ask? Because of the abundance of new content they are hoisting up every day. When announcing that it was dropping to 1 print issue a week, the Tribune promised to step its web content game up, and it has in a big time way. And they've got a steep traffic bump to show for it! Congratulations to the Trib are in order.

One last note... I hinted in my previous post that the Portland Mercury would be breaking out a new website design. They just did this week. I like it. Go take a look. And while we are on the topic of the Mercury, Ezra Caraeff dug up the audio of a Damon Stoudamire/Bonzi Wellls rap called Can I Get A Headband.

That song alone is enough to put a radio station out of business.

-- Ben (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com)

0 recs | Comment 31 comments

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Comments

1080

I think it says a lot about the station that EVERY time I call in, I get through in a matter of minutes.

Maybe they like me.. But I think it’s something else. Meanwhile, I’ve yet to get through on 95.5

Trail Blazers are really cool

by Outlaw is Rejector on Jul 1, 2008 7:22 PM PDT 0 recs

BTW

Won another shirt today in the Players Quiz, this time getting Kevin Garnett.

Trail Blazers are really cool

by Outlaw is Rejector on Jul 1, 2008 7:23 PM PDT up 0 recs

LOL

dude you have a full wardrobe at this point.

"Honor Terry Porter." Email me with your TP stories and memories.

by Ben. on Jul 1, 2008 7:25 PM PDT up 0 recs

The tipping point for me...

was a couple of things at 1080.

1) An OSU caller confronted Suke and Ropp about attendance # that they had put out there as fact. He had the factual # and was made fun of and then hung up on. That really put me off. All they would have to do is say, “we stand corrected.” Then they could go on with their points.

2) But this one did it for me. I switched with no alternative after a confrontation with Canzano and Suke.

Canzano was sitting in and Ropp wasn’t there.
The topic of OSU baseball came up. (I’m not an OSU homer.) Canzano debated that OSU baseball was interesting to the Portland market. Suke disagreed. (This happened in between National titles.) At the time it looked like OSU wouldn’t even get invited to defend the first title. Suke claimed that if he brought up OSU baseball that everyone out there would fall asleep. Canzano told him that he was underestimating the market.
Suke then informed Canzano in so many words that 1080 decides what is interesting to this area. That was very arrogant. Canzano shot back that 1080 needed some competition.

I think that if Ropp would have been there that this wouldn’t have gotten to that point. But this was how I remember it.

On another note, it drives me crazy that 1080 felt it was beneath them to even mention the Lacrosse team scores. I’m no lacrosse fan, but I’d like to at least hear the scores. If Portland has a team in any sport, I’d like to at least hear something about it every once in a while.

But 1080, fear not. You still have time to bring me back. But you need to change some things. The comcast replay is the only time I see and hear you though. I sometimes have it on as I do house chores in the evening.

It’s funny that this was posted. I was considering a OT fanpost about how 1080 could compete with 95.5. They are certainly hamstrung by the poor Mariners’ season. I would love to have two radio stations compete for my ear.

by parkinglotj on Jul 1, 2008 7:57 PM PDT 0 recs

The Game is the bomb

I was driving down to Portland from Seattle about a month ago, and was feeling a little gansta, so I switched over 95.5, expecting some sweet tunes.

“what is this….the game?”

The host starting talking about how fans will react the first time Oden dunks over K*be.

I was hooked.

20 minutes later I was online making sure I could get 95.5 online in Seattle.

Converting Sonics Fans...One Bitter Fan At A Time.

by S-dog on Jul 1, 2008 8:12 PM PDT 0 recs

I NEED A SOCK FOR MY ROCK!!

Dammit ! (in Eddie Murphy’s Gumbi Voice)

"Some of Dave’s greatest gifts are unanswered posts."

by 92wastheyear on Jul 1, 2008 8:31 PM PDT 0 recs

I've switched

Long, LONG time FAN fanatic- back to early days of Mike Parker and Dream Weaver. Best interview I ever heard was Dream interviewing Mickey Mantle spin stories about getting drunk with Billy Martin somewhere with a mule or something. Lots of format changes and personalities- some good, some not so good. I was happy when the finally dumped Rome- his schtick is so old and lame. I didn’t like it when the dumped Gavin and Saturday morning shows. I like Issac, but big suke comes across as a condescending a-hole. Once I got on the Game- Game over- except for Rome. I do wish they would quit slamming down the FAN on air, most of their group has roots there, KV, Gavin, Canzano- very low class. Win the listeners with your content and production.

by blaze jose' on Jul 1, 2008 8:57 PM PDT 0 recs

Ever watch the Big Suk on TV

He always looks PO’d ….even when he is talking about puppies and little kids. His face is all squinched like a mean Nun with a ruler behind her back

"Some of Dave’s greatest gifts are unanswered posts."

by 92wastheyear on Jul 1, 2008 9:27 PM PDT up 0 recs

Great story

Martin popped a farmer’s mule because Mantle told him it was a deer

by two4larue on Jul 2, 2008 10:44 AM PDT up 0 recs

The only time I listen to the Game...

...is when the Mariners are on the Fan. Canzano should stick to writing sports columns and Dawson gets annoying with being a constant homer and taking potshots at the Fan. The Fan’s morning line up doesn’t include Rome which is great too.

The point about the Fan being independent is valid. Considering that the ownership group that owns the only professional sports franchise in Portland also owns the radio station that covers them… yeah, they may be a bit biased.

by thelance on Jul 1, 2008 9:35 PM PDT 0 recs

Gavin Dawson really needs to knock it off with the potshots at the Fan… it is low class, nobody cares what happened to you behind the scenes when you were there, and you are only burning bridges which you might need to use someday. Other than that, I like his show.

I wish the entire Portland area would boycott Canzano’s show so that he would get yanked off the air. He lied and distorted things in the past that made me not trust him. Then when he had the nerve to cut off and hang up on the MLS commissioner, I was completely done with him (and I’m not a huge MLS fan, I just thought it was beyond low class).

Cowherd’s act has gotten a little stale with me so I usually listen to Kenny & Katy in the morning. I liked Kenny before when he was on the Fan so it was good to have him back, although he should leave the sexist stuff to the other stations. Katy has actually impressed me so far even though her takes can be weak from time to time.

The game should fire Canzano and hire Isaac to take his spot. Or better yet, bring back Mike Parker, although he’s a little too smart for radio nowadays.

MLB2PDX!!! (someday...)

by The Cactus Leaguer on Jul 1, 2008 9:57 PM PDT 0 recs

Agree mostly

Gavin is great - I understand that he would be bitter, but I think he should stop the 1080 bashing.

I love Cowherd, but his show has changed since he went Naional. I listen at 7:20 for spanning the globe, but turn it back to Kenny and Katy after that. Katy is fantastic.

I must disagree about Canzano. I like the pairing of him and Gavin. I don’t always agree with him, but I tend to like him.

But I tune in to listen to Gavin. His one hour is too short.

by parkinglotj on Jul 1, 2008 10:47 PM PDT up 0 recs

I can’t agree more about Gavin Dawson. I like his show but his constant shots at the opposition come off as childish and petty. Just stick to the topic Gavin!

I also mostly agree about Canzano. He doesn’t have a very good personality for the radio. Say what you want about his opintions (I personally think he doesn’t believe half the stuff he writes, he just does it to stir the pot) but at least his columns have passion behind them. That same passion doesn’t really translate over to the radio. Isaac and Suke can be hit and miss, but I think they do make for better radio

by BGPhillips on Jul 2, 2008 11:00 AM PDT up 0 recs

quoting Eggers from the PT?

“the daily newspaper on the web”. At this point, I think I need to re-read “1984”.

And Kerry needs to start his own blog.

by truk on Jul 1, 2008 9:59 PM PDT 0 recs

The Game won me over

I prefer the game over the Fan. I love big suke and Isaac but most of the time they tend to get off topic and sometimes I feel like Isaac does know what he is talking about. What I like mostly about the Game is that they discuss local topics. I turn to the fan in the morning and they are talking about National sports when all I want to here is Blazers fans’ reaction to the draft.

If the Fan wants to be successful in the fall, they might want to work out contracts with OSU for football. Saturday’s with ESPN is OK, but I would much rather hear the Beavers. Plus KPAM sucks. It;s not even a sports channel!!

by andlov on Jul 1, 2008 10:55 PM PDT 0 recs

I'm still shocked

I’m still shocked that such a savvy PC and Internet guy as Paul Allen, has not put his funds and mind behind 95.5’s website. The Blazers one is brilliant, and it is so far ahead of any NBA related website out there that it confuses me to no end that the 95.5 website is such, to put it mildly, utter trash.

With that in mind, 1080TheFan’s website is nothing better, and probably worse.

Both feature shoddy design, crappy streaming technologies of their live feed, lack content, and are disorganized at best.

If PA wants to put his foot down the throat of 1080TheFan, then he needs to get his on-air personalities to keep a daily blog, provide real content [sorry, but please no mediocre wallpapers of mediocre fan girls] that is exclusive to 95.5 and differs from what we hear on-air someway, and whatever else that big brain of his can come up with.

Make your listeners want to get online for one reason or another.

ROTUNDITYDOTNET

by damir on Jul 1, 2008 11:35 PM PDT 0 recs

Terrible streaming

Of the 20-25 times I’ve tried to listen to the Fan’s streaming feed and 5-10 I’ve tried the Game, I’ve only been able to get anything from each of them once! I tried it on 4 different browsers as well as popping the stream URL into iTunes. Nothing!

Oregon is bigger than Portland, but much of the local geography makes radio broadcasts much shorter distances than they could be. Down here in Corvallis, we don’t get any of the PDX sports radio stations, which is a bummer, but even worse because their feeds suck.

More content on their site would be nice I guess, but really they need to fix their feeds. Put a giant link to it that shows up on every single page, no matter where you navigate. They’re radio stations, their radio content should be forefront and easily accessible (even if it’s played through a computer, not a radio).

by Diesel10 on Jul 2, 2008 1:44 AM PDT up 0 recs

No problems here

I have streamed both sites on many different computers, however they were all using some version of Internet explorer.

by usmcr3049 on Jul 2, 2008 8:12 AM PDT up 0 recs

I got nothing to add

I just like to comment in Ben’s posts.
I only listen to podcasts, don’t have a radio in my car, and don’t care for 98% of the Portland media. For such a swell city, all the sports people see to be Peter Vecsey clones.

"Man I want to rec it again." - pualo talking about jscot's long comment

by tominhawaii on Jul 2, 2008 4:29 AM PDT 0 recs

LOL

so who is the 2% you like?

"Honor Terry Porter." Email me with your TP stories and memories.

by Ben. on Jul 2, 2008 8:33 AM PDT up 0 recs

Just the bloggers, Quick and his life partner

You should listen to the latest BS Report and you’ll get my drift. It’s actually pretty interesting even though Vecsey makes it sound like he invented basketball. When he’s talking about the NBA, it’s really interesting, and when he’s talking about himself, not so much.

"Man I want to rec it again." - pualo talking about jscot's long comment

by tominhawaii on Jul 2, 2008 9:57 AM PDT up 0 recs

Personally,

I can’t stand Rome. The guy strikes me as a political talk show reject who turned to sports to get a paycheck. It’ll be nice to get Blazers games on FM because I ride public transit, which tends to block AM radio too effectively.

"Every time I see Stern in public now, I kept expecting him to point up to a helicopter hovering above, like Sosa did to impress Tony in "Scarface," followed by the sight of a beaten-up Tim Donaghy being pushed out of the 'copter in midair," Bill Simmons, ESPN Draft Diary 2008

by Anthony Stine on Jul 2, 2008 7:04 AM PDT 0 recs

Rome is definately a little shtick based, but I like Rome. It’s his callers make that show un-listen-able for me. Either they call in trying (and failing) to sound like him or they try way to hard to be funny. Dan Patrick was a major upgrade for the Fan.

by BGPhillips on Jul 2, 2008 11:07 AM PDT up 0 recs

My Extended Take

Ben, I’m glad you posted this..been wondering when I’d see something about The Game versus The Fan.

I’m a Duck (don’t hate), and like parkinglot’s take way above, I was shocked when Suke said OSU baseball wasn’t newsworthy..I enjoy hearing about OSU baseball. That also, to me, was the point where I was convinced Big Suke and 1080 where wayy off base (pun intended). Big Suke is either really stupid (didn’t he also argue against picking LMA? I know he really wanted us to take Ammo in the draft), or he makes up radical opinions just to create controversy. Anyway, he’s so ‘out there’ that I stopped listening even before the The Game came to town.

I like listening to Isaac, but, like I’ve posted elsewhere, I’m no fan of Big Suke (or Big Suck as I call him). I’d like to see Isaac on The Game.

With The Game, I too like Kenny and Katy in the morning. I like the fact that Kenny seems kinda amateurish as a radio host; meaning not polished…that makes if more fun to listen to. I get tired of too much football talk, which is why Colin Cowherd was off my dial soon after his national show started.

I’m not a huge fan of Canzano, if I listen it’s usually due to the guests he has on. I think his chemistry with the People’s Champ is better than when he hosts alone, he seems lost without Gavin anchoring him.

Speaking of Gavin Dawson, I’d like to see him host one long drive time local show, say from 4-7..rather than having just a one hour Overtime, and the Canzano show before that.

My biggest critique might be the most controversial. I LOVE Blazer talk..but each show seems to re-hash the same question ad nauseum. One day it’s “Who is Portland’s future point guard?”...I know it’s the off-season, therefore slim pickens in the Blazer topic’s dept, but I’d like to see some more creativity in the Blazer topics. I used to work in radio (granted, it was non-commercial) so I know it can be hard to program a show sometimes, but come on! Otherwise the same topics get tiresome.

by SloppyJoe on Jul 2, 2008 8:29 AM PDT 0 recs

As I recall

Big Suke wanted the Blazers to draft Brandon Roy and it was Canzano and Gavin that wanted to ‘Draft the Stache’ (remember that?) I rememer it so well because I was scared to death the Blazers would actually draft Morrison (I wanted LMA personally.) How anyone ever thought Adam Morrison would be a good NBA player is beyond me. There are plenty of reasons to think that Big Suke is an idiot, but wanting to draft that cryer shouldn’t be one of them.

by HeadBandWagon on Jul 2, 2008 10:57 AM PDT up 0 recs

My Imperfect Recollection

I think you’re right about Big Suke (it’s hard for me to admit him making the right call on something), but wasn’t Ian Furness the other big “Draft the ‘Stache’ guy on 1080? I never liked him..Isaac Ropp is a big improvement.

by SloppyJoe on Jul 2, 2008 11:12 AM PDT up 0 recs

My nickname for Colin

is “College football” Cowherd

by two4larue on Jul 2, 2008 11:29 AM PDT up 0 recs

Website hits

I can easily get a podcast of a 4pm interview by Canzano at 955.com when I get home at 5:30

I can’t get archived podcasts of 1080 interviews from 2-3 days in the past

This pretty much sums it up

by two4larue on Jul 2, 2008 10:23 AM PDT 0 recs

I dont hear either

But sadly in LA they do carry the Colin Cowherd show. He is possibly the worst sports talk show host ever. I cant freaking stand him. He never has a good idea, he is beyond full of himself (remember when he used to call himself like Portlands Star Sports Personality or something of the like) and he NEVER is right. EVER. EVER. He is worse than Jim Rome (yeah you heard me.. believe it)
Also we get the Dan Patrick show from 7 – 10 AM here. Its lovely, and its the only sports I will listen to in the morning.
While Canzano is a tool and you guys have SOME homers, you have no idea what we are put through. If you ever wanna feel better about your radio hosts, go listen to the Loose Cannons in LA with Mychal Thompson and Vic The Brick. You will throwup in your mouth..

I have yet to hear the Game (havent been home since it changed) but I would just switch back and forth.
AM- Whichever station Dbag Coward isnt on
MidDay- Dan Patrick
Evening- Anyone but the two guys on the Fan who TRY so hard to be funny…

I remember the good old days. The Rasta Monsta days.

by GreatOden'sRaven on Jul 2, 2008 2:53 PM PDT 0 recs