Dave Smith out at THE GAME (Updated)
by remember-robert-pack? on Jan 10, 2012 5:06 PM PST
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UPDATE From Pamplin's "The Outlook"-
"Big changes at KXTG "The Game" (750 AM): Midday host Dave Smith is out, and program director Brian Jennings has been moved to a position as senior advisor. "Just decided to move in a different direction," says Bob Proffitt, president and CEO of Alpha Broadcasting. Smith lasted only six months, hardly long enough to bill himself as "The Hawk."
Bernard Bokenyi will fill his noon-to-3 p.m. slot on an interim basis and Chad "The Body" Doing will take over Smith’s duties as host of the "Fifth Quarter" Trail Blazers post-game program. Proffitt says it is "to be determined" what will be done with the noon-to-3 p.m. slot, adding he is leaning toward procuring a local host but that using a national show is possible. "It depends," Proffitt says. "We’re looking at a bunch of options." Scott Mahalick — who had served as program director at several Alpha-owned stations in the Portland area — has been promoted to program direction of all stations and will assume Jennings’ role at "The Game.""
On Today's Bald Faced Truth, John Canzano announced that Dave Smith is gone.
"Big things" will be happening, and Dave Smith show is no longer. He "went back to LA".
On Twitter, Dave's producer/co-host Aaron Barret said,
"I Wish the absolute best to @davesportsgod. Super talented, genuinely nice, real pro. Most fun I've had in radio was working with him. Easy."
He also Tweeted,
"All I will say is that he's no longer with the station."
The Game's website now shows Bernard Bokenyi as the host from 12-3PM.
Dave Smith joined 750 AM the Game in June. At the time he said,
"I am very excited to bring DAVE SMITH to the PACIFIC NORTHWEST," said ALPHA Dir./Talk Programming BRIAN JENNINGS. "In addition to his great sports background at major local stations in L.A., he hosted a national show for SPORTING NEWS. DAVE is a huge NBA and PAC-12 fan and will be a terrific addition to our local sports commitment. He will also play a role in our 'Game Day, All Day' OREGON Football broadcasts this fall and will host the 5th quarter following each BLAZER game."
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I tried to listen to The Game the other day on my portable radio.
For about 20 seconds, I could hear Chad and some other station at the same time, then I got too close to a power line and all I could hear was a hissing sound. It’s not even worth trying now that they’re on AM.
by IsWesleyMatthewsForReal? on Jan 10, 2012 5:16 PM PST reply actions 2 recs
'The Game' has been circling the drain for well over a year, now.
It all started shortly before Tone and the Godfather left the MSP. You could see it coming, and within months, Wheels and Kenny Vance left also. Boom. Instant death blow. I suspect they all were aware that the lease would not be renewed for 95.5 and chose to leave sooner rather than die slowly.
Chad is the only real talent that I am aware of who still works at The Game. Cantzano has overstayed his welcome by about 2 years — everybody knows he is a self-important drama queen, who makes up stories and sources.
Sooner or later, The Game will finally die and something better will fill the void.
by manfredi on Jan 11, 2012 12:17 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs
THANK GOODNESS
I didn’t think I could dislike a radio host more than Canzano, but Dave Smith was horrible.
Clearly didn’t have knowledge of Portland and Oregon sports and its culture. Everything seemed forced from him, and his interviewing skills were subpar.
Bokenyi is a pretty bad replacement though, don’t care for him either. Bring back John Lund!!!
by Blazas! on Jan 10, 2012 5:30 PM PST reply actions 3 recs
bring back "Wheels at Work"
or Kenny Vance
by Blazer_Duck on Jan 10, 2012 10:41 PM PST up reply actions 4 recs
John Lund has a much better gig now. He won't be back.
by 52therim on Jan 11, 2012 1:10 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
Thank god.
#52--------I believe in Greg Oden
by annthefan on Jan 11, 2012 1:27 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Bernie is the same guy that produced for 1080 for a little bit right?
"If I had a dime for every basket I made today, you'd still suck!" - from the book 'John Dies @ the End'
Good
The dude was incredibly annoying. 750 is decent in the morning, but unbearable after noon with the smith/canzano tandem. I also had trouble with the “home of the ducks” as a beaver fan. Seems odd to only cover one team, despite the ducks recent success.
by s0iled on Jan 10, 2012 5:48 PM PST reply actions 2 recs
they're the home of the Ducks because they can't broadcast both.
A lot of times those teams are playing at the same time, so it makes it hard to be the home of 2 local sports teams. How would they choose which one gets priority? This way they just have a commitment to one team.
by Blazer_Duck on Jan 10, 2012 10:42 PM PST up reply actions
and the Beavers have no home
"If I had a dime for every basket I made today, you'd still suck!" - from the book 'John Dies @ the End'
well, they have a radio home
they certainly don’t have any television network on the level of Comcast dedicated to them. Even FSN/Root is as much about the Huskies, Cougs, and Ducks as it is the Beavs. Thank goodness for the Pac-12 network.
I actually question OSU’s affiliation with Nike given Nike’s relationship with the Ducks. Seems like it would make sense to have a different athletic sponsor than your rival, especially when they happen to be Phil Knight’s baby.
It is what it is though, the Beavs aren’t flashy. The Ducks made an incredible marketing push, got the attention, and now they get the coverage. That’s just the way it goes.
"If I had a dime for every basket I made today, you'd still suck!" - from the book 'John Dies @ the End'
by sammymohawk on Jan 11, 2012 12:57 PM PST up reply actions
really?
I remember the Maryland – Under Armour thing being a big deal and a school decision
"If I had a dime for every basket I made today, you'd still suck!" - from the book 'John Dies @ the End'
I liked his boxing takes, but otherwise I was kind of bored with him and frankly felt like he was being asked to be like Canzano (i.e. take a bunch of dumb viewpoints, all for the cause of being “provocative and controversial”).
And I agree with Blazas! above, Lund was pretty good.
by The Cactus Leaguer on Jan 10, 2012 6:38 PM PST reply actions
Just had to say I completely agree on the Canzano line. He definitely tries too hard to be controversial no matter what the subject is, Dave Smith was definitely starting to become that way.
On the internet we call people like Dave Smith and John Canzano “Trolls”…
by himynameismatt on Jan 11, 2012 8:36 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Good riddance; Dave Smith is an idiot.
Demanding equality between Ohio State’s (non-university related) football scholarship penalties with USC’s (a booster, IE representative of the university) is the work of a bungling fool right there. Not even close.
Then he went and compared being an offended “Irish American” by Notre Dame to a North Dakota school FINALLY changing its native American mascot (by the way—it’s not an ‘homage’ if you never bothered asking the peoples you are ‘honoring’ what THEY think about your mascot choice—it’s called respect).
So yeah. Not that I’ll bother listening to that fallen station. But congrats at least to the “local monkey” for ridding our fair city of a total wind-bag.
/s
by Hipster Olympic Team! on Jan 10, 2012 8:29 PM PST reply actions
I love Native American mascots almost as much as I love Native Americans.
I could see how people might take exception with the name “Redskins”, although the vast majority of Native Americans polled (In multiple surveys) don’t object to it.
by Nick Van Excellent on Jan 10, 2012 10:46 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
The real Sioux like UND's name of "Fighting Sioux"
All Minnesota hockey fans will hate them no matter what they are called.
put a body on 'em
by RayBourque on Jan 11, 2012 12:25 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Polls can prove anything.
They’re worthless these days. No, respect is not that difficult. When in doubt, name your team the lions, or something NOT taken from someone else’s culture.
/s
by Hipster Olympic Team! on Jan 11, 2012 8:16 AM PST up reply actions
Also,
stereotypes are stereotypes. Aping “Braves” with tomahawk chops is racially insensitive, period. Instead of making excuses we should send in riot cops to go mace every idiot in the stadium at each and every Braves home game until they change their name. They’re all disgusting.
/s
by Hipster Olympic Team! on Jan 11, 2012 8:25 AM PST up reply actions
Tomahawk chops are awesome.
You would have preferred that Native Americans didn’t defend their homeland from the savage invaders? That’s racist.
by Nick Van Excellent on Jan 11, 2012 12:16 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
You went yard with that blast.
Neighbor’s yard along “first base line”, that is.
/s
by Hipster Olympic Team! on Jan 11, 2012 2:57 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
That's a little over the top.
Ben II Blazersedge.com || New to Blazers' Edge?
by usmcr3049 on Jan 11, 2012 12:17 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Not really.
People get maced for much, much less.
/s
by Hipster Olympic Team! on Jan 11, 2012 2:58 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
Redskins is the worst of all of them
Braves is at least a warrior-based term, Redskin is literally based on color. I won’t even put forth the analogous mascot names as they are very offensive by societal standards, yet Redskins is not.
"If I had a dime for every basket I made today, you'd still suck!" - from the book 'John Dies @ the End'
by sammymohawk on Jan 11, 2012 12:58 PM PST up reply actions
I agree
It’s mostly non natives that take offence to that stuff and think that they are doing us (I’m NA) a favor. cough Hipster cough
by vullkem116 on Jan 11, 2012 12:36 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I have opinions. I don't apologize for that.
No need to caugh. This is a blog, not a testicular exam.
/s
by Hipster Olympic Team! on Jan 11, 2012 2:54 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
Testicular cancer is not something to joke about.
Insensitive.
by Nick Van Excellent on Jan 11, 2012 3:21 PM PST via mobile up reply actions 2 recs
Hehe.
Quit pestering me!:P
/s
by Hipster Olympic Team! on Jan 11, 2012 4:23 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
He just didn't fit this market,
Every time I turned it on and he was talking I would change the station.
probably cause he kept insisting LMA needs to go 25 and 12.
by Kais on Jan 10, 2012 10:06 PM PST reply actions 2 recs
who?
I know less than half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
Smith was awful. I completely quit listening to the 12-3 slot.
"You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man." - Matty Walker in Body Heat (1981)
by BlazerFanSince1970 on Jan 10, 2012 10:09 PM PST reply actions 2 recs
Yep, me too. He always sounded
like he was eating a banana as he talked and was seriously stuffed up. I just turned off the radio when he was on. He didn’t seem to know the market well so he seemed to just make the show about him. And his bananas he was eating while suffering from a cold.
Apparently not giving up on Brandon or Greg paid no dividends. Whatever... Go Blazers!!!
by musicdaniel on Jan 11, 2012 10:51 AM PST up reply actions
i actually liked dave smith
But I guess I’m the only one. I thought he was funny at times and a little different from the usual homers
I like a different perspective he offers.And his self-irony.
I think he was doing very well with Budweiser 5th quarter.
The question is whether he was fired or he is quit his own?And what is the reason?
Here is a link to the last hour of his show from 9 January.
http://ab955.platformicstaging.com/common/global_audio/379/46688.mp3
In the end he talked about what is in the the next day show.There is no hint that this was his last show.
I only heard him on the 5th Quarter and thought he was fine
He had an active voice and some decent points that didn’t sound too homerish.
No idea how he was in the 12-3 pm slot.
put a body on 'em
They should just take the Fox national feed instead
I’ll take the Loose Cannons over Dave Smith any day.
The inbound to McGinnis, drives, stops, pumps, shoots, short, no good...AND THE GAME IS OVER! ~ Bill Schonely
by SandbergOnSports on Jan 10, 2012 10:36 PM PST reply actions
I never listen to The Game anymore.
Ever since they moved to the AM dial, it just doesn’t come in on my radio. Good ridance The Game, hello 1080 the fan.
3rd down... chainsaw noise please.
Most of the time I turn it on
and they are talking college football or NFL, if I wanted to hear about either of those (and usually I don’t) I will listen to The Fan. I didn’t really enjoy Jim Rome but he is miles better than Dave Smith.
i agree
The second i turned on 95.5 and heard this guy i was changing the station, i was shocked when i found out he would be hosting the 5th quarter after the blazer games and its the first time in 10 yrs i intentionally missed a 5th quarter show. The worst thing was his pro sanfrancisco 49er agenda he forced down our throats on a daily basis. I just hope canzano goes next.
by wood1tx on Jan 11, 2012 12:05 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
"I feel it's time for Canzano to go".
Why? Because I feel it. If I feel it, it must be true.
If it’s good enough for Canzano, it’s good enough for me.
Canzano needs to go.
Sleazy pot-stirring liars like him have always brought our society down.
/s
by Hipster Olympic Team! on Jan 11, 2012 8:12 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Wow HOT! you are snarky today.
Keep it up.
by HardCorvallis on Jan 11, 2012 12:36 PM PST up reply actions
Hahaha.
Yeah. This issue gets my blood up a bit. All in fun, of course.;)
/s
by Hipster Olympic Team! on Jan 14, 2012 10:15 AM PST up reply actions
Bye, bye.
Was there a legit reason why Wheels at Work was canned btw? He is the voice of our city- makes no sense.
I think it was that Wheels was really busy.
He already does the games and a lot of prep goes into that. A show on top of a normal 82 game season can be too much.
The Stumptown Quack
by RipCityforLife on Jan 11, 2012 6:42 AM PST up reply actions
So now that we're in a 66 game season he can do it... please?
I would love it if Wheels came back on.
Apparently not giving up on Brandon or Greg paid no dividends. Whatever... Go Blazers!!!
by musicdaniel on Jan 11, 2012 10:53 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Dave Smith was alright...
He did it kind of old school/new school… and it sucked at times.
I’m most concerned about Bernie Bokenyi. Last week I heard him fill in for Canzano and really stink it up. Not really funny, not very sly, not all that intriguing, not well-enough informed, not worth listening to. I rarely turn 750 off. He made me.
You hit the nail on the head with Bokenyi..
He has zero appeal to me. To say he is “not well-enough informed” is being kind. In fact, whenever I have heard him on the station, he talks about how long he has been in the business and how he covered Oden at Ohio State. Just because you have “been in the business” for a long time doesn’t mean you’re good at it. Most of the time it’s not WHAT you know, but WHO you know anyway. Maybe they could move CIP to that 12-3 slot and find a new morning guy?
Dave the Sports God is gone?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo……
Oh wait, wrong dave. False alarm.
by Batumshakalaka on Jan 11, 2012 3:28 AM PST reply actions 3 recs
Dave smith=sportsgod
Every just shut up. Dave Smith is a sports god and we were lucky to have had him. Very upset.
Hehe.
Now he’s a fallen god.
/s
by Hipster Olympic Team! on Jan 11, 2012 8:13 AM PST up reply actions
it's because of all the extracurricular (non-verbal) noise he made with his mouth on the mic
I don’t know if they didn’t properly employ a noise-gate or over-compressed his mic, but he sounded like he was eating a banana the whole time and was stuffed up. I normally don’t get too irritated by those kinds of things since I know that the producers (good or bad) are professionals and know more than I do. But if he ever said anything good or bad, I didn’t hear it because his mouth noise was driving me crazy.
Apparently not giving up on Brandon or Greg paid no dividends. Whatever... Go Blazers!!!
by musicdaniel on Jan 11, 2012 10:55 AM PST up reply actions
Shoddy engineering FTL
The whole station sounds much worse than when KXL was on 750.
Excellent Decisionby the Game.
Best decision the Game has ever made.
He was terrible. Really, really lowbrow show that rarely dabbled in sports. Dave Smith preferred to just banter with his annoying ass interns, hopefully Kyle Bidwell and the “Other Guy” were let go as well.
So glad to see this guy is gone. It was a really, really bad show.
by himynameismatt on Jan 11, 2012 8:02 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
Forgot to add...
The Beavis and Butthead sketch he did was probably the most embarrassing moment in Sports Radio…A couple of interns doing really bad impersonations. It was so bad. I really loathed this show.
by himynameismatt on Jan 11, 2012 8:04 AM PST up reply actions 2 recs
He was alright
It was kinda interesting to have an outside perspective from time to time. Although the Don Imus/Lars Larson/Rush Limbaugh blusteriness was occasionally annoying. Bernie though, is not interesting. I’d almost rather have AC Coleman than Bernie.
Wheels at Work was too regimented in it’s format. All the bits were tired and holding back any creativity or spontaneity. Plus the schedule meant Wheels was almost never there.
What SHOULD happen is Dan Patrick should be on the Game, not the Fan. Dan Patrick is blackballed by ESPN, yet he is played on the local ESPN affiliate.
i like it here, there, everywhere.
YES!
Dan Patrick would be good. I just wish we could hear him live.
Apparently not giving up on Brandon or Greg paid no dividends. Whatever... Go Blazers!!!
by musicdaniel on Jan 11, 2012 10:57 AM PST up reply actions
GREAT move...
I gave him a shot but the only redeeming thing about his show was the 49’er talk. Was it just me or did the guy sound like his mouth was always full or marbles or he had tons of extra slober?
The only one worth listening to on the Game currently is Chazz—-I really liked Lund (guess he’s not there now???) but listening to him often required listening to Canzano which I absolutely refuse to do.
I’d love to have Wheels back in the 12-3 slot.
Geez I suck...
I meant Strong, not Lund. Lund hasn’t been here for years….really like Strong (and Lund too).
Lund was actually back here for a second go round last year.
This latest iteration of his act was pretty bad. Downright trollish and uninformed sometimes. I think he took a page out of the Colin Cowherd path to national sports radio success book.
i like it here, there, everywhere.
Keep it local please!!
Any sort of national programming is a huge waste of time for me. I want to know what’s going on nationally but I don’t need an entire program focused on it. Give us a QUALITY radio host who knows Blazers, Ducks, Beavers, Timbers, Winterhawks as well as a dose of local high school sports. That’s my input. I listen to The Fan all day because it is local. If they go to national in the afternoon I will quickly go to the FM dial for my local sports.
Thanks for listening. Uh, is this mike on???
LaMarshmallow - Distant Memory.
by mlsinpdx on Jan 11, 2012 10:33 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
Couldn't stand Dave Smith
He said things that were obviously not true about the Blazers (just read BlazersEdge and you’ll be ready! He obviously didn’t.)
I still don’t get the Canzano hate, though. He’s not that bad. What does he stir up? Most of the time that I listen to him I hear him talk sports. Maybe I just listen to him at other times than you guys do.
Wow
sounds like it kinda came out of nowhere. I liked some of Smith’s show, the “outside” perspective, the Boxing/MMA talk, and some other stuff.
As is stands, John Strong and Brian Berger are my favorite personalities on The Game. I’d love to see Strong get a full time show, I’m not sure if being the voice of the Timbers would cause quite as much problems as Wheels had with the Blazers, but if they could work it out, I’d definitely love to hear more of him.
I JUST WANT MY BASKETBALL BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Sean in Vancouver on Jan 11, 2012 10:08 PM PST reply actions
I liked the Hawk
Liked him back with SportingNews, too. Was shocked we got someone that was as big in name as him to come to Portland. He was good friends with the late-late night national guys like Tom Looney and JT the Brick. So he had them on from time to time, which I liked cause those guys are good and tell it like it is, so did the Hawk.
The Hawk wasn’t afraid to call out Chip Kelly for poor clock management, which a lot of local guys wouldn’t do. I thought he was very honest in his analyst and wouldnt just play to the crowd.
There most be something wrong with the game in the higher ups, they are always losing people or firing people in this time slot. Wheels, Lund, The Hawk. They lost Gavin Dawson in the morning over a year ago from there its been down hill.
Turnover is pretty common in radio.
And every host “plays to the crowd”. It’s their job to create listeners. So its just a matter of what their approach is for doing so. Canzano “asks the tough questions” (IE—stirs the pot). Colin used to just pick issues and flippantly throw out funny, ridiculous reactions. Both are efforts to get people to tune in, even if they’re disagreeing.
Every time I listened in on Smith he was either ranting about USC’s football sanctions being too steep compared to Ohio State’s (duh. not even comparable), recommending the PAC12 boycott the BCS (hahahahaha, too rich), or bemoaning Lamarcus for not averaging over 10 rebounds. Bag of hot air, and not very smart to boot. To me he is either suffering from a total lack of intellect or merely playing to the fence leaning, crap talking lowest common denominator in the sticks. No wonder he can canned.
/s
by Hipster Olympic Team! on Jan 14, 2012 10:13 AM PST up reply actions
750's destined to fail
You can’t sustain a 24 hr. sports station on solely local sports in a town with one major pro team, one minor pro team, and one relevant college team. It just doesn’t work. Adding Winterhawks and high school sports discussion doesn’t help matters either — very few people care.
The MSP is often filled with completely worthless segments (I heard Chad interviewing the Mattress World woman once and about died laughing as I changed over to Colin on 1080) and for good reason — you can’t talk about the Blazers or Ducks for 4 entire hours as a morning show because you end up making the same points over and over.
1080’s got a solid blend of national and local programming — Colin + Dan patrick + Isaac & Big Suke is a pretty solid lineup, and the primetime guys are entertaining and not trolls like Canzano is.
definatly 1080
has the better programming, its too bad they dont have the rights to the blazers because i think that would put 750 out of business. John strong is the best 750 has to offer which isnt saying much. One thing 1080 needs to do though is stop with “The Club” portion of primetime also whats with the sportscenter tonight? That freddie coleman has some of the worst takes on national radio.
I did not enjoy his show
!!!o o!!!
OMG I just jizzed in my France
OMGrandpa
Bring back Kenny Vance!!
He’d probably never do it, but Kenny V. is great. I’d love to hear him on 750 again.
I thought The Game would fail when it switched from FM to AM. Maybe it still will. Personally, I’d hate to see that happen. I agree that Strong is the best they’ve got right now. Fortunately, I’ve got XM and now listen to Mad Dog sports radio quite a bit-especially when I’m on the road since I don’t have a car radio that gets AM.
RCTID
strong good?
Cant stand him, liked the Hawk way more. Strong talks about Soccer any chance he can, gross.
They should just give Strong a chance
He’s a homer but not to the point of sports ignorance. He’s into all sports which is a huge plus or the last few hosts, and he’s young enough to still have some ethics intact.
by oregonslee on Jan 13, 2012 4:16 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
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