Sports radio upgrades in Madison

[macrinus]

Oh yeah, and I can't stand Patrick. And I thought Kornheiser was awful and overrated.

See?! Mr Opposite! Goodness, I never really did want to be a maverick, for cry-hey dere!

[bigtalkradiofan]

WTSO 1070 AM Program Schedule
    * 6 am - 8 am - "Lucas & Lepay" with co-hosts Mike Lucas & Matt Lepay, Voice of the Wisconsin Badgers (Local).
    * 8 am - 11 am - Dan Patrick (Content Factory syndicated).
    * 11 am - 2 pm - Jim Rome (Premiere syndicated).
    * 2 pm - 3 pm - "On Wisconsin" with Brian Posick (Local).
    * 3 pm - 6 pm - "Heller & Murphy" with co-hosts Mike Heller & Owen Murphy (Local).
    * 6 pm - 6 am - Fox Sports Radio's "JT The Brick & "The Third Shift" (Premiere syndicated).

Well, I have tried to warm up to the idea of the local morning crew since this news came out, and I am still disappointed that Czaban is back to a streaming event here in Madison. I have heard the Lucas & Lepay experience over on 1310 before, and was bored out of my gourd then. Heck, the afternoon local guys seem to have difficulty raising any interest to consistently talk about anything besides Packer football. Posick is a class act, but, that On Wisconsin show is a complete snoozer! I will guess that radio prosperity is never built on MORE Lisa Stone interviews....

I have resigned myself to the fact that I am woefully out of touch with the Madison sports radio target audiences, though. I always find myself surprised and irritated every year when they pile unending hours of high school football on the air, shovel out steaming piles of Bucks play-by-play, and (for god's sake) Nascar?! Each programming decision they are making here seems to be less and less my idea of listenable content, so I have to assume that I am in the minority. Am I alone in being annoyed about the directions taken by WTSO over the past few years?

Can this market realistically support 6 hours of local sports talk every day? Egad, maybe, but I may not choose to find out first hand.

I've been thinking a lot about the winners/losers in this situation.

I've come to the conclusion, that Madison sports fans are the big winner in this situation.

Prior to the change, there were two Madison sports talk stations - one Goliath and one David:

    * Goliath - One station had nearly everything: Popular ESPN syndicated shows, top local shows on station & sister-station, play-by-play for the Packers, Badgers (in Madison), Brewers, Bucks, NASCAR and WIAA, and even used to have Rome.

    * David - The other station had the cast-offs - Less-popular FSR syndicated shows, Rome only recently, weak FM signal, only two good local shows, but did have Westwood One & the Mallards games.

Now after the change, there are two Madison sports talk stations - but the playing field has sort of "leveled" a bit:

    * David is now bigger - Now has ESPN syndicated shows on a stronger FM signal, along with Westwood One & the Mallards games.

    * Goliath doesn't seem quite as big - Now has even more quality local shows with Lucas & Lepay along with Rome, but now has the less-popular FSR syndicated shows, and of course, still retains play-by-play for the Packers, Badgers (in Madison), Brewers, Bucks, NASCAR, and WIAA.

Again, in my view, Madison sports fans are the big winner in this situation.

Winners
    * Morning sports talk - Madison needed a morning sports talk show.
    * Local sports talk - 10 new hours of quality local sports talk with Lucas & Lepay.
    * ESPN sports talk on FM

Losers
    * Czaban - Not on in market anymore.

[macrinus]

I've been thinking a lot about the winners/losers in this situation.

I've come to the conclusion, that Madison sports fans are the big winner in this situation.

Prior to the change, there were two Madison sports talk stations - one Goliath and one David:

    * Goliath - One station had nearly everything: Popular ESPN syndicated shows, top local shows on station & sister-station, play-by-play for the Packers, Badgers (in Madison), Brewers, Bucks, NASCAR and WIAA, and even used to have Rome.

    * David - The other station had the cast-offs - Less-popular FSR syndicated shows, Rome only recently, weak FM signal, only two good local shows, but did have Westwood One & the Mallards games.

Now after the change, there are two Madison sports talk stations - but the playing field has sort of "leveled" a bit:

    * David is now bigger - Now has ESPN syndicated shows on a stronger FM signal, along with Westwood One & the Mallards games.

    * Goliath doesn't seem quite as big - Now has even more quality local shows with Lucas & Lepay along with Rome, but now has the less-popular FSR syndicated shows, and of course, still retains play-by-play for the Packers, Badgers (in Madison), Brewers, Bucks, NASCAR, and WIAA.

Again, in my view, Madison sports fans are the big winner in this situation.

Winners
    * Morning sports talk - Madison needed a morning sports talk show.
    * Local sports talk - 10 new hours of quality local sports talk with Lucas & Lepay.
    * ESPN sports talk on FM

Losers
    * Czaban - Not on in market anymore.

[/quote]


I agree with a lot of what you say, including the fact that the field of play has leveled a bit. And, that the quality of choices have expanded for the consumer.

I will just have to see for myself what is to be made of the impending 1070 morning show. There have now been a lot of eggs put into the local sports talk basket, and my concern is that it may have already been watered down by existing mediocre content. I have been fine with national (ESPN, Fox) programming in the mornings myself. What kind of audience, if any, are Lucas & Lepay bringing from 1310? Will that kind of crossover be of any real use to 1070? Is Owen Murphy going to produce their show to get somebody other than UW or Wisconsin sports figures on? Like I said previously, the talk they already did on 1310 seemed stale and boring to me. Will that play in the mornings better? Does Madison really NEED a local morning sports radio show?

Who knows? Time will tell....but nobody seems to be going broke betting against my point of view.

[bigtalkradiofan]

I missed the show yesterday, so I can't give a review. 

What did people think of the first day of the new WTSO morning show?

[macrinus]

I have listened twice, and, the best I can say is that they have a lot of improving to do. Ben Larson saves it (to my ears) from being a total snoozer. Very low energy, too local for my taste. Badgers basketball & the Brewers bullpen and Trevor Hoffman still bores the heck out of me, as opposed to more (NFL) football content.

How about that Owen Murphy leaving? I hope they can pair somebody else decent with Heller, as well as replacing his Rolodex. I know Owen was not everyone's cup of tea, but I appreciated his psychotic brand of humor.

[bigtalkradiofan]

My Preface Note - A couple thoughts:

    * I will admit the first two weeks of this change have been weird - WTSO was home to ESPN Radio for so long, it is weird to hear it somewhere else, and weird to hear the WTLX-ESPN liners and so on.

    * I enjoy the WTSO morning show, I've only heard it a couple times - but it was interesting.  Sort of take the Lucas & Lepay play-by-play routine and extrapolate it for two hours.  More subdued, intelligent and serious than Heller & Murphy - less fluff and inflammatory debates.

    * I like sports talk on the FM dial with WTLX, it is nice to have the clear FM sound for listening to sports talk.  Although if you are driving away from Madison, the coverage isn't as good, and sometimes it seems like the local shows are being produced in a tin can.

    * What do other posters think?  See the two newspaper article links below for more information.

http://77square.com/sweat/features/story_432676

WTLX and WTSO encouraged by reaction to new lineups

Dennis Punzel
January 14, 2009

In sports it's often said that the best trades are those that help both teams. Apparently, the same goes for sports talk radio.

At least that's the early take for both sides involved in Madison's great sports talk radio swap between WTSO-AM/1070 and WTLX-FM/100.5. Both sides say the initial reaction has been positive to the changes that sent ESPN's national programming from its longtime home at WTSO over to WTLX, a relatively small player in the local market.

"The response has been outstanding," said Tim Scott, station manager at WTSO and the driving force behind that station becoming the area's predominant source of sports radio. "People are going to be disappointed about things, but I expected the worst, and surprisingly, it's been far from that. It's been really, really positive."  ...

[Click link above for the complete newspaper article.]

http://77square.com/sweat/spectator/story_432602

Longtime skeptic Matt Lepay gives sports talk radio a shot

Dennis Punzel
January 14, 2009

Matt Lepay says he plans to play it "down the middle" as the co-host of WTSO's new morning sports talk radio show, favoring insight over schtick. - File photo

Matt Lepay knows sports talk radio. He's listened to it for years. He's been a guest on shows both around town and around the country.

But until recently Lepay, the longtime voice of the Wisconsin Badgers, resisted the notion that he would ever do his own daily sports talk show.

Then along came WTSO-AM/1070 station manager Tim Scott with an offer he couldn't refuse. As part of the station's revamped lineup in the post-ESPN era, Scott was looking to create a morning equivalent to top-rated afternoon "Heller and Murphy" show.

His first and only choices for such a show were Lepay and his broadcasting partner and sports columnist for The Capital Times, Mike Lucas. It was an opportunity that broke down Lepay's resistance. And when he was given the option of doing his end of the show from his home, it was a done deal.  ...

[Click link above for the complete newspaper article.]

[macrinus]

I am really really really trying to like the WTSO morning show, to no avail. Over in my neighborhood, it is still fancy footwork to get a consistent 100.5 signal. But still, here is what I think so far.

Steve Czaban is far superior as a morning voice for me (from 5am-6am) and it is a gigantic, immeasurable letdown to transition to Lucas & Lepay. Them giggling over the latest Googled top 10 list is, well, not so good at all. I would rather hear Czaban talk NASCAR, then L & L talk anything at this point (and I fervently despise NASCAR...an evil blight on America, by gum!). I respect the opinion of bigtalkradiofan (and appreciate the work that person puts into these forums), yet, I see L&L-Badger sports as an awful, hellish alternative to NFL talk right now. Un-ranked Badger basketball is NOT talk-worthy, Badger hockey is still niche-y, Badger football talk is myopic......no energy, no originality, no reason to be on the air, as I see it, so far. SHOW PREP IS MORE THAN A QUICK GOOGLE, my friends.

I am cranky!