Why no hockey talk

[KeithE4]

ESPN HATES hockey.  I mean, hates it, with a white-hot glowing passion.  I think they'd talk about tiddly-winks before spending substantial time on the NHL.

ESPN hates anything that they don't broadcast - especially if they used to have rights but lost them.

Conversely, on local sports stations here in Pittsburgh there is a lot of hockey talk (particularly now that the Pens have done a first-round el foldo).  I think that's a function of the fact that we are in a northern market, the team has done well in recent years, and Pittsburgh really does not care for the NBA much.

The NBA hasn't been in Pittsburgh since it was called the BAA (Pittsburgh Ironmen, 1947).  The Condors/Pipers were an ABA team that didn't make it to the merger (1968-72, with part of the 1969 season in Minneapolis).

Can you sell hockey talk in Macon, Georgia?  I kinda doubt it.

You didn't like the Macon Whoopee?  Neither did folks in Macon since that team only lasted a few years.

[Leebo65]

Don't waste airtime on Hockey. Yeah, that means you Jim Rome.

[N.E. Streetz]

ESPN has hockey talk. Barry Melrose is the HOCKEY GURU.

[Leebo65]

Hockey is depressing... It reminds of traveling in the wrong direction; wasting ones time.

[Pratte4Life]

I don't think there's any mystery that ESPN and FOX are wary of talking hockey because they don't have the contract. I've always felt ESPN talked too much basketball, though I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of the sport.

Regardless, usually when a host talks basketball I usually tune out.

Hockey, meanwhile, historically has been a sport that could gather a lot of attention if talked about the right way. Scott Ferrall turned hockey talk into the most hip, colorful, and brash sports talk show in America in the 1990s; "Ferrall on the Bench." Mark Madden in Pittsburgh has made a career of talking hockey and was one of 12 sports talk show hosts highlighted in an Sports Illustrated feature on sports talk shows 10 years ago or so. Steve Somers helped establish WFAN by catering to New York Rangers fans and playing up their rivalry with the Islanders. WEEI often is able to gather the biggest possible audience by putting a hockey guy and a basketball guy on the same show and letting them fight it out.

At the risk of playing up negative stereotypes, a show that talks hockey is going to attract a hockey audience, which usually is a young, white male from the suburbs- thus meaning he probably has some money and likes to spend it on recreation. Perfect demographic no matter where you're at.

Basketball, meanwhile, is more urban. It's audience isn't as wealthy; isn't one of the appeals of the sport that "anyone can afford to play- all you need is a ball?"

Just a thought, but in sports talk it isn't so much what you talk about but how you talk about it. But since the nuances of hockey (and, for that matter, NASCAR) aren't quite as mainstream as those of football, basketball, and baseball, could talking hockey be of benefit for a host because you could teach the listener something he might not know and bond with the listener who already is hockey saavy?

[FreddyE1977]

You didn't like the Macon Whoopee?  Neither did folks in Macon since that team only lasted a few years.

The Macon Whoopee were one of the All Time Top Ten Names for a sports franchise.
Cool logo too....a menacing looking Whooping Crane wielding a hockey stick.

When I lived in Flint, Michigan someone wanted to buy the local minor league hockey team
and rename them the Stones.  I think they ran into legal difficulties with Hanna-Barbera though.

[cd637299]

You didn't like the Macon Whoopee?  Neither did folks in Macon since that team only lasted a few years.

The Macon Whoopee were one of the All Time Top Ten Names for a sports franchise.
Cool logo too....a menacing looking Whooping Crane wielding a hockey stick.

When I lived in Flint, Michigan someone wanted to buy the local minor league hockey team
and rename them the Stones.  I think they ran into legal difficulties with Hanna-Barbera though.

Oh man, it's like the old Steven Wright joke:

The Stones, I love the Stones.  I see 'em every chance I get.  It amazes me that they've been doing it all this time.  Fred and Barney.*

[*I first heard this in 1985, and some things never change!]

cd

[Mainedude2007]

ESPN HATES hockey.  I mean, hates it, with a white-hot glowing passion.  I think they'd talk about tiddly-winks before spending substantial time on the NHL.

ESPN hates anything that they don't broadcast - especially if they used to have rights but lost them.

did they even like it when they HAD it?

[DToTheJ]

Perhaps this is a by-product of why there is little to no NHL talk on sports radio. Dateline: Los Angeles.
http://sportsrantz.com/media/2012/05/18/liz-habib-fail/

[RadioListener19]

I hear a little hockey now and again but I remember the last time I heard Hockey Talk was last year on the ESPN Radio show All Night with Jason Smith and it was all about the scary riot in Vancover