over the summer, 1280 the zone did their top 50 players in the state of Utah ranking.
They rated Marcus Williams #46
The New Orleans Saints just drafted Marcus with the 42 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft
:Evil:
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over the summer, 1280 the zone did their top 50 players in the state of Utah ranking.
They rated Marcus Williams #46
The New Orleans Saints just drafted Marcus with the 42 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft
:Evil:
To be fair to 1280, the 60 in 60 is something they send out to the local media who then rank who they feel are the top 60 players in the state. Marcus Williams averaged out to be the #12 in the state. The #46 was from one of the ballots. Hans said he disagreed strongly with the #12 and said he was definitely top 5. This will be the last time I defend local radio.
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Gunther and Ben are back. Saturday mornings from 6 to 10 on kber 101
Yep. I dont know what KBER has done in the past on saturday mornings (Im guessing some sort of nationally syndicated show, best of/reruns of bob and tom, low budget local show) but its an odd fit to put a four hour sports show in a hard rock station.
Swinney is bringing back his old ute podcast this week with Whitt as a guest. These guys are all anxious to get back on the air, and unfortunately, i just dont think the money is there for them to ever make a living off of it.
I can't imagine that OC and Hackett will have a long run. I am interested to see what ESPN 700 does if and when it goes belly up. They have had a lot of flops in the last few years as they have tried to expand their local programming. From Keith Stubbs starting and quitting twice to the snooze fest of 'the bullpen', to Tom 'im better on tv' Kirkland to 'OC and Swinney' to now 'OC and hackett'. They need to either blow out the budget and hit a home run with a local show or they need to keep Bill as the local guy and stick with national programming elsewhere.
If Gunther is basically doing the KBER show for free, then why doesn't 700 put him in the morning some time for the same money? Or with OC? Makes no sense. Hackett is terrible. I wasn't a huge fan of Swinney, but why fire him for Hackett? That made no sense either. Either work with a guy and build him up or bring in someone more experienced. Oh well, I'm just message board hack, what do I know.
You can practically take it to the bank that as long as Bill is the program director at 700, Gunther will not have a show there. Ben Anderson is more likely. Also, 700 is contractually obligated to air a certain amount of ESPN programming, and there is no way they are going to bump DP for a recycled local show.
My only guess with Hackett is that he was brought in because he was a popular football player and he knows a lot about soccer. I have tried at various times to go back to that show to see if it has gotten better because I hope that Tom does figure it out but I am not sure it will. The show is EXTREMELY awkward. You can tell OC is irritated at having to be in charge to the extent that he is. When I tuned in yesterday on my way home, they came in from break and Tom said that he had a list from hoopshype.com of the top NBA free agents this year and he was going to go through it. OC interrupted to say, in an annoyed tone, 'well, we were going to do that next segment, but go ahead.'. Its only a few months old but the show has no chemistry. If the powers that be at 700 brought in a guy for drive time because of his soccer knowledge, than they have effective forfeited drive time to their competitors.
Sorry, I didnt mean to imply that he was. Just meant to say that in addition to the ESPN requirement (basically that they have to air M&M), that they have DP and his ratings are at a point that it would be silly to switch him out for a recycled show (This is of course without knowing the economics of broadcasting national radio shows).
I may be the only one that thinks this, but I think Ben Anderson has a lot of potential. Gunther is okay in small doses but his routine gets old really fast. He's just not as funny as he thinks he is and knows basically nothing about anything other than football (and even then I'd hear him get basic facts about Utah football wrong constantly--I thought it was always pretty apparent that he didn't do much, if any, prep for his show).
Ben Anderson is more oriented toward basketball, but that is something that can play well in this town. I always thought he worked hard to prep and understand what was going on while Gunther was mostly winging it and going to the "I've been there, I know what it's like in the locker room" shtick.
I could see Ben being decent as OC's next co-host (it seems almost inevitable within the next 12 months or so). Maybe he should even be an OC replacement? I'd be most intrigued by a Ben Anderson/Brian Swinney pairing on 700.
I'd be fine with Anderson with OC. In fact, it's insane that hasn't happened yet. I mentioned Gunther, because he is a known commodity. I think Anderson and OC would be an incredible show. Both work hard, it seems like Anderson has his sights set on bigger things, and he would work his tail off to create the best show out there and then move on.
Also, other than Hackett, my biggest complaint about ESPN700 is that their show ends at 6:00. That means at 5:30, the show hosts are packing it in (and Swinney would pack it in even earlier), and that is probably their biggest time of the day as far as listeners go. Just dumb. When everyone turns the show on, you have nothing but dumb talk, stupid jokes, talk about what they are doing that night, some stupid segment, etc. If you are going to do that, then I'd do this instead:
Bill O'Reilly 10-1.
Hackett and Swinney 1-4.
Some other local show or OC and Anderson 4-7.
No more OC on 700
On the Twitter, the rumors are that it will be three hours of Gunther and Hackett. Before re I saw those rumors I wondered if they would try and bring in someone like Scott Michell, as I think he had recently filled in for OC. What a mess.
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I'm sensitive to this topic, because ESPN 700 has been a part of Utah football for decades -- all the way back before STR even existed back in the KALL 700 days. And many on-air talents there, both past and present, helped contribute to my book.
I worked in the biz for a short period, but I'm far from an expert on these kinds of matters. I do know our on-air local lineup is a mess and we have no FM presence. ESPN 700's owners are hardly a one-trick pony (they own several stations that rate well in SLC's Arbitron book), so I think they benefit from the arrangement. I'm trying to see how the Ute listening audience benefits. It's consistently the petri dish of STR in SLC.
I would be curious as to how the athletic department views ESPN 700 as a partner going forward. Or maybe we worry about things that are beyond trivial.
So, let's say that Utah decides to cut ties with ESPN 700 after this ends. Then what? BUT, I'm not sure that is what Broadway media wants to do, as they also own the BYU station down in Provo, right? Would they try to merge the two stations? Like a Gunther/Criddle show and a Riley show earlier?
I dunno. Just spitballing here.
Swinney told a crazy story on his latest utecast with will smith (former kfan producer) and rob jackson (ksl) about a host they 'codenamed' munther. Worth a listen (sorry I can't link from my phone).
Quick version: in 2014, the kfan guys stayed together at a rented house in la for Pac 12 media days. 'Munther' and Ben Anderson got there late because they flew out after their show. Munther found the house to be without food and went on a four hour tirade against monty, his wife, a neighbor, and his boss. Monty kicked him out and sent him home and he eventually left.
Thanks. If the rumors are true and Gunther is coming to 700, this sure calls that decision into serious question.
Nobody has called me on it, but I stand by what I said earlier. Again IF its true that Gunther will be hired at 700, then it was not Bill's call. He will toe the company line and act excited but I believe he has no respect for Kyle.
Gunther is a football player who is outgoing and emotional. None of this story surprises me other than him repeatedly asking his wife what to do. I can't believe how strong she must be to put up with him.
The guy is a bacon short of a BLT, but that's what makes him entertaining on the radio: he isn't afraid to be a little out there.
I'm surprised Swinney would essentially ensure he doesn't do radio in Utah anytime soon with that story. I don't see how sharing a story about a bunch of unemployed radio guys vs an employed one would do you any good.
I think given the state of Utah radio, there was resignation that there wouldn't be future opportunities nor future interest on his part. Now, I can't imagine he's going to hack out a living from his podcast or his contributions to Scout.com, so it will be interesting to see which direction he goes. As for the payoff, I don't listen to Gunther, so the story wasn't nearly as funny to me as some of the responses I was seeing on Twitter. Maybe I just know too many raving lunatics.
There's simply not much of a market for what Swinney does. Even one hour daily of Ute sports talk would be a colossal bore, especially in the spring/summer.
Hell, even I overestimated how many copies of my book would sell. I looked at maybe one invoice in the last 3 years. I got my advances (3 installments of $1,000 apiece) and it was a joy to write, but I'm nowhere close to seeing sales that would allow me to get royalties. And the book has been out 6 years. My guess is that it's sold about 5,000 copies.
Ute fans are active game-day participants, but as a whole, they're not consumed by their following. Most have lives to tend to once the game is over with; the rest come here or UteFans (whose participation rates have cratered over the last 2-3 years). There are 20 books on Bear Bryant alone. You need that kind of following if you're to make a living like that covering a college sports program.
In L.A., with 9 million people, there are two sports talk stations, the Fox station and the ESPN station. It's always amazed me how many stations there are in SLC (failed or not).