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WGR - Howard and Sal


tito1

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The Bulldog while not being polished as a broadcaster, was never terrible in his days at WBEN. He is being dragged down by Schoop who just hates his job, hates the callers, and hates most sports outside of baseball and tennis. The afternoon show is made worst by Greg Bauch who instead of being show producer, is constantly trying to be funny with trying being the key word. If I was the programming director at WGR, I would do the following...

 

1 - Replace White with Joe B on the morning show.

 

2 - Replace Schoop with Sal on the afternoon show.

 

3 - Insist the hosts do more interviews, which would then result in less calls(this would be a good thing).

 

4 - Tell the show producers to produce and not to be part of the on-air talk(at least not as much as they do currently)

 

5 - Less of Sullivan and Hamilton. I really don't need to hear from them 100 times a week.

 

6 - Kevin Sylvester hockey talk from 10-12 is fine...DURING HOCKEY SEASON, and only if there is not a lockout going on.

 

7 - Get rid of Jim Rome. There has to be some reasonable options for syndicated national sports talk other than him.

 

 

Problem solved.

 

Let me add to this list:

 

WEEI in Boston, owned by Entercom who also owns WGR, has guest co-hosts rotate in and out. Some are sports media, some are ex-players. Instead of 5 minute interviews they are part of the whole 4-hour show. This allows for some good inside perspective.

 

Also, there should NEVER be things like match games or favorite pasta drafts. Spend 5 minutes looking at chat boards like this and you can find enough to talk about for 4 hours. Throw in some local college talk. And if you are really stuck, talk MLB or NBA. I know, they aren't that popular in Buffalo, but it's more interesting than those dreadful Greg Buck parodies.

 

Bulldog: When expressing an opinion, be confident. Don't stammer about a topic only to finish with "I think". He sounds like he's on a job interview trying to give the answer Shopp wants to hear.

 

Finally, avoid the urge to be so moribund. Which is not to say don't be critical of the Bills and Sabres. Analyze. Don't just mope and act like things suck just because. I really appreciate insight. Have people come on and dissect a play that went wrong. Don't just say "it's the Bills, what did you expect?" I can get plenty of that here.

 

PTR

Edited by PromoTheRobot
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The Bulldog while not being polished as a broadcaster, was never terrible in his days at WBEN. He is being dragged down by Schoop who just hates his job, hates the callers, and hates most sports outside of baseball and tennis. The afternoon show is made worst by Greg Bauch who instead of being show producer, is constantly trying to be funny with trying being the key word. If I was the programming director at WGR, I would do the following...

 

1 - Replace White with Joe B on the morning show.

 

2 - Replace Schoop with Sal on the afternoon show.

 

3 - Insist the hosts do more interviews, which would then result in less calls(this would be a good thing).

 

4 - Tell the show producers to produce and not to be part of the on-air talk(at least not as much as they do currently)

 

5 - Less of Sullivan and Hamilton. I really don't need to hear from them 100 times a week.

 

6 - Kevin Sylvester hockey talk from 10-12 is fine...DURING HOCKEY SEASON, and only if there is not a lockout going on.

 

7 - Get rid of Jim Rome. There has to be some reasonable options for syndicated national sports talk other than him.

 

 

Problem solved.

 

agree x1000 on Jim Rome, just the worst ever. repeats same thing 30 times and somehow is getting paid for it. Jim Rome is brutal.

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Howard does and has lurked this board for some time. One of YE OLE's favorite anecdotes traces origin back about 10 years ago to THE SIMONCAST. Tom Galley was Howard's producer back in those days and YE OLE decided to pay homage to the man behind the scenes by affectionately referring to him as "Back Alley Galley" and making it a point to mention him early and often in all of YE's posts.

 

So, mid afternoon rolls around one day, and YE OLE is tuned to Empire (Channel 626 for those of us on DirecTV in those days), and Ricky Jay comes on to give scores/updates leading into a break. Much to YE OLE's delight, Ricky Jay and Howard get into a little conversation where Ricky responds "I don't know, you'll have to ask old 'Back Alley Galley' over there." Naturally, YE OLE had to follow up on this and emailed the show requesting the back story on this "Back Alley Galley" and asking if he was perhaps a "bar room brawler" in a past life.

 

The next segment, Howard read the email and asked Ricky Jay about the origins of all of this nonsense. Ricky Jay explained that it came from some knucklehead at Two Bills Drive and he thought it was hillarious, and had to bring it to the air. That knucklehead of course was yours truly. The moment was surreal, as from that day forward, YE OLE had to embrace the fact that important people in the Buffalo sports scene read what the good folks of this forum have to say.

I remember the Empire sprts Network on Dircet TV. I loved it. What happened to that station that it went off the air ?
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I remember the Empire sprts Network on Dircet TV. I loved it. What happened to that station that it went off the air ?

 

Something about the owners and fraud convictions and bankruptcy...

 

 

I like what Sal is bringing to GR.

 

I also like Jeremy White.

 

I also like Jim Rome.

 

And I actually like the non-sports "guy talk" that goes on throughout the day, too.

 

But I do wish that Schopp could be less condescending.

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power ranking WGR people...

 

1) Howard - professional and logical in his opinions, occasional epic rants

2) Jeremy White - i tend to always agree with him

3) Panther

4) Dan Fisher - witty and funny

5) Bulldog - strikes a good balance between being a fan and being realistic

6) Greg Bauch - hilarious at times

7) Schopp - subtly humerous if you listen close enough, respects nuances

8) Joe B - Knowledgable

9) Sal - Knowledgable

10) Paul Hamilton

11) Kevin Sylvester - i'll give him a pass for now because there is absolutely nothing for him to talk about

 

Throw your rankings out there

Edited by CherryCoke
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My suggestion:

 

1- pin one of these "GR sucks" threads, so somebody doesn't start a new one every other day....that would probably get GR's attention, and maybe they would listen to some constructive criticism.

 

 

I appreciate what Kevin Sylvester/GR/Buffalo Sabres are trying to do with the hockey show...but man, I just feel pity for Sylvester. I like him fine, with a guest, but there is so little for them to talk about. I love the Sabres/hockey, but I just don't think this show is necessary year round...if there were games to talk about it might be different..I just can't listen right now. Again, don't blame Sylvester/GR/Sabres...just bad timing on their part.

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On another note. Has anyone noticed how bad of a Company man Murph has been. It's almost sad.

 

It was inevitable.

 

He's already the Voice of the Bills.

 

And he has a big, expensive house in Eagle Heights.

 

I don't blame him. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do to take care of his family. As long as it's not illegal or immoral.

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power ranking WGR people...

 

1) Howard - professional and logical in his opinions, occasional epic rants

2) Jeremy White - i tend to always agree with him

3) Panther

4) Dan Fisher - witty and funny

5) Bulldog - strikes a good balance between being a fan and being realistic

6) Greg Bauch - hilarious at times

7) Schopp - subtly humerous if you listen close enough, respects nuances

8) Joe B - Knowledgable

9) Sal - Knowledgable

10) Paul Hamilton

11) Kevin Sylvester - i'll give him a pass for now because there is absolutely nothing for him to talk about

 

Throw your rankings out there

 

LOL at Panther at #3.

 

I do like Sal alot, but I hope he develops a sense of humor. He's informative and knowledgeable, but not very entertaining yet.

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power ranking WGR people...

 

4) Dan Fisher - witty and funny

6) Greg Bauch - hilarious at times

 

Throw your rankings out there

We could not disagree more. I rank the housekeepers, maintenance men and receptionists at the staion ahead of these two wannabe comedians. If you are so funny, get out there and make a living at it. If not, learn how to be better radio show producers/call screeners/whatever you do and stop using air time you don't even deserve, trying to show how funny you are. Here is a novel idea...book some interesting guests on say a DAILY basis.

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power ranking WGR people...

 

1) Howard - professional and logical in his opinions, occasional epic rants

2) Jeremy White - i tend to always agree with him

3) Panther

4) Dan Fisher - witty and funny

5) Bulldog - strikes a good balance between being a fan and being realistic

6) Greg Bauch - hilarious at times

7) Schopp - subtly humerous if you listen close enough, respects nuances

8) Joe B - Knowledgable

9) Sal - Knowledgable

10) Paul Hamilton

11) Kevin Sylvester - i'll give him a pass for now because there is absolutely nothing for him to talk about

 

Throw your rankings out there

 

Not to be rude but what are you on?

Do you have access to some secret government lab experiment? I know it would take something like that to make ANYONE on GR entertaining.

 

Think about what you wrote for a second. You ranked a sound effect as #3. That says plenty whether you intended it or not.

For me, I stopped listening about a year ago and it seems nothing has changed (haven't had the misfortune of catching the hockey show but I remember Sylvester's show with Bob Gaughn and Puff. That was brutal, almost as bad as the dreaded "Bob and Ann" show.)

 

There really isn't a person much less a show that is any good on the station. LBlue was so right on about lame comedy bits by unfunny people. Bulldog is a mystery as to how he has lasted so long. Howard was so boring to me. But, they have no competition therefore no incentive to try and up their game at all. It sounds like college radio.

 

I travel for work and there are some really good stations in the same market size. So glad I stopped listening but it's a shame to hear how Murph has toned it down. When he was on WBEN his show was a must listen.

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