I wish there was a sportstalk radio station in the area that discussed MLS/soccer on a routine basis. It doesn't have to be totally devoted to the league/sport, but a few segments a day wouldn't hurt. Something to listen to at work or in the car is all. I listen to WFAN a lot, but their hosts are your standard MLB/NFL types and don't know the first thing about soccer, let alone MLS. Do other parts of the country have this problem?
I've always hated that myself. I know there's a 24-hour soccer radio network out of Canada, CSRN (Champions Soccer Radio Network) that I think is accessible thru the internet. My computers at work are awful and can't access ANYTHING, and I always have on FSC at home, so I don't know how good it is. But give it a look-into...I'll be doing the same.
I'm on the road a lot so I need something in a car/van. But I think it would be great to have a local radio station talk about local soccer teams (NYRB). I guess it's a generational things. Those guys in their 40's & 50's grew up when soccer was basically extinct in this country. The younger generations coming up will be much more knowledgable, I think.
Hey guys. Don't forget about me. I have a podcast show every Tuesday at 2PM. The show is live for two hours and you can catch the replay anytime. RSS & I-Tunes on the player. I discuss MLS, NASL, US Soccer, US Open Cup & RBNY. www.blogtalkradio.com/feuersteinsfire
Good show! I also listen to "Seeing Red: The New York Soccer Roundup" which is broadcast once a week and "Major League Soccer Talk" which is broadcast twice a week. You can subscribe to both via iTunes and new shows will automatically download to your iTunes each week.
Due respect to GIO, we really need soccer to get exposure on the mainstream sports talk shows. The ones that do talk about baseball and football and basketball. Needing a separate niche show demonstrates how outside of the norm soccer still is. And soccer fans have to step it up too and not act like they're entitled to the exposure. The last couple of times I've heard mention of soccer on a radio show is when soccer fans act like prank callers and try to punk the host before getting cut off: "Yeah, huh-huh, I wanna talk about football, you know Tony Meola tried out for the Jets...hey how 'bout those MetroStars? *click*" "Yeah, about those Celtics, I mean Celtic, you think they'll win the Champions League? *click*" That type of garbage ain't going to endear us to the sports talk crowd. Makes me feel embarrassed, actually.
Soccer is not a mainstream sport so it won't get much mainstream press right now. Radio goes for ratings and soccer won't bring ratings at the moment. The best thing to do is create our own podcasts and internet radio shows and build an audience to the point where mainstream media takes notice. So support your local podcasters!
But we want it to be. Doing the podcast thing is great and all but it mainly preaches to the choir. Go ahead, enjoy your podcast while I spend my free time listening to 1050.
One day while listening to WFAN, Beningo (I think) said the best part of the sports illistrated world cup edition was "that new magazine smell". That was all they said while saying it with a "who gives a crap" tone. Is it that these hosts are under contract to only talk about certain sports or personally don't care about talking soccer? They never even mention scores or upcoming matches.
Folks, you will have a brief chance to prove your point beginning in about 40 days. Even New York sports talk radio will give soccer a few minutes of glory with the World Cup. I would expect ESPN 1050 to have a little to cross-promote with the event. Even FAN will give it a few moments. If you don't call in it will be more Yankees/Mets/Red Sox/Phillies until Labor Day.
the problem is, nobody will call because they are never talking about it. It's a negative feedback loop. Now, I don't know all the ins & outs of FCC regulations, but is it possible for fans to come together and start their own radio station in NYC where the signal could reach millions and millions of people? If a radio broadcast is under a certain wattage I don't think you need licenses (and if the signal is over a certain amount, I'm not even sure how much those licenses would cost. There is some logistical issues that need to be taken care of like the cost of a transmitter and its location, hosts and technical staff. I'm sure these people would do it for free at the begining, and I'm sure somebody out there would let the top of their building be used. Another alternative would be to get show(s) on local college radio stations in NYC and utilize their infrastructure. Perhaps I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but my point is, nobody is going to do it for us. The fans need to take initiative and not wait for some outside people to give them a boost.
I have an idea. Let's get a boat and put a transmitter on it and we can bring the boat out until we're just over the edge into international waters. Then we can broadcast soccer sports news radio to our heart's content and nobody can stop us! It'll be just like a movie!
A lot of Red Bull fans are also fans of at least some of the big 4 team sports. The only way to get soccer discussion on the FAN or 1050 is to link it to a big 4 topic. If a Red Bull fan for sack of argument were to become a "regular" on one of the stations he/she could initially mention that he/she is a Red Bull fan but talk about a big 4 subject. That regular could eventually build up enough credibility with the hosts to carefully expand the host's/listener's understanding of the regular's Red Bull fandom. The best way to take advantage of the World Cup window will be to draw connections between soccer competition/teams/players/coaches and understood big 4 dynamics, Brazil as Yankees. The best way to lose this opportunity will be for Red Bull or USA fans to get on the air and speak in a foreign language (Brit sports lingo). Sean Wheelockism will lose the host/audience as soon as kit/pitch/nil/wanker etc. is rolled out.
This is a good idea. Imagine if somebody like Derek Jeter or dare I say LeBron James (next year?) were regulars at Red Bull Arena just as fans? Though it would be hard for a baseball player due to game scheduling on Saturdays. The easiest way in my opinion is to have soccer/MLS/NYRB shows on college radio since it's less retrictive not profit-driven. Maybe this will lead to bigger and better things.
WFAN has turned into the 24-hour baseball network. In the morning with Carton & Boomer it's talk about the Mets. With Francessa in the afternoon, it's the Yanks and the rest of MLB (his show has tanked after Mad Dog left). You can forget about them mentioning soccer, because they're not even discussing the NBA or NHL playoffs!!!
true. the worst is Joe and Even from 10-1pm in terms of only talking about one team (Mets). I don't fault them for not being able to talk about/analyze a sport they know nothing about, but there's got to be another way. It would be like people wanting me to talk about darts. The only analysis I could give would be "aim for the middle" then dead air for 3 hours. I have noticed that they give NYRB scores on their 20/20 updates on the days of games. Somethings gotta give eventually.
You guys know about World Football daily, right? You want all soccer coverage check them out 5 days a week.
This thread is not about how soccer diehards can get information. With the internet there's more info than anyone can get to at any given time. This thread is about how (or if) soccer can breakthrough into mainstream sports media and then hopefully mainstream sports consciousness.
They aren't on Sirius last time i checked... WFAN is a joke and the representation of the old bastille of the soccer haters. Let's talk about the Mets in December or the Giants in May. I remember one of them brought up USA-Italy in the Confed Cup, and then said, I shit you not, "Who cares, its soccer." I can't listen to any NY sports stations anymore, I only can listen to the national broadcast which will occasionally stumble upon soccer. The middle of the fence Cowherd has given entire 20 minute segments to soccer, I even remember him in 2006 going on for an hour about the USA-Czech Republic match. But like I said he is lukewarm. Hell, I'd be all for a 2 hour segment with a host to talk soccer. I mentioned this in the "Lack of Media Coverage" thread. If someone went to WFAN or 1050 or another talk station and said they would host a soccer radio show for free and get a competent producer/technicians to work for free, then I think they'd be inclined to listen. Given the program will probably be out of the 6 am-6 pm prime slot, but if you publicized it on BS, blogs and other free media, you could probably get ok ratings.
Roehl you are absolutely correct. I have been saying the same things you are. Unfortunately here is the problem. The main stream Sports media will never give the sport it's proper due. Once every four years is the only time it will ever matter. I work with that same media and no matter how much I have tried to get them to respect it even more and cover more, sadly it's not going to happen unless it says World Cup. Someone who has deep pockets and loves the game has to find a way to create a brand new real radio station either in NYC or LA to make this happen. I didn't want to say this originally, but with what you have posted I don't mind now. If I did win either the Mega Millions, Powerball or both. I would create that Soccer only radio station. But then again, I don't have deep pockets and I don't have the connections to make that happen. But honestly that dream is still there. It all depends on who wants to jump in and make that happen. Untill it does, we are all hoping for WFAN or 1050 ESPN Radio to make a solid effort which won't happen right away.
I say this over and over again. Sports radio ignores soccer and UFC at their own peril. These sports are the future.
I agree with you 100% and might I add, most of these sports people on WFAN and ESPN radio have no knowledge of soccer. It would be like me not knowing anything about Rugby or Cricket. This is going to take at least another 15 years, if the league continues doing well and salaries, etc keep going up the time will come where you can tune to WFAN and have soccer coverage.
Yup. And guess what will happen? People will get excited about the World Cup. Maybe even to the point where they care to check out MLS. Once they do they'll find the product vastly inferior and never come back again. This happened in 1998, 2002 and 2006. I don't expect 2010 to be any different.