We all complain about media exposure for the Bucs being absent from the Tri-Cities and I agree that we deserve more and better coverage. However, listening to Bill Meade this morning on the Sports Monster just set me off. A caller dialed in and asked Bill a few questions about the Bucs in the tournament and Bill got it all wrong. It probably shouldn't bother me because we should all be used to it by now, but come on. He was commenting on the Bucs chances of beating Jacksonville today and threw out some advantages for Jacksonville, such as ETSU being the #3 seed and having to play back-to-back games on back-to-back nights for the first and second rounds which we all know ETSU is the #2 seed and had a night off between first and second round games. Does he even follow the Bucs at all or just make stuff up as he goes along? After the caller hung up, he just moved on to another subject. This is a good time to get other people excited about ETSU basketball and it seems as though he just wants it to go away so he can talk about his beloved Vols.

The guy who has been filling in for him for the last week (I dont follow Sports Monster enough to know his name), has been mentioning ETSU and seems to know his facts. Bill Meade is just an entertainer (a rude, unintelligent one), you cant take anything he says serious anyway

What's this with talk show hosts just being "entertainers?"

Yes, talk shows have an entertainment value to them. So do editorials in the New York Times.

This has been something that has been said of Rush Limbaugh- and it's accurate. But a host being "entertaining" should not be a put down- it should be praise!

That said- I know Meade's show better than anyone but himself and maybe even better than that because I can look at it objectively since I'm not hosting it. I was the first regular caller he ever had.

Went up against him and lost!

Meade is, and this is high praise I'm about to level out, the Myron Cope of the Tri-Cities. Or the Mike Francessa. Or the Pete Franklin. Or the Ken Beatrice.

We can discuss the factors why, but he is not only the best sports talk show host in the history of the market, but the greatest radio talk show host in the history of the market.

That said- your criticisms are spot on.

Meade has never embraced talking about the Bucs, at least since the early days of his show. Even when the Bucs were nationally ranked, his commentary wasn't so much "Let's try to see if we can't build a program here in Johnson City" but "This will be fun while it lasts, but don't expect it to last."

The thing is, had the conversation been "What can we do to see to it this program can continue to grow," things might have been different.

So much of what I hate about sports in this area comes from Sportsline. The overabundance of high school basketball attention. The shilling for the Vols. High School Basketball.

His show is now a relic. Okay- we got it. Bud Selig can't crack your favorite billion people list- nevermind the players' union (!). We need a playoff in college football. Phil Fulmer is a great coach.

And you have absolutely NO influence on those things.

What he does have influence on is what happens here in the Tri-Cities. And since Meade was the only talk show host in town for years and years that was worth mentioning- his influence was huge.

Kev lists that the attendance for Bucs games was 8,000 in the early '90s. By the time Ed DeChellis was here it was half that at best.

Part of that was the losing, but also part of it was the fact this was on WJCW high school basketball was preempting ETSU. Only a couple of years removed from national glory, the Bucs' own flagship was putting ETSU on tape delay behind the high school games they carried.

That's why Keener Fry took the games to WGOC in 1997 (which at the time was not owned by Citadel).

And after that, there was a divide between the Bucs and Meade. His buddy George Pitts didn't get an interview.

Fry, who was championed as the AD who was going to bring the Bucs back outside to Roosevelt Memorial Stadium (or Memorial Stadium, as they always inaccurately called the place) by Meade (remember that campaign?), suddenly was in the doghouse on Meade's show. ETSU football was catching on at 10-3 and then 7-4. I was talking about them A LOT (which is how I started caring about ETSU) on my show. A LOT!

This was a football team that could have led the program to bigger and better things- and instead we heard about Heisman Conspiracy Theories.

A sports talk show can be so influential. When the Browns were about to leave Cleveland, Mike Trivisonno up there organized marches, hired a private eye to investigate the Browns, even hung Art Modell in effigy in front of thousands of people.

When ETSU announced the football team was in trouble in 1998, what did Meade do? Have Pop call in and say that Jeff Gordon was his stepson, Brandon Stewart got a raw deal, and "BLESS YOU?"

Meade could have been the ETSU play-by-play announcer numerous times in his career. He would rather do King.

The problem is, the other hosts in town are largely just echoing what he says. If anything, Ron Bliss is a bigger homer for UT than Meade is. You think Scott Gray is going to talk ETSU? HE LEADS WITH HIS SON'S LITTLE LEAGUE FOOTBALL GAME FOR GOD'S SAKE!

And Bobby Rader was clearly hired for the station's content to be more Volcentric.

I don't buy Meade is rude. I don't buy he's unintelligent.

I do buy his show is past its prime. The format, largely based on Limbaugh's show (host and callers- no guests or co-host), is now de-emphasized in modern sports talk radio.

The overall ratings of the station are at their lowest since they changed the format.

I was tuned in myself- I'm a sports talk junkie- and remember him very early on saying "Next weekend is my favorite time of year!" because of the major college basketball tournaments.

Even in that, it was a slight towards ETSU.

This man was once their PBP guy, for crying out loud! Would it have killed him to have said "This whole week or 10 days- conference basketball tournament time- is my favorite time of year?"

But, then again, I can't bash him too much. At least he was being honest . . .

This market desperately needs me as a sports talk host. You can say this is my half-hearted attempt to be Sean Young trying out to be Catwoman, but frankly, it does.

Did anyone seriously just read that novel? If i have to scroll for 8 seconds I'm not reading.

I've said it before and I'll say it again..............anyone who listens to talk radio needs to get a life..........

(03-08-2009 01:46 AM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  Did anyone seriously just read that novel? If i have to scroll for 8 seconds I'm not reading.

Stopped about halfway through

Shame on all of you.

Because so much of ETSU's public perception and the pubic perception of sports locally is revealed there. And that can't be wrapped up in two or three sentences.

And theposterformerlyknownasthedoctor is getting on me for being longwinded?

I remember back when I proposed we limit posts to 250 words years ago and you were upset that I was trying to become the moderator!

(03-08-2009 06:17 AM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote:  I've said it before and I'll say it again..............anyone who listens to talk radio needs to get a life..........

That's interesting since you've discussed your love of NPR many times before.

I guess you turn the dial whenever Democracy Now and All Things Considered come on.

Quote:I remember back when I proposed we limit posts to 250 words years ago and you were upset that I was trying to become the moderator!

Yet another lie. In fact, I just about posted the same thing: "Funny how Pitt**** used to get on me for long posts, but it's ok for him."
(I actually did not do that out of some apparently misbegotten sense of kindness.)

The main thing I listen to on NPR is the music. The great, COMMERCIAL-FREE music. On occasion I've listened to those shows (and anyone with ANY sense knows that NPR's political reporting is suberb), but I listen for the music.
[Surprised you know the names of those shows. How'd that happen?]

I repeat - get a life.

Oh, yes. If you don't like the truth, you call the messenger a liar.

How tired and overplayed is that game?

Folks, back on the dead board this guy did one of his usual longwinded and nonsensical rants (at least when I write in detail- I know of what I am talking about) I posted the following line-

"NEW RULE- NO MORE POSTS OF MORE THAN 250 WORDS!"

And this got a huge rise out of thedoctor, as he was known then, because he said that I was not the moderator and only the moderator could make such a demand.

As usual, he was also condescending about it.

So, anyway, I'll propose it-

To prevent posts nobody is going to read because of their longwindedness- I'm as guilty as anyone on this- I ask Fan1 if he might consider a length cap for posts.

By the way, I reveal I listen to news from both sides of the political spectrum and you not only tell a lie (it's okay, I know you don't remember), but you retort with the condesention of BuckyBuck.

The sad thing is, you really aren't that different. You act like know-it-alls when you know very little and get offended if someone disagrees with you.

Wait at least a month for a word cap




In fact I'm against a word cap. It is up to a poster what he wishes to write and up to the reader what he wishes to read.

I wish the archives were still available from the old board. Without them it would be a bit unfair to ask him to prove it. I can tell you whatever he's remembering is grossly twisted.

Let the readers realize that here, on this board, I've shown (just recently, by the verbatim writings from Pitt**** himself) that he was false in what he said on two distinct, ballyhooed occasions - the Tim Mullins thing and the Sam Oatman thing. On the old board I proved literally dozens of times that this person is a prevaricator. Many of you know this.

[This is the last I'll say on this topic unless new "evidence" is introduced.]

yawn

(03-09-2009 07:27 AM)buckybuck Wrote:  yawn

My thoughts exactly.

Theposter- You've proven nothing except you are wrong with your claims.

Thanks, however, for posting up the proof of your lies about my character.

yawn....

I'm tired too!

The ratings are out, and WXSM is in the first quarter trend down again.

Only the overall ratings are made public, which means the demographics aren't. So, for instance, WTFM is the No. 2 overall station in town but may in fact be able to make more money than that would indicate since they are targeted to women.

WXSM is obviously targeted to men, or are they?

That promotion they have where they ask "the first woman to call in gets a gift certificate- how does that help attract male advertisers?

Geez, go back to the old days and hire Virginia Alverson if you have to do that.

They are down big time. Religious stations are beating WXSM. They at least know how to target their audience.

The thought here is that the station fails because the media around here fails. We've shown how popular ETSU discussion is on this board because there are so many stories about it.

It's also far, far more interesting than UT recruiting or UT basketball, especially the women, since men don't have the same interest in women's hoops.

WXSM ratings (according to RadioAndRecords.com)

http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebSite...tings.aspx

We are the Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol market (ranked 102 in the nation). It is interesting to note that they are only beating WIMZ-FM in the TriCities.

I used to listen to "the sports monster" on the way to work in the morning but since they dropped Don Hellman it's "Dave and Carl" on JCW.