FavreFan wrote:
Leery sounds creep and weird on the radio. Definitely doesn't have a better sound.
I disagree. Leery's voice definitely has more polish than Parkins', and his pacing, especially on his own, is right up there with Bernstein's--who, despite his content, displays the consummate talk radio cadence. Leery has great intonation--again on par with Bernstein--whereas Parkins generally tends towards vocal inflection. Even when Parkins intonates, it is most often either a screeching fry or better categorized as inflection.
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Don't think experience in a big market means anything. If it did, Leery and Spiegel wouldn't be so awful on the radio.
It means something to program directors. Just try getting a major market radio gig with little more than a great voice.
Also, of course it means something. It's the difference between reading relevant texts on the fly (like Leery and MANY other hosts on the station can) and constantly, endlessly, referencing the "awful texts people are probably sending" like Parkins does. Parkins still very much has pangs of mid-market antics in his sound. Leery can give his opinion and move on, without feeling the compulsion to hedge against texters that have yet to text.
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Who cares about a better relationship with a guy who's awful and on his way out the door?
I think the listeners care, so they don't have to hear painfully awkward disruptions in a sports talk show born from two people either genuinely not knowing one another, not liking one another, or both.
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I don't think Leery had some large contingent of fans.
He's got 60K followers on Twitter, almost 10K on Instagram. That kind of following can certainly influence PPM numbers in a new timeslot.
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He doesn't have better prep skills - the one thing someone can't criticize Parkins for is lack of preparation.
I'm not criticizing Parkins for failing to prepare, I'm saying that Holmes is better-prepared, and can speak intelligently on a wider range of topics.
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Holmes doesn't have better knowledge of any topics and teams, he just repeats whatever The Score as a station decides the narrative is that day.
This simply is not true. Leery has been operating as an almost-daily sports yakker in this town for quite awhile. As a result, he has a much better working knowledge of current goings-on than any transplant possibly could have. In 6 months, sure, their working knowledge of current issues in this town might be comparable, but you also have to consider that we're talking about
bringing in the transplant over a talent already in-market. Choosing the out-of-market transplant over the in-market guy is necessarily choosing a breaking-in period over a virtually seamless transition, current events-wise. Which is fine, it's just that there better be supreme talent elsewhere in the guy's repertoire, and I don't see any for Parkins when evaluated relative to Leery.
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He doesn't have more talent than Parkins. If even half of what you said is true Parkins wouldn't have the job and we wouldn't be having this back and forth.
There are other reasons Parkins could have the job despite a talent disparity in Leery's favor (which there is).