I thought Goff wasn't offered a job there.

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It's gonna be Goff. Yeah yeah yeah.

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Shitcan Will Perdue. I wish I had a nickel for everytime I yelled, "t-t-t-today junior"

Just decided to read this thread.

I’ve been gone from the area for over 6 years, and overall nothing has changed at that station???

JFC.

I gotta say the Columbus sports talker is monumentally more entertaining than 670 was since the glory days. Probably helps that they have a couple of Chicago-area ex-pats that brought that old Score debauchery with them.

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Not a mult.

Really? That's why I was asking. You know that for sure? I haven't seen that anywhere. I would have thought it would have been a headline here if that happened.

Who's replacing him? Purdue and Gill going to the new network or did they get axed too?

It is remarkable that, when traveling across the midwest, you hear much better sports talk populated by talent that grew up with the Score. They use styles that the current Score has rejected.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

With the growing anti-woke push, this is probably a good time to start an entertaining, non-Soros owned, sports talk brand.

I don't know what any of that means. I just want them to take more callers

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I too have noticed better listening outside of Chicago by far. As to listeners it is just another downfall and mark of laziness. Why do that when you can read twitter and texts? Or even now make up twitter and text takes. One thing further is baseball metrics. Example here is Bernstein thinks he can talk about all of MLB without ever watching an out of market game or non Cubs for that matter.

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Elections have consequences.

Find it somewhat silly that WSCR is intent on maintaining the status quo, the current product is stale and could certainly use some reimagining, yet the supposedly smartest people in any room they enter cannot understand that they need to something, anything to differentiate themselves from the crowd.

The current incarnation of WSCR cannot pull off the ex-player/nerd collaborations that populate local and national sports talk, the nerds are too lefty and nerdy and the ex-jocks get caught up in trying to be nerdy rather than giving the honest takes required. Olin certainly would not fit with this group as he does not suffer football fools gladly, and therein lies the rub, being a "smart fan" about football does not require one to have a sheepskin, in fact people that are barely literate can give you chapter and verse on the intricacies of offensive line leverage and technique. To them Lil' Danny Bernstein yapping about football is akin to a Stroh's drinker giving hot takes to wine snobs at a Napa Valley winery.

I don't think there is any good business case to create any terrestrial radio product regardless of the format, genre, or politics of it. It's just a dying medium all around.

I don't even think the "take more callers" works in 2024 because most people don't consume live audio. They consume recorded audio via podcasts and you can't really call into those when it was recorded hours before you listen to it. It has been years since I've consumed live sports talk since everything I get now is in podcast or over youtube.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

I get you young whipper snappers with all your podcasts. That said noting says prerecorded pod content an hour before a bears game, the night after pr even the next morning. It just isn't the same.

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Elections have consequences.

Isn't this kind of a circular argument? No one's listening live because the content isn't extemporaneous, the content isn't extemporaneous because no one's listening live?

The problem is that if you want to use radio to compete directly with podcasts, as Audacy does, you will lose every time, because podcasts are not bound by FCC regulations, hot clocks, or overgrown HR departments. You can't be better than podcasts at podcasts, but you can be different from them, and ultimately create a strong product that way (at least until Audacy sells your land out from under you and surrenders your broadcast license).

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"Take more callers" doesn't work because nobody under the age of 75 talks on the phone.

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We text and download fast food apps

The funny thing about "no more live calls" representing a technological evolution of sports talk radio is that it just horseshoes back around to doing Chet Coppock except now you can rewind it, if for some reason you wanted to.

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The mid-day show turns "take more callers" into a bit that vs. just being normal and attempting to havie a conversation.

They are better off not taking callers than only the ones that are their regular ones who read a script or are trying to impress Bernstein vs. the ones where it's been pre-programmed to be try and be funny by talking down to the caller.

That's the thing, "taking more callers" is not just about introducing the Voice Of The Fan onto the airwaves, it's also about letting the VOTF play the role of the audience at an improv show, getting the hosts to respond off the cuff to somewhat-unexpected prompts. And it's the job of the respective hosts to turn those prompts into compelling content of some kind. Lord knows how boring "more callers" would be if Amir was an actual caller instead of just being Dan writing basketball love letters to himself.

I think taking more callers is actually a good thing. Yes, some callers suck, but it may actually work if the hosts didn't try to turn it into a bit instead of just acting normal (or maybe they would understand if you told them to not act weird).

If Goff comes back 50% of the main regular hosts will be radical race baiters who've sought out therapy for mental disorders.

They know what keeps people rage listening.

There is also near zero production value in sports talk. It seems like everyone fell into the B and B habit of showing up five minutes before the show begins and leaving five minutes after. There's no fun, landmark segments that draw the fans into the equation. There's no goofy bits. There's no interesting guests from outside the sports world who might want to talk sports.

and regarding podcasts, the Score is chalk full of podcasters coming on to pretend they are now elevated to experts. Terrestrial talks to podcasters then podcasters talk to terrestrials and its one big circle jerk of nobodies trying to bump up their resumes because they were asked to appear on a show other than their own.

I get why production is poor. The stations pay those guys didley. So now we have to think that people are amazing producers just because they can splice together a one minute buffet of quotes with music underneath.

There just is no creativity in any of the shows. They are pure paint by numbers. That doesn't fly when the teams are bad or its a dead spot in the sports year. All of the talent bitches about those situations but that is precisely the time they should be able to prove their value as entertainers. I should be able to turn on the Score if I knew little about sports and still be entertained. That's what the greats in this genre can do.

Some people fellate Bernstein for his work but what value added has that guy ever brought to any show?

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I would much rather listen to Murph’s corny segments (Thin Books, I PREDICT, etc) and him ripping the Cubs a new one every day, than listen to Bernstein carry water for Craig Counsell. Some of that change is due to becoming partners with the Cubs and part is losing the more colorful hosts.

There were countless times I would sit in my driveway in the car after work listening to the HFC because it was so entertaining and I didn’t want to miss a segment. Haven’t felt that way in decades.

Hell, I’d take Hampton over Herron, or Tommy Williams (RIP) over Goff.

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Excellent thoughts in this thread - solid read!

It's so true that it feels like taking callers is nothing more than attempted fodder for the hosts to gasp/make fun of/laugh at, at this point. While some of the meatballs that call in I could do without, one thing I've learned in this latest era of The Score is that I'd take the random caller over a breathless host teasing, then delivering, yet another hot/super important take and monologuing for an entire segment. I also don't need the disingenuous attempts at self-deprecation as some sort olive branch to the common man, but maybe that's just me.

I'd love for them to shake up this current lineup of crap - while the morning show is vanilla, it's predictable and I don't see them jacking with it. Both the midday and afternoon shows could use a total douching, unfortunately I don't think they have the balls or budget to do it. My one wish is that they go against what seems to be the default of building another show with meatpants as a main player....he's a thin-skinned clown who too often will default into a cheesy radio guy voice or way too loud awful impression. Be like his previous wives and just move on already.

The only way I'd be ok with Herron or Ramirez (yawn) getting the call to do anything more than fill-in is if it means they keep Goff away...far away. And I agree with those that don't want Grote to installed as any sort of regular host - his simple thoughts and mediocre impressions are find here and there, not sure it's an everyday listen. Oh, and man oh man, keep that cheeseball Ramie far away, well - yeesh that's bad radio.

EDIT TO ADD: My #1 perpetual wish is for Larry to launched away from the station permanently - I feel like it will never happen, but need to make sure this out in the ether. By far, without comparison, the absolute most annoying and awful radio "host" I have ever heard on The Score .... his inflated ego and self-importance are just icing on the shit cake he is.

It kind of feels downstream of the Boers/Murph feud: pretending not to care decisively won over caring too much. It arguably won again when Mac and his song parodies got replaced with Patrick Mannelly. But that low-effort approach did yield some of the best radio I've ever heard. It also yielded some of the worst radio I've ever heard.

Incidentally, I wonder if Boers and Murph were ever able to patch things up in their old age. I think they're both in the not small "Worked at 4949 West Belmont And Got Cancer" club. I'd hate to think there are two sick old men in their 70s who still hate each other because one called the other one gay 35 years ago.

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I remember Goff saying being labeled a race baiter is what put him in therapy. Then if he wants to stick to sports Bernstein or Larry will be bad pairings for him and he'll be back in therapy soon.

I did not know this. Okay, fine, I'll start brainstorming Jason Goff/Jennifer Melfi sketches.

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I don't think there's any patching up things that Boers made fun of Murph for.

This is still legendary radio here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK7jIHwEze4

This segment makes me sad because there is no way the 670 of the last decade touches this one.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Exactly. I don't care so much about taking callers. I care that they've watered down content into being a combination of
1. Reading news headlines
2. Carrying water for teams affiliated with the station
3. Interviews with players, coaches, other media that have nothing interesting to say

The station was great when they were concerned about entertaining themselves and the audience. No one on the station has any fun. It's just recycled and regurgitated statements with no depth.

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Your #2 is big to me. Very different before Cubs etc on the score.

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Elections have consequences.