Re: News Story

[Chuckigo@att.net]

Brian mistakenly pondered about the sporting life in 
Maine:
>>Is there that much of a market for sports talk in 
Maine?  I mean, there's no
professional sports teams in the state.  Just an 
innocent question!<<

well, actually, Brian, we do have professional sports in 
Maine.  our Portland Pirates are a professional sports 
franchise, as are our Portland SeaDogs.  sure, they're 
farm/feeder system teams, but they get paid for what 
they do, nonetheless.
and, surprisingly, since the latter part of the 1900's, 
Maine has actually had not only electricity, but the 
capability to send AND receive both sound and video 
through the magic of broadcast.  that was slightly after 
the running-water thing we all experienced!  (honey, 
gonna turn that two-seater into a shed for the mower, 
now!)  and for the better part of two and a half 
decades, Mainers have enjoyed, all right, not enjoyed, 
been able to pay just as much money as all of you in the 
lower 47 do for Cable and Satellite delivery services of 
the aforementioned broadcasts, especially those of the 
visual persuasion.  the radio versions of events that 
happen far, far away have been with us for quite some 
time.  there are people in Maine who are capable of 
stringing multi-syllabic words together to form coherent 
sentences in regards to talking sports.  however, those 
few don't usually get on with Eddie Andelman, who, 
working side-by-side with a bona fide Main-ah, Dale 
Arnold, has no patience for those of us who reside in 
the cast-off portion of Massachusetts.  Dale, by the 
way, got his extremely big break by becoming the voice 
of the-then Maine Mariners (AHL Hockey).  the Mariners 
franchise flipped from Philadelphia (Flyers) to New 
Jersey (Devils).  and in one unique call-up, they took 
the radio guy instead of a defenseman.  go figure.
  sorry to have rambled on so, but... no, wait a minute: 
i'm not sorry.  once again, another misconception about 
life north of the Hampton tolls shot to hell.
   not only do we have a nice history with professional 
sports franchises in Maine, we still do have pros 
pulling down a paycheck for doing what they love in 
Maine.  and we were doing five-nights-a-week sports talk 
in Biddeford, Maine (although not profitably) back when 
most sports talk shows were relegated to the weekends.  
Maine sports fans are enlightened, and, i know it's not 
saying much, "smahtah" than Dan Duquette.
   to answer your "innocent question:"  yeah, there is a 
market for AT LEAST that many sports talk stations in 
Maine.  additionally, the ones we DO have lack coverage 
of other aspects of what one might consider sport; there 
are no stations that truly represent the auto racing 
world or even the sportsmen (hunting/fishing).  (we 
actually have real auto racing up this way, and, believe 
it not, people from "away" like to bring their beer and, 
um, oh yeah, fishing poles and guns up here for the 
weekend, too.)  and sadly, the "all golf" format just 
hasn't caught on up here on the radio dials.  even on FM.
  previously, there have been suggestions on "what JJ 
should" with his stations.  he's on the right track with 
the sports thing.  if he'd like to truly lock-up a very 
exclusive, money spending audience, he needs to find a 
host capable of carrying a three hour "sportsman" show 
as well as a local auto racing expert.  he would grab 
some numbers.  he would make a difference.  he would 
pull himself out that ever-enlarging money-sucking black 
hole.

- -Chuck Igo