CKNW Kills Last Remnant of Sportstalk

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This appeared in the sports pages of Saturday’s Vancouver Sun (Oct. 11), as part of Greg Douglas’ weekly column:

HERE ‘N’ THERE: The two-sentence internal staff email from CKNW program director Ian Koenigsfest this past Monday will have a resounding effect on local sports broadcasting. The message said: “Please note that Sports Weekend has been cancelled. I would like to thank Brook Ward (pictured, below) for hosting the show for the past year; he will stay on as a relief announcer in the sports department.”

 

Ward had been methodically building a loyal audience on his two-hour Saturday and Sunday late-night gig, one of the last established forms of sports programming on the station.

 

 

On a more pleasant media note, Global TV’s Jay Janower has been named the first recipient of the new PGA of BC award saluting a member of the Vancouver media for “consistent, insightful coverage of golf in B.C.”

 

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Sport+Radio+battle+lines+drawn+with+Sportsnet+rivalry/10161489/story.html#ixzz3FnyqRIpv

15 COMMENTS

  1. Not a welcome development. I for one thoroughly enjoyed Ward’s show, and I’m not even a sports fan. It didn’t feel contrived as does much of the other programming on the former Top Dog. Is this carving out room for another round of infomercials or is it to have the aliens and sasquatch show run live seven days a week?

  2. How long will it be before Chorus traffic reporting station pulls in higher ratings than NW. It is amazing how far NW has fallen……I long for the days of content instead we are served up puff pieces for the brain dead people who continue to listen.

    Thank goodness that I was able to find a number of years ago…real news and analysis…Alex Jones…infowars.com. If his show was picked up in Vancouver it would be Number 1 in the ratings within a couple of months as people are starving for real content on serious subjects.

  3. The sports stats contained in Brook’s head would astonish the most devout sports fan. He also has energy, and a way with words. Qualities that, at one time, kept you on the air and a listener’s choice. THAT equals ratings!

    Sorry Brook.

  4. Very unfortunate, but given all the other cuts going on at CKNW, should not be a total surprise to anyone.

    Unless you were living on another planet, everyone knew it was coming.

    Brook is a great sports analyst and talk show host, knows his sports and his baseball without question, and I’ll be surprised as hell if nobody else picks up him on waivers.

    But , nothing surprises me anymore . This whole business is littered with a graveyard of veterans and former stars.

    Good luck, Brook !

  5. Frank Griffiths must be rolling in his grave. The multifaceted radio talk format that once made NW98 KING, as in new, current affairs, politics, lifestyle and sports talk, is all a shell of itself today.

    The very fact that NW98 has essentially gotten out of the sports business is tragic and IMO silly. Sports ie; back in the day NHL hockey and CFL football play by play with pre and post game shows was and is the one thing on radio that commands listening live in real time. It is a no brain slam dunk audience grabber. Sports covers all demographics. Factoring pre and post game sports talk keeps listeners tuned in and of course with open lines callers calling in.

    Dan Russell commanded a capable audience especially before the down fall of CKNW sports dept. Brook Ward has done his ablest to at least keep some sports fans tuned to NW98.

    With all the changes at the now dying dog NW98 I have tried and still try to keep an open mind to much of the new talk radio. Some of the stuff on the different shows is ok but a lot of the stuff is borderline amateurish (intern sounding style). I hope time shakes this stuff out. But NW98 ditching sports altogether is another nail in its coffin.

    Sports and sports talk introduces younger listeners to talk radio and maybe to hold on and listen to other non-sports-related talk. By throwing in the towel on sports, well I’m certain the under-25 demographic can’t much be bothered to even tune into NW98.

    30-40 somethings may hold on as they have grown up with talk radio, but they too can be fickle and flip the dial. 50+ group probably don’t get much of the NEW talk styles and more likely just tune to CBC Radio One or just flip on the idiot box t.v.

    Sports and sports talk brought all age groups together. It’s a nice distraction from some of the drudgery and troubles of daily life. As I said Mr. Frank Griffiths must be rolling in his grave today.

  6. CKNW has played directly into the hands of News1130 and the CBC.
    News Directors, Programmers and the execs at both must be shaking their heads in disbelief. Frank Griffiths rolling in his grave? There must be a dance band down there somewhere playing a new swing song called “Little Dog Takes a Hit, Little Dog takes a tumble…”.
    For those of us who grew up with the TOP Dog, and those of us who WORKED for the TOP Dog, every one of these comments is just another nail in the coffin.
    “Are you listenin’??” They’re deaf.

  7. Sorry Brook — never good to lose a regular gig. He’s a hard working guy, and nice to boot!
    Put wow, he’s one of a very few who has lasted at the black tower for so long!

    IT’s more of the same.. the CKNW ship was sinking alooong time ago.. and keeps on sinking… most who used to work their don’t work in media or have gone to the aforementioned CBC or NEWS 1130 or elsewhere… .

    Radio’s been dead for a while, anyone who thinks it’s going back to it’s ‘golden age’ is crazy… it doesn’t help that in this industry, where corporate greed meant so many good people got fired/let go, and then those people would then go to other stations in the city… how does that make radio better???

    Look at any station — how many people (on air/producers anything!) have bounced around??

    It’s fun to read these boards and laugh at the people who take this stuff so seriously… get out the industry for a while and realize that no one outside of radio really gives a crap!

  8. I would think that NW will replace Brook Wards intelligent radio show with reruns of Jessica Garris daily news stories. Jessica is fast becoming the go to gal at NW for breaking news. If you want the latest on her walk to work, or her girl friends wedding plans, or her in depth thoughts on dog ownership, or any other matters of importance to Vancouvers radio audience stay tuned.
    Its enough to make you puke.

  9. Has anyone noticed that NW has taken to playing music in the background of much of its talk programing. Its distracting . Mind you the content of a lot of the new programing is so weak and inane that the distraction is likely a good idea.

  10. AJessica update. She did a segment on some sad story of someones hardship. It was a bit cheesy but then they added a musical sound track of some tear jerker tune. Im sorry I cant go into more detail but I had to turn the radio off as I was going to cry while driving.

    NW has sunk as low as it can go.

  11. Brook Ward conducted the most inane psycho-babble on the sports scene. I am convince he contribute mightily to Dan Russell’s earlier demise on NW. Granted, NW has reduced itself to a joke in the industry, but let’s not feel sorry for Brook – perhaps he could do something more tailored to his talents: telling fart jokes and pulling his own finger.

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