Here is the Soo Today story that forced a red-faced Team 1200 (as detailed in the Ottawa Citizen today) to issue an apology after one the hosts of Three Guys On The Radio said most of the women in Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie "basically smell like boxed wine."
Nothing against of the current talent at the station; all of them, no doubt, are good Joes and probably feel embarrassed and will come in for some ribbing from their friends and colleagues.
However, this is hardly the first time the Team has been left with egg on its face after a lapse in the use of adult-level judgement and sensitivity. There's been Don (Dandyman) Romani insinuating Tie Domi beat his wife; Arash Madani's horrible Hurricane Katrina analogy, just to name a couple. They seldom get called on it in Ottawa, but there comes a point when it strains credibility to hear the station's bosses say it was "unlike" a person to say what he said or that it was "no intention."
Poppycock; this is exactly what happens when you put people on air with a good-ol'-boy mentality to capture a good-ol'-boy demographic and expect everyone else — minorities, women, bleeding hearts who also play in fantasy leagues (we're out there) — to lump it, because sports is "strictly entertainment" and it's not informing anyone's worldview. (Which it does of course.)
There's a reason Russell Peters can bag on every ethnic group out there and no one gets mad, because he's laughing with everyone. Snide comments about a city's female population; no, that's not cool.
It is possible to do sports radio that's funny, insightful and entertaining without putting down women or minorities. One day we might have that in Ottawa.
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5 comments:
"It is possible to do sports radio that's funny, insightful and entertaining without putting down women or minorities. "
Which is precisely what we do every Friday from 4 to 5 on CFRC 101.9 FM in Kingston, right Neate? :P
I'd hope so! Granted, these guys have to walk the line for 3 hrs a day, 5 mornings a week.... so do Landry/Stellick, so does Hoagie, so does The Swirsk and so does the Franchise on the FAN 590, and they don't have this happening.
My sense is that Buzz is the real lowest common denominator of that bunch. No one is nominating Steve or Stuntman Stu for either sainthood or Mensa here, but anytime these guys cross the line between sophomoric and plain offensive, it is usually Buzz as the instigator. Unfortunately, radio is all about the next ratings period, and these guys have determined that they are narrowcasting to young male buttheads who either can't afford Sirius so that they can get Howard Stern, or who are too dumb to figure out how to hook it up.
"It is possible to do sports radio that's funny, insightful and entertaining without putting down women or minorities. "
You're correct, sir. It's called the Team 990 out of Montreal, which you can easily pick up in Ottawa in the daytime. They do something that 1200 might consider - talk about sports (and not just the Habs). Most days TGOR sounds like the View 1200. I'll put up with the crackle and pop of a Montreal station over 1200 anyday. Sad thing is, Steve does know sports....
Stuntman sounds like he would be an all-right character too... sometimes it just takes one element to cause everyone to go haywire.
I don't listen to 990 since I don't have so much interest in Montreal teams, but 590 out of T.O. is excellent... the other day they went about 90 minutes without even talking about the Leafs, and had maybe one caller complaining about the topic.
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