It was Wednesday June 4th in Rockville, Maryland. The sky had turned all shades of the rainbow that afternoon. A storm was coming. At 5 pm, the sky in Rockville was red. That is to say, it was announced that Red Zebra had purchased DC's Sportstalk 980 from Clear Channel Communications. Sure the sky literally turned charcoal (I've seen some crazy rainbows man) and dumped rain on the area for a few hours, but the real storm that day had already occurred.
Radio stations are bought and sold everyday in this nation. What's the big deal? Well, Sportstalk 980 joins Six Flags, Johnny Rockets restaurants, the Redskins, and even Tom Cruise as part of the Daniel Snyder entertainment conglamerate that has no real direction other than for one guy to say "Yeah I got one of those." The problem is - when it comes to sports radio, Daniel Snyder already had one of those.
Snyder's Red Zebra already owned AM730 (and other stations to form Triple X ESPN radio) which functions as the official station of the Redskins. Sportstalk 980 was free to cover the team in an objective manner. In the case of 980, the team did not own the medium through which it was being covered. If the station wanted to examine the wag the dog approach that the Redksins (namely Clinton Portis) had taken in Gibbs 2.0, it was free to explore that realm. If an unlikely playoff run were to occur after the death of a teammate, they were also free to explore the canonization path that the official station endorses.
The Redskins have effectively purchased public opinion. Their relationship with TheWashington Post is all but dead after some unflattering coverage of Snyder by the paper. Sure the paper covers the team, but one need look no further than the buyout granted to Tony Kornheiser, critic Steven Hunter, et al, to understand where that business is headed. The court of public opinion is on the airwaves and on this bandwidth. I can only hope that my blog colors can remain orange and #### opposed to burgundy and gold, because the airwaves will now be cluttered with renditions of "Hail to the Redskins." There aren't enough stations in the world that can tell me that Jim Zorn can lead this team to glory. Nor are there enough stations that can convice me that Vinnie Ceratto is a top notch GM.
One thing is for certain, within a month, there certainly won't be enough stations that are going to be able to tell you otherwise.
typical radio!!!! if aint broke take a hammer and kill it!!!!!!! a few months ago our local radio station took off a very popular sports talk guy, saying listener ship had fallen?? hey idiots im sorry but i listened lots and never ever thought this, but??? then the guy went somewhere else and now am hearing the radio station is hurting many advertisers dropping the station as the result of the guyy being fired.. im sorry i think its funny
This is a very interesting subject. Mainstream media outlets being monopolized by special interest groups. How long before unbiased reporting disappears from the airwaves?
btgroup1
If the station is ran akin to Snyder's overall dealings with regard to the Redskins . Then I for one believe that the listeners within its vicinity will be in for a very torrid time indeed.
And with Oberfeurher Snyder forever the autocrat I think that things'll be reined in excessively . And any criticism therein of the 'skins will be meted out with his wrath in more ways than one.
If you put up the money for Mission Impossible IV,V and VI. Then I'll teach Jason Campbell how to play quarteback. Afterall I did play one in All The Right Moves or was it some other movie that I made ? I can't remember but I tell you this if things aren't going right then I can take the team to the Scientology Hq's for a deprogramming session .
And to hell with what Matt Lauer thinks.
justan' aka tophatal ........
Last edited by justanotherfan on June 12th at 10:18 AM.
I listen to sportstalk 980. Doc Walker and the John Thompson show everyday. At around 4 I switch over to the John Riggins show. Look the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And whats left of the middle class pay for it all. Nothing new to watch small markets get bought out. Special intrest groups control this country any way.
btroup - Snyder is a disgusting weasel and he still has the wool pulled over the eyes of Redskin's fans. Has them thinking that "he wants to do what's best for the Redskins." That is a bunch of horse*c*rap! He is interested in his own empire, nothing more.
Was listening to Redskins Radio that day, on the John Riggins show. John and his co-hosts were pretty much openly mocking him by purposely predicting an undefeated season, the genius hiring of Jim Zorn, the greatness of GM Vinnie Cerrato and ignoring all other sports news for the day. It was pretty classic. Hope they don't get canned for it...
wrinkels - Not sure what is small market about 980. I'm pretty sure they outrate 730, but I'll look it up to be safe. It's possible to buy out a superior competitor if forces are in line, and you're willing to go beyond the market price (housing bubble anyone?). Clear Channel isn't poor getting poorer. They're a conglamerate that was likely offered a premium for a station. Why not take it?
