Why the hell wont 97.1 ever discuss hockey?

[RuffDraft 1]

We went all training camp as well as the dropping of the puck without so much as a blurb. Only hockey we get on 97.1 is a score and we rarely even get those. It took the retirement of a Detroit legend to even bring it up at all and oh wow it lasted for 2 minutes and they parlay it into "best detroit role players ever" and they d*ck ride Dennis Rodman for an hour. If i have to hear them breakdown Denard Robinson taking a sh*t or Brandon Inge tripping on a crack on a sidewalk again im going to go insane!

You would figure since they carry wings games that it would be in their best interest to discuss it from time to time. You can tell they dont know squat about hockey. Whenever some miracle happens and a hockey player gets brought up Valenti and Foster (or anyone) both go silent and let the caller handle it. They can't chip in with a stat or something that shows they are well rounded and actually even follow our most successful team.

In this market and with this fanbase is it really such a ratings boon to discuss hockey? If i was an unthawed caveman and i listened to 97.1 i would never even know hockey existed.

Edit: And no, a post-game wrap up does not suffice.

Edited October 15, 2010 by RuffDraft

[zombi 43]

I listen to 97.1 on a regular basis. I mostly do so in hope that they will discuss the Wings. It frustrates me to no end that they never talk about them. Really, only in the playoffs do they get a decent amount of coverage.

I just think they are playing to what sports are most popular. Unfortunately, hockey is below football, baseball, and basketball.

It sucks...

[dropkickshanahans 463]

We went all training camp as well as the dropping of the puck without so much as a blurb. Only hockey we get on 97.1 is a score and we rarely even get those. It took the retirement of a Detroit legend to even bring it up at all and oh wow it lasted for 2 minutes and they parlay it into "best detroit role players ever" and they d*ck ride Dennis Rodman for an hour. If i have to hear them breakdown Denard Robinson taking a sh*t or Brandon Inge tripping on a crack on a sidewalk again im going to go insane!

You would figure since they carry wings games that it would be in their best interest to discuss it from time to time. You can tell they dont know squat about hockey. Whenever some miracle happens and a hockey player gets brought up Valenti and Foster (or anyone) both go silent and let the caller handle it. They can't chip in with a stat or something that shows they are well rounded and actually even follow our most successful team.

In this market and with this fanbase is it really such a ratings boon to discuss hockey? If i was an unthawed caveman and i listened to 97.1 i would never even know hockey existed.

Edit: And no, a post-game wrap up does not suffice.

All of the other sports are much bigger, plus there are bigger stories going on right now for those said sports and people would rather talk about that. I don't listen to the morning show since I'm not up in time, and I can't stand karsch and anderson, but yes I hardly hear valenti and foster talk about hockey. Most of the hockey talk goes on during the evening when caputo and fithian start.

[RuffDraft 1]

All of the other sports are much bigger, plus there are bigger stories going on right now for those said sports and people would rather talk about that. I don't listen to the morning show since I'm not up in time, and I can't stand karsch and anderson, but yes I hardly hear valenti and foster talk about hockey. Most of the hockey talk goes on during the evening when caputo and fithian start.

I listen to 97.1 probably 6 hours a day. Drew and mike in the AM on the wrif, then Karsh and anderson onto Valenti and foster until i finish my shift. Probably another hour after that during car rides. I never ever hear them and so rarely Caputo discuss hockey. Its getting really stale talking about football all day. Theres no way in hell the wings are that much lower in popularity than say the Pistons.

When ESPN covers a certain sport they are sure to hype it up, cover it alot. 97.1 just doesn't do it. I'll still listen. Its the only thing that takes my mind off the mundane mind-numbing factory i work in but i still would like at least an hour or so a week of wings talk. Im not even asking for NHL coverage, just our local team!

Edited October 15, 2010 by RuffDraft

[dropkickshanahans 463]

I listen to 97.1 probably 6 hours a day. Drew and mike in the AM on the wrif, then Karsh and anderson onto Valenti and foster until i finish my shift. Probably another hour after that during car rides. I never ever hear them and so rarely Caputo discuss hockey. Its getting really stale talking about football all day. Theres no way in hell the wings are that much lower in popularity than say the Pistons.

When ESPN covers a certain sport they are sure to hype it up, cover it alot. 97.1 just doesn't do it. I'll still listen. Its the only thing that takes my mind off the mundane mind-numbing factory i work in but i still would like at least an hour or so a week of wings talk. Im not even asking for NHL coverage, just our local team!

I only get to listen to a little bit of valenti and foster on the way to work, but I don't listen to caputo and fithian anymore since the site's new radio stream page doesn't seem to work on my computer. Last year though I remember the Wings being talked about alot throughout the season on the caputo show. Actually all I really remember caputo and fithian talking about was the wings season and howard/ozzie, michigan state basketball and the tom izzo fiasco, and sometimes the pistons and how good jerebko is going to be. I guess keep tuning into them, sometimes ken kal joins the show.

Edited October 15, 2010 by dropkickshanahans

[rage 24]

You don't want mike v or karsh talking hockey. They don't know anything about it. Pat caputo knows hockey well. So does Dennis fifth for that matter.

I only get to listen to a little bit of valenti and foster on the way to work, but I don't listen to caputo and fithian anymore since the site's new radio stream page doesn't seem to work on my computer. Last year though I remember the Wings being talked about alot throughout the season on the caputo show. Actually all I really remember caputo and fithian talking about was the wings season and howard/ozzie, michigan state basketball and the tom izzo fiasco, and sometimes the pistons and how good jerebko is going to be. I guess keep tuning into them, sometimes ken kal joins the show.

Yeah pat is awesome with hockey. It's his favorite sport.

I can't say enough about mike v and how stupid he sounds when he tries to talk about hockey. You should have heard him talk about the salary cap during the whole franzen and hossa deal. Good god....

[dropkickshanahans 463]

You don't want mike v or karsh talking hockey. They don't know anything about it. Pat caputo knows hockey well. So does Dennis fifth for that matter.

Yeah pat is awesome with hockey. It's his favorite sport.

I can't say enough about mike v and how stupid he sounds when he tries to talk about hockey. You should have heard him talk about the salary cap during the whole franzen and hossa deal. Good god....

Only reason why I like Valenti and Foster is because well, besides the fact that I love all sports and every one of our Detroit teams, I'm also hoping for that Valenti meltdown. The guy is hilarious when he gets pissed off. Right now is the perfect time with all the Michigan/State talk going on.

[BigWillieStyle 662]

It's Fall in Michigan. What do you expect? It's football time. Don't worry, it's done by early January. They start talking hockey in April, when it really matters.

I do have to agree that hockey coverage in Detroit is lacking. Aside from Mickey's chats with Drew and Mike and Inside Hockeytown with Pat Caputo and Ken Kal, hockey barely exists in Detroit media.

Maybe people are just too damn spoiled by The Wings success to actually care. Case in point, overheard at opening night by a man around 45 dressed in a Federov sweater, " Why isn't Shanahan playing tonight?" I had to shake my head. <facepalm>

Edited October 16, 2010 by BigWillieStyle

[TimeBinder 28]

Try 1130 in the AM Sean Balligian(sp?) in the morning - good show nice guy. Loves to talk hockey, not as much as I would like, but you get some hockey talk - don't know if he is bringing ice-time back at night. Give a listen - interviews Kevin Allen on a reg basis too. 97.1 doesn't not seem to even care if hockey is around - so show hosts have even admitted as much - mike v - ****** bag

[RuffDraft 1]

It's Fall in Michigan. What do you expect? It's football time. Don't worry, it's done by early January. They start talking hockey in April, when it really matters.

I do have to agree that hockey coverage in Detroit is lacking. Aside from Mickey's chats with Drew and Mike and Inside Hockeytown with Pat Caputo and Ken Kal, hockey barely exists in Detroit media.

Maybe people are just too damn spoiled by The Wings success to actually care. Case in point, overheard at opening night by a man around 45 dressed in a Federov sweater, " Why isn't Shanahan playing tonight?" I had to shake my head. <facepalm>

I agree us being spoiled by the wings achievements definitely play a role. I love football so i dont mind the talk about it. I just dont want it to be all they talk about. I was tellin my buddy how sad it is that 971 has probably 16 hours of local shows a day and dont talk wings yet drew and mike do 4 hours a day for an all around talk show and still get more wings coverage in. Even if mike doesnt know jack sh*t about sports. I love when they have Mickey on.

Try 1130 in the AM Sean Balligian(sp?) in the morning - good show nice guy. Loves to talk hockey, not as much as I would like, but you get some hockey talk - don't know if he is bringing ice-time back at night. Give a listen - interviews Kevin Allen on a reg basis too. 97.1 doesn't not seem to even care if hockey is around - so show hosts have even admitted as much - mike v - ****** bag

Apparently Valenti stopped posting on his own shows forums because users were attacking him for not talking about the wings. His cop out was ratings, ratings, ratings. Well apparently the ratings are good enough for them to be the radio host of the wings games.

[CenterIce 83]

I haven't listened to sports talk radio in Detroit in a long time. If you can at least get them to start talking about sports, they usually leave out hockey. I think the problem is they have no one who really know much about it. They should give one of the Wings announcers a show.

[BigWillieStyle 662]

I haven't listened to sports talk radio in Detroit in a long time. If you can at least get them to start talking about sports, they usually leave out hockey. I think the problem is they have no one who really know much about it. They should give one of the Wings announcers a show.

I thought that they hired McCarty. He was on the morning show a few days a week, not to long ago. I wonder if they put him on waivers?

[LeftWinger 4,959]

Mike will always say, "we have an open phone, call and talk hockey and they will talk it with you" but you guys are right there are never any show topics that involve a few hours of hockey talk. Valenti is just clueless when it comes to hockey and foster is, well, foster. If I recall if was him back in 1994 saying that the Wings should trade Yzerman (or it was drew sharp, cant tell the difference anyway.) They always say nothing of too big of interest happens to warrant a topic, what about Pav's fight? Sure really not that big of story, but could you imagine if the two quarterbacks at michigan/state got into a fight? Holy hell, it would be a week long topic! Valenti is a loser, Foster is a puppet... This isnt called Football, Baseball, Basketball or even College-Town, its Hockeytown, unfortunately the local media doesn't know enough about the sport to even hold a 2 minute conversation and that is sad...

Edited October 16, 2010 by LeftWinger

[Zion 93]

Haven't heard much of Detroit's radio sports talk since I haven't lived in the area in 15 years, but they need to take a cue from WGR in Buffalo: those guys know and talk hockey, and while Buffalo only has the Bills, Sabres and then UB sports, they really know their stuff.

Pretty pathetic and completely unacceptable that Hockeytown lacks this. I was stationed temporarily in Chicago for a few months last year, and they actually had a few guys who knew hockey and who were glad that the Hawks were winning - of course, there was one guy who openly said "I can't wait for the playoffs to be over because there's so many good stories going on with the Cubs and Sox right now". What a joke.

[Guest Howard He Do It?!]

It's a call-in show and the callers largely dictate what is being discussed. What does that tell you right there? Call into the damn shows and talk about hockey instead of bitching about it here. Be pro-active.

[RedFlag85 33]

Here's my take. I think nationally (The U.S) there is a certain stigma in Sports media about talking Hockey. I think a lot of national Sports media outlets outside of the midwest don't consider Hockey a legit big market sport. They see the fighting, the missing teeth, the French Canadian accents, and the goofy last names, and dismiss it as 2nd tier sports entertainment.

I think this carries over to The Ticket. Valenti and Foster. They always complain about Detroit as a sports town. In their mind, you're not a "real" sports town unless Football is number one, Baseball is number two, and Basketball is number three. They probably try to down play how popular Hockey is in Detroit to their out of town colleagues as to not feel ashamed that Detroit doesn't fit into the neat Sportscenter mold ESPN has created for us.

To me it's insulting, considering how big Hockey is in Michigan. Even besides the Wings. You have the AHL, CCHA, OHL, not to mention all the youth and beer leagues. Hell, six players from the 2010 Men's Ice Hockey team are from Michigan.

It's a call-in show and the callers largely dictate what is being discussed. What does that tell you right there? Call into the damn shows and talk about hockey instead of bitching about it here. Be pro-active.

You ever try calling into one of their shows? What happens is, the screener picks up, asks you your name and location, then asks what you want to discuss. If your answer isn't on topic to the discussion, or isn't compelling enough to warrant an on air call, they hang up. I've tried to call in to talk Wings only to hear, "Sorry they're talking (insert: Michigan, MSU, Lions, Tigers, Tiger Woods) ::click::"

[CenterIce 83]

It's a call-in show and the callers largely dictate what is being discussed. What does that tell you right there? Call into the damn shows and talk about hockey instead of bitching about it here. Be pro-active.

They also screen the calls, so they can push whatever train of thought that they want.

I think the only radio show that I ever hear talking hockey is Todd Wright on Sporting News Radio.

Edited October 16, 2010 by CenterIce

[Rick Zombos Ghost 82]

they talk about what their listeners want to hear. they want listeners so they can sell ad time. all they get is email and phone calls on football/basketball/college athletics ergo that's all we hear about.

[ben_usmc 253]

Valenti and Foster don't know s*** about hockey. Anytime they try to discuss it there is a 90% chance they have no idea what the f*** they are talking about

[tubaguy 0]

Howard is right. Hockey talk doesn't really make their phones ring. If all of the die hards called in during the segments where they talk radio than the topics would last for more than one segment and would be brought up more frequently. The only reason that you hear more hockey talk during the playoffs is because more of the fringe fans call in. This is particularly evident after a playoff loss when people freak out. Nome of this is a conspiracy theory. The stations want more caller participation and higher ratings. That's why you always can expect lion talk no matter how mundane the topic. The lions and football are more popular. Pistons fans feel the same way. Everyone is injured, they are still in training camp and no one will talk about them unless it is discussing their sale. If you don't like it than call in and don't just listen for every hockey topic.

There are only a few shows worth calling in if you want a real hockey discussion.

97.1's morning show is worthless. It isn't a sports show. Stoney is a hockey fan but the other two pull him down and kill any sports cred.

Karsch and Anderson can do a good job. They actually can hold good conversations, especially during the playoffs. I wouldn't mind hearing more from them because they actually watch the regular season games.

Valenti and Foster... What can you say about them? I just can't stand Valenti. He talks down to everyone and has a superiority complex. I would love to punch him in the face. It kills me because that's what he wants. I also hate that he knows what he's talking about with football and mostly baseball. I can't respect his opinion on hockey. Though he may have watched the Islanders as a kid, he could care less about the Wings. When forced to talk about playoff hockey, he does whatever he can to reference other sports to carry the conversation. Foster is simply a moron. He can't carry an intelligent conversation to save his life which is apparent when he has to host the show on his own. I honestly can't understand how he is employed in any genre of journalism.

Caputo and Fithian do talk hockey a lot but it is just conversation. Hockey may be Caputo's favorite sport but he is not strong at leading the conversation and is far from an authority. He does a decent job with Ken Kal on inside hockeytown (which should be available as a podcast, by the way) Fithian is obviously a fan but really shouldn't be a radio host.

In August, McCarty was hired as a sub for 97.1. He has a lot to learn (on radio and on vs). Let's hope someone can teach him how to form and convey his thoughts for radio. I'd love to see him succeed based on his talent.

Sean Baligian does a great job and is the foremost hockey expert in Detroit radio. He would only talk hockey, if the callers would call in. He is also an authority and fan of the sport. There's a reason why he and Ken Daniels did pre/post game on fox 2 during the 09 finals.

Rome is Rome. He'll mention the NHL during an interview once or twice a year. Personally, I can't stand his ego, long pauses and clone references.

Shep and Sharp is just bad no matter the topic. Shepherd may have a few good ideas but is too full of himself (for no real reason). He can't conduct an interview or talk with callers without clumsily injecting his opinion and tries to pass himself off as a media insider. Just awful. I have respect for Sharp because I think he is a smart person though he isn't particularly strong in sports. He also isn't commanding enough to drive a show on his own. Shep can talk hockey better than Valenti and Foster, if you are desperate for hockey while driving home. Good luck stomaching Sharp.

Armani is not radio quality and just has an annoying voice. I haven't been able to listen to him long enough to gauge his hockey talk frequency and expertise.

[ACallToArms 270]

As said above, football is king right now. You aren't going to hear much hockey on 97.1 until after the Super Bowl pretty much. In the meantime, Drew and Mike get Mickey Redmond. I love it when they get him on. Not only is the analysis great, but he always has an awesome story or two.

[CrimsonFlame 424]

You know they mostly do open lines, so you can call in and talk about what you want. If you want them to talk about hockey, call in about the Wings. Otherwise, you can't make them talk about something when other people don't want to.

[kylee 727]

You know they mostly do open lines, so you can call in and talk about what you want. If you want them to talk about hockey, call in about the Wings. Otherwise, you can't make them talk about something when other people don't want to.

good point. They basically always run open lines. Afterall, were supposed to be a hockey crazy city right? i personally cant stomach 97.1 for more than a half an hour or so. Caputo might like hockey but he's kind of a blowhard.

[Guest Howard He Do It?!]

good point. They basically always run open lines. Afterall, were supposed to be a hockey crazy city right? i personally cant stomach 97.1 for more than a half an hour or so. Caputo might like hockey but he's kind of a blowhard.

Caputo is the biggest idiot on that entire radio station. Perhaps on all of radio.

[Zonly1 46]

Only reason why I like Valenti and Foster is because well, besides the fact that I love all sports and every one of our Detroit teams, I'm also hoping for that Valenti meltdown. The guy is hilarious when he gets pissed off. Right now is the perfect time with all the Michigan/State talk going on.

I hate Valenti and Foster. Bunch of busch league Anti-Michigan slappies.