Why the hell wont 97.1 ever discuss hockey?

[rage 24]

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

I strongly disagree. He is actually the most knowledgeable when it comes to hockey on 97.1 (excluding Darren of course).

[dropkickshanahans 463]

I can imitate Caputo pretty well.

[egroen 384]

They've commented on air a number of times that they get a lot of complaints about not talking hockey, but when hockey comes up on the air the lines go dead.

They'll talk about it for 2 minutes and you can tell they quickly have to move on because

1) few of them understand the league dynamics and players from other teams, so they rarely are able to put a red wing event into the proper context to keep a conversation going like they can with the other sports.

2) they get such few calls. Which is funny because by the time I realize they are actually talking hockey and phone in, they are already onto the next topic. That has happened to me almost every time I call in - talk to screener, hold, screener comes on and informs me they are back to the Lions.

[JoeBuddy 10]

To be honest, I stopped listening to The Ticket about a year ago because of this problem. I felt that they were so uninformed about the Wings, or hockey in general that I couldn't stand to listen any longer. All the talk about Lions or Tigers made me feel nauseous.

I am not a huge fan of any other sport really, but even my friends who are die-hard football fanatics can't listen to them. They have a sense of arrogance that bothers me.

[wingfanatic4alltime 32]

As soon as DFN came back on the air i was done listening to 97.1 valentis arrogance just rubs me the wrong way. DFN has Art and Sean who both are very knowledgeable hockey people so thats why i listen to DFN.

[DarbyGuy 4]

The reason why we never hear them discussing Red Wings hockey or hockey in general is because the city of Detroit has a fascination with bitching about the Lions, Tigers and Pistons. I understand football is HUGE everywhere in this country, but I get tired of hearing caller after caller saying this is what the Lions need to do, this is what the Wolverines need to do, Spartans need to do rararara. Its very very tiring. I used to listen to that station all the time cause 89x will play the same songs hour after hour, the WRIF isnt my style and I cant listen to pop/crap music. But now I find myself just putting cds instead of listening to the radio for the simple fact, I am tired of the negativity that is always on that station. We live in an area where we need some positive influence and talk. The way 97.1 operates, it will never happen. When they do field calls about hockey, they go silent because with the Red Wings, its really hard to find something to complain about. Thats where the problem lies. What have the Lions, Pistons and Tigers brought us in the past 20 years? 1 NBA championship and 1 AL pennant. Thats it. We all know what the Wings have given us in the past 20 years. It is absolute crap that they do not discuss Hockey more often on that station when clearly, its the only sport that has brought us fans any joy.

Thanks for letting me spill the beans, Ive been waiting to do that!

[Guest ChicagoMan]

I feel your guys pain. Chicago radio has begun to talk about hockey a little bit since Wirtz passed on and the two playoff runs, but on 670 in Chicago the 9 AM-1 show is about the only one to discuss it because one of the guys is a huge hockey fan. Other then that ESPN radio in Chicago talks about it a little more frequently, but its still not nearly enough. Just the way it is. There are too many fat slobs who are in love with football and the slow pace of it. I thought with Detroit being so close to Canada it might be different, but I guess not. Sucks for us hockey fans. I really do believe though that the NHL is on the rise to at least get up their on par with the NBA....that's if ESPN doesn't try to sabatoge it!

[softshoes 83]

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.

It's not as open as you think. As others have said in this thread the calls are screened. They like you to think you can talk about what you want but it's not the case. Over time most listeners have come to understand this. They have enough slappys to keep the ratings up.

MichSt. is 7-0 right now and Valenti being an alum good luck with anything else. He claims to "open the lines to the people" but you better want to talk about what's relevant to him. Don't even think about Foster backing you because he is just the Loudmouth's eunuch. When it comes to bucking up against Valenti the man has no balls.

The only good thing they have done is the rant. If you care to hear it(I do recommend it), go to youtube and just type Valenti in the search bar. It's one of the greatest rants I've ever heard.