I found it interesting, that very like him but everyone seems to know who he is and either has or does listen to him!
Bob Mccown of Fan590
- Thread starter vixxcampbell
- Start date
He has the attidude which is bang on ... Everyone complaining can change the dial cause guess what you paid nothing to listen to me ..
I personally like Bob, but I don't know him personally. Approximately 25 years ago, when I was still in high school, I sent him a letter showing my research regarding horse racing betting. At that time he had a tiny part in the Toronto Sun called "bet bits" or something like that. This is from memory, the details are vague, the gist is certain. He responded, and over a course of a few letters (actually hand written!!) , his advice helped me better understand how to beat horse racing and, later, poker. the principles being similar. He does have a great deal of knowledge regarding sports gambling, though he dumbs it down alot for his radio listeners.
As such, my opinion on him is biased.
Is it true his show has had a very high rating for a long time? I think that is enough to show that he is doing what he thinks his job is: to get listeners/viewers.
From my observations, he has a huge network of sports related guests, and is the top guy in this respect in Canada.
He dislikes interviewing present day athletes since he thinks they are restricted in what they say. Who can blame him for that? I think athletes are boring as heck to listen to. I love Wayne Gretzky, but I can't think of anything of much interesting he said during his play time.
Callers into radio stations represent a tiny percentage of the overall audience, and unless he is interested in creating some fun with that, I doubt that engaging in chat with them will advance his agenda.
Sorry I guess my post is just about as boring as an athlete
As such, my opinion on him is biased.
Is it true his show has had a very high rating for a long time? I think that is enough to show that he is doing what he thinks his job is: to get listeners/viewers.
From my observations, he has a huge network of sports related guests, and is the top guy in this respect in Canada.
He dislikes interviewing present day athletes since he thinks they are restricted in what they say. Who can blame him for that? I think athletes are boring as heck to listen to. I love Wayne Gretzky, but I can't think of anything of much interesting he said during his play time.
Callers into radio stations represent a tiny percentage of the overall audience, and unless he is interested in creating some fun with that, I doubt that engaging in chat with them will advance his agenda.
Sorry I guess my post is just about as boring as an athlete Tim and Sid are appealing mostly to a younger crowd than Bob does.
It is telling when Tim and or Sid refer to the "greatest of all time" in some sport and just name the best in the last 20 years or so. But of course they do. That's mostly all they know. Personally if you ask me who the best hockey players are of all time I would say Gretzky, Orr, Lemiuex, etc. I would not really think much about Howe or Richard or ....
Regardless, these shows are about getting listeners, nothing to do with being right, nice or whatever.
He is good as what he says the show is about.... the business of sports and sports issues. when it gets too much on the field his knowledge is weak, but that us not the focus of his shows too often.
I enjoy discussions on sports issues while in the car
The thing with issues,good ones anyway, is that their should not be 100% agreement on them. He is confident in his take being right, even if I disagree with it at times. And he is arrogant in his view but that is OK. I like to have to think a bit when I am listening to sports radio.
His show delivers when it stays on focus. When it gets to personnel issues for the jays for example he is weak.
Overall, it's a good listen in my view.
I enjoy discussions on sports issues while in the car
The thing with issues,good ones anyway, is that their should not be 100% agreement on them. He is confident in his take being right, even if I disagree with it at times. And he is arrogant in his view but that is OK. I like to have to think a bit when I am listening to sports radio.
His show delivers when it stays on focus. When it gets to personnel issues for the jays for example he is weak.
Overall, it's a good listen in my view.
I am not arguing that he isnt entertaining. I continue to listen to his show even though I dislike the guy. He has an entertaining show. I acknowledge that. And I find his humor funny.
You are correct that he probably tries to be abrasive and controversial for ratings HOWEVER I am not willing to accept that his lack of knowledge is part of his schtick. I dont think he consciously says incorrect things on purpose just to get people like me to hate him so he can draw ratings. A couple weeks ago this man said that almost no teams in the NFL use a 4-3 defense. He said its all 3-4. In my opinion he believed that when he said it. And it is 100% false. Funny too because both teams in the superbowl used a 4-3 scheme. Actually, I'd argue about 1/2 the league use a 4-3 base defense. That is just one example. He makes numerous incorrect statements. I just dont think he knows sports as well as he thinks he does. I like Brunt because when Bob says something wrong Brunt calls him on it. He doesnt let it slide.
I agree with you he knows how to be entertaining - if he didnt I wouldnt continue to listen. BUT, there are plenty of guys that have more knowledge than him. Tim Micallef would destroy Bob when it comes to sports knowledge.
Being controversial is one thing, being incorrect is another. I got no issues with him being controversial or arrogant when it comes to sports issues but when he is making factually inaccurate statements that bothers me.
Also, I do find it a little ironic that an arrogant man like Bob that thinks he knows everything hangs up so quickly on callers that challenge his points or try to counter his arguments. Its like when a caller makes a good point that trumps his argument he quickly cuts the caller off and bails on the argument. Why not engage the caller in a debate? Wouldnt that be good for ratings? Instead of chickening out and hanging up on the caller.
He is certainly far from being the most knowledgeable sports caster and in fact I do disagree with his opinions often, especially on the subject of hockey. His strength however is on the business side of sports matters. He's probably spent most of his research time on that. What sometimes makes him entertaining is he doesn't sit on the fence on controversial issues. Rightly or wrongly he expresses strong opinions without much concern for being politically correct. That has opened himself up for criticism, but makes him entertaining at the same time, not a lot unlike Don Cherry.
Oh no doubt. I dont disagree with anything you have said above. Everything you said is spot-on. I do think Bob is good when it comes to business of sports and various issues in sports etc. He also asks good questions when he does interviews when it comes to hot or controversial topics. I just wish he would refrain from talking about sports that he has no knowledge on. I will give him credit when it comes to baseball and golf because I do think his knowledgeable is good in those subjects.
Also, I just wish he would engage callers in debates more rather than chickening out and hanging up on callers. He chooses to bail out of debates when he knows he is going to lose. It is cowardly in my opinion.
More debate with callers? Callers typically make sports radio awful. Even the callers that know their stuff, typically ramble incoherently making for bad radio. Many others are at the bottom of the barrel in terms of knowledge, and then they continue to argue aimlessly (you feel embarrassed for them at times). You will get some really good callers from time to time, but that rare good call is not worth the payoff.
I can't think of any top sports radio show in Canada or US that relies too heavily on callers. Perhaps Jim Rome at times - but it just ends up callers getting slammed, or callers imitating Rome.
I can't think of any top sports radio show in Canada or US that relies too heavily on callers. Perhaps Jim Rome at times - but it just ends up callers getting slammed, or callers imitating Rome.
I am not suggesting Bob take more calls.
My problem is Bob seems perfectly willing to debate with callers as long as he has a point that trumps that caller's argument. However, when a knowledgeable caller calls in and challenges his opinion on something and makes a point that trumps Bob's opinion he seems to chicken out and bail out of the argument pretty quickly. I think Bob recognizes which callers are smart and which ones arent and at least to me it seems like he is less willing to debate with the smart ones or the ones that he knows know more than him.
That is my problem. Dont chicken out or bail out of an argument just because you are losing. Bob does that too much in my opinion.
Yesterday he was reminiscing about the start of Sportsline on Global. He then talked about how SCTV shared some of the space in the studio and how he interacted with the members of SCTV. It was pure gold for someone my age(48 yrs. old). I could have listened to him all night.
Roberto McCown is retiring at the end of March, Tim and Sid are taking his place.
He's financially set, recently buying a stake in Stone Ridge Wineries. Not sure if he'll be broadcasting to the public in the future, but he will settle in and try his hand as a vintner. There are some things he does for the sake of ratings - like his contempt for soccer. According to sources he actually likes the sport. Like Don Cherry he chose a Southern European to be his SO, Rose Cherry was Italo-Canadian not sure about McCown's wife.
He's financially set, recently buying a stake in Stone Ridge Wineries. Not sure if he'll be broadcasting to the public in the future, but he will settle in and try his hand as a vintner. There are some things he does for the sake of ratings - like his contempt for soccer. According to sources he actually likes the sport. Like Don Cherry he chose a Southern European to be his SO, Rose Cherry was Italo-Canadian not sure about McCown's wife.
Bob isn't retiring yet. Tim and Sid are leaving Fan590 on March 27 and taking a break until their new show on the main Sportsnet channel starts on July 1.
They will be on at the same time (well 5-7pm), as PrimeTime Sports (which will still air on Fan and Sportsnet 360).
Brady from the morning show is taking over 1-3 with someone else but it's not confirmed who.
Dean Blundell is taking over the morning show.
I don't know how I am going to handle the loss of listening to Tim and Sid on the radio, (and I like listening to Mccown too).
I play the fan590 whenever am free- I even found a portable AM radio so I can listen when I'm riding transit or running around lol.
Worst thing is that their time spot competes with the News but will be interesting to se how they lead into Jays games.
He's like everyone else working for Bell Media or Rogers (Cox & Brunt) included, they never ever speak the truth about the teams associated with their employers, because they can't and they are ok with it. Any honest reviewer of Toronto sports would have told everyone to stay away from the leafs & the jays for the last decade now.
If the Leafs and Jays were restaurants and served decades of shitty meals, do you think any food critic would give them a thumbs up. Would you continue to eat at a restaurant with that bad a product?
If the Leafs and Jays were restaurants and served decades of shitty meals, do you think any food critic would give them a thumbs up. Would you continue to eat at a restaurant with that bad a product?
