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gomizzoutigers
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Posted: Sat Jun 30th, 2007 07:18 pm |
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Last day was yesterday. He had been providing the morning sports breaks to Cumulus' KFRU and KLIK via ISDN from home. Host David Lile implied budgetary reasons.
I don't think the group has a current listed Sports Director. They have an afternoon sports show from 4-6 with Jet Roberts and Spencer Kane, but both have on-air shifts with sister stations KOQL and KBXR. David Lile does MU Women's Basketball PxP and Rock Bridge HS football. Sales staffer Mark Mills and Matt LaCasse (news) have filled in for him in the past. I guess we'll find out Monday what the replacement is.
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Kent Clark
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Posted: Sat Jun 30th, 2007 09:55 pm |
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As far as I know, the company hasn't had a sports director since late 2003. I was in the building at the time. Sean Secrease was let go after the decision to sell the company had pretty well been made. I was told by some of my former co-workers that the position would not be filled, and it wasn't for the remainder of my time in the building. I think Secrease was the last sports director there, but I don't keep in touch with my old friends there as much as I'd like to. It's kind of tough when you're a competitor now! It's hard to believe I've been out of that building for three years now; my last day was June 28, 2004.
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gomizzoutigers
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Posted: Fri Jul 6th, 2007 03:09 am |
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| I think Jet was doing sports Monday, but today I believe I heard Matt LaCasse. With the Kidd Kraddick morning show coming, is Jet out looking for a job?
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bcoz
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Posted: Fri Jul 6th, 2007 05:22 pm |
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Word I get is that Jet has been named sports director for KFRU/KLIK.
The cluster has technically been without a sports director since Sean Secrease was let go back in 2004.
Frankly, I'm surprised that Atlanta was willing to let them fill a sports director position at all given the death-grip that the Dickey boys and co. keep on their purse strings. I think that's a testament to the good work that Jet has been doing with the talk show (I've only gotten to listen once because the streaming has been down for a year).
bcoz
Last edited on Fri Jul 6th, 2007 05:23 pm by bcoz
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Kent Clark
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Posted: Sat Jul 7th, 2007 05:16 am |
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| Hi Brendan! Good to be talking with you again! Hope everything's going well with you in Illinois! I have to say that, while I know Jet enjoyed doing mornings and will probably miss it, it's good to see he will still be around and effectively gets a promotion out of the deal. Jet's a good guy, and it's good to see good things happen to good people. I think we agree that doesn't happen nearly enough in this industry!
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gomizzoutigers
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Posted: Sun Jul 8th, 2007 03:12 am |
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In some ways, for the MidMo Cumulus cluster, I'm not sure what a sports director title does for the stations. Other than carrying MU sports on the stations, the don't cover much else (KLIK may carry a few high school games from Jeff City and Helias, and KFRU carries Rock Bridge FB, but that's all). It does get you a nice seat at football games along with a free lunch, but poor seating at MU basketball games.
They could take some time and update the KFRU website and get streaming working again.
Last edited on Sun Jul 8th, 2007 03:14 am by gomizzoutigers
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bcoz
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Posted: Sun Jul 8th, 2007 04:42 am |
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The title actually did once mean something, but then a guy came in and said that nobody cares about sports.
That statement was made in early October 2003. I was there! I almost spit out my Diet Pepsi!
By the first day of November 2003, there was no "sports department." That was before the sale.
I know I said 2004 in my previous post, but thinking about it some more I realized that my dates were off (too many beers between then and now).
In any case, there was a time in the not-so-distant past when KFRU ruled sports coverage. We had MU. We had the Cards. We had Rock Bridge football and basketball. We had MoNet's football friday night show. We had Westwood One's Sunday and Monday Night NFL package (and the Super Bowl). We had Westwood One's College Bowl package (I ran the 2000 Alamo Bowl between Northwestern and Nebraska). We had live and local sports reports both mornings and afternoons.
With Atlanta at the helm, that will never EVER happen again.
bcoz
Last edited on Sun Jul 8th, 2007 04:52 am by bcoz
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Kent Clark
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Posted: Sun Jul 8th, 2007 07:11 am |
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I know what you mean. It used to be that everyone thought of 'FRU when the word "sports" was mentioned even though there was an all sports station at the top of the dial. That was really a credit to all of us who worked there at the time as well as those who came before us. The work ethic of the 'FRU staff was incredible.
I, too, was surprised about that certain individual deciding sports programming was worthless. However, gutting a class A sports department was in character. In my mind, there was very little he didn't damage during his tenure there. I suppose I'm biased as my run-ins with this person are very well documented in that building, but I know I'm not the only one who felt that way. I was told there was even a sadness among the Premier alumns at Cumulus Rockford over what happened to all their hard work at KFRU. Between the mess left in the last few months of the Premier years and Atlanta's control of the money, the staff has a lot of work ahead of it to get the station back to level it once was. I wish them well! I've met many of them, and all of those I've met were nothing short of cordial and professional.
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Will Sterrett
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Posted: Mon Jul 9th, 2007 09:28 pm |
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I'm sure I'm about to look like the bad guy, but I'm used to it - so here goes.
There's no question that KFRU was, at one time, the sports destination in Columbia. That being said, that was also before the rise of KTGR as a viable sports outlet (even after its flip away from Adult Standards it took time for the station to take off) and before KSSZ became a direct Talk competitor to KFRU. So as far as giving up all but the biggies (MU, Cardinals, and RB Football), it's a product of evolution in the market. With KTGR building, and KSSZ going talk, being the sports authority in Columbia just wasn't KFRU's role anymore.
Obviously the "nobody cares about sports" statement is ignorant. No question. But I think the station now has pared down the offerings to what really matters (the teams mentioned above) and the sports reports as part of news programming. Cutting out the extraneous sports talk shows (remember, KFRU at one time ran programming from Fox Sports, Sporting News Radio AND ESPN) and ditching out-of-market play by play strengthened KFRU in its competition, not weakened it.
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paulywood
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Posted: Mon Jul 9th, 2007 09:29 pm |
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I too was sorry to hear the Mike left the broadcast booth at KFRU, but we all move on. Thanks to my man, bcoz, for pointing me in the direction of this new venue. It's nice to be back online.
paulywood
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bcoz
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Posted: Tue Jul 10th, 2007 01:44 am |
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Rapmaster-turned-Newsmaster Will - You don't sound like the bad guy at all. You bring up some very valid points. FWIW, I always thought the Sunday and Monday Night NFL package was a bit much for the station (those are made-for-TV events anyway)...as was Sporting News or ESPN Radio (I've never had any use really for national sports talk networks to be honest...although I love good local sports talk).
Now that I look at it, I don't know if my inclusion of national sporting affiliations illustrates my argument as well as I thought. My point was simply this...
At one time, KFRU invested heavily in and produced very good local and regional sports coverage. After the "nobody likes sports" comment, that stopped for a good deal of time (that person has left and the door code has changed).
I have high hopes that under Jet's direction as sports director and Brian Wilson's direction as program director the station will once again produce good local sports coverage that is relevant to the community. Brian has already made great strides in this by securing the rights to the Chiefs, keeping the Cards, and implementing the afternoon local sports talk show. I hope that Jet gets the chance to do some real sports reporting on MU, Rock Bridge, Hickman, Columbia College, and the professional sports teams that matter to the area.
However, having seen Cumulus at work in two different markets from the inside, I am skeptical.
bcoz
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paulywood
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Posted: Tue Jul 10th, 2007 09:47 pm |
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Nice tap dance bcoz. Well done
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bcoz
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Posted: Tue Jul 10th, 2007 10:06 pm |
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Thanks dude! That's what you get when you spend three years in public relations!
bcoz
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Kent Clark
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Posted: Sat Jul 14th, 2007 04:51 pm |
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| And, actually, I would agree with your "tapdance" as Paul put it. With sports on KFRU, it was never the quantity. It was the quality. In fact, Will and I pretty much agreed on that when we worked there. Papa Joe and Fox Sports going away was actually good for the station because it was filler and didn't add anything to the station. The commitment to local sports, however, continued. KFRU was everywhere it should have been at exactly the right time when it came to local sports.
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