Listening to The Zone for the first time in a decade… yikes

[HoosierUte]

Streaming The Zone for the first time in a decade hoping to get some Jazz pregame analysis. This stuff is turrible. You would barely know a game was happening tonight, its mostly erectile disfunction ads and call-ins from the doctor every 15 minutes. When not discussing penis issues it’s either random banter non-sports related or other ads. I don’t listen to my local sports radio (Indiana) so I don’t know if it’s like this but, wow this is awful. 

[Central Coast Ute]

Don’t live stream it. Listen to the episode podcasts so you can fast forward through the commercials.

[Ute Dub]

I prefer “Ballzheimer’s” as the verbiage instead of E.D. Do you suffer from a severe case of BALLZHEIMER’s? It’s not that hard to tell.

[Duhwayne]

Let’s just say that a station’s ads will tell you who listens. It ain’t pretty.

[pics]

ESPN700 is just as bad. I was starting to think we had the most limp d**k fans in the country but this seems to be the latest ‘medical’ treatment that has replaced testosterone shots/pills for men. Seems to be pretty common on a lot of sports radio.

[Central Coast Ute]

We get the same commercials for men’s health on local sports radio on the central coast. When 98% of your audience is men, you can expect those commercials.

[MacKidsAlumn]

I’ve always wondered if the Zone plan and rehearse their shows to be a disorganized mess or if their shows are a disorganized mess because they don’t plan and rehearse.  When I listen to local sports, it is 700, I’m not always on board with their takes, but they speak in coherent sentences and have focused takes. 

[Utes 69]

Streaming The Zone for the first time in a decade hoping to get some Jazz pregame analysis. This stuff is turrible. You would barely know a game was happening tonight, its mostly erectile disfunction ads and call-ins from the doctor every 15 minutes. When not discussing penis issues it’s either random banter non-sports related or other ads. I don’t listen to my local sports radio (Indiana) so I don’t know if it’s like this but, wow this is awful. 

My response…Ran into spence Checketts years ago, not a fan. 

[Charlie]

I was under the impression that Spence Checketts was go to be replaced. Until then, welcome to his many interests that are not sports related with a side of ‘how could you disagree with me’.

[Johnny]

Yeah Spence Checketts blows

[Rick]

I do think Checketts digresses a little too much and his open monologue is too long (around 20 minutes); but his show is much stronger than anything on 1280. That may not be saying much. I think Checketts is by far the most knowledgeable NBA media member. That, combined with his strong interview skill, makes for some good basketball talk that filters down to college basketball as well. I may sound like a PR guy for him but I appreciate his approach.

Hans Olsen is the other strong talent in the market – especially during football season. Sometimes it’s not worth waiting through all the nonsense they’ve programmed into their show; but I enjoy Hans’ analysis and foot ball interviews. I think his sense of humour is strong as well.

It’s easy to criticize the sports media in our market. Many of them deserve it but I think we’re fortunate to have Checketts and Olsen on the radio.

On the print side we have terrific people covering the Jazz and the Utes right now for the Tribune. If you aren’t looking at Andy Larsen’s coverage of the Jazz, you’re missing out.  

Just my opinion.

[UtahUtesRock]

What bothers me about Checketts is his aura of superiority to the listeners especially when he’s talking to out of state guests. He did that a lot during the pandemic. He’d talk about how dumb everybody in our state was about our approach to the pandemic. Really irritated me that he lumps us all in a like-minded group and talks to his guests like “these are the idiots I have to talk to”.

[Charlie]

No doubt, Checketts has some talent and great connections to bring to his show. But when he brings a guest, he talks too much living little time for the guest and often takes the guest to a spot to make them awkwardly agree to his point of view. When he has a point, he needlessly and emotionally repeats it. He could improve by letting his guest talk more and provide analysis different than his own. Most of all, leave out the social commentary and political snipes that is an irritant to half the listeners no matter the side he choses. Last, interest in sports is so dominated by football and basketball, it is ok to let sports talk be dominated by the same two sports.

I consider Hans Olsen one of the better talents in this market, however, the local sports talk could be much better. I would like to see a way for UofU journalism or communication students have a better opportunity to interview guests and provide sports content. Maybe then the content would follow the subject more without the need to feed the talk host personality.

[Author]

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