[radio] Can Houston support THREE all-sports radio stations? It's coming.

get rid of the golf hour.

Spoiler

Chance, do it.

 

Ummm.....93.7 the arrow?

 

Colin Cowherd is pretty entertaining.

 

Good to hear the morning show was all SEC football, all the time this morning. Kind of odd, as there isn't a single SEC school in the state of Texas, much less the city of Houston.

 

yeah...you mean when they were competitive? this is my point. years ago the rockets were very good and everyone wanted to talk rockets. when 610 first started, astros calls were few and far between...everyone wanted to talk oilers and rockets. the rockets haven't won a playoff series in 10 years or so. it is no wonder that sports radio isn't all over them...the market they serve isn't either.

 

But the Texans are even less competitive than the Rockets and the Rockets have a much brighter immediate future having two of the biggest superstars in the game on their team. The Texans don't really have anyone marketable. Yet, that's pretty much all you hear right now, aside from Astros stuff, which, frankly, I'm tired of at this point in time.

And I agree, why in the world do we have to listen to talk about the SEC? Move to freaking Atlanta already.

 

i didn't hear this morning. they do bring on a college football guy every thursday who talks generally about games around the nation. but behind UT and A&M, the largest alumni base in this city is LSU. there are lots of callers who call in to talk LSU football.

as for the Texans...they're football. the NFL is a monster.

i agree...they're a boring, boring product. they don't have players that have endeared themselves to this city in any way, shape or form. but they're soooo bad, it's a story. like the knicks last year in NY. how bad they are becomes a story.

what is there to talk about the Rockets right now? what is there to say? there were calls after we added bonzi. they talk about the rockets when they have van gundy on. but next to no one is calling in to talk rockets. if you and i were to meet at BW3 to talk Rockets tonight, that conversation wouldn't last longer than 5 minutes.

 

I disagree. I had a good 30-45 minute conversation with my friend about them this past weekend. A couple guys at work and I have at least one 10 minute conversation about them a day.

I'll give you that the NFL is more popular than the NBA, but I can't accept an argument that the Rockets have done nothing in the past few years to warrant conversation. They're a much more interesting story than the Texans and honestly, given the uncertainty surrounding the pitching of the Astros, probably the most likely Houston team to be competing for a championship in the near future.

 

Hmm...I just don't know what to say. They need to survive injuries. They need to gel. Division will be tough, as it always is, with the Texas teams. Not sure what else there is to talk about.

The truth is the Rockets aren't spurring conversation. They're just not. Football is king in Texas. And the Texans are a story nationally after the draft. One of the services of sports radio is giving a forum to vent. That's what I'm hearing. People saying, "I told you so!!" Others saying, "Give it time!!" Right now there's action on the field.

Let's be honest...(and I'm gonna be careful because I know this is a Rockets fan first board, and I'm an Astros fan first)...the Rockets play in a league that allows in more than half of its teams to the playoffs each year. They have been one of those fortunate playoff teams what...just once in the past 5 years or so? And they were eliminated in the first round. They haven't won a playoff series in roughly 10 years. Seriously, that's awful. Most people aren't like you and me...most people don't get pumped at the start of each season. It takes something to get them interested. The Rockets haven't shown us much. Now, I think that's gonna change this year! (of course, i think that most years). Seriously, I think they're gonna be very good. And I heard the guys on sportsradio say the other morning this was the best Rockets team since the Barkley days. So there is anticipation. But the city isn't exactly on fire for the Rockets...and you can visit Toyota Center as evidence of that.

 

Max,

I understand what you're saying, but a way to generate interest among sports fans that aren't like you and me is for the local media to actually talk about it. Not all (in fact, I'm guessing less than 50%) the topics during the shows are driven by the callers. If 610 wanted to talk about the Rockets, they could. I seriously doubt people would be turning the station.

The lay fan (I just made up a term) will be interested in what the media is interested in. I understand your point that it's still preseason and there's not much to talk about, but I just don't remember a lot of talk during last season or the season before. I could be wrong, though.

 

The Rockets are (and have always been) the 3rd most popular team in Houston. Hell, maybe even the 4th with UT winning the NC last year. It's sad but true.

Most of my friends are huge sports fans. We can talk for hours about the NFL, MLB and college football. But very few of them know as much as I do about the Rockets, so I can't really talk Rockets with them. That's why I love this bbs so much.

Sometimes, being a rabid Rocket fan (when they're not winning championships) feels like being an outcast. I'm not sure that will ever change. At least until we win a championship and everyone jumps on the bandwagon and pretends they've been there all along, like in 94 and 95.

 

about rockets talk, when this team was coming off the championships in the early years of 610, that's all they talked even during the summer. the only astro call were, "can we trade bagwell for (fill in blank)".

 

I disagree... the media can take whatever role they want... but WINNING is the only thing that will breed interest. (unless you're an NFL team... then you get talked about no matter what... the NFL is too powerful).

If the Rockets had beaten Dallas 2 years ago... whatever buzz they created during the stretch run (where they were routinely selling out TC) would have continued. It would be akin to 92-93, when the Rockets nearly took out Seattle in the 2nd round after Hakeem's breakout year... but even then, attendance SUCKED at the start of 93-94 (even though the team was in the midst of a 15 game winning streak).

The interest in the Rockets is squarely back to pre-championship levels... around 1991, 1992, when they wouldn't draw more than 9,000 per game at the Summit. That is sad, considering this team has so much marketability with Yao Ming... but it just goes to show you that Houston only supports winners (unless you're the NFL in this millenium... once again, they're powerful).

If they WIN, and give people a reason to believe in them (including the media, who are justified in holding back enthusiasm for a team that hasn't shown them all that much)... people will jump back on faster than you know it.

 

exactly. it's not like there's never been rocket talk here before. remember when the rome show started here? the calls were fast and furious from the new affiliate, Houston, defending Matt Maloney! the rockets got TONS of media attention then. they were a story. they haven't been an interesting, compelling story in a long time. as ima said, they're probably 4th on the list in Houston right now in terms of fan interest.

i think that will change very soon. but this isn't a team coming off a down year...or an expansion franchise forced back into rebuilding with a high profile #1 pick...this is a team that has had a down year for about 10 years now. there isn't a city in america that wouldn't lose interest in that.

one more thought here: how often do you see people wearing rockets gear around town? honestly, it's so rare that i notice it. when someone has a rockets hat on i'm like, "man, that's a fan! awesome!" there's so much 'stros and texans stuff on the streets it just blends in.

 

let me defend houston. how many other NBA markets would produce a significantly better response to a similar stretch of basketball? seriously. particularly how many markets with multiple teams, as opposed to salt lake or san antonio?

in my opinion...the NBA's length of schedule given their playoff format is jacked up. making the playoffs is not a serious accomplishment in the NBA. and when your team doesn't make it for years on end, it becomes a bit of a joke. no reason to play 82 games if you're gonna let in that many teams. put a premium on making the playoffs. hell, just reduce it to 6 teams from each conference instead of 8...that's a start.

 

That's only because nationwide, interest in the NBA is only higher than Hockey. Its well behind college sports, and its nowhere near baseball or the NFL (which dominates in every big city).

Unless you're in San Antonio (which still lives/breathes Cowboys), Utah, Sacramento, Oklahoma City, or possibly Miami (simply because they won the title)... you will be considered in the minority if your NBA team is your #1 interest.

Hell, Detroit has had a winning basketball team for the past decade... but right now, the city is going NUTS over the Tigers... absolute pandemonium. Their celebration when they beat the Yankees was just as big (if not bigger) than when they beat the Lakers for the title (according to my buddies in Detroit)... and techinically, that was simply a "1st round series win" compared to a championship. It will also continue to get bigger as they go further.

 

Well, not many other NBA teams have seen a run like this. I guess Boston hasn't done all that much for awhile (despite their ECF appearnce in a weak conference), but that's a great sports town. Chicago continued to sell out games a couple of years ago (right before they started getting decent again.. even though they were ony .500 last year), but again... another great sports town. Indianapolis is a great NBA town, still supports the Pacers despite the lack of titles.

Last year was a huge set-back.. this team had too much going for them after 2004 to have it all fall apart by one guy's injury (but it just goes to show you how big of a piece that one guy is).

 

You better watch what you say about the Rockets. We don't want tinman to make an appearance in this thread!


Nick, I agree that the NBA is a distant 3rd behind the NFL and MLB all over the country right now. I think it has something to do with the NBA pricing out the exact demographic they're trying to market to.

But that's another thread.

 

It would help if the local mouths actually knew/understood/cared more about NBA/Rockets than they do. I suspect the culprits reside inside Rox media relations who should be pitching storylines and players aggressively. If they are then they need to do it aggressively and effectively.