The Slow Death of Big Sports 590 in Omaha

The Downfall of One Sports Radio Station in Omaha

This past Wednesday, August 25th, 2010, marked another new era for Big Sports 590. Beginning that morning, the new format for this station, which never was switched from my radio dial, will look like this.

5:00-11:00 a.m. Todd N’Tyler Radio Empire
11:00-2:00 p.m. The Jim Rome Show
2:00-5:00 p.m. The Dan Patrick Show (tape delayed)
5:00p.m.-5:00 a.m. Fox Sports Radio Programming
(the last hour of Pat O’Brien, Petros & Money, Tony Bruno, JT the Brick)

Two years ago, the station format looked like this.

5:00-8:00 a.m. The Steve Czaben Show
8:00-11:00 a.m. The Dan Patrick Show
11:00-2:00 p.m. The Jim Rome Show
2:00-6:00 p.m. The Big Show with Matt Perrault (local)
6:00-9:00 p.m. Gametime Live with Andrew Siciliano

So how did we get from two years ago until now?

Now, if you have not noticed yet, and if you like sports radio in Omaha, I am sure you have, but starting on Wednesday, 6 hours of Big Sports 590 programming will be syndicating the Todd N’Tyler Radio Empire. Now, I knew the change was coming and Todd N’Tyler would be reappearing on 590, much like they did in their earlier syndication years, before eventually coming off the station in favor of Steve Czaben, which was to me, is the best local sports radio option in the country for the morning. In December 2009, I was stunned to hear that Fox Sports Radio would not be renewing Steve Czaben’s contract and they would be replacing him with Stephen A. Smith. I mean, seriously, Stephen A. Smith? Is there one voice in America or the world that I would not rather wake up to each morning than Stephen A. Smith? NO! I consider Smith to be one of the most annoying people on the planet. Why would Fox Sports Radio want to replace Czaben with such a blowhard? Well, from reading a blog post from Czaben, the people at Fox Sports Radio thought that Czaben and his crew was too much like Mike & Mike, which I could not disagree with more. Czaben and his crew were actually entertaining.

So, 8 months into my morning sports talk withdrawal, I find out that Steve Czaben had been hired by Sporting News Radio for their 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. time slot. I immediately fired off an email to the director of programming at Big Sports 590 explaining how frustrated I was with Fox Sports Radio with their decision to hire Stephen A. Smith and I encouraged them to work with Sporting News Radio and get Czaben back on the air. I was informed that they were not aware that Czaben was back and they were surprised to not hear from Sporting News Radio yet about Czaben. However, they did agree with me on Stephen A. Smith and they said they would simulcast Todd N’ Tyler to expose them to some other markets around the area, and without saying it, I knew Big Sports 590 signal, 50,000 watts strong, was a big part of that.

Although I was disappointed with their decision, I moved on…….until today. I confirmed what I heard a few days ago, Big Sports 590 would broadcast the ENTIRE Todd N’Tyler Radio Empire show and tape delay Dan Patrick until the afternoon. HOW DID IT COME TO THIS??? Well, I thought about it, and then it hit me. The Todd N’Tyler Radio Empire…..was no longer an EMPIRE. Now, as most people in Omaha know, Todd N’Tyler began syndicating in Wichita, KS and Springfield, MO in November 2006. Eventually, five more stations were added and the Empire seemed to be growing strong. However, times turned and programming changes and low ratings resulted in The Empire being dropped in all but the Omaha (flagship market) and Wichita. So, rather than Big Sports 590 giving us what I and what I believe many people want (Steve Czaben), Journal Broadcasting Group (the parent company of 590), chose to try to rebuild this “Empire” by broadcasting it to a larger area outside of Omaha. Now, I like Todd N’Tyler, I even occasionally listen to their show, but don’t punish sport fans in an attempt to re-build something that to me, this “Empire”, already has appeared to fail.

As irritated as I am about Steve Czaben and Dan Patrick, the thing that still bothers me, 18 months after it happened, was the decision of Big Sports 590 and Journal Broadcast Group to not renew Matt Perrault’s contract in March 2009. Now, Perrault was not a local guy when he came to Omaha. He worked in Boston and Alabama before being hired for a new four hour local sports show. Now, I am going off memory here, but I do recall Perrault mentioning that the decision had nothing to do with bad ratings or money. So, if that was not the case, then what caused it? Well, for starters, Perrault did rub people the wrong way and a lot of my friends did not take a liking to him. To the average person, he came across as someone who did not care for The University of Nebraska and was just a big homer to Creighton University. Now, Perrault did not like Doc Sadler and The Nebraska program, but he did a great job covering Nebraska football and even did an immediate postgame show after every game, whether home or away. He was the first person on air to take calls from fans after every game and I truly believed he enjoyed doing that. To me, I enjoyed Perrault’s style and I liked his out of market view to things happening locally, something I felt like I did not get listening to 1620 the Zone. I think Perrault did a good job balancing between local and national topics and yes, since I did go to Creighton, I really enjoyed the enhanced coverage he provided of Creighton Athletics, something he continues to do to this day as moderator of “The Bluejay Café” on Rivals.com. While I do think Perrault can be a little crazy with some of his comments and views towards things, I enjoyed his radio style and wish it was still around Omaha until this day. Having two local radio options in the afternoon is not a bad thing.

As for Andrew Siciliano, he got the chopping block early in 2009, as Fox Sports Radio merged with AM 570 KLAC in Los Angeles. Petros and Money now hold his former primetime slot. Siciliano has rebounded and now hosts a local show in Los Angeles, while Petros and Money, two Los Angeles guys, have had to adjust to broadcasting to a national audience. I am not a huge fan of Petros and Money, I did enjoy them in the past while filling in for Jim Rome but having to listen to Petros yell on a nightly basis (kind of like a Stephen A Smith type of annoying) is something I do not need to have on my radio dial. Oh yeah, whatever happened to Krystal Fernandez anyway? Was there any guy out there that did not enjoy listening to her when she was on the air with Andrew?

So, what is my point? While I was glad that Big Sports 590 showed up in 2006 and provided Omaha with more local programming and national broadcasting options, I am disappointed that their four year journey has led to this. Six hours of national sports programming has been replaced by a radio show that everyone in Omaha can hear on Z92 (another Journal company). After that, fans are treated to three live hours of The Jim Rome show, followed by Dan Patrick, whose show ended three hours before Omaha even gets to hear hour one! Sports fans in Omaha and the surrounding areas can only hope that Big Sports 590 and Journal Broadcasting come to their senses soon, and give us fans more options for live sports programming, either national or local, throughout the day. If they do not, I can only think that decreased advertising dollars may lead to the death of this station.