Sports radio wars are about to change the flow of Vancouver Canucks news (tsn1040)

tsn1040

Sports radio wars are about to change the flow of Vancouver Canucks news

By Carol Schram

Sep 1, 2017 • 3:34 pm

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The Vancouver Canucks' new flagship station, Sportsnet 650, officially hits the airwaves on Labour Day Monday.

Here's your introduction to the key personalities:

If you're interested in more of a sneak peak, the station is now streaming on the Rogers Radio app as well as over the airwaves at AM650.

A couple more names have been added to the roster this week.

Joey Kenward is moving over from his job as embedded reporter with the Canucks, to do the pregame and postgame radio broadcasts.

News1130's Ann Schmaltz will also be moving over to Sportsnet as the rinkside reporter.

Dan Riccio is also on his way from Toronto. His role hasn't been announced yet, but his Twitter bio mentions that he was the soccer reporter for the FAN.

As the Canucks' new flagship station, the new guys will make an immediate splash, starting with their broadcasts of the games from next week's Young Stars tournament from Penticton.

New play-by-play guy Brendan Batchelor has been out and about all week, covering the Canucks' players informal skates, including today at Britannia.

Steve Ewen has taken a pretty comprehensive look at this new lay of the land in radio world in this piece for The Province.

For me, the most interesting takeaway in this article is the reminder of what happened the last time Vancouver had two sports stations, more than a decade ago. MOJO Radio was only able to last alongside TSN1040 for 27 months before Corus pulled the plug in May of 2006—birthing AM730's all-traffic station as we know it today.

Is Vancouver's radio scene big enough for both Sportsnet 650 and the incumbents at TSN1040? TSN still has broadcast rights for the BC Lions, Vancouver Giants, Vancouver Whitecaps, Vancouver Canadians and Vancouver Stealth. And they'll still be offering plenty of Canucks coverage—just not the call of the games.

From the TSN1040 website:

Matt Sekeres, Blake Price, Dave Tomlinson and our dedicated Canuck Reporter Jeff Paterson deliver Pre-Game coverage starting two hours prior to puck drop, commercial-free Intermissions and a full 90 minute Post-Game Show following the final horn.

Paterson is laying out the depth of coverage that he's expecting to provide in detail:

And today, it's TSN that is out to make some waves in the marketplace—with Jason Botchford on the air to say that Bo Horvat's new contract will be a bridge deal, to be announced next week.

He's hedging his bets with his wording, but there's no doubt that the TSN crew is pre-emptively doing everything it can to make waves and try to break stories before Sportsnet launches—with all the privileges that will go along with being the Canucks' rightsholder.

It'll be fascinating to see how the situation shakes out. Expect to hear plenty of wild rumours and speculation as the two sides fight for our ears and eyeballs going forward.

Heading into the long weekend, I'll continue to obsess over tennis and everybody's new favourite golden boy, Denis Shapovalov.

Now on the big stage at the U.S. Open, the 18-year-old Canadian got rave reviews from the U.S. broadcasters when he beat eighth-seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Wednesday. Today, he's through to the Round of 16 after his opponent Kyle Edmund has retired with an injury.

I realize that one reason why I'm so captivated by Shapovalov is because he reminds me of Canucks prospect Elias Pettersson! Both are 18 years old; similar builds, blonde hair, plenty of talent and a whiff of fearlessness.

We can only hope that Pettersson can make an impact similar to Shapovalov's when he finally comes over to the NHL.

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