Those in the know in VAN sports radio

Radio News from British Columbia

Those in the know in VAN sports radio

Postby radio knob » Thu May 19, 2022 10:28 am

Looking forward to reading the Dan Russell book on his broadcast time in VAN radio on the sports side. To last 30 years - on air? Can that be done now with corp radio control?
Deserving of a book. What a lot of personalities radio produced before it got tech crunched.
He could be cringy and childlike but like a train wreck you had to check it out. Outside of the sports portion what was his reputation in the VAN market amongst radio people?
I remember listening on CJOR and his lead in , I think, Pat Burns. What a hoot he was.
User avatar
radio knob
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 33
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2016 12:11 pm

Re: Those in the know in VAN sports radio

Postby cart_machine » Fri May 20, 2022 12:49 am

radio knob wrote:Looking forward to reading the Dan Russell book on his broadcast time in VAN radio on the sports side. To last 30 years - on air? Can that be done now with corp radio control?
Deserving of a book. What a lot of personalities radio produced before it got tech crunched.
He could be cringy and childlike but like a train wreck you had to check it out. Outside of the sports portion what was his reputation in the VAN market amongst radio people?
I remember listening on CJOR and his lead in , I think, Pat Burns. What a hoot he was.


Danny is such a great success story. He graduated from BCIT and already had his foot in the door at CJOR in the lovely, well-furnished basement of the Grosvenor Hotel.
The great Al Jordan introed his show at two stations.
My recollection was Danny was on vacation in Hawaii when George Madden announced CJOR was changing format to CHRX (Garry Raible was filling in for him that week).
Few people remember he was at CISL when it signed on; he was the all-night jock.

cArtie.
User avatar
cart_machine
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 1710
Joined: Tue May 09, 2006 12:52 pm
Location: The Past

Re: Those in the know in VAN sports radio

Postby albertaboy4life » Fri May 20, 2022 7:31 am

RadioWest's sister site profiled Dan a few years ago - https://www.bcradiohistory.com/Biograph ... ussell.htm
Faster cars, younger women, older cheese, more money . . .
User avatar
albertaboy4life
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 1116
Joined: Thu May 18, 2006 5:48 pm
Location: Back in Alberta

Re: Those in the know in VAN sports radio

Postby tuned » Tue May 24, 2022 10:48 am

Lots of CKNW's dirty laundry aired out in Dan Russell's new book. Not a very flattering portrait of managment. Overall a very entertaining read and well worth your time.
User avatar
tuned
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 1232
Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 6:06 pm

Re: Those in the know in VAN sports radio

Postby Prod Guy » Sat Jul 23, 2022 11:09 pm

Is there a chapter about how he produced one hour of content for a three hour show for the final decade and a half of his show?

Even his final episode on CKNW was a sloppily edited replay of his 10th anniversary show. He didn't even come on to say goodbye at the end.

His show was GREAT until the 15 or 20 year mark and then he was hardly ever there. It was always a "Journeys" re-run and there only seemed to be 15 or 20 played over and over, and some nights there was no mention of the current day's topics at all, of if there was, it was bitching about 4 on 4 overtime or ripping the Team 1040 for being "in-house radio" which CKNW had been for decades before with him doing the pre and post game for a good length of time. By the end there was so little effort it just became unlistenable. He retired a decade before he stopped getting the paycheques, so to me, he has lost all credibility. He has no right to complain about CKNW. They let him phone it in for years and years. I'm not going to read the book and ignore the second half of his career where he didn't give a shit anymore.
Prod Guy
Newbie
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon May 03, 2021 6:53 pm

Re: Those in the know in VAN sports radio

Postby tuned » Sun Jul 24, 2022 11:54 am

"They let him phone it in for years and years." Who's they? NW managment.
User avatar
tuned
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 1232
Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 6:06 pm

Re: Those in the know in VAN sports radio

Postby sparky » Sun Jul 24, 2022 5:00 pm

The end of Dan's era at NW was during the time Brad "The Hatchet Man" Phillips was managing the Corus Vancouver cluster. The days of big payouts were gone, especially for contract employees.

All Dan had to do was supply a show every night until the contract was finished and then he was gone.

The reruns of old interviews and no new content was a total tune out and boring as hell.

Likewise across the hall at Rock 101 when Bro Jake was ushered out in pretty much the same manner.
"You get a bunch of clowns together and sooner or later you've got a circus"
User avatar
sparky
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 378
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2006 12:48 pm
Location: Coldstream, BC

Re: Those in the know in VAN sports radio

Postby radio knob » Sun Jul 31, 2022 5:59 pm

Enjoyable read. Sort of a Festivus angle as has a lot of airing of grievances. Wow. Never had the impression Dan had a salty language off air but lots of F bombs sprinkled in the mix. Quite a few mentions of "never spoke again" breakups.
I had a few good laughs at the stories. Bernie Pascal gets thrown under the bus - ! Pat Burns, could have run into him from where i found out he lived, hilarious tales. His lawyer got many name drops so a win for him if he is still on the job.
I think he rightly calls the radio biz now an unprofessional industry regarding the on air talent. Gotta cut costs somewhere. His WHL gig was interesting to see the behind the scenes how he made that happen timing wise with his Sportstalk show. Give it a 4 / 5
User avatar
radio knob
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 33
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2016 12:11 pm

Re: Those in the know in VAN sports radio

Postby WheresFredTaylor » Thu Aug 04, 2022 9:36 am

There may have been segments that were reruns from years past (more so in the summer) but if Dan wasn't available for a whole show during the hockey season, there was a lineup of hosts that stepped in for him (Brook, Quinton, even Doug Eberhardt at times).

There was a lot of bitterness in the final years of NW's sportstalk era because of the lack of access to the Canucks and that's what people here choose to remember. They were never fully absent, despite the suggestions.
WheresFredTaylor
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 175
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 9:34 pm


Return to British Columbia

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 136 guests