Is there life after Nick Wright for 610 Sports?
One has to wonder in the wake of the past week’s shakeup at the Entercom sports-talk station. Because with the exception of a couple of bright spots – Nick Wright and D.A. – it’s been an uphill slog for the boys at 610 since the station signed on 10 years ago.
At this point, there’s a generational divide between 610 and it’s older, more successful rival, WHB.
As evidenced by all the trash talking Wright’s endured in the comments section here and elsewhere from older listeners.
Older sports talk listeners don’t just prefer aging sports talkers like Kevin Kietzman and Soren Petro, they strongly dislike and resent youngsters like Wright. To the extent that it appears personal – old guys versus young guys – winner take all.
Sports fiend Craig Glazer says he understands.
“Older guys just have a different vibe,” Glazer says. “They’re not as playful. Whereas younger guys are more into entertainment and goofing around with their callers.
“There’s nothing wrong with Jack Harry or Don Fortune or Kevin Kietzman, but once you hit 40 you’re not interested in talking about what Justin Bieber did. They don’t watch The Kardashians. They’re not into hip-hop. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you’re 23 or 24 or 25 or 26, you have a different outlook and feel for why you go to a Royals game – like to watch hot chicks.
“And guys like me that are older, we’ve already done that. It’s old hat to us. So we’re more interested in the game and more judgmental of the game. Young people are more in awe of the stadium. Like they’ve got all these bars, we can get trashed out there.”
But just stacking the deck with young guns isn’t necessarily enough to win the sports radio war.
“When 610 brings in all these guys from out of town, they’re asking them to become overnight Kansas Citians,” Glazer says. “But I mean, it’s pretty rare when someone comes here who’s not from here that they can grab the Kansas City audience in a big way.”
Which may explain why WHB continues to clean 610’s clock.
“I don’t think WHB is kicking 610’s ass,” Glazer says. “They’re ahead of them, but not markedly. And 810 doesn’t have any young guys that matter, nobody. Everybody there is middle aged or older.”
Back to the war between the stations…
“The good news for 610 is they have the Royals and KU basketball, which WHB does not,” Glazer says. “That gives them a built-in audience and they’re closer with Bill Self and the Royals players. But they haven’t been able to find the right talent mix yet They haven’t found another Nick Wright.”
The $64 million question; Can 610 overtake 810?
“Not in the short term, but in the long term they’re on the right path,” Glazer says. “Because Kevin Kietzman and Soren Petro are not going to bring that day-to-day younger lifestyle of music, sex, dating and current celebrities, because that’s not the life they live. And people can ask, what’s that got to do with sports? But sports is entertainment’s biggest stage today and people want to talk about who’s sleeping with who, is Manti Te’o gay, how the players are living, their behavior, how they dress.
“Nick did a constant tirade about how LeBron James behavior was awful in Kansas City at a cocktail party after an exhibition game here. And Kevin Kietzman, Soren Petr0 and – who’s that couch potato? – Steven St. John are going to be in bed. They’re not going to be up at some after hours party with sports people. But younger people are very interested in things like that and they want to know about it.
“Does 610 have the right mix? I mean, you’ve gotta give these guys a chance.”
I think the real question is, does anyone really care if 610 beats WHB or vise versa? Easier to just go to GregHallKC and catch the highlight’s rather than having to listen to any of them.
Very well said. Dana & Park’s are better in the afternoon till 3 Lazlo & SlimFast are Great…………
Well said
Greg Hall’s column is the best sports column in KC–certainly better than anything the Star has to offer. I never miss it.
Agreed, Love his column, he has very good sports takes. Plus, you can find out what is going on in KC sports radio and not have to listen to it. That is a plus.
How many guys under 40 covered the NCAA basketball tourney on CBS? How old is Howard Stern? How old is Rush Limbaugh? How old is Lara Moritz? How old is Jim Rome? Is there 20’s talent out there… sure there is. But if they have older, better com petition they will be #2. When the WHB guys blew up.. they were younger… but they were also extremely cutting edge and their concept was brand new. If a 20 something can bring something very innovative… they will do okay. But on 610… they have not. KK is always well prepared, and brings passion and enthusiasm. Yes, he does some strange things and makes some wild assertions. But a 45 year old has a better chance of relating to the 20 or 40 year old because they have lived in both places. The 25 year old has not.
I don’t think KK is that well prepared. It seems to me that he spends about 75% of the time either shilling something or talking about his golf game. I will have to say that Petro is well prepared and well versed on most sports topics. After Petro’s show is over, I change the station.
610 radio is not good. The problem is they didn’t hire people who know sports.
Listening friday afternoon I was treated to one piece of substance: A recorded interview (done by another outlet/reporter) from Eric Fisher, T, Central Michigan who is rumored to possibly be drafted first by the Chiefs.
During this 2 hour window I was treated to hearing:
1) A stale take from the new guy they hired from Minneapolis on the Richard Sherman-Skip Bayless incident. Which happened on March 7th. 5 weeks ago.
2) An extended story literally lasting 30 minutes (because that is the amount of lag time the streaming 610 app allows) about how Carrington took out some girl named Kelly Jones to the “42” party. I was evidently supposed to know who she was and care.
3) A comment that Rugby was a ‘bizarre, fringe” sport. (It is played at every major college in the area, and KC has one major [KC Blues], one minor {KCRFC], and even one all-gay Rugby team [KC Carnivores]. They then compared it to Roller Derby.
I suspect that 610 has realized that most people want the Jim Rome type entertainment baloney (WAR KU BASKETBALL SEC SUX blah blah fn blah) than actually discussing or recapping sports.
I hear you , 610 could beat 810….but they will not try
810 is ripe for the picking but 610 is so bad it’s not going to happen. If the best you ever had was wannabe Nick Wright then you don’t stand a chance. They should have never taken Jim Rome off the air. If 610 didn’t have the big Entercom money behind it they would have changed formats a long time ago. No way this channel makes money. Occasionally you will even hear Johnny Dare reference their money-losing ways. When you have given Chris & Cowboy and Neil Jones & Marty Wall shows you aren’t really trying. Seriously, those two aforementioned shows sounded like high school students trying to do radio.
Was Bill Self in “Tron”?
As we can all see, the irony of Kim Kardassian’s zoomers held in place by Flying BUTTresses is lost on the 610 demo.
My demo is so old, we still pay for stuff with salt.
I havn’t parted my hair since Josephine took a bath.
Imhotep poured the pool in my backyard.
I have to read “Islands in the Stream” on the sh+tter and still can’t pee.
I’ll be here all week, tip your waitress.
Experience. Maturity. It matters.
There is a reason for age requirements.
One must be 35 to be President of the US.
That’s true, Mark.
But I think 610’s problem is it started out with a bang, stealing all those WHB guys. Then they fucked up and let a bunch of em get away. Dave Stewart, who the Entercom chick over Zuroweste forced him to insult with a lowball offer, sending him flying into the arms of WHB. Then they needlessly pissed off Petro, who was a pretty young dude at the time who’d failed to knock off KK and who again said, fuck it and left 610 high and dry.
Then somebody at Entercom blew it by not having Fescoe and Bukaty on no compete contracts – a cardinal sin and really dumb – so WHB snapped them up.
Go back in time and take ALL of those players away from WHB and line them on on 610 with Maas, Whitlock and Rome and 810 would have been down to basically KK, Frank Boal, Clinks – who nobody really wanted, certainly not at Entercom, which tried to feed his job to a totally untested Greg Hall.
It wouldn’t have been a youth movement, but there would have been blood in the streets.
Hearn is that you? You used “fuck” two times in a reply. Are you whiskey drunk somewhere?
What I don’t understand is why everyone is thinking that 610 chances slipped away with the departure of Nick Wright. He was not that good, he is still not that good. He was not close to beating a BBQ, golf, and Nascar talking KK in the ratings and left the second he could. He was a year from getting canned
So you quit having a Glazer column but now you just go an interview him on his thoughts on sports radio in KC. Why not just call it what Glazer thinks edited by the Hearne? Pretty thin week for you?
This +1. Is there a topic that Hearne DOESN’T consider Glazer a worthwhile interview for?
Local market radio is the domain of low tech male douchebags and fat chicks that work in cubicles.
In the male category 98.9 and 810 own the market.
Unfortunately low tech male douchebags are in need of goods, products and services. 98.9 and 810 provide the best option for reachin this demo.
98.9 covers the 15-40 year olds and 610 covers 40+.
There is a group of several thousand SUPER DOUCHEBAGS that listen to both stations. Typical profile is 35 yrs old, twice divorced, dishonorable discharge from military and their penis. Most likely a low grade STD. 3 tattoo’s, smokes 2 packs a day and drinks 2 six-packs. Vehicle has one or more Proud To Be Union bumper stickers. Thinks Johnny Dare is just like them and every Metallica song is aspirational. Only words they know to the National Anthem are “HOME OF THE CHIEFS”.
610 appears to be catering to the zygote douchebags, not yet fully formed douchebags who are quite fickle and inconsistent in their buying habits. They generally lack any level of sophistication and self confidence. They are quite inefective in sexual conquests and relationships, even same sex. Ryan Seacrest is their icon and they can quote every episode of Big Bang Theory. They generally visit their mothers weekly to get the zits on their backs popped.
Until 610 can sharpen their focus on a niche market of douchebags they will wallow in the mire.
Visit your mom to get the zits popped on your back, jesus, LMAO.
Funny stuff.
What radio stations do you listen to?
Most time is spent listening to Sirius XM, music, news, sports, finance, talk.
Also use an ipad app, Talk Stream that lets me jump into the echo chamber long enough each day to figure out who I’m supposed to blame for all my problems. It seems that my parents and relatives lied to me during my formative years about personal responsibility, character and integrity.
Since stupid people really piss me off my therapist suggests I watch no local news or listen to any local radio. Two shows in particular, KC Week in Review and Ruckus can turn me into a homicidal maniac.
As I’ve gotten older I now understand the true meaning of Silence is Golden.
The two stations are not that far apart. Actually, they are neck and neck in the mid demos. As suspected the older the demo the better WHB does. The younger the demo the better 610 Sports does. From the February book (which has no Chiefs and no Royals). Share, 6a-7p
Men 18-34
610 2.6
HB 1.7
Men 18-49
610 3.2
HB 3.8
Men 25-44
610 3.5
HB 3.5
Men 25-54
610 3.5
HB 4.7
Men 35-64
610 3.3
HB 4.8
Wow, thanks for posting the numbers. Thought that WHB did not subscribe anymore to that. Neither one is doing that good
I’ve been listening to Doug Gottlieb, who’s on 102.5 opposite Kietzman. I hear only short spurts, but he’s light years less annoying than KK. Rome is on that station, too, but his shtick is past its expiration date.
I think both have good numbers not great, over 4 in a market with almost all men is very good, both are around that. Looks like those numbers show what I addressed.
So real people actually listen to local sports radio? Interesting.