from Canzano's Oregonlive Blog...


Furness leaving 1080-AM The Fan
1080-AM co-host Ian Furness has accepted a sports host position with KJR Radio in Seattle, where he'll host a show solo.

Wrote Entercom VP Erin Hubert in an email distributed to staff: "In Ian's four and a half plus years with the Fan, he has done a tremendous job of bringing sports street cred to the station giving the Fan much needed credibility in sports circles. He's a consummate pro, a delight to work with, and has been an absolute amazing ambassador for the station with clients and in the community."

Isaac Ropp will fill-in until a replacement is named. I expect Ropp to be a strong candidate for the position.

Kudos to him! That's a city I'd appreciate living in....I've totally romanticized Seattle in my brain...so awesome!

Great news for Portland sports fans! Any chance Big Suke will leave with him?

Ropp is good, hopefully he'll be the permanent replacement.

Furness does a good job and he is a Cougar. He will be missed on The Fan. He is the only good local host they have.

he sucks. good ridance

I agree with Ness and Cochise. They both suck. I can't stand the local sports talk. It should be so much better. For a market this size we shouldn't have to rely on Dan Patrick (Can't stand him either) and those two knuckleheads.

Actually Canzano is the best part of the local programming.

Well....I'm not much of a sports fan, but I do think that it takes a bit of something to move from market 24 to market 14. So good job!

its called knowing where to place your lips and whose behind they need to be placed on.

Ian knows all about that. He made up his mind to leave when all that butt kissing didnt get him the PD job.

Butt kissing is all part of the job. Get used to it, that is if you want to stay in the business
"The art of Ass Kissing" should be taught in school for all those kiddies wanting to get into radio.

Great for Furness! I think KJR-AM is one of the best sports radio stations in the country. However, KFXX-AM is not really a great stations, but has improved in the ratings in the best year due to its great transmitter!

How about finding Kenny Vance and team him with
Canzano. . . .then we will really know the inside
scoop!

The Fan's street cred is in question. Why didn't the fan break the latest Blazer story that involved Zach Randolph. Ian & Suke lack emotional intelligence and it shows on the air with their inside jokes.
Issac Ropp has more savvy and understanding of not only sports but of the human condition behind the games, as well. In my opinion, with a little guidance Ropp could hone his talent to a point when his effort would get him a stint at ESPN. But Ropp is in an organization that has little time for helping talent. There is no one at the Bancroft building that can mentor Mr. Ropp. Entercom's main objective is profit. Sales and profit are the short term goal of every radio station.

Just don't put that jock-sniffing idiot Gavin Dawson on the afternoon show. The less of him, the better.

Well I disagree with Copernicus that it took something to move up. What the real world teaches us is that its who you know not necessarily what you know

Copernicus "Well....I'm not much of a sports fan, but I do think that it takes a bit of something to move from market 24 to market 14. So good job"

if ropp takes over for furness, who replaces ropp... and so on and so on? they dont exactly have a deep crop of air staff

Furness has a good voice and professional delivery but his whiney attitude is what I won't miss. That and the WSU slant.

I don't mind Suke in the role they have him in. He's fairly knowledgeable about sports (especially football), usually pretty funny and his role is to give his opinion, which he does.

Ropp has decent skills but he sounds too much like an everyday twentysomething talking sports. He needs more "authority" in his voice to command respect from the listener.

KJR has not only legendary calls, but so much potential to be a player in the Seattle market. Their ratings have been so-so for years, I give them credit for sticking with the format and trying to make it work. Unfortunately, their "franchise" is UW sports, and football drives that. (It's going take years to turn around that program).

But moving from #24 to #14 is good. (Seattle really should be market #13, but Arbitron added Puerto Rico as a market a number of years ago to drop Seattle down a notch! I've always been irritated by that!)

Perhaps, we should be more irritated that we aren't #23!

If The Fan was serious it would make this a national search and bring in someone who can give the station a little flavor. Ropp is an amateur. He belongs exactly where he is, on a Saturday show no one listens to and doing updates. He brings nothing to the table. What's he known for ? A "Draft the Stache" campaing that drew 20 people to the Blazers Practice Facility ? To have Ropp and Big Suke fronting the only local show on the only sports radio in town is enbarassing.

You can only grow by experience.

Marley couldn't have said it better.

Marley, its enbarassing that you can't spell embarrassing. I'm pretty sure from listening, that Ropp was not really involved in the draft the stache campaign, it was his Saturday co host.

Im still wondering how that will shake up the rest of the staff, if Ropp replaces furness. If they are not going to do a search for that spot, im assuming they won't do a search for an update anchor.

What about Dennis Glasgow returning to the chair.

look for john canzano to get this gig

Dwight Jaynes was co-hosting today. I tuned by and heard a pretty insighful converstation about the Duck-Oklahoma game coming up Saturday. It was great to hear sports again on the Fan. Furness had a way of duming down the program. Today, Suke sounded very knowledgeable about what he was talklng about. He, unfortunately, had to try and be funny with Furness. It didn't work. I guess what I heard today was a real sincerity from Suke. I would like Entercom to give the job to Jaynes, but look for Entercom to give to some hot shot, punk type ego maniac. Its the same type of radio host that Furness it and the no-talent who teamed with Kenny Vance in 2003.

The suspense is almost over ... after an exhaustive, global, two-week search, I hear that the permanent host will be announced during this afternoon's show.

I hope I got the job!!!

No point in waiting until this afternoon for the Fan to tell you. From AllAccess:


The Fan/Portland Names Ropp For Afternoon Co-Host Slot

With IAN FURNESS exiting to join Sports KJR-A/SEATTLE for 7-10p (with ELISE WOODWARD, replacing DAVID LOCKE), ENTERCOM Sports KFXX-A (SPORTS RADIO 1080 THE FAN)/PORTLAND taps anchor/SATURDAY host ISAAC ROPP as afternoon co-host alongside JASON SCUKANEC.

THE FAN's PD DENNIS GLASGOW tells ALL ACCESS that he's also moved CHAD DOING to morning sports anchor duties and GAVIN DAWSON to the same duties for afternoons.

Glad it wasnt Crapzano that got the gig!

Congrats to Ropp!

Seems like Gavin Dawson got shafted. Who the hell is chad doing?

I was listening to the herd as i do each and every morning, and Chad Doing keeps referring to himself as "the body" at the conclusion of 20/20 updates. Am i the only one listening that is embarrassed for him? What is up with that.

you listen to sports radio. That is embarrassing enough

Radoh - Are you suggesting Gavin got the shaft by not getting the job or by moving to afternoon updates? Gavin is alright for a Saturday morning show but in no way is he ready for an afternoon drive show.

By moving to the afternoon update he doesn't have to get up at 4 am to get to work and actually gets to sleep in. It is probably better for him.

As for "The Body", it is an inside joke. One day Isaac and Suke were kidding Chad because he competes in body building contests. The catch is he weighs about 145 pounds and competes in one of the lightweight divisions.

An inside joke, but one Chad needs to get away from if he wants to go anywhere in radio.

BTW Mc74 - What do you listen to?

That makes sense... Its annoying though. He needs some work on his updates. Gavin and Isaac were the only guys there who were any good at updates. They should have hired from out of market.

Im suggesting gavin got the shaft by not really getting a chance for the afternoon show.

Gavin got an opportunity to be a fill in host just like Isaac. Like I said in my previous post, I just don't think he is ready for a weekday shift. Just my opinion.

I think the show has gotten better since Ian left, although I still feel like Big Suke needs to go. Ropp talks more X's and O's, and less gossip rag type crap. I may become a regular listener again.

It sounds like Chad has dropped the "body" thing. He's just using his name now. Wise decision.

Also sounds like they are involving Dawson a bit beyond just updates. Kind of a 3rd voice in the booth, but limited. Good idea also.

All in all, so far, I think it sounds pretty good.

I think sports talks radio should be insightful and make people think. In addition to that I want to be entertained. Fart jokes just don't do the trick when your target audience is 25-54 year old men.

Do these guys do the trick ?

Take a look at this job listing for a sports talk station in Dallas.

We are looking for a sports radio pro who knows sports-But better yet knows radio. Are you intriguing, funny, compelling and passionate? If you like to talk stats or “Break it down” is in your vocabulary, don’t bother sending me a disc. If you are creative and like to use sound, can use sports as a jumping off point, can tell good stories, relate to fans and make me like you and hate you at the same time, we should talk.

I've never listened to the station, but I want to after reading the ad.

By the way the PD there is John Lund former afternoon guy.

Say what you want about Lund but he "gets" it.

Re: "Lund gets it"...

Maybe as a PD, but as a host he was unlistenable.

Lund may not have written the help wanted ad. Most likely it was taken from another source. After listening to Lund and Kenny Vance, I don't beleive that Lund has the understanding to write such a paragraph!

Lund is the new PD in Dallas. He was a PD in Pittsburgh and also did mornings in Detroit.

I think he's pretty capable of writing a help wanted ad.

Scott Masteller, former PD at The Fan, is now in Bristol and is the number three guy at ESPN Radio.

So these guys apparently knew what they were doing when they were here in Portland.

You've got to wonder what kind of "special favors" Lund has done for Masteller along the way. Kind of convenient how he moved right in at Dallas when Masteller left.

It's not always what you know, but who you know.

How do you think Furness got to Seattle ?

He's good friends with the guy he replaced.

I haven't heard Gavin Dawson in a couple of weeks, was he canned as part of this change?

I heard on the tail end of Saturday's show that he's on vacation in Hawaii.

kjr in seattle getting a 1.5, with three sports teams and a major university based in seattle.
.....
kfxx getting a 2.1 with one pro sports team.
...
kfxx for its market size, waaay over-performing.
kjr massively under-performing.

.....Who the hell is chad doing?

His wife/girlfriend/maid ?

couldn't resist, sorry. I tried, I really tried!

I didn't think I would ever live to see the day that a 2 share on ANY format would be considered overperforming!

well that makes sense. I don't really like their backup talent.

Pienumclaw

The big question is what is the power ratio of their billing. Regardless of how we feel of how companies program their stations its still a business. KJR could be doing a 2.2+ power ratio as far as billing while KFXX from what I understand isn't doing 1:1 ratio (more like .83). That usually happens when you rely on too much on network programming and not enough local programming. Case in point a few years back in NY KFAN was the 14 ranked station in the market but #1 in billing with $60m. Even with only one sports team there is alot to talk about locally and regionally to give it content.

Ducks, Beavers, Beavers, Blazers, Mariners, Seahawks, PSU,

WFAN in New York, one of the top stations in the format in the country, averages in the mid 2's, and always has, yet several times in the last 10 years has been the top billing station in America (meanwhile the ESPN affiliate in NY shows about a .7 with decidedly more national programs than the all-local WFAN). I think it would be hard to find a Sports Talk outfit over a 3.0 in a top 25 market (The lone exceptions appears to be WEEI in Boston, #3 in the market with a 6.2 rating, and WFAN which is higher rated in #18 Nassau/Suffolk at a 3.9 than its own home market)

Basically what that says to me is Sports Talk, for all its oomph shouldnt be ratings driven, its clearly advertister driven, and its listeners obviously spend money.

So while i normally agree with Colin's assertions, the fact that KJR is lower "rated" than KFXX is basically a non-factor.

Besides, would a 1.5 in Seattle mean more listeners than a 2.1 in Portland?

just some thoughts anyway...

Great analysis Destiny.

The Fan has one local show, and I think most people would agree it isn't very good at all. I gave the new "team" a couple weeks and they have no game at all.

1080 didn't even try to go out and get someone with a little pizzaz to fill the afternoon spot. Even when they promoted from within there was no promotion, no billboards on the side of the highways. When you make a major change like they did you have to shake the tree a bit.

Besides that The Fan has never been a player in trying to get any local sports programming, i.e., Ducks, Beavers.

It has always had the feel of a ma and pop operation even though it's owned by a big company Entercom.

A very common mistake in Radio. Lets change the format or in the case of the station just one show change and then they don't let anyone know about it. Too often they do this and then they wonder why it didn't succeed. I have seen this happen in various markets of various sizes and this includes some of the big companies.

I listen to KJR often and find they have no lack of either local or national advertisers.

they are live and local from 6am to 10pm.

KJR also gets A LOT of calls from people obviously listening on the internet, ie: out of range of the 50kw signal. I dont know how much revenue online listening brings in though.

online revs......Its called NTR and companies love it.

NTR- Non Traditional Revenue, for those who don't know