Behind the Broadcast: Firing Sinkoff could come back to haunt WTMM

Brian Noe, the program director of ESPN Radio WTMM-FM (104.5), tried to spin last Friday’s shocking firing of “Sound-Off with Sinkoff” host Brian Sinkoff and show producer Alan Fish.

When he was introducing Sinkoff’s replacement, Bruce Jacobs, Monday afternoon, Noe kept saying that letting Sinkoff go was a “business decision.”

What Noe failed to say was that it was a bad business decision, a stupid business decision, a dumb business decision. . . .

You get my drift.

Sinkoff’s 3-7 p.m. show, which started on WTMM in April 2008, has been replaced by “Game On with Bruce Jacobs.” Jacobs officially started Tuesday.

Naturally, Sinkoff was stunned by the firing.

“I was told they were moving in another direction,” Sinkoff said last Saturday. “It was a big shocker. The ratings were good. There was a huge following. The show’s Facebook page had 4,000 fans. I really loved what I did, and it came across on the air every day.”

And the ratings were good for the show. The spring Arbitron ratings book ranked Sinkoff’s show fifth overall in the male 25-54 demographic in the 3-7 p.m. time slot. In cumulative listeners, the show was second.

Sinkoff did a great job of promoting local sports, particularly the high schools. He devoted time on the show to have the high school coaches on, and FOX23 sports director Rich Becker was a frequent guest to discuss the high school happenings.

Will Jacobs embrace this? Just listening to him, I highly doubt it.

Jacobs would rather talk about his beloved New York Jets and his hatred of the Miami Dolphins and my hometown of Philadelphia. A Long Island native, he talks about how excited he is to be back home, even though his home is three hours away.

In the couple of times I have heard him, he comes off as arrogant. Will he take the time to know the difference between a Guilderland Dutchmen and a Union Dutchmen? A CBA Cadet and a LaSalle Cadet? A Silver Warrior and a Mighty Warrior? Again, I’m not expecting him to do so.

If the business decision is to turn WTMM into a national-only sports­talk station, then why not just go back to running all of ESPN Radio’s shows pre-Sinkoff?

There is also another concern with Jacobs, He has also been a conservative talkshow host in Phoenix, and some of the things he has said have gotten him in hot water. Do a Google search on him and you will find articles and YouTube videos he did. I’ll let you be the judge of his political thoughts.

Judging by the number of people writing on WTMM’s Facebook page, many are upset with the station’s decision. Who knows how many negative posts were deleted by station management?

Noe and Jacobs have asked listeners to give the show a chance. And that is fair. But I’ll give it six months before someone at WTMM realizes it made a bad business

decision.

Saratoga series extended

Thanks to a successful season of NBC Sports’ coverage of the races at Saratoga, the network group and NYRA have agreed to a new deal, it was announced Wednesday.

The “Summer at Saratoga” Series will continue with NBC Sports Group through 2013. Next year’s tentative schedule, which will be split between NBC and NBC Sports Network (which is currently called Versus, but will be renamed NBC Sports Network on Jan. 2). Here is that schedule:

Saturday, Aug. 11, 6-7 p.m. — NBC Sports Network.

Sunday, Aug. 12, 4-6 p.m. — NBC Sports Network.

Saturday, Aug. 18, 5-6 p.m. — NBC Sports Network.

Saturday, Aug. 25, 4-6 p.m. — NBC.

Saturday, Sept. 1, 5-6 p.m. — NBC.

The one big change will take place on Travers Stakes day Aug. 25. NBC expands its coverage from one to two hours.

Football schedules

Here are the college football games and NFL games that will be televised over the next several days.

The game schedule will also include Internet broadcasts on ESPN3.com. Most ESPN and ESPN2 games will be on ESPN3.com.

Announcers, in order of play-by-play, analyst and sideline reporters, are in parentheses. Announcing pairings and game broadcasts are subject to change.

NFL

Sunday

FOX23 and FOX23 HD — N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia, 1 p.m. (Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa); Green Bay at Chicago, 4:15 p.m. (Joe Buck/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver).

CBS6 and CBS6 HD — N.Y. Jets at Oakland, 4 p.m. (Jim Nantz/Phil Simms).

NBC13 and NBC13 HD — Pittsburgh at

Indianapolis, 8:20 p.m. (Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Michele Tafoya).

Monday

ESPN and ESPN HD — Washington at Dallas, 8:30 p.m. (Mike Tirico/Jon Gruden and Ron Jaworski).

College Football

Today

Time Warner Cable Sports-3 and TWCS-3 HD — Toledo at Syracuse, noon (Mike Gleason/John Congemi/Eamon McAnaney).

ABC10 and ABC10 HD — Notre Dame at Pittsburgh, noon (Dave Pasch/Chris Spielman and Urban Meyer/Quint Kessenich); Oklahoma State at Texas A&M, 3:30 p.m. (Sean McDonough/Matt Millen/Jeannine Edwards); LSU at West Virginia, 8 p.m. (Brent Musburger/Kirk Herbstreit/Erin

Andrews).

ESPN and ESPN HD — North Carolina at Georgia Tech, noon (Bob Wischusen/Bob Davie); Florida State at Clemson, 3:30 p.m. (Brad Nessler/Todd Blackledge/Holly Rowe); Florida at Kentucky, 7 p.m. (Mark Jones/Ed Cunningham/Samantha Steele); USC at Arizona State, 10:15 p.m. (Joe Tessitore/Rod Gilmore/Shelley Smith).

ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD — Eastern Mich­igan at Penn State, noon (Beth Mowins/Mike Bellotti); Colorado at Ohio State, 3:30 p.m. (Mike Patrick/Craig James); Vanderbilt at No. 12 South Carolina, 7 p.m. (Mark Neely/Ray Bentley); Oregon at Arizona, 10:15 p.m. (Carter Blackburn/Brock Huard).

MSG and MSG HD — Georgia at Mississippi, noon (Dave Neal/Andre Ware/Cara Capuano).

MSG Plus and MSG Plus HD — Southern Methodist at Memphis, noon (Ron Thulin/JC Pearson/Jeremy Bloom); California at Washington, 3:30 p.m. (Craig Bolerjack/Joel Klatt/Petros Papadakis); Duquesne at St. Francis (Pa.), 7 p.m. (Paul Dottino/Steve Levy/John Schmeelk).

Versus and Versus HD — Cornell at Yale, noon (Randy Moss/Ross Tucker/Akbar Gbaja-Biamila); Florida A&M vs. Southern U., 3:30 p.m. (James Verrett/Doug Chapman/Rashan Ali); Nebraska at Wyoming, 7:30 p.m. (Paul Burmeister/Shaun King/

Anthony Herron).

ESPNU and ESPNU HD — Central Mich­igan at Michigan State, noon (Pam Ward/Dan Hawkins); Kansas State at Miami, 3:30 p.m. (Clay Matvick/Brian Griese/Allison Williams); Louisiana Tech at Mississippi State, 7 p.m. (Rob Stone/Danny Kanell); Howard at Morgan State (same-day tape), 10:30 p.m. (Adam Amin/Jay Walker).

Big Ten Network and BTN HD — San

Diego State at Michigan, noon (Eric Collins/Chris Martin/Dionne Miller); South Dakota at Wisconsin, 3:30 p.m. (Tom Hart/Derrick Rackley/Jay Wilson); North Dakota State at Minnesota, 7 p.m. (Matt Devlin/Glen

Mason/Rebecca Haarlow).

MY4 and MY4 HD — Temple at Maryland, 12:30 p.m. (Steve Martin/Dave Archer/Scott Przywansky).

ESPN3.com — Bowling Green at Miami (Ohio), 1 p.m. (Dan Gutowsky/Rob Harley); Massachusetts at Boston College, 1 p.m. (Dave Weekley/Rene Ingoglia); Ohio at Rutgers, 2 p.m. (Jon Anik/Bob Chmeil); Army at Ball State, 2 p.m. (Michael Reghi/Adam Archuletta); Tulane at Duke, 3:30 p.m. (Neil Solodnz/Jerod Cherry); Southern Mississippi at Virginia, 3:30 p.m. (announcers TBA); New Mexico State at San Jose State, 4 p.m. (Trey Bender/Jay Taylor); Middle Tennessee State at Troy, 4:30 p.m. (announcers TBA); Fresno State at Idaho, 5 p.m. (announcers TBA); Louisiana-Lafayette at Florida International, 6 p.m. (Eric Kohler/Warrick Dunn); Texas-El Paso at South Florida, 7 p.m. (Kevin Corke/Doug Graber); Indiana at North Texas, 7 p.m. (Shawn Kenney/Drew Henson); Florida Atlantic at Auburn, 7 p.m. (announcers TBA); Central Arkansas at Arkansas State, 8 p.m. (announcers TBA); Colorado State at Utah State, 8 p.m. (announcers TBA); UC Davis at Hawaii, midnight (announcers TBA).

CBS6 and CBS6 HD — Arkansas at Alabama, 3:30 p.m. (Verne Lundquist/Gary Danielson/Tracy Wolfson).

CBSN and CBSN HD — Virginia Tech at Marshall, 3:30 p.m. (Dave Ryan/Rich

Rodriguez/Kaylee Hartung); Tulsa at Boise State, 8 p.m. (James Bates/Aaron Taylor/Brooke Collins).

FOX College Sports Atlantic — Clarion at California (Pa.), 3:30 p.m. (Stan Savran/Paul Alexander); Rice at Baylor, 7 p.m. (Joel Meyers/Gary Reasons/Jim Knox).

FOX College Sports Pacific — UCLA at Oregon State, 3:30 p.m. (Bill Macdonald/JJ Stokes/Amy Bender); Idaho State at Northern Arizona, 7 p.m. (Mitch Strohman/Kevin Stephens/Marc Buckhout).

SNY and SNY HD — Connecticut at Buffalo, 6 p.m. (Jim Barbar/John Gregory).

FOX College Sports Central — Nevada at Texas Tech, 7 p.m. (Tom Helmer/Yogi Roth/Desmond Purnell).

FX and FX HD — Missouri at Oklahoma, 8 p.m. (Gus Johnson/Charles White/Tim Brewster).

Thursday

ESPNU and ESPNU HD — Texas Southern at Jackson State, 7:30 p.m. (Anish Shroff/Jay Walker).

ESPN and ESPN HD — South Florida at Pittsburgh, 8 p.m. (Rece Davis/Craig James and Jesse Palmer/Jenn Brown).

CBSN and CBSN HD — Houston at Texas-El Paso, 8 p.m. (announcers TBA).

Friday

ESPN and ESPN HD — Utah State at Brigham Young, 8 p.m. (Joe Tessitore/Rod Gilmore).

CBSN and CBSN HD — Southern Methodist at Texas Christian, 8 p.m. (announcers TBA).

Categories: -Sports