By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
July 6, 2016
Look, I don’t want to write another article about Detroit Sports 105.1’s demise any more than you want to read it. But there are so many loose ends to tie up after last week’s announcement that I would be remiss if I did not address some of it.
But just because I have to write this doesn’t mean I am not going to do it in the most brain-dead and lazy way possible. So here is a mailed-in “Q & A” article about the fallout from Greater Media’s decision to bail on sports …..
Did The On-Air Staff Have Any Culpability In 105.1’s Unmitigated Failure?
Nope. Not if you ask them, anyway. It was hilarious to watch the “talent” spin the format switch while blaming everyone but themselves. I mean, you had almost three years in which to gain any traction whatsoever and you didn’t even come close.
Here is a sampling of the abject denial coming from the hosts, starting with Ryan Ermanni …..
The station died when Drew Lane left? Ummm, 105.1 had already fired their original program director (Jason Dixon) by that point. The station was flailing WITH Lane. Just because Lane was the highest rated show on the channel doesn’t mean he was doing gangbusters.
If you were going to make a non-sports guy the CENTERPIECE of your sports station, you would have at least hoped that this Faustian bargain meant you’d have been somewhat competitive with “Valenti and Foster.” And the former king of morning talk radio in Detroit didn’t come close. I had thought at the very minimum, with his history of ratings dominance, Lane would have been ensconced in second place in the Male 25 to 54 demo. But that never occurred.
No promotion? No marketing? Does this dolt actually believe there were Detroit sports fans who didn’t know that Detroit Sports 105.1 existed? Hey Ryan, why don’t you look in the mirror and realize that NOBODY wanted to listen to you when you were on-air at WDFN — leading to your dismissal — and you had three years to make a dent in the ratings of “Karsch and Anderson” and could not. Because you are fucking awful.
That the station was celebrating the fact that Ermanni and Rico Beard were finally in the top ten of Males 25 to 54 shows just how clueless these morons in charge were in the first place. But I will get into that later when I discuss Tony Paul’s role in all of this.
Next, there was monumental tool and blamer of sexual assault victims Tom Mazawey …..
The advertisers were lining up? Then why did Greater Media VP Steve Chessare announce that the station lost TWO MILLION dollars in the first two years the station was in existence?
And maybe — just maybe — the folks at Greater Media suggested that Lane discuss sports more frequently than 1990s pop culture topics because he was on a SPORTS STATION that was trying to position itself as an alternative to the “guy talk” discussion down the dial!!!!!
And when Tom The Child Unwinder says “we were fourth” in 25- to 54-year olds, he is talking about MALES only and Lane’s show exclusively. The overall station NEVER was fourth in any demo — including “Relatives of People Who Worked for 105.1.”
It is hilarious that all of the WMGC talkers viewed the Lane era as the halcyon days of the station. I mean, the reason GM asked Lane to tweak his show was because the experiment was failing!!!!!
You know what the problem was, Tom? You are better equipped to shop for groceries for the elderly, wash their cars and lower their cable bills than you are to discuss sports — or ANYTHING else, for that matter.
I have been covering the Detroit sports radio beat for 13 years and I have never encountered anyone DUMBER than Tom Mazawey. This bald dipshit makes Terry Foster look like Warren Buffet.
Just How Stupid is Tom Mazawey?
Well, dumb enough to expose himself to potential litigation from CBS Radio and Olympia Entertainment. Because according to the DSR legal staff, that is what Mazawey did in making these comments to the Freep ….
Yep, based on a second-hand conversation Mazawey had with Greater Media executives, he accused the Ilitch family of corporate malfeasance. And then named Debbie Kenyon as being complicit in this as well.
In past articles I have mentioned hearing that something nefarious occurred in the bidding for the Tigers and Wings but nothing as specific as this second-generation account Mazawey provided.
And the DSR legal staff — they vet most of my more inflammatory and accusatory material — insisted to me that Mazawey has opened himself up to a slander lawsuit.
He’d better hope that Chessare told him the truth about what went down in that process. Otherwise, he’ll be detailing Marian Ilitch’s Rolls Royce and attempting to lower her Comcast bill when he can’t pay to defend a lawsuit filed by Olympia.
Could Mazawey Actually Say Something Dumber, Though?
Of course. I wasn’t joking when I stated that Foster was intellectually superior. Want proof? Read this ….
This is a station that couldn’t get 50 people to watch a Periscope. This is a station that couldn’t get 10 people to watch their antics on Facebook Live. And now that they are using the People Meter instead of the old diary system, the Arbitron ratings have never been more accurate.
Is the man in denial, a liar or just this fucking dumb? I am guessing a combination of all three. Like, the show HE was on was SIXTEENTH (16!!!!) among Males 25 to 54.
A SPORTS SHOW!!!!
The combustible haters? I guess that group consists of the 99.99999999999% of people in Metro Detroit who didn’t listen to the morning program.
What Do You Think of Greater Media’s Decision to “Bounce?”
As you know by now, 105.1 is now a throwback hip-hop station which, in theory, is a great idea. And when I say “in theory”, I mean an awesome channel already on SiriuxXM called Backspin.
Backspin is probably my favorite non-Howard Stern station on my satellite radio provider because I love listening to that type of music. The only issue with Bounce is that 95% of the best music from that era is not suitable for terrestrial radio due to the puritanical FCC.
As one of my readers put it, listening to 105.1’s new format is akin to watching “Curb Your Enthusiasm” in syndication on WGN. I mean, the censored version isn’t really conducive to a series with an episode titled, “Beloved Cunt.”
But I’d still rather listen to the radio edit version of “My Mind’s Playing Tricks on Me” by Geto Boyz than I would Mazawey, Ermanni or Rob Pascoe discussing Detroit sports, so there is THAT.
Of course, I’d also prefer listening to Willie D., Scarface and Bushwick Bill break down the Tigers’ starting rotation to anything on Detroit Sports 105.1 as well.
Why Were (Are) You So Mad at Tony Paul?
Where to begin with this one? I guess the best place to start is the official policy of the Detroit News to refuse to give THIS website credit when we break news. Yes, I have been told by a former employee of the paper that there is indeed a procedure in place to deny the DSR acknowledgement when we have an exclusive story.
It is disgusting that a news organization would have a POLICY in place to deny another outlet credit but here we are. And no matter how despicable you might think I am, I have NEVER done anything as diabolical as what Deadspin did to ESPN when A.J. Daulerio was the editor of that website.
You might remember Daulerio getting pissed at ESPN PR for lying to him about a story Deadspin was going to post about former “Baseball Tonight” talking head Steve Phillips and Daulerio responding by emptying his email inbox and posting every sexually explicit rumor regarding the employees in Bristol.
And those lewd tales weren’t even vetted for accuracy.
I have never done anything remotely close to what Daulerio pulled — even though I have the ammo to do so — and yet ESPN never stopped giving Deadspin proper credit for breaking stories.
(If the News would like to continue this disingenuous policy, maybe I will open the DSR dossier and pull a Daulerio. I am at my breaking point with this shit.)
Anyway, it’s bad enough when I break a story — and NOBODY in the Detroit sports world does that with more frequency than ME — and some jackass who I can’t stand refuses to give me credit. I have come to expect that at this point. It’s another matter entirely when this deceit comes from a person whom I have championed for years.
And not only did Tony Paul refuse to acknowledge I broke the news that 105.1 would be abandoning their sports format at 6pm last Wednesday, he had the story wrong at every fucking turn for MONTHS and I tried to tell him he was being lied to by his sources.
His sources being Greater Media executives trying to work and massage Paul with spin. Paul went full Chris McCosky when covering this story and you NEVER, EVER want to go full Chris McCosky.
While my sources had been telling me for weeks that there was a very good chance this format switch was possible, Paul was offering me $1,000 wagers that 105.1 would still be a sports station in 2018.
Yes, 2018.
Because that’s what his sources inside the Greater Media compound were telling him. Even though those people are paid to lie to their OWN EMPLOYEES because the last thing radio executives want is a whiff that a format switch is coming because employees start leaving en masse.
Luckily for Paul, I didn’t want to take his cash.
If you’d like evidence that Paul was clueless to the news that Greater Media was abandoning their ESPN affiliation for a new format, just check out this text exchange we had where I TOLD HIM IT WAS GOING DOWN …..
The plane had already crashed into the mountain and Paul was still maintaining that food and beverage service was being offered.
Which is why I was so infuriated when Paul took my exclusive, contacted the SAME EXECUTIVES who had been lying to him for months and then got confirmation that I was right all along.
At that point, did Paul give me credit? Nope, he acted like my report didn’t even exist. When I threatened to “go all Moss” on him all over social media for this clear case of betrayal, he responded with this chicken shit behavior ….
Now, anyone who uses Twitter knows this might even be worse than completely ignoring me. The only people who would see that Tweet are users who follow both Paul and @DetSportsRag — an account that I barely use and one that has 1/8th the followers of @JeffMossDSR.
It was a calculated effort by Paul to attempt to appease me from going nuclear (it didn’t work) in hopes that his superiors didn’t see what he did.
And what is Paul’s fear? That he is going to get FIRED for giving the DSR credit for legitimately getting this scoop? He works for the same union that protected Drew Sharp (a plagiarist) and Mitch Albom (a fabulist.) Hell, his own paper didn’t fire a pedophile — who was getting late-night phone calls from little boys — until after the police had arrested him.
And he is going to get canned for mentioning “Jeff Moss?” Get the fuck out of here with that cowardice.
What is astonishing is that after being purposely misled for months by his Greater Media sources, Paul still spewed their bullshit company line in his article summarizing the format flip.
I ran this Paul paragraph past multiple sports radio program directors while sharing the station’s Arbitron numbers and they were incredulous that:
A) The 105.1 employees would actually be celebrating those ratings. It would be like the Tigers hitting a Cleveland bar because they only lost to the Indians by one run.
B) Paul would be naive enough to believe that the morning show’s horrific ratings were some sort of improvement and that being Top 10 in their TARGET demo was some sort of accomplishment for Beard and Ermanni.
If any of this were true, why did Greater Media just abandon a potentially lucrative format for one that basically won’t lose them any money but has no upside?
The bottom line is I am sick and fucking tired of breaking news and getting ignored. I am no longer going to tolerate it and chalk it up to business as usual.
Whether we are on friendly terms or not, I am not going to sit back and take it.
And I am inching closer to going “all Daulerio” on everyone.
What Was The Worst Thing About The Flip?
I am an insensitive prick. Hell, Denis Leary once sang a song about me …
But the one thing I have never done is fire a large staff of people while Louis Armstrong was down the hall belting out “What a Wonderful World”. That’s exactly what Chessare pulled off last week.
Seriously, management had some intern/minimum wage worker named Jason Jarvi start the station’s daily rewind show which recapped the three live weekday programs, only to interrupt it a couple of minutes in with the Guess Who’s “No Time” and a procession of other tunes mocking the sports channel’s failure.
While this was playing out in real time, the employees of 105.1 were in a conference room being shitcanned. To make it even worse, the staff had been lured into that meeting under the false pretense that they were going to be told that the rumors of a station flip were untrue.
Yeah. And I am the dick.
What Was The Best Thing About The Flip?
My dog, Marlo Stanfield Moss, went viral thanks to Deadspin. And his insane owner.
Hell, my 105.1/Paul rant was even picked up by the Metro Times — even though it was basically a regurgitated version of the Deadspin recap.
Good to see that the Metro Times had time to plagiarize Deadspin but still haven’t gotten around to running their supposed cover story about me. Ya know, the one I sat for two separate interviews for.
And the one they still haven’t paid the author for, even though the article was submitted.
And with that, I hope I never have to write ANOTHER WORD about Greater Media’s pathetic attempt to compete with 97.1. And quite frankly, this article ran probably 2,400 words too many in dedication to this abortion of a sports station.
And if any radio conglomerate ever decides to take a run at “The Ticket” again, do everyone a favor and HAVE SOME FUCKING BALLS unlike that eunuch Chessare.
(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)