Townsend and Steinmetz, day one: your thoughts?

Bay Area Sports Guy September 04, 2012

I flipped on 95.7 FM “The Game” sometime around 11 o’clock this morning, and in doing so was reminded that today was the debut of “The Pulse,” the new 10-to-noon show hosted by Chris Townsend and Matt Steinmetz. While its title is pretty generic, my initial impression was that the show itself sounds fairly promising.

One of the show’s advantages — at least when it comes to attracting this matriarchal basement dweller — is it already brings familiarity to the table. Or kitchen counter in my case, since that’s where my combo mp3 dock/clock radio sits. I’ve heard Townsend on the radio since he did updates on KNBR. Steinmetz has done several radio appearances over the years, he’s on TV all the time, and I’ve come into contact with him quite a bit while covering Golden State Warriors-related happenings.

One of the complaints I’ve read several times from the commenters is that “The Game” covers the same teams KNBR talks about incessantly — the Giants and 49ers. During the 45 minutes or so I listened to of Townsend and Steinmetz, they talked mostly about the Giants and 49ers, with a little Raiders sprinkled in. But for all I know, they could’ve spent the entire first hour talking about the Warriors and the A’s.

Side note: when I turned on my radio this morning (for the first time since Thursday), it was on KNBR. Gary Radnich is back from vacation, meaning it was the first time in about a month that he and Larry Krueger had worked together. The subject: whether or not the Giants will reactivate Melky Cabrera in the postseason, once he has served his 50-game suspension. Krueger’s in favor of bringing Cabrera back, because he believes in second chances; Radnich thinks the Giants should kick Cabrera to the curb and doesn’t understand why they didn’t also sever ties with Guillermo Mota while Radnich was on vacation. I quickly changed stations, as I’ve already reached the point of extreme fatigue with “hypothetical playoff Melky,” which may cause problems since my writing focuses somewhat heavily on the Giants.

Back to putting our finger on the wrist of Bay Area sports, or something…

It was only half of the first show, and it’ll probably be at least another six months to a year before The Game reshuffles their lineup again … but the content I heard today on 95.7′s newest show was solid (I don’t really consider “The Wheelhouse with John Lund and Greg Papa” to be a new show, since they already worked together dozens of times over the past year). Sports-heavy, decent flow, differing opinions without trying too hard to create conflict for conflict’s sake. They didn’t take any callers that I heard, but that’s not always a bad thing (there’s a reason why @LOLKNBRCallers has collected over 2,000 followers in less than five months).

Now about that name … I know how since “The Game” has been accused of copying KNBR in certain ways, differentiating themselves by going with these sports talk radio buzzword titles can be tempting. Plus, show titles like these are commonly used in other markets. Nationally, Doug Gottlieb (who recently left ESPN for CBS Sports) used to do a show called “The Pulse” before it became “The Doug Gottlieb” show. However, “The Pulse” doesn’t tell you what this new show is all about (besides sports, duh) or set it apart from any other two-host show throughout the country.

Then again, the only idea I can come up with is calling the show “Towny and Steiny,” which is terrible. Or even worse, calling it “SteinyTown” and having “Won’t you take me to … STEINYTOWN??? Won’t you take me to … STEINYTOWN!!!” as the theme song. On a related note, there are several reasons why I’m not a program director.

So what do all the amateur program directors in BASG land think about this new show? You know where to deposit your cents in multiples of two…

About the Author

Otherwise known as Steve Berman (no, not the guy from the Eminem skits), BASG started Bay Area Sports Guy in January of 2008 with the help of his then-girlfriend (now wife). Since then he's covered college football for CSN Bay Area, gained media access to the Giants, Warriors and 49ers, and built Bay Area Sports Guy into the No. 1 independent Bay Area sports blog. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

29 comments

Newest | Oldest

Stan

I caught today's show..a bit. And Townsend? no wonder KNBR bounced him..he's too honest. You cant tell the truth and stay at KNBR. Steinmetz talking about the A's sounded like he just stepped off the Turnip truck from Hoboken. With plaid suit and all. Townsend sounded like all long time bay areans..Lew Wolff is a sad and bad case of blight on Oakland. This year isn't what he wants because the new better players are going to get expensive. THAT IS the CATCH22 of the Fisher family and Wollf ownership..they are holding fans hostage for any long term hopes. "Enjoy today..if it cost too much,we end the day early"..is the slogan.

Brooklyn Logic

I felt like I was finished with The Game permanently yesterday when John Lund, transitioning on air to Brandon Tierney, relayed the ancient joke about late comedian Sam Kinison snorting cocaine off Penny Marshall's body, and Tierney responded, "Nice!" Tierney quickly backtracked, somewhat, but it was another one of those dopey 95.7 moments when I feel dumber for having listened - instead of being informed, or even entertained. Among the new shuffles - I like Steinmetz & Bucher well enough, but you can keep the rest. To tell you the truth, I've been listening to music lately when driving around San Francisco in the afternoon - and I'm a happier person.

Stan

It was Cindy Williams..the little tramp!

Stan

What I noticed of the Bucher and Tierney show was that Bucher's voice sounds very much like John Lund..play a short bite to a person of each guy..and see if they could tell the difference.

Pat

Actually had hopes for a viable alternative last August from The Game. My buddy and I were looking forward to it. From Day 1, it went all downhill. The 2 main outside hosts are not listenable. The 1st guy is a wannabe entertainer who's not even that good at it. The other guy is a know it all contrarian. The Game is just "Gimmicks Are Us." Gimmick after after gimmick. I don't care if there are great athletes or "insiders" who call in for a weekly segment. If I don't like the host that I am listening to ask the questions, then why listen. Bay Area sports fans know about The Game. The ratings for the most-part have just stayed the same w/minimal peaks. The format is called "sports talk" not "gimmick talk" while annoying many listeners. Thanks to the Game & KNBR being Giants central...I have gone to TuneIn Radio to listen to other sports stations outside of CA including WFAN. I can't believe that I have to go outside this major sports market to actually listen to decent sports talk radio except D Bruce.

TommyJ

Wonder if they hired Bucher and Papa and Steinmetz full-time to make a run at the Warriors? Maybe someone from KNBR figured that out and realized that sports content gets more ears than their crappy talk shows. Also KNBR couldn't take a second "hit" after losing the BFL national radio package to The Game.

So much for the Game getting the Warriors any time soon... KNBR has signed a four-year contract extension to continue as the flagship radio station of the Golden State Warriors. Dubs games have aired on The Sports Leader since the 1976-77 season and will now continue to be heard on KNBR through the 2015-16 season!

Jeff

In my opinion there is no reason for a pro team to want to be on The Game. Unlike some other metropolitan areas which center around one city the Bay Area is extremely spread out. To me I see the Bay Area as Santa Rosa (60mi north of SF) down to San Jose (60mi south of SF) -- In both places The Game either does not come in or is choppy at times. KNBR on the other end in the day time has a radius of hundreds of miles in the daytime and reaches across several states at night. I think the Warriors made the choice because it gives them the most listeners and the greatest reach. No brainer.

First off... I absolutely love that my post was a cut and paste from KNBR and still got a thumbs down. Those interns at the Game must be working overtime. Secondly, I absolutely agree with you Jeff. It would just be bad business to move to the Game. KNBR generally has 5X the listenership and massive signal coverage. I went up to Tahoe over the weekend and was listening to the Giants game all the way into Placerville and Kyburz. And you have to love how much they promote the whole "it just sounds better" mantra. It's talk radio, not music.

Jeff

Could be worse folks. Radnich could be on The Game.

Fitz's Future Unemployment Check

No, that'd be great. Weaker signal = less people having to listen to his worn out schtick.

paperback writer

The game WISHES.

Steinmetz is a basketball guy and that's all he knows. I am sure he can talk baseball, football but his knowledge is limited there. Plus Townsend tends to talk too much anyway so it could create a problem if he dominates the convo instead of letting Steinmetz in

TSL

To echo another poster here, Chris Townsend is at his best when he is alone. As a solo host. The concept of two voices can be confusing at times. Often I feel that two hosts are trying desperately to compete with each other, who can throw the most one-liners etc.

Otis Byrd III

I agree that Townsend is better solo. Like others on here, you have to wonder why do they have to force tandems on a lot of these shows when some of these hosts are better solo? Like the Mr. T show for intense. Does Tom need a co-host really? Yeah, he probably could use a stronger co-host than Byrnes or Ratto, but he really could host his show by himself, even though he goes on weird tangents at times. Did Gary necessarily need a co-host before they added Damon, and then Krueger? Krueger has been a good addition to Gary's show in his return to KNBR, and I guess Gary's ratings were in the tank before Krueger arrived, but they kind of ruined a good thing on Gary's show when Dibley left and then took away the Bruno segment. It's kind of too bad Gary and Bruno couldn't do a show together as a lot of callers kind of wanted. Bruno probably could've been te perfect co-host to Gary, since they are both good friends, and understand each other. Before Gary had a co-host, I didn't really think he needed one. But then again, I didn't know his ratings were in the tube at the time. LOL. Krueger can host his own show as we see whenever he does Gary's show when Gary is on vacation, and as we saw in his old Sportsphone days in the past. Not having a co-host is one of the things that makes Damon's show good, because he can do his own show without having to cater to a co-host to get through his show. He even said he'd rather have his own show because it would be more authentic and he could basically do what he wants to do, and not having to worry about doing different segments and what not. It might've been kind of a shot at 95.7 (Damon might listen to that station more than we think. LOL), but yes, he's right about that. Plus, he takes calls the first hr. of his show normally. A lot of these shows, especially the shows on 95.7 don't encourage host-caller interaction as much as Damon's show does. But yeah, I agree. Townsend should be solo. I agree that it is too bad he only has a 2 hr. show now. I guess since he does so much other stuff regarding the A's on 95.7 and Comcast, maybe this worked better for him. He still should have a longer show though. Steinmetz is ok, but he's better talking basketball. I'm sure him co-hosting with Townsend will pickup when basketball season starts and the Warriors will be on everyone's minds again. As far as how I feel about the new Townsend-Steinmetz show, it's ok, and we probably have to give it time, but as I said, it will probably pickup during basketball season. It's weird to hear Steinmetz talk other sports when he's a basketball guy. When you hear him, you think basketball. It's like, are they seriously going to talk Giants and Niners with Steinmetz? But yeah, I agree with you on the two hosts thing. It is like one host wants to do better than the other, when they should be working as a team.

Tru

I think it's a good combo. Towney did talk some A's and he's pretty fair about spreading attention to all of the major teams in the market. Steinmetz "rain cloud" schtick is funny, but he can lack some energy. A good start, but agree it should be a longer show. I think the Game is starting to get better, slowly but surely.

Paperback Writer

Towny was good, Steinmatz sucks. Nice nugget from Raddy's show from Larry. after welcoming Gary back, Larry added: "They told me to start worrying if you did NOT come back from vacation" Gary goes - "huh"? Larry: "oh, I'll tell you later". Then both start giggling to fade off-commercial. This was an obvious reference to last year when Gary would not return from vacation after being saddled, briefly, with d bruce

Otis Byrd III

haha. I remember that. It was funny how Gary didn't remember that at first. I knew what they meant when they were talking about that, referencing to last year when Damon co-hosted with Gary, as you said. I'm sure Krueger has nothing to worry about. Gary loves him, and Krueger probably might've really saved Gary's show as Gary keeps mentioning. I'm not sure if Krueger has necessarily saved Gary's show, but him and Kate Scott have been good additions. I think we can all agree that before Krueger was added to his show, Gary's show wasn't really the same after Dibley left and bolted for 95.7 and then they got rid of the popular Tony Bruno segment. You could see what they were trying to do when they added Damon to Gary's show, but they just didn't mesh well together. I'm sure Lee Hammer/Cumulus/KNBR envisioned the Gary-Damon pairing to go as well as the Gary-Krueger pairing has, so far. But yeah, Krueger has nothing to worry about I'm sure. The guy has great sports knowledge, does his HW, and keeps Gary on topic with sports. Krueger does need his own show as we have mentioned. He was great without Gary the last couple of weeks. Bu yeah, it was funny how Gary didn't get that joke at first.

ReggieWrite

I totally agree that Gary’s show wasn’t really the same after Dibley left and then they got rid of the popular Tony Bruno segment. Radnich and Damon just didn't work at all. Radnich and Kruger together are better than Radnich and Damon but not as good as Radnich with Dibley and Bruno.

erick

the best the game has to offer: Bucher & Steinmetz they should have their own show from 10 am - 7 pm.

I agree with AJ, most of The Game's shows are so predictable with their built in segments that each show is starting to sound the same day in and day out. It's actually starting to make Paulie Mac's random Grateful Dead rants not so tiresome considering they at least aren't part of a script. Plus the "Coming up in ten minutes!" teasers make me flip the channel real quick. I was however disappointed that they shorted Townsend's air time. I think his show with Steinmetz has a lot of potential, but limiting them to two hours while Tierney and Lund get to blather for twice that doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

DM - You are so right. It would be pretty funny to record all 3 hours of a random Lund show and just isolate the stupid segments, any time he promotes something "coming up in X minutes", and all the teases going into commercials. The over/under on that would have to be around 75 minutes and I'd probably take the over. Back when I tried to listen to Tierney's show during hockey season, it was pretty much the same thing. It's as if Barrett's key to success is to model a sports station after Three's Company... just the same one trick pony over and over. In comparison, Bruce and Tolbert are just so much better, it's laughable. Both of them give you the topics they plan to tackle at the top of the show and go. I've never heard either of them cut an interview or topic short so they can move on to something as inane as "the daily dilema". It makes you wonder how much longer the ratings have to flat line before Enteromm makes sweeping changes or just pulls the plug altogether. As I've stated before, if Bruce and Tolbert don't wipe the floor with these hacks, I'l be supremely amazed. I can't wait to see the ratings over the next 6 months.

Daniel Navarrete

I love steinmentz this guy is hilarious on the air. He clearly does not state the same old cliche comments other radio personalities do. Hes straight forward and hates BS. TOWNY IS OK. Im 25 years old i listen to the game all day except for one hour of uncle gary from 9-10 so that i can laugh a little. John lund and papa and lund are thw best personalities by far imho

Fitz's Future Unemployment Check

The fact that you like Lund tells me all I need to know about your tastes.

I tried it for about 5 minutes and turned it off. Towny is much better solo. I think I'm done with the Game. The gimmicky segments, the tired show names, and the endless repetition has just completely turned me off. I'd much rather try other stations on TuneIn Radio or IHeart. The Game is just exhausting to listen to with the same crap over and over. During the week, it's only Giants, A's, Niners, Radiers, and Warriors. There are other local teams. There a ton of national stories. Instead, Barrett and company would rather continue to drive the same tired takes and segments into the ground. There is just too much good sports talk out there to bother listening to the Game. Someone... ANYONE... persuade me to listen to this station between 10am and 10pm.

Julie

Listen to The Pulse from 10:30 to 11:30 and got frustrated with the total lack of A's talk. Giants, 49ers, Raiders over & over again. Heard something very disturbing on The Wheelhouse. The subject of the Alamo/680 freeway shooting came up. Of course Lund & Papa giggled their way through it as they do everything else. Then Papa, who was laughing, asked "did anybody DIE?!" hahahahahha! Hilarious.

Stan

I thought almost the same thing about Radnich and Cabrera. He's talks as if Melky is dead to the team and that 100% bs. Its more of Radnich trying to force his own bias as reality..like his even bigger vendetta with Barry Bonds. "Uncle Gary" the giggler red nosed happy man..sure has a mean streak..it just stood out in his comments after two weeks of Krueger on neutral. It just screamed mean. On the other hand..I still feel backstabbed by Jason Barret over at THEGAME...The all white lineup..just no accident. Especially with Bucher who is as WASPY sounding and looking as they get. Its like Barret couldn't wait for Davis to leave and make sure no more like him to fill that spot. Both sports stations are pandering to the Metallica crowd with no shame or ethics as public airwaves(for profit ,sure) radio being exclusionary..except for the athletes they talk about look like nobody at THEGAME M-F. Irony..as usual, racism has a side of that.