My co-worker and I are always talking sports. Apparently this week I must have impressed him because he kept saying enthusiastically over and over that he thinks I should have my own sports talk radio program. I think he was turned on by the sarcastic humor I usually apply to current sports stories.

So anyway this got me thinking. How about putting together a 24 hour gay sports radio talk show? I'm serious!! It would be a call-in show. Yes it would be controversial to attempt this, but once sports fans respect the fact that we do know our sports (regardless of who we're sleeping with) they will call in. I believe!

I think two groups we could attract the most are the male and female college students (both gay or straight)

And of course just as Mike and the Mad Dog do, we could mix in other stuff like talking about the Oscars and the movies in general.

I respect so many of you guys who are the top posters on this board, so here could be a possible lineup for the weekdays of 24 hour sports radio:

6AM - 10AM Jim & Cyd
10AM - 2PM George Twins Fan
2PM - 6PM Joe in Philly
6PM - 10PM sportinlife
10PM - 2AM PhillyFan
2AM - 6AM any volunteers???

I would take one of the weekend shifts. LOL....

Any thoughts on this?

[ March 04, 2006, 10:57 AM: Message edited by: amazin12 ]

I would take a shift, but not at THAT time of day....I'm not even coherent at 2 AM. And, I've been told that I know more about sports than most straight men. Sad, ain't it ?

Glad I didn't get assigned the morning drive shift. No way I'm getting up for a 6am radio show. 10am would be perfect for me, especially since I'd be following Jim and Cyd. I could use up the first two hours of my show trying to pry Jim's lips off Peyton Manning's ass!

I'll be holding auditions for a co-host mext week!

One of my closest friends and I talked about this idea many years ago. Gay guys doing a sports show. I for one would love to do this.

[ March 04, 2006, 08:28 AM: Message edited by: George Twins fan ]

I see stuff on this board everyday that shows not only do we know our sports but what we say, and how we say it is so entertaining. If it's worth reading then it's worth listening to over the air. Let's face it guys, we have that uncanny ability to apply some sarcastic twists to all the current sports stuff we talk so intelligently about. And I think we do that better than the average straight sports analyst...

And it would not be a format where we would be salivating about jock's bodies all the time. No, we will not stereotype ourselves in that way. (Well maybe we could allow some of that for the overnight shift... )

Gays and sports are linking together now more than ever. I'm sure Bob Ley of ESPN would be a good guy to support us and kick us off. Hopefully he could also provide us with a studio at ESPN Zone in Manhattan.

Now's the time for mature and knowledgeable gay mens' approach to sports talk!

So how does PhillyFan qualify for a shift? :confused:

I'm not sure but I do know there's pressure on Joe in Philly. He's in that all-important daytime afternoon slot. His ratings will have to be over the top. wink After all in the northeast he will be competing with Mike and the Mad Dog and Wendy Williams.

6 AM? Never! eek!

2-6 AM: Gator-Cane smack.

They're nothing. I'll chew them up and spit them out! wink

It was suggested a number of times in the past that an Outsports show should be on the OutQ gay channel on Sirius satellite radio. Don't know why it never happened, but if you were looking to set up a national show, satellite or internet radio would be the way to go.

There you go! Nothing like some Gator-Cane smack at 3 in the morning with those drunken college students calling in.

Jim, I thought it would be perfect for America to wake up to Cyd and Jim. You guys would be like the Harry Harrison of morning sports ralk radio.

[ March 04, 2006, 02:33 PM: Message edited by: amazin12 ]

How can I get in on this action? How do I audition? Is this serious? Let me know, please!

I don't think it can be serious unless Jim and Cyd wanted it to be. I think they have their hands full enough as it is running a website. Adding some sort of radio duties may be asking too much.

Delegate. Delegate. Delegate. Sponsor someone to do the show who has the time, and 'charge' them to use the unequaled name of OS.

Maybe they could have "creative" control over content, manage quality control and personnel.

They would not have to even appear on the show and might not want to in order to maintain the appearance of independence. I could just see Jim and Cyd as the power behind some cute throne.

I'm still pushing for an Outsports.bar in every major city. I need a place to drink and watch sports and maybe get lucky dammit! Is that too much to ask?

The radio idea is cool...maybe a Outsports daily podcast might be a good starting point?

[ March 05, 2006, 06:56 AM: Message edited by: Maddog ]

We have been talking to Sirius' gay channel about an Outsports show for three years. They keep saying, "great idea," but don't do anything about it. At some point, it'll get in the right hands. It's a GREAT idea. If you have any thoughts on who to talk to, by all means, let us know! What a BLAST it would be to have all of these personalities on the radio!

heh that would be cool, and even if not that maybe OS could partner with existing bars in big cities to become the official outsports bar. A network like that would be a cool thing, that way people in the same city can rally together and if people are visiting other cities, they could go to a place and know that they could meet other OSers

I can think of a gay bar in Pittsburgh that might be willing to form such a partnership. The bar is "5801" (formerly known as "New York, New York"--it's now under new ownership--thank GOD). During football season, they show all Steelers' games, and they sponsor a team in the Steel City Softball League. If this is a serious idea, either I or someone else with real authority could pitch the proposal to Darrin or Ralph. Any thoughts?

Someone should get a gay channel started on XM. Then you could pit the channels against each other.

On my Cablevision I.O. cable service, ESPN has 3 neworks, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN News. So maybe they could have more than one radio station in addition to their current ESPN Radio? And a new station could be all sports talk from the point of view of serious gay male sports fans such as us. It would be a call-in format with occasional interviews.

And you never know this type of project could aid tolerance towards gays in sports.

But as with most things in life, you have to start out small. Maybe we can have just an overnight format or just a weekend format until our popularity takes us into prime time!

Of course this is all voluntary. Once we start bringing in people like Esera Tuolo as on-air hosts of their own show, I'm sure he would command money. wink

I spoke to Joe in Philly earlier in the day, and pitched this idea to him. It seems as if we have many great ideas on this board, but sometimes, we don't all follow through. Personally, I think that a gay sports radio show would be a fantastic idea. Granted, it won't be the easiest of tasks, but with some planning and marketing strategies, it might work.

First, we need to find a large, liberal market, such as, New York City, Philly, D.C., Los Angeles, or San Francisco. Locate a radio station with open-minded managers that are looking to find someone to take an empty slot. You may have to take a time slot that may seem ungodly (such as, 2AM), but start small .

The next logical step would be to find a promotion that would get people to listen. This would have to appeal to both gay AND straight people. Play on the stereotype that gay men know nothing about sports. Open up a contest to straight and gay men to see who knows more about sports. To make it fair, you can't go all UBER-GAY on them. And if you want people to take you seriously, be as neutral as possible.

Continue this promotion for no more than a week. You have to find gay and straight men who are extremely knowledgable about sports trivia--stick to the four major (baseball, basketball, hockey, and football) sports to make the playing field level. Once word of mouth starts to spread, then start finding local celebrities who would be willing to guest commentate. Just remember to not jump too fast.

I think if you really want this to happen, you can make it so. Stop mulling about, and go all out....I have faith in the group. Good luck! Let me know if I have any good ideas....

[ March 05, 2006, 04:09 PM: Message edited by: Falconpride ]

Well, well, well. Our idea has already been stolen! (well sort of) A brand new sports talk show is about to debut later this month on XM Satellite Radio. It will be hosted by James Carville, former co-host of CNN's "Crossfire". Carville was on the liberal side of that show. The other host is some snot-nosed sports know-it-all sophmore from Boston College named Luke Russert. I saw them getting interviewed this morning on "Cold Pizza". It will be like an "old school vs. new school" theme of sports talk.

Here's the link:

http://sev.prnewswire.com/radio/20060123/D...23012006-1.html

[ March 06, 2006, 08:12 AM: Message edited by: amazin12 ]

As long as the show wasn't about "so and so is so cute" and it was actually a sports talk show then I wouldn't have a problem with it.

There are a ton of great possibilities with something like this...

- Debates on whether or not a gay athlete would be welcomed in either the NFL, MLB, NBA or NHL.

- Interviews and Discussions with gay athletes such as Mark Tewksbury (Olympic Gold Medalist)

- Maybe even broadcast rights to Gay Games

And of course, just regular sports talk like who will win March Madness? What vets will be cut in the NFL? Who will get traded at the deadline in the NHL?

Bottom line, I'd want to see this as respectable as possible because from my own perspective, being a sports reporter/anchor, I know I get discouraged when I see people disrespecting the business.

But my concerns are unwarrented because this is one classy website, organization, and discussion forum. Jim and Cyd have done a sensational job and I enjoy reading what all you posters have to say. It's good to have smart discussions regarding sports with such informed fans. YOU GUYS ALL ROCK!

The reason your little radio gigs wont work is that the real talent would be on too late at night.

How long did it take for someone to step forward just to host the next convention? Just sayin'.

Why don't you start out with a Podcast?

Brilliant! Test market Outsports radio on the Pod People from Bodysnatchers. Now we're getting somewhere! wink

I'm guessing you could block off about 10 hours a day just discussing the great things at WVU alone....

BBM could fill the remainder of the time. Since I'm old and choose to be technologically ignorant...how does a podcast work?

It involves alien pods, Aubster. But you can't fall asleep next to one.

Herr Tiggee Now even I know that isn't true. Cocoon was just a movie, Stu. wink

Bodysnatcher pods, Aubs...not Coccoon.

Herr Tiggee HT, don't look now, but I think they have already infiltrated the board.

They've tried, but eventually once they see hjow the mission fails, they disappear. Note who never came back to congratulate me on calling Tennessee OVER-RATED in the CFB board.

....but oddly enough, he was a VolFan

[ March 07, 2006, 12:12 PM: Message edited by: Boltergeist ]

Bolter Bolter, if you are talking of the one CNN Bobby, we've all been wondering where he went to. We were thinking he fell in love...but, being an alien and called back to the mother ship makes much more sense.

no, not him .... VolFanFtL

Bolter, that's a typical VILe...if they aren't winning, they're big ole babies.

or shed one skin, find another

or to quote PF "gravytrainer"

I think that is why Fluffy ditched his alma mater of University of Tennessee and picked up the WVU "gravy train" since at least they could beat UGA. Nice gig if you can get it.

Train, Train, bringing that gravy on.