brucemaples dot com

I don't throw down a rant very often, but I've got one today --

Can someone explain to me why we can't have at least ONE decent sports radio station in this town?

For a while, we had ESPN Radio on both AM and FM. That was great; I could run errands on Saturday morning and still listen to College Game Day. Keep up with the scores and the breaking stories, and get halfway decent sports commentary.

Then Cumulus Media, whose name is appropriate since their heads are obviously in the clouds, decided that what Louisville needed was yet another "Classic Hits" auto-play station, so they switched the FM station off ESPN and onto this killer idea. Considering that the station doesn't even show up in the ratings listing, the obvious question is -- how's that working out for you?

That leaves us with ESPN The Ticket, still plugging away on life support at 1450 AM. They have a great-sounding transmitter ... if you're parked right next to it. During the day it's hard to hear, but at night it gets wiped out by various other stations, including some Spanish-speaking variation of Rush Limbaugh.

The programming isn't always ESPN either, of course. I've tuned in for College Game Day and gotten horse racing tips, financial advice, and who knows what else. And the number of PSAs running lately tells me that their advertising is going down the toilet, so the station will probably be gone before long.

That leaves us Fox Sports at 790 AM and 101.7 FM. Pretty clear signal, and some good programming. But the talk shows? Some of the most self-centered, self-satisfied, insider-only sports talk I've ever heard. More than once lately I've given up in disgust after listening to supposed "sports authorities" waste my time making inside jokes about each other, usually crude, then laugh at their amazing humor. Games going on, scores changing, stories breaking -- and I've got the broadcast from the freshman media class at the local high school.

Yes, there are some good sports call-in shows on other stations. Yes, the U of L and UK game broadcasts are first-rate. Yes, there are some good local sports talk personalities. But can we not get a decent station that can be counted on, whose signal at least makes it to the county line, and where the games and the news get more air play than bathroom jokes? Is that too much to ask in this market?