The Game That Never Was
With no bowl for Big Red this season, more than 550 Nebraska Cornhusker football fans turned out for the “Bowl Game That Never Happened” at Omaha’s D.J.’s Dugout on Dec. 27.
Orchestrated by 1620 the Zone’s Kevin Kugler, the computer-simulated game was played on all the screens at the sports bar, and most of the fans attending treated it as if it were a real bowl game. Live play-by-play calls were also part of the action.
Listeners to Kugler’s 2-6 p.m. weekday sports talk show chose Notre Dame as the team NU should face in the quasi-bowl game.
Final Score: Nebraska 43, Notre Dame 31.
44 comments:
I dont understand. What did they do, run a computer simulation of the game or something?
From the looks of the pics, they played it on NCAA 2008 on one of the gaming consoles.
Same way Matt Shick played that UN-O vs. UN-L game a few days back on his broadcast. UN-O won, 12-0.
I don't like to use the phrase "Stupidest thing I've ever heard," but...
What's dumber... Kugler doing this stunt or 550 people showing up to watch it?
Hmmm....
Compelling enough content to bring 550 customers into a business....too bad local radio is dead and buried.
How much revenue did XM-IRUS drive into Omaha during those same few hours?
Great point. When local radio is done right it can generate a response from their audience few others can deliver.
Maybe instead of bitching about what we don't like about the state of affairs of radio today we can start a thread about who in town is doing local radio right. or at least the best they can under the circumstances....
Some thoughts ...
KFAB local in the main dayparts can be counted on for information on the breaking news stories and bad weather. Uses the website as good as anybody.
The River... superserves their audience.. always out in the community.
The Kat... Raises a ton for charity. Packs Rednecks to get people to watch an country awards show on a Monday night.
How else is local radio still alive and well??????
>The River... superserves their
>audience.. always out in the
>community.
This small non-profit college radio station is putting the commercial broadcasters in the area to shame!
I'm listening to it more and more. None of this formulaic same-old-same-old {s-bomb} that you get on the commercial stations!
I particularly like the Sunday morning blues program!
I don't listen to the River much -- I'm an old fart, and it's not really my choice in music. Presentation-wise, they do an excellent job, and better then many commercial stations in town.
I've been listening the last few months to KOMJ, over on AM 1490. It's a nice mix of music, they don't do a lot of out and about stuff, but always talking up events in the area and stuff. Informative, but not a lot of clutter either. I wish it didn't have the static buzz of AM.
"The Game that Never Was" was a clever programming strategy that helped to soften the blow of not having a real bowl game in this football-crazed state. Good gimmick, 1620.
As for the last commentary: I agree that KOMJ 1490 is a decent station. It is programmed for us adults who are no longer in our 20's or 30's, and it also marries some contemporary adult music with the nostalgic sounds of radio's golden age. As for the AM buzz: it authenticates that era of music, but there are good radio sets out there that eliminate the static buzz you speak of.
The Perrault did not like this "fake game". No, the Perrault does not like anything that draws attention away from him and to his competitors. The Perrault also does not like the latest ratings which shows he is sinking like a rock. The Perrault wishes he would have thought of this radio stunt earlier.
I think it is funny that Big Sports 590 has declined since changing from Magic 590. In fact, KOMJ 1490 has more listeners now than 590. Way to go, Journal. Perhaps Perrault and Justice are a bit heavy for the boat.
The final score was NU 34 Nd 31.
The Irish led the game 28-10.
Jimmy Clauson was intercepted 10 times with Tierre Green picking 4 of them.
The crowd at DJ's was amazing.
Unsportsmenlikeconduct hosted quite a party for the bowl that never happened.
BTW this weekend Mel Kiper Jr said on ESPN radio if there was one bowl game he would like to make this year it would be Notre Dame and Nebraska.
Two traditional powers that had very bad years.
Let's face it... It's a pretty dead week not just for Sports stations but all news talk style formats.
When I first heard it on the air, wow.. I thought it was lame.
But what else is going on?
Nothing. Why not.
Sounds like it was a great event, fun party and something to do in December.
8:32 AM thanks for the info on 1490. I'll have to switch over there and give it a try.
Can somebody explain trends to me? The Zone is carrying a 3.9 in the 12-plus trends. Just doing a quick glance at sports stations across the country on R&R, and that number is really high. Like one of the highest numbers 12+ for a sports station in the country.
What's going on here? What's carrying this station? The afternoon show? Mike and Mike in the morning? Opinions? Thoughts?
-David
For one thing Omaha is still a pretty good AM market. Take a look at KFAB and KKAR vs the number 1 and 2 newstalks in other markets.
But I personally think that there was so much happening this year with how bad the Huskers were that people were tuning in to hear about Callahan, osborne, and Bo. It was quite the saga and all the information stations benefitted from it.
I agree with that. So if you're of the opinion, I'm assuming, that the Zone's numbers are largely a result of turmoil in Husker Land, that would mean that the station's growth would come from it's only local show, right?
Unsportsmenlike Conduct's numbers must be HUGE to push a 3.9 12+...
-David
I haven't seen the break out but I'll bet that Unsportsmanlike conduct is the top show on the station.
They are local. They have been around for years and have built stability and credibility in the marketplace. And they fit a definate niche.
Local radio is dead? I think not...
All Journal stations did charity events in the past month that were successful- Star's 'Adopt a Family' was finished in a day (record time), Z's can food drive, BS 590 did the Westroads, Channel 94.1 collected 450k+ diapers (goal of 250k), and CD did a car deal.
All relied on listener participation, which is something XM/Sirius or your iPod can't touch.
Not a Husker fan, or an Unsportsmanlike Conduct fan, but I'm glad to see 500+ out at an event.
Obviously, though, a Journal fan. Or a Journal employee.
so what's wrong with that? If they are a Journal employee nothing wrong with tooting their own horn.
Local radio is not dead. It could be better perhaps, but there are a ton of people doing their best to be responsive to the community and their company.
I see The Perrault's mom is posting again. Hey Perrault's mom, he is going to get fired. Deal with it.
The event was so big, it even got mentioned in the Lincoln Journal Star. Suck on that Perrault!
Get a life... Husker Hicks.
3:04 & 6:27-
Truth hurts? There are things positive in local radio.
Instead of posting something negative like 90% of the degenerates that post on this site, how about thinking positive? Too hard? Hamster on the wheel dead? Guess so.
Nice thought though. Life must be hard for you.
Okay, local radio is awesome. Doesn't change the fact that I don't listen to it at all, and lots of people are staying away in droves.
Lots of people are staying away in droves? Apparently, hundreds of them were staying in their droves at DJ's Dugout and just stumbled into a local radio promotion. What are the odds?
Well, the numbers were probably inflated, but if they weren't, it works out to a whopping 0.14 percent of the population of Omaha, much less the total listening area.
But, whatever gets you through the day.
Local radio isn't dead by any means, but anyone who thinks it is what it used to be is fooling him or herself.
Obviously, cynicism gets you through the day.
What kind of turnout would you have envisioned for an AM sports talk radio promotion in the "good ole days" of local radio? 1,000 people? 2,000 people? What would have happened when local radio was working?
Cynicism doesn't get me through the day. My iPod does.
It would be a lie to say that everything is fine in local radio but the audience is hardly staying away in droves.
Even with all the other options 93% of all Americans listen to local radio during the week.
My advertisers are getting results and it appears the Zones advertisers are getting results too.
I don't work for NRG, which the Zone is under, but that great of a turnout is nice.
I'll agree with 6:49. Funny that a pub crawl by a radio group was SOLD OUT in a matter of a couple of days, and the results of KOZN's fake bowl had 500+ out is great.
It's all about advertisers, and they are getting their 'bang for the buck' with what they toss in.
Go ahead and rag degenerates.
What's the current auction amount to kick Perrault in the junk?
No offense, but you could write the word "Huskers" on a box of dirt and get over 500 people to show up.
The biggest surprise is that it took the Perrault this long to flood Jim Minge's email with a Big Sports story to bump the Zone story from the top spot on the blog.
The Perrault is notorious for emailing the writers of this blog.
The Perrault also emails you if you dare speak out against him.
And the Perrault will find you. Oh yes, he will find you.
Dec 31 2:52 PM Anonymous said...
Local radio is dead? I think not...
All Journal stations did charity events in the past month that were successful- Star's 'Adopt a Family' was finished in a day (record time), Z's can food drive, BS 590 did the Westroads, Channel 94.1 collected 450k+ diapers (goal of 250k), and CD did a car deal.
All relied on listener participation, which is something XM/Sirius or your iPod can't touch.
That's great, but where are these events/promotions throughout the rest of the year? Obviously people turn out... so why not more ongoing events to keep the listeners engaged?
For example, over the course of a year how many people go to a bar for a fake bowl game vs. go to concerts promoted by The River's concert series?
The River is a station that does it right. All the commercial stations in town could learn a lesson from them.
Is Stacy the sports producer still on Kugler's show? Haven't heard from her for awhile.
@ 3:49 PM...No, she left several months back. She's still in Omaha, but I just can't remember the job she's doing now.
If you look at 1620's pics of the outing, I believe I saw her in one of them, though.
She's selling advertising at NRG Media now (for the Zone) and yes, she was at "The Bowl That Never Was".
Thanks for filling in the details, 3:10PM! :-)
What Omaha needs is a local guy that can talk local sports and do so without being a Husker homer (Kugler) or a Creighton homer (Perrault) and can get behind ALL the programs in the area.
There was a guy that used to do a sports talk show up in Norfolk by the name of Mike Karns that was funny and informative and seemed to draw some pretty good local and national interviews. Don't know what happened to him, but if 590 tracked him down and replaced him with that dog and pony show they might see their numbers go up.
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