Big Lead Sports Bar

10/13/2008

MARK MADDEN'S RETURN: THOUGHTS?

Well, that's one day in the books for the new Mark Madden show on 105.9 The X.
In his "mixing sports with music" format, he came strong with a passionate "Roethlisberger for MVP" speech and was introducing Bush's Machinehead a short while later. I must admit, the sports/music switch-off might take some getting used to. I like my Madden in large doses, thank you.
When he was talking sports, it was vintage Madden: pro-Roethlisberger, some disagreement with Michel Therrien's motivational tactics, reflection on his time away, and a conversation with #87. How I had missed that. It's nice to have Double M back on the air, especially during hockey season.
Now, the important part. What are your thoughts on the first show and the new format? Judging from the early reaction, I'm going to guess you're not hip to the show's music infusion. Feel free to air it out in the comments section.

25 comments:

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

So how many times did he call all local fans racist before going off on a jag about what a douche Bettis is? Oh and then if someone called in to disagree I bet he hung up on them and then called them an idiot. HARDCORE!

Man he's so fresh and edgy.

BURGH08 said...

Grimm, you need to get laid.

The 'X' won't get the full pull that Madden brings in the long run IMO if they continue to bounce between music and his commentary.

I became pretty frustrated by the final hour and actually went back to the "PG-13" crew he cited on ESPN radio. At least I know they will talk sports for long periods, though not as fun as Madden, but not interjected with music either.

Monday after a Steeler loss do people want to hang through two or three songs in between his comments? Doubt it.

BURGH08 said...
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johnny said...

To be honest, I liked the music. How many times can we hear the same dumbass questions about the Steelers defensive line? His espnradio show was the same from 3-5 as it was from 5-7 more often than not, so I'd rather spread out the talk than hear the same stuff twice.

Also, the Sid interview was clutch. Next time I'm in town remind me to buy him some Crown or some Jack.

Dallas Mike said...

Isn't it ironic that Madden used to lament the guys who worked at ClearChannel. Now he's spinning tunes and stumping for sponsors. This is his last outpost as a foot soldier for terrestrial radio.

HotDog_Zanzabar said...

Agreed dallas mike. I forsee satellite having local subscriber based channels with madden waddleing through that door

PittCheMBA said...

The format of music/sports talk was unusual. However, I did enjoy hearing Madden on the air again. I think WXDX is forced to mix in music and have a 3 hour, not 4 hour show, to limit Madden's talk time so he does not get himself thrown off the air again. Madden is brilliant and entertaining, and limiting his talk time may actually keep him on the air.

Unknown said...

I am not in the local area anymore...but Madden has always bored me. I thought he was loud and pompous as a WCW announcer, and I thought he was loud and obnoxious as the ESPN guy. I'm sure he was loud and obnoxious as the new Alan Cox.

Played out is what Madden is, give me a guy like Savarn any day of the week.

gh432 said...

this format will never work. People tuned into Madden for 4 hours and he drew huge ratings, they obviously tuned in for him. nobody is going to wait between songs to hear Madden. Nobody over 40 is going to listen to X music because in a few minutes Madden may come back for a segment, this will either be changed very quickly or fail miserably.

gh432 said...

this format will never work. People tuned into Madden for 4 hours and he drew huge ratings, they obviously tuned in for him. nobody is going to wait between songs to hear Madden. Nobody over 40 is going to listen to X music because in a few minutes Madden may come back for a segment, this will either be changed very quickly or fail miserably.

dmcg88 said...

As much as I enjoy Mark's perspective .... I won't last as a consistent listener with those extended music bumpers. It's as if the programming director isn't sure who is the target audience?

Anonymous said...

If they want to get the ratings, they need to drop the music period. It messes with the flow of the show. If you don't like Madden, turn him off. It's easy. Go listen to Paulsen fail yet again on ESPN. The X needs to sign Colony ASAP!!!

LooBakka said...

It was all like this:

MM Segment...
Music...
Commercial...

MM segment...
Music...
Commercial...

Top of the hour
Music...
Commercial...
Music...
MM_segment...
Commercial...

I understand the X is a music station and that's their format, but he's not going to be able to attain the high ratings he had at espn because people want to hear what he's going to say next. Hopefully they can iron out some wrinkles. It might be the time slot too because the morning idiots on DVE, who have been doing the same schtick for 20+ years, have lots of airtime while tossing in a Lynard Skynard song so they can take potty breaks.

P.O. said...

mark madden reminds me of the kid in the play ground who has never had his ass beat...he just pops off at the mouth, gets vulgar, calls people names, untill one day someone pops him in the mouth... its a tired tired act

NSan2323 said...

MM didn't seem into his new gig...

i tuned in for the first hour and a half. honestly, i wanted to turn it off after the first 20 minutes. if the format of this show doesn't change "super genius" will be dunzo sooner rather than later...

Unknown said...

i liked it but the music interrupts the flow of the show. Madden's gig in a way pulls you in & then gets you going (either for him or against him.) With how the format is, by the time you are getting roped in, music comes on.

Kill Your Face 5000 said...

seriously, the x, i think pittsburgh can manage three measley hours without the SAME GREENDAY SONGS WE'VE BEEN HEARING SINCE 1996. let mark have the whole slot -- the music is utterly out of place, and madden's fans (which is a much, much larger audience than you'd get from the music alone) will only be deterred by it. they need to be willing to let him talk in longer bursts, too. if you must play the music, play less of it, please. and obviously the commercials need to air, but i'd be willing to listen to commercial breaks twice as long in order to have half as many of them, which was basically how it worked on ESPN. it's great to have the double M back, but if he can't get into a rhythm because of the frequency of the interruptions, it's going to be like getting back together with that ex-girlfriend you always pined for -- yeah, you've got it back... but it's not really what you imagined, is it?

weenies2k said...

I'm not thrilled about the music, but I'm just glad Mark is back! Paulson and Crow are okay, but Bendel is awful!! It's true that Mark can be obnoxious sometimes, but noone knows hockey better than him and he doesn't kiss butt like everyone else in this town. I wonder if he'll get the experts to contribute now that he's not on ESPN?

RedHawks Hockey said...

Crow is a skidmark on the underpants of society. He is so terrible, I can't believe he is still on the air.

Anyways, I was not able to listen to it online using firefox (apparently IE works) so I will try that today. MM needs to stay on the air, so it sounds like the X needs to work this out. ASAP.

Dave Offord said...

I apologize for my ignorance on what the X is.. it's been many, many years since I was a regular listener. Do the DJs pick what music comes up next? Or is it just a mix of 90's rock/Creed/Hinder/Green Day played at random? I really like the Mark Madden show and have been a loyal listener for years, but I don't know how I am going to be able to listen to him talk for 4 minutes, then hear an Alice in Chains song from 1993 for 3 hours a day..

Lou said...

I heard Madden on with Benz and the first two things I hear is how great Ben is and the O-Line sucks and how great Sid is and Satan sucks.

That was enough for me to not even bother tuning in. That's the extent of his sports commentary. If your going to have some commentary, have some insight. He has none.

It would be better if they just played music.

BobbyG47 said...

I liked him better when he was a sports talk host instead of a DJ.

I've only got about 35 minutes in the car on the way home from work, and I don't want to waste it listening to "X music" and commercials hoping to catch a tidbit from MM.

I heard him say that he's actually on air as much now as he was on the old station. So what? On the old station, you got sports news and updates between his bits. I have no interest in this music whatsoever. Worse than that, it's annoying to me.

I also think that regular X-listeners who have no interest in sports are going to be annoyed too. This stupid format is going to have everyone tuning out

Anonymous said...

I don't listen to the X in the afternoon, so I'll most likely never hear him again. Or The Clarks. And that's a good thing.

DannyB said...

Big fan, Big fan! The music mixes it up a bit and sure beats Jim Colony!