Saw a spmack post in the McNeil & Parkins section about not listening to much sports talk radio anymore, and I realized that I'm in the same boat, I went from being able to listen straight through the lineup whenever I could and trying to make time daily to listen to as much of The Score as I could, to now driving with the radio off more often than not and listening to podcasts while I'm on the range. And given how often the shows get posted about here nowadays, I'm guessing MANY are as well.

So my question is a simple one: Why?

Starting with me...I guess I just don't find it (in general, not just specifically any show) compelling enough to sit through 5-minute commercial breaks while I'm at the gym when I could be listening to Carolla crack wise. Maybe some of that loss of interest is due to being pushed away by the late political turn of B&B and later B&G literally telling me not to listen, but I can't honestly say that's all of it, because while they put on a better show than the previous afternoon drive show, I don't find McNeil & Parkins to be all that compelling, either.

It could also be the management-friendly tone taken up by MANY. If every time I tune in I hear a host telling me "everything is going to be fine" with a second-place Cubs team that was supposed to be a perennial World Series contender, I'm either going to call bullshit an not listen, or think "hey, everything is going to be fine, guess there's no reason to listen any more until the postseason" and turn off.

yea, its commercials for me. unbearable, except for short trips in the car where firing up a podcast is not worth the time.

See, I don't really mind commercials. As I mostly listen during the work day now it provides natural breaks for me to switch up my daily tasks etc.

The main reason I do not listen as much i.e. early morning or evenings is I simply have other stuff to do. The other stuff usually also involves other people that do not want to hear that crap.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

1. ads
2. I was told not to listen, so I stopped.
3. I no longer drive 11 hours a day

I checked out during the Social Justice Radio era...and it seems like whenever I try to go back, they're talking about something I don't give a shit about (NBA, Cubs, Fantasy Sports), so I PTFB.

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I'm just not as invested as I used to be in sports. I used to plan my Sundays around Bears kickoffs and watch a least parts of most night Sox games. I just don't have the time nor do I care to invest that much time into sports. Also I've gotten married, have a house, golf more than I did a few years ago, so all of those things take up time. With a baby on the way, I imagine I will have even less time to devote to sports and sports radio.

I still listen when I'm in the car, but almost never stream or listen when I'm at home.

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I can put up with the commercials if I am entertained; I feel like I have more entertaining options with my free time. With twitch and podcasts, there are more options that people can relate to better than with radio. Radio has to cater to a wide audience, other platforms do not...

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

I must’ve missed where you said you guys were expecting. Congratulations Frank!

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Last couple years of B&B killed sports radio for me.

Went from listening basically all day from inception of the Score to nothing now.

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Podcasts got us accustomed to listening to talk ad free or at least with just a few limited ad reads.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Listen to probably 90% of the amount of sports talk I always have, only a little less sports because I'm so old that I sometimes stop on WGN when I'm flipping during commercial breaks.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

A. All the shows blow
B. I don't care that much about sports anymore as my top 3 teams (Sox, Bulls, Bears) have sucked for so long.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I always assumed it was because of Trump

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I think MANY here are listening less due to any combination of:

- getting old(er)
- having less time (I once knew a spice merchant named Les Thyme) to devote to listening regularly
- the shows not being what they used to be - naughty, funny, non-corporate pablum
- feline AIDS

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

I do listen in the mornings.

When I found myself muttering at my radio on my afternoon commute I knew I had enough of listening to afternoons. I don't get turned off by SJW radio. It was the incessant corporate cheerleading, smart radio preaching and listener disrespecting that pushed me elsewhere. This was not limited only to afternoon drive.

I do think the character of the station has changed for the better but the relationship is damaged to the point that the Score has to win me back.

I also don't listen when I exercise as one of my boys has taken up going out with me so we talk.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I've not listened to radio in general for a long time.

And sports talk national talk show wise really sucks. I'll listen to Rome from time to time but his act is old.

For the score or am1000, I will listen to only podcasts due to the time difference but even w/ that, there is hardly any originality from these hosts anymore. No real personalities. most of them are just carbon copies of themselves.

Get some young and hungry new guys with passion and maybe I'll take a chance.

I think this sums it up for me. It started with the Penn State bullshit.

Given your Murph obsession, I'm calling bullshit on this.

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Like several other people, I'm just not as interested in sports as I used to be. Football is still my favorite, but I don't even watch that as much as I used to. No sports or athletes, of course, seem bigger than life like they did when I was a kid, but at this point there are often other things to do that are more interesting to me than sports at this point.

Other reasons I don't listen as much as I used to:

1. Hosts like Rongey, Abbattacola, Finfer, and Shepkowski (only one is still on the air) who seem annoyed at having to host a sport-talk radio show. A caller would want to about something and their repsonse would be "Does it really matter?" or "It doesn't matter." If it doesn't matter, why the hell am I listening to your show?

2. The rise of VERY. IMPORTANT. RADIO. Either go be a legitimate journalist or go do something that actually makes a difference in people's lives. This mainly applies to Bernstein but also to guys like Speigel, Parkins, and Goff who would "just have to say ____" and address the latest social or political issue. I know where to go to find that type of talk and I would not expect the people who host those shows to give me their opinions on the Bears or Cubs.

3. The rise of VERY. SMART. FANS. Players and coaches don't think you're cool or "one of them" because you say "mesh point." A more in-depth understanding of what we're watching is OK, but Matt Miller (Is that the guy who used to be on with B&B who sounded like Buffone?) attempting to whiteboard plays on the radio is bad radio. I am not interested in prolonged discussion of advanced metrics as they relate to any sport. Get off my lawn.

4. The fetishization of the NBA, it's players, and coaches. It's bizarre and I don't get it.

5. Between podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, etc., there are lots of other options.

I listen a little during the football season. Otherwise I dont listen at all.

Why do you think he's "cool"? Why would his race matter to you? Doesn't that seem to be pandering at best?

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

Same.

Terry even gave up baseball talk. All he would say about baseball is that "Yup, I, I, I enjoy it ."

Ruffie: I'm talking about J. Hood.

I think Hood is a good sports talker, but I also appreciate his perspective.

The Bernstein tree's attitude of "everything's fine and nothing matters" really kind of undoes the whole premise of the station: we know the shit doesn't really matter. That's the fun of it. If I shouldn't care what's going on, I'll go do something else.

Maybe a bit more subtle here, but I would add that Bernstein's "over the years we've made fans smarter" line is also kind of self-defeating: a great deal of your show is making fun of stupid people. If you have, indeed, made fans smarter, then you don't have grist for the mill anymore because those meatballs aren't there to call in, and now you can't have fun. But if they are still there, then you've failed at making your audience smarter.

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J Hood is good. His take downs of the Bulls are better than the actual games. I do think that Parkins is very mediocre. So I get why Goff would be mad that him and McKnight have jobs, but at least Parkins doesn't tell listeners to turn the dial.

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

Bernstein is an authoritarian. That's kind of anathema to a call-in show. He always had the propensity to get bitchy, but he useta be funny and smart.

B&B was too good and nothing will ever match up to it.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

For me it's the proliferation of quality podcasts. Literally not enough time in the day to listen to everything I want to.

I'll toss on the score for quick car trips or if i'm cleaning my kitchen, but that's about it. Will listen to a podcast or two if someone mentions something on the board or one of my buddies etc.

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Team Cutler.