RADIO GA-GA V: APPETITE FOR OILERS LUNCH

If 630 CHED was among the sceptics two years ago when I suggested Bob Stauffer could end up splitting his time between being an analyst for their radio station on Edmonton Oilers game nights and hosting a noon-hour call-in show across town at TEAM 1260, they aren’t doubters now.

After showing very little interest in the concept of the noon-hour show, which resulted in Stauffer setting up shop with Oilers Lunch with the competition in the west-end, 630 CHED has taken notice of the menu of call-in fare Bombastic Bob’s been serving up to listeners.

Word on the street is that 630 CHED is interested enough in Stauffer’s show now that it will likely be looking to pull off a daily-double this off-season when rights for Oilers broadcasts come up.

Not only will Corus Radio, which operates 630 CHED, be looking to ink a new deal for broadcasts rights for Oilers games, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they try to wrestle Oilers Lunch away from TEAM 1260.

I heard it all two years ago. "Brownlee, you’re a kook. How can Stauffer do colour on 630 CHED and a call-in show over at TEAM 1260? It’ll never happen. No chance. Bad scoop."

Well, it did happen after 630 CHED didn’t pursue the concept that became Oilers Lunch and it ended up playing quite nicely up the dial. Nicely enough, that Stauffer pulled a 6.5 share — don’t ask me what the heck that means exactly, I’m a an old newspaper guy — for men aged 25-54 for a rating period ending in March of this year.

My understanding is those numbers got the attention of 630 CHED, beating them for the same demographic in that time slot. That bump as a lead-in to the Jason Gregor Show from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. has given TEAM 1260 a nice one-two punch in the afternoon.

While 630 CHED gets first crack at broadcast rights for the Oilers — I’m guessing they’d love to ink a long-term deal that would take them well into the team’s move into a new building — it’ll be intriguing to see how this plays out on both fronts.

The other interesting thing in this whole scenario will be to see if there’s an opportunity for either TSN or Sportsnet to get into the rights bidding, now that they’re going hard into the radio business. They’re national players with the juice and the dough to be factors in all this.

And what about TEAM 1260? Will Oilers broadcast rights go to tender and will Astral Media end up getting a shot? If they do, do they have a real chance of getting the rights? Likewise, will TEAM 1260 they try to retain Stauffer and Oilers Lunch?

I don’t know the answer to those questions, but they’ll play out over the next several months. As always, stay tuned.