Fresh proof that there are slices of Heaven on Earth: if you’re an Ontario resident and hockey fan, you have access to LeafsTV, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, 365-days-a-year broadcast outlet covering the local NHL team and its sport. No Argonauts. No Blue Jays. No Raptors. All Leafs, All the Time. Imagine. Don’t take my word for it; check out the station’s weekly broadcast schedule, which is rife with morning skates, pre-game fare, player profiles from the past, the AHL affiliate Marlies, and just about anything you can imagine having to do with pro hockey in a hockey-mad metropolis.
In Washington, we have five such outlets devoted to the Redskins, but on a mid-week morning in the middle of a winter-less winter, I think it might be fun to imagine a Washington world with its sports media hierarchy turned upside down, say five years from now, with media savvy owner Leonsis the ascendant entertainment leader in town (the Redskins still having failed to qualify for the postseason, with billion-dollar payrolls). To showcase better his Hart Trophy winnings Russians (all three of them), and his sublime Swede, and generally to improve Washington’s laughingstock MSM coverage of hockey, Mr. Leonsis partners with Comcast and purchases a startup cable channel to take Capitals’ coverage into his own hands.
As his first order of business he wisely appoints a Caps’ blogger the new outlet’s Director of Programming.
What might this channel be called? And what might a day’s worth of programming on it include? Let’s make these questions the subject of ongoing OFB reader input. Share with us your suggested name for the new outlet, and assume we’re looking for a moniker somewhat distinctive from “LeafsTV,” with flair and 21st-century multi-media pizzaz. And with your comments share as well suggestions for specific programming to help fill 24 hours. Be creative, imaginative, and presume that the owner and the station’s general manager have appropriated a generous budget to include the development and production of original programming. Let’s see if we can come up with a day’s worth of Caps’ and hockey programming on the new channel that repeats only a thrice-daily, 30-minute, SportsCenter-like roundup show, airing early morning, early evening, and lastly at 11:00, that’s all things pucks.
I’ll save my suggested channel name for later, but here are some programming ideas I have:
The Hockey Reporters [a roundtable of impassioned hockey erudition, featuring Mike Vogel, JoeB and Craig, your cordial host, and the region's Queen of Sports]”
Gr8TV: All AO, in motion, on and off the ice
ClassicCaps [the most memorable games, with Ron Weber audio provided from WTOP archives]
Morning skate and post-game pressers with Coach Hanlon, in full
Chit-Chat from Chocolatetown [A weekly Bears' progress report with John Walton]
The outdoor skate at Chevy Chase Country Club
The games themselves
The CapsReport [the weekly studio program is broadcast on TV as well]
And last but by far not least, for after-hours insomniacs, Youngblood.
9 Comments
Silly question, but what does MSM stand for?
How about a Caps Reality TV show… everyone is doing it.
or
Have a segment at a local bar and do a hour show discussing everything hockey.
or
What about a half hour show just profiling Caps prospects, giving updates on stats and their games.
or
A show profiling Caps fans, who we are and what we do.
Sparty, MSM = Mainstream Media
I would be happy if Lindsay or Kelli Johnson dressed like that wacky anchor on Leafs TV whose name escapes me at the moment. I was watching a game on Center Ice last week and she was wearing a blazer and tie but no shirt. Add the “nerd girl” glasses and the blonde hair and you hit a home run on intriguingly hot scale.
As for programming, you’d definitely need to give Ted his own show where he answered viewer emails, preferably on a Letterman-like set. And if GMGM is still hear, a program showing games from BGSU the year he won the Hobey Baker.
I’m all for it! I’d name it Capital Ice (CI) and include blogger panels, clips from NHL videos (goals, hits), feeds from NHL Network shows, area minor league /high school games, instruction videos, anything that fans care about. I also like the late-night movie idea.
Your people and my people should have lunch. And beers.
A glance at that LeafsTV schedule has me green with envy. Really, really green.
Just don’t have horrible, cheesy clueless ‘reporters’ in the boys’ faces asking them what kind of perfume they prefer on a woman… PLEASE! Ugh.
I watched a fair amount of LeafsTV when we were in Toronto, and believe me, it isn’t all that great. But your point is well taken; it would be fantastic if the Caps had something like that.
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