Post by NHLWinnipeg on Aug 4, 2011 12:10:24 GMT -6
2 Sports Guys eye comeback
Jets' return may help bid
By: Geoff Kirbyson
Posted: 08/4/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 49 (including replies)
Rick Loewen (left) and James Loewen are hoping the passion to talk about the Winnipeg Jets will be reignited with the NHL squad's return. (PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)
THE 2 Sports Guys are talking comeback.
Rick Loewen and James Loewen, two cousins from Steinbach who hosted a series of sports radio and television shows in Winnipeg from the late 1980s until the mid-1990s, are testing the waters to see if their irreverent take on the sporting world could be back in vogue when the NHL returns this fall.
The pair have sent demo tapes to a number of radio stations and are hopeful they may return to the airwaves in the not-too-distant future.
James Loewen said back when they started on public-access television in 1988, they could host a call-in show and talk hockey for 12 months a year and never run out of material or people willing to share their opinions. With all due respect to the Manitoba Moose, he said that environment didn't exist after the Jets left in 1996.
"That passion wasn't there. Back then it was, 'Were you at the game last night? Wasn't that a great goal? Did you see that fight?' Now that the NHL is back in Winnipeg and sports is pretty high on people's radar screens, we'll see if people will want to have some laughs," he said.
The 2 Sports Guys left Winnipeg for Tampa, Fla., in 1995 to host the morning show and a Tampa Bay Lightning pre-game show on all-sports station WFNS 910, but found themselves out of work a year later when the station switched to a country format. Since then, the pair has worked intermittently in radio and in the corporate world.
Rick Loewen, who won a Funniest Comic in Winnipeg contest in the mid-'80s and has performed at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, said he's optimistic that the return of the NHL will spark an on-air talent war for local radio programming.
"Hopefully, we can take advantage of that by being in the right place at the right time," he said.
The 2 Sports Guys made no bones about the fact they weren't your typical tie-wearing sportscasters, usually doing their television shows on Videon or CKY outfitted in jeans and sweatshirts or maybe a team jersey. Humour was a big part of their shtick, too. They once interviewed former Jets captain Dean Kennedy in a hot tub, convinced goaltender Bob Essensa to drive the ball-retrieval cart at a golf dome while fans tried to nail him with their drives and held sound-alike contests for play-by-play man Curt Keilback.
As reported earlier in the Free Press, an official announcement that the broadcast rights for Jets games will be given to TSN Radio and broadcast on Sports Radio 1290, is expected shortly.
Chris Brooke, the station's program director, said it's a little premature to discuss programming to support the Jets games because nothing is official yet. However, he said he wants to add more local shows and he is well aware of what the Loewens bring to the table.
"They definitely have strong personalities, they're fun guys. Somewhere down the road I think I'll have a discussion with them," he said.
"In some respects, they were a little ahead of their time in their approach to certain things. They didn't take themselves or certain people in sports as seriously as others did. They called a spade a spade. There's no doubt, if you listen to some of the personalities on sports radio on ESPN or Fox Sports, I can hear the 2 Sports Guys in them."
www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/2-sports-guys-eye-comeback-126753183.html
Jets' return may help bid
By: Geoff Kirbyson
Posted: 08/4/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 49 (including replies)
Rick Loewen (left) and James Loewen are hoping the passion to talk about the Winnipeg Jets will be reignited with the NHL squad's return. (PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)
THE 2 Sports Guys are talking comeback.
Rick Loewen and James Loewen, two cousins from Steinbach who hosted a series of sports radio and television shows in Winnipeg from the late 1980s until the mid-1990s, are testing the waters to see if their irreverent take on the sporting world could be back in vogue when the NHL returns this fall.
The pair have sent demo tapes to a number of radio stations and are hopeful they may return to the airwaves in the not-too-distant future.
James Loewen said back when they started on public-access television in 1988, they could host a call-in show and talk hockey for 12 months a year and never run out of material or people willing to share their opinions. With all due respect to the Manitoba Moose, he said that environment didn't exist after the Jets left in 1996.
"That passion wasn't there. Back then it was, 'Were you at the game last night? Wasn't that a great goal? Did you see that fight?' Now that the NHL is back in Winnipeg and sports is pretty high on people's radar screens, we'll see if people will want to have some laughs," he said.
The 2 Sports Guys left Winnipeg for Tampa, Fla., in 1995 to host the morning show and a Tampa Bay Lightning pre-game show on all-sports station WFNS 910, but found themselves out of work a year later when the station switched to a country format. Since then, the pair has worked intermittently in radio and in the corporate world.
Rick Loewen, who won a Funniest Comic in Winnipeg contest in the mid-'80s and has performed at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, said he's optimistic that the return of the NHL will spark an on-air talent war for local radio programming.
"Hopefully, we can take advantage of that by being in the right place at the right time," he said.
The 2 Sports Guys made no bones about the fact they weren't your typical tie-wearing sportscasters, usually doing their television shows on Videon or CKY outfitted in jeans and sweatshirts or maybe a team jersey. Humour was a big part of their shtick, too. They once interviewed former Jets captain Dean Kennedy in a hot tub, convinced goaltender Bob Essensa to drive the ball-retrieval cart at a golf dome while fans tried to nail him with their drives and held sound-alike contests for play-by-play man Curt Keilback.
As reported earlier in the Free Press, an official announcement that the broadcast rights for Jets games will be given to TSN Radio and broadcast on Sports Radio 1290, is expected shortly.
Chris Brooke, the station's program director, said it's a little premature to discuss programming to support the Jets games because nothing is official yet. However, he said he wants to add more local shows and he is well aware of what the Loewens bring to the table.
"They definitely have strong personalities, they're fun guys. Somewhere down the road I think I'll have a discussion with them," he said.
"In some respects, they were a little ahead of their time in their approach to certain things. They didn't take themselves or certain people in sports as seriously as others did. They called a spade a spade. There's no doubt, if you listen to some of the personalities on sports radio on ESPN or Fox Sports, I can hear the 2 Sports Guys in them."
www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/2-sports-guys-eye-comeback-126753183.html
