Canucks & Beyond

Category: hockey-media

Mainstream Media Hockey Twitter List

by Alanah McGinley on 04/17/09 at 01:58 PM ET
Comments (4)

Given that there’s so many fake NHL-related accounts out there (as entertaining as they might be) here’s the start of a legit list of mainstream hockey media Twitterers that people might like to add to their accounts:

This list is only a starting point from a quick glance at my own account. Can you suggest some others? Surely someone at TSN is twittering hockey talk! Or at Versus? Or NBC? Beat reporters at other city newspapers?

Updates: Suggestions from the comments and from (who else?) other Twitterers --

Bob McCown—(Fan 590)
Aaron Portzline—(Columbus Dispatch)
Tom Reed—(Columbus Dispatch)
Carrie Milbank—(NHL.com The Hockey Show)
Damien Cox—(Toronto Star)

Filed in: hockey media | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink

The Canucks-CBC HDTV Kerfuffle

by Alanah McGinley on 04/16/09 at 01:57 PM ET
Comments (25)

Numerous Canucks fans have written with their complaints that CBC won’t be broadcasting Canucks/Blues games #3 and #4 in high definition. I’ve also seen the same concerns expressed on Twitter this morning, where Brian Wawryshyn of Canucks Corner finally explained to us that:

“Jim Hughson was on the @TEAM1040 and stated it’s logisitics with the truck. They could rent one but they won’t. Budget cutbacks!”

Sadly this makes some sense, given the cutbacks at CBC are massive this year and the cost of those satellite HD trucks are exorbitant.

But while Canucks fans continue to mobilize an effort to press the CBC into finding some way to get an HD feed for those road games, it’s fair to say Calgary Flames fans are even more annoyed at some CBC-related issues today.

Filed in: hockey media, playoff hockey, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: cbc, hdtv, media,

2009 Playoff Preview on CBC: Hockey Bloggers

by Alanah McGinley on 04/15/09 at 12:21 AM ET
Comments (7)

Tonight, CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada playoff preview special featured a segment with three gentlemen many of you are very familiar with: Tom Benjamin of Canucks Corner; Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy; and our own Paul Kukla. I’ve taken the liberty of popping the video onto YouTube so more people might have a chance to see it.

Great job by all… although there is a disturbing lack of trash-talk for a bunch of bloggers during playoff time.

*The complete show is worth watching, but I couldn’t find the video on the CBC website. Perhaps it’ll be available later.

Filed in: hockey media, playoff hockey | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: cbc, hnic, hockey+bloggers, media, stanley+cup+playoffs,

Hockey Ratings Update

by Alanah McGinley on 01/21/09 at 03:23 PM ET
Comments (3)

This was published in the Globe & Mail yesterday but I only spotted it today. And even a bit late, good news is still good news…

At the midway point of the season, NHL television audiences in Canada and the United States are showing major increases.

TSN’s average viewership is up 17 per cent from last year to 481,000 a game. The increase for Montreal Canadiens’ telecasts on French-language RDS is 22 per cent, to 783,000. Versus in the United States is averaging 308,695, a rise of 18 per cent. And the CBC, despite losing three Toronto Maple Leafs telecasts in its new NHL deal, is drawing prime-time audiences that are up 4 per cent from last year, to 1.206 million a game.

Those are some huge increases. Any theories as to why?

P.S. I should say, my own off-the-top-of-my-head theory is that it relates to the success of the Winter Classic last year. That seemed to be a turning point for a lot more positive NHL coverage from non-hockey-focused sports media, instead of the knee-jerk “hockey sucks” analysis many of those outlets seemed to depend on before that. It also appeared to bring in a lot of viewers who didn’t typically watch hockey.

Filed in: hockey media | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: media, tv+ratings,

Canadians Trapped in Bangkok Include Jiggs McDonald

by Alanah McGinley on 11/28/08 at 02:23 PM ET
Comments (3)

Saturday Update: Interview with Jiggs McDonald available at FAN590.
Sunday Update: Email from Jiggs below, asking for your help.
Monday Update: Some heading home.

A Toronto journalist friend of mine sent me a startling note today alerting me to the news that Jiggs McDonald—a hockey broadcaster of many achievements including the HHOF (more details below)—is currently stranded in Bangkok along with 80 other Canadian citizens, due to the explosion of political unrest there in recent days.

His family is understandably very afraid, and his daughter Susan DeSimone wrote this in a letter (directed to another journalist) and passed on to me this morning:

We are trying to put pressure on the CDN govt. to get them out of there. Some countries are sending planes into a Thai military base to get their citizens out. So far, there hasn’t been much response from the CDN embassy there. The tour group has asked us to get the word out to journalists, etc. to put pressure on Canada to intervene.

The email address and phone numbers for the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok are noted down at the bottom of this post. Anyone who thinks they can help and who needs additional contact information for the McDonald family, please directly.

Here is the full text of the release that Ms. DeSimone sent out this morning.

Filed in: hockey media, nhl general | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: jiggs+mcdonald,

The Crazy Canucks and Wellwood Mania

by Alanah McGinley on 11/20/08 at 12:39 PM ET
Comments (0)

We finally got together last night and recorded a new episode of The Crazy Canucks:

Everyone gathered this evening for a quick episode where we discuss Luongo’s early November shutout streak, the third jersey, the Canucks making their film debut, and some making their debut in Manhattan. Third jersey talks, and a whole lot of Wellwood appreciation round out this edition of The Crazy Canucks.

Warning to Leafs fans: There’s a point in the show where I was trying to defend your honour (truly!) but that effort went a bit south when I sorta likened the flood of your jerseys onto the streets of Vancouver last Saturday to some sort of gay pride parade. (whoops...)

P.S. Incidentally I also spent a few minutes on this episode of The Rink Podcast last week, hosted by James (of Jerseys and Hockey Love) and Tom (of AOL Fanhouse). Their podcast is a great show covering the NHL in general, which I suggest everyone check out sometime.

Filed in: hockey media, The Crazy Canucks, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: podcast, tcc, the+crazy+canucks, the+rink+podcast,

Catching Hockey On ESPN

by Alanah McGinley on 10/22/08 at 01:38 PM ET
Comments (5)

I once found it odd how many UK hockey fans there are out there, but not anymore. Over the years I’ve heard a lot from British NHL fans and am no longer surprised at their knowledge of and passion for the game.

The only thing I still find surprising is that such passion exists despite the obstacles they face in trying to enjoy their favorite sport—which is why this might be an interesting option for some.

This morning, SENShobo dropped me a pointer to a press release about ESPN360 in the UK and it’s new online video player:

Filed in: hockey media, nhl general | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: broadcasting, espn, espn360, media,

Dick Irvin Gets His Due

by Alanah McGinley on 10/20/08 at 04:33 PM ET
Comments (0)

From CBC:

The CBC Sports Hall of Fame announced Monday that Dick Irvin, Gordon Craig, Tom Fisk, Bob Moir and Fred Walker have been selected for induction this November.

“We are proud to honour these five outstanding individuals and are looking forward to welcoming them as members of the CBC Sports Hall of Fame,” said Scott Moore, executive director of CBC Sports.

Irvin is already a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame (btw, we’ve got a cool HHOF contest going on) and has been retired from broadcasting since 1999. Which is remarkable to me, since I can still hear his voice perfectly in my head. (Have you noticed that about the great hockey broadcasters? You can always remember their voices, even years later.)

For more on Dick Irvin, Stu Hackel at the NY Times Slap Shot blog did a nice feature on him earlier this year.

Filed in: hockey media | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: cbc, dick+irvin, hall+of+fame, hhof,

Canadian Gold

by Alanah McGinley on 10/12/08 at 02:15 PM ET
Comments (3)

I saw that The Puck Stops Here mentioned this earlier, but I thought I’d also pop up the CBC video which announced the winner of CBC’s Hockey Theme contest. The winning tune is titled Canadian Gold. (And I like it. It’ll definitely grow on me.)

Incidentally, while the winner took home $100,000 and major bragging rights for all time, the ‘loser’—the second finalist—wasn’t so lucky. His compensation amounted to a piece of Patrick Roy paraphernalia, a custom-made guitar. Admittedly, it sounds like a cool bit of paraphernalia, but still, it’s Patrick Roy -related.

How freakin’ brutal is that?!

Filed in: dumb stuff, hockey media | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: cbc, don+cherry, hnic, hockey+night+in+canada+theme, media, ron+maclean,

The Crazy Canucks - Season Three

by Alanah McGinley on 09/15/08 at 11:22 AM ET
Comments (0)

Last night we recorded the first episode of Season 3 of The Crazy Canucks:

We’re back. Season three of TCC kicks off with a quick gathering of the crew to has out what to expect for the coming season as well as some cool things going on with each of our various projects. We take a look back as who we’ve lost, the new faces (that we kinda think we know something about but don’t know half as much as we’d like), hash out the who does what for TV and radio play-by-play, and take assignments for new names of the team for show and tell later.

Listen to the show at TCC or just pop it into iTunes. There’s a lot more news as well, so Canucks fans be sure to listen. Also check out J.J.’s new site CanucksHockeyBlog.com (no more blogspot) where he’s preparing to give away two tickets to the September 23rd preseason game against the Oilers.

The five of us will all be attending that night as well, so maybe we’ll get a chance to pelt the winner with popcorn.

Filed in: hockey media, The Crazy Canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: podcast, tcc, the+crazy+canucks,

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next »

Page rendered in 1.0152 seconds
Total Entries: 38901
Total Comments: 187348
Total Members: 2294
Total Logged in members: 17
Total guests: 228
Total anonymous users: 1
The most visitors ever was 1347 on 02/26/2008 02:41 pm

About Canucks & Beyond

Alanah McGinley has been blogging hockey since 2003, sharing opinions, rants and not-so-deep thoughts with anyone who will listen. In addition to writing Canucks & Beyond and helping manage Kukla’s Korner, Alanah is one of the founders and co-hosts of The Crazy Canucks Podcast, as featured at Canucks.com.

She has contributed pieces to FoxSports.com and the New York Times Slapshot blog, as well as other stray destinations in cyberspace.

Email:

Alanah’s Twitter: Not really hockey-ish. [LINK]