Edmonton Media: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Often when a coach or player are on the hot seat, we rarely see those grilling them. In fact, if you did a Google search, you might never see a picture, unless they are willing to put them by their byline.

Edmonton media, like so many others is generally made up of two kinds.  The print media and the visual media.  There are no real web based media given any real access by any of the major teams in the city.

If you were to choose from the group and offer a review, as this article will attempt to do, you can fit people in numerous categories.

Often media people fall in the vanilla flavor. They are neither grating nor particularly insightful.

The group I am going to review would not be considered vanilla. 

The Good

The best media people are both writers. Both have been around a while and both have worked for print media on the local and national stage.

The first is Mark Spector. He has a reputation as a no-prisoner type. He has worked on radio, in print, and on the web.  His latest role is as a national contributor to the Sportsnet website.

Spector has some great sense of where the fans, the players and the coaches are at.  He reveals a few sources often and will go against the Oilers public relations department to get his story out.

He is an A+.

Robin Brownlee is probably the second best writer.  He has written for the Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, the Metro and currently writes for Canadian Press. His writing style is much more earthy and blunt. 

This makes him much more in your face, he also works for sports radio as a commentator. This give him a higher profile than other scribes. Rarely do I find myself disagreeing with him.

Combined with all this he has become a blogger working for Oilers Nation. Offering slightly edger rumors and gut reactions which allow him to step from behind the journalist cap.

For that alone he gets an A in my book.

Honorable mentions

Rod Phillips the dean of Oilers radio play-by-play has covered every Oilers game ever played. One of the few who can make the phrase "doo-doo" sound dignified.

Bob Stauffer when he was host of the Team 1260's afternoon drive show was a host you had to hear.  Even when he went off the rails he often was the voice of fan discontent.

The Bad

Any employee of Ched or Sportsnet West, as the radio rights holders for the Oilers face an up hill climb. They are not bad people but they are not great reporters.  At least from a fan's perspective.

The two that are readily coming to mind are Gene Principe, host of the Oilers local broadcasts, and Dan Tencer, in a similar role for 630 Ched.

Both of these guys are forced into a specific role but Principe has become king of the stupid questions. "You guys just lost, how does that feel?" 

Tencer hosts a radio call in show which has at times been defensive of the Oilers to a point that makes him look bad.  That has improved some what with the addition of Bob Stauffer to the broadcast.

Dishonorable mention

Terry Jones Edmonton Sun - Terry has been around for a while.  Unfortunately it has also been a while since he wrote something even remotely interesting.

The Ugly

Bryan Hall has been the voice of the Canadian Football League Edmonton Eskimos for years.  Unfortunately he is also the afternoon drive host for 630 Ched. 

Hall seeks to offer his view points from a brash and blunt style. Meanwhile, he shuts down any that disagree in ways that make Rush Limbaugh proud. 

The Bryan Hall show has become unlistenable.  He is a parody of himself these days and it reminds one of the old days of wrestling announcers.  When loud was a point of view.