Hockey Lockout Live a success

www.BayToday.ca's Chris Dawson was a guest on episode 20 of CKAT’s Hockey Lockout Live. Photo by Reay Hunter.


Talk about stressful.

It's week one of a new radio show on CKAT called Hockey Lockout Live. Host Bob Coles is trying to get through to his first guest, Steve Montador, of the Calgary Flames.

The problem is the former Centennial has just joined a pro team in France.

“It was nerve-wracking with the time difference," said Bob Coles.

“The show starts here at 7 p.m. and it's 1 a.m. in the morning in France and do we hook up? Is he answering his cell phone? But it worked out and that first show was good.”

But seven weeks later, the 21-episode radio call-in show on CKAT is now complete.

In that time the show experienced a whirlwind of controversy and a trainload of guests from all corners of the hockey world.

Guests included players including Craig Rivet, and Greg de Vries, NHL managers including Bill Barber, former NHLers Larry Keenan, Mike Foligno and Darren Turcotte, and national media personalities Bob McCown of Primetime Sports and Mike Brophy of the Hockey News, and even a 20-minute interview with NHLPA vice president Ted Saskin.

The "Scab" Issue
But Coles feels the most colorful guest was a minor league forward from North Bay named Steve McLaren. He told Hockey Lockout Live that he’d have no problem crossing the picket line next fall if the league opted to use replacement players.

“Here’s a guy who’s been directly impacted by what’s going on,” said Coles. “He sees NHL guys going over to Europe making 3 or 4 million dollars, young superstars like Vinny Lecavalier, Rick Nash, Brad Richards, Joe Thornton, they don’t need the money but they are taking jobs away from guys and yet he sees himself over there saying if push comes to shove and all I have to do is cross that line to put on an NHL jersey, I’d do it in a second.”

Station Manager Peter McKeown said the show came about because they needed to fill a programming void left from Toronto Maple Leaf hockey broadcasts which were cancelled due to the lockout.

“We had sponsors still looking to advertise some kind of hockey issue or type thing and we thought you know what the debate is front and center, regarding the lockout situation in everyone’s mind why don’t we come up with a piece of programming where people can air their differences and discuss it in a forum and that’s how hockey lockout live came about,” McKeown said.

Coles was pleased with the amount of calls from hockey fans during the show. But after the 21 hours of lockout debate who does the host side with?

“Both sides are at fault,” Coles feels. “Neither side is really that concerned about the fans. They are only concerned about getting all they can for their particular side.”

Another show?
If the lockout leads to a cancellation of the season, McKeown says they may look at creating another hockey related show.

"We had great response, great calls, and great guests, so we might re-address that after the super bowl in February,” said McKeown.

But the hockey fan in McKeown and Coles would prefer to see a hockey lockout resolution at Christmas or in the New Year.