fan 590

Long-time media executive Don Kollins joins Jonah Sigel to discuss why all the job losses in media- especially sport media are counter-productive, why the pivot to the team and player-controlled stories are going to hurt the medium, and why radio as we know it is dead.

Don Kollins has spent his entire life in radio from Saskatchewan, to Ottawa and back, then to Kitchener and Toronto and then to San Fransisco.

As Program Director for the Fan 590, Toronto's original all sports radio station he led the programming changes that saw some of the biggest names in Canadian broadcasting come and go, leading the station to some of the largest ratings the station ever had.

Don brought Greg Brady, Andrew Walker, Andrew Krystal, Dean Blundell, Jeff Blair, Jim Lang and others into the station that had been the home to Mike Hogan, Gord Stellick, Don Landry, Mike Toth, Howard Berger, Norm Rumack (and more) prior to his arrival.

In this episode Don shares his story, what life at Rogers and the Fan 590 was like and why Bob McCown remains number one. Who does Don listen to on Toronto sports radio from San Fransisco?

Listen here to Don Kollins - unplugged

Long time sports reporter David Shoalts joins Jonah Sigel in the Pressrow. David talks about how he got started in media, covering the Arizona Coyotes trial, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the effect of the Rogers deal on the media landscape, Bill Houston, Bob McCown, his love of OverDrive, Don Cherry and his involvement in the David Frost saga.

David Shoalts started his career as journalist in 1979 continuing on until 2019. David has written about sports and hockey broadly, The Toronto Maple Leafs, the NHL, Media, the CFL and more. He was the first journalist to spend a significant amount of time covering the legal proceedings involving The Arizona Coyotes, Jim Balsilie. in close to 40 years on the beat David has seen it and reported on it all. If you are into sports media, you will Love this.

Enjoy!