By Sara T. Schwartz
It’s a winning combination of exciting programming, a loveable hockey team and the expressive nature of sports fans that has made Ottawa Sports Radio a success in just six months.
General manager and vice president of OSR, Dianne Wilson, said the response to Ottawa’s newest radio station exceeded her expectations.
“It’s every sports fan’s dream,” Jim Carter, a self-described sports fanatic said of the station.
Carter likes the wide range of programming and said he is impressed by how far the station has come in such a short period of time. He said programs that were not cohesive or interesting back when OSR was first launched are now polished, exciting and professional.
“If you’re programming properly, you’re always making adjustments,” Wilson said.
Although listeners are pleased with the programming, the OSR general manager said changes are always in the works, especially because of the nature of OSR’s audience. She said sports fans are anything but shy in voicing their opinions and concerns.
“People who are sports fans are engaged in sports, they are emotional about it and they have a lot of opinions. If you’re a fan of a hockey team, a baseball team, a golfer or college basketball team, you feel passionately about that. If we do something on the air that they don’t like, we’re definitely going to hear about it,” Wilson said.
The Ottawa Senators also play a large part in the success and popularity of OSR. Carter says the Senators have turned Ottawa into a “sports city” making the station “essential.”
Hockey buff Mark Tokayer, once a fan of his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs, moved to Ottawa in September and now can’t turn his attention away from the Senators. He said the appeal is that they are a young, down-to-earth team without any real stars.
“The Sens are easy to relate to and to top it off, they’re doing well in the season so I want to hear about them,” Tokayer said.
Wilson said that the Senators are more than just an average hockey team, giving the station more than just the games to cover.
“We have occasion to be out with players several times a week where they’re helping charities. With that in place, that gives us really something to build an entire radio station around,” Wilson said.
Although the Senators are at the heart of OSR, talk that they might leave town doesn’t scare OSR’s General Manager. Wilson said she is confident the Senators won’t be leaving the Capital and therefore no plans have been made at the station to deal with that scenario. She said she wants to focus on what’s happening right now, not what might happen down the road.
For now, OSR’s attention is on the approaching end of hockey’s regular season and what they will fill the airwaves with following the play-offs. Wilson is thinking ahead to programming for the spring and summer that will keep listeners tuned in.
In the next few months listeners can expect to hear more talk on golf, baseball and of course, what the Senators are up to in their off season.
Wilson said that much of what is yet to come on OSR is up to the sports fans.
“What the issues will be is what the listeners decide they will be,” she said.
And that is just the way she said sports fans like it.
CENTRETOWN SPORTSCARD
Jamie Sutherland
Freestyle skiing (moguls and ariels).
Currently attending Immaculata High School
Member of provincial freestyle team
Born: November 29, 1981.
Accomplishments: Placed 7th in ariels, 9th in moguls at 1999 Canada Winter Games, 5th at the Canadian Eastern Championships, 10th at Junior National Championships.
Goals: Become a member of the national development team and make the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Quote: “It’s an exciting but very dangerous sport — I’ve dislocated my elbow, pulled both my knees and sprained both my thumbs. My mom always says, ‘one more injury and you’re out.’ ”
* If you know a Centretown athlete to profile, please contact Centretown News (520-7410, fax 520-4068)