BROCKTON - Passionate, more than occasionally rabid followers ofbaseball, football, and basketball routinely flood the radio waveswith rants, raves, and ruminations on the fate and fortune of the RedSox, Patriots, and Celtics.
Boston Bruins hockey almost always finishes a distant fan fourth.
Eric Seamans is looking to change that, or at least give hockeylovers their radio due by dedicating an all-hockey talk show thatairs on Brockton's WBET-AM (1460) Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Seamans said the show - hosted by Mick Colageo, Bruins beat writerfor the New Bedford Standard-Times, and Bob Loeber, a wine salesman,former Trinity College hockey star and host of "The Sports Men," acable TV sports show in Burlington - is the only one in SoutheasternMassachusetts, and perhaps southern New England, that is all hockey,all the time.
"There is a need for this, because hockey takes a back seat," saidSeamans, president of Quincy-based Seamans Media Inc., whichpublishes the New England Hockey Journal and the New England SkiJournal (with accompanying Web sites at www.hockeyjournal.com andwww.skijournal.com).
"New England is very passionate about their hockey, but the majorstations have to cover all sports. Any time hockey is discussed [ontalk shows], it's only discussed for so long."
Seamans said he recognized that "hockey has its own audience, andthat's why we're doing this."
The show, which began Oct. 5 and is contracted to run for 39 weekson WBET, is a joint effort of Seamans Media and Vision Sports andEntertainment Partners of Concord. Seamans came up with the ideaseveral months ago and started peddling it around to major Bostonstations, none of which were interested.
He sold Dick Muserlian, WBET's station manager, on the planwithout so much as a demo tape.
"I was very impressed with what he wanted to do," Muserlian said.
Seamans hooked up with Vision Sports, where producer Mark Swerlingsuggested Loeber as a co-host. Seamans chatted up Colageo, who hascovered the Bruins for various publications for the past five yearsand had some radio experience. Colageo and Loeber hit it off from theget-go, Seamans said.
"We met and started b-s'ing and thought, `Hey, this won't behard,' " Loeber said. "Mick's the beat writer, he knows the finedetails. Me, I'm more of the big-picture guy."
And the comic relief. Colageo concedes he's the more serious ofthe two - saying, "I wear the general manager hat, Loebs wears thefan hat" - and that he offers more studious analysis of hockey whileLoeber interjects with the equally informed but funny stuff.
While the overall tone of the show is hard-hitting, wellarticulated, and informative, Loeber gets in his humorous shots. In arecent show, Colageo was railing against the National Hockey League'sinclusion in the standings of overtime losses as a separate entity,but folding wins into the win column, which confuses the average fan.
"Mick, that was impressive, it was a diatribe," Loeber said whenColageo finished his spiel. "It was like I was in a room with TerryO'Reilly [former Bruins star and legendary fighter] and he was in arage. I liked it."
Also in a recent show, Loeber, after rattling off names ofseriously vowel-impaired names of several Czech players in the NHL,offered that "it sounded like a lineup at a war crimes tribunal."
"We can reach the serious fans with Mick and the characters withBob," Seamans said.
During the show, a fan called in a request that Loeber ask Bruins'captain Joe Thornton, who was scheduled to be a call-in guest, abouta fan at a Bruins game in Calgary who stripped down to red socks andleaped over the glass onto the ice, only to knock himself unconsciousand be hauled off on a stretcher. Loeber promised he would, andfollowed through when Thornton rang in.
"Jeez, the guy flips over, hammers his head, he's knocked out forlike 10 minutes butt-naked on the ice," Thornton laughed. "It waspriceless."
But serious talk abounds as well. Other call-in guests have beenDick Umile, head coach of the University of New Hampshire hockeyteam, which made it to the Frozen Four of the NCAA championships lastseason, and Kevin Allen, sports writer for USA Today.
"It's a nice synergy," Seamans said. "With people like Allen,Thornton, Umile, we give listeners a mix of scholars of the game andthose in it."
Seamans, 32, started the New England Hockey Journal in the garageof his parents' house eight years ago and played the game himself inhis youth. Colageo, 46, still plays in men's leagues when he can,while Loeber, 37, played on championship teams at Trinity but hasn'tlaced up since then.
All three hope the show clicks with true hockey fans, and Seamanssays he will try to syndicate it beyond the current station'slistenership area of around 30-35 miles. Seamans is also putting theshow on the Internet, via his New England Hockey Journal Web site.
Seamans calls it "intelligent hockey talk, which was our plan. Wenever went into this wanting to do what some sports shows do ininsulting anyone. We figure if you're not a hockey fan, you canchange the dial."
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