Grant Thomas gets the Sack from Sen Radio

[LostDoggy]

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25463125-661,00.html

Grant Thomas was sacked tonight by Sen Radio...............REad article

[LostDoggy]

You wouldn't happen to know what for?

[Born & Bred]

What a beautiful thing. Hopefully it will be reality check to these so called experts you get paid extraodinary amounts of money for stating the bleeding obvious. Fingers crossed they have Brereton in their gun (the man who has never made a mistake and his opinion is always right)

[LostDoggy]

I know no one here like Grant Thomas but I think he is great on Footy Classified, always offering a different point of view and is interesting to listen to. He makes no apologies, doesn't back down and calls it how he sees it - brilliant.

[hujsh]

What a beautiful thing. Hopefully it will be reality check to these so called experts you get paid extraodinary amounts of money for stating the bleeding obvious. Fingers crossed they have Brereton in their gun (the man who has never made a mistake and his opinion is always right)

Why would it be? If Thomas was sacked for ridiculing the umpires then the state the obvious callers would surely be just as safe as before

[dog town]

Grant Thomas and Derm are both absolute morons but they are brilliant to listen to on the radio at times. They can often annoy me when its bulldogs games they cover but if I was listening to another 2 sides play I would choose them.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Oh, the irony.

The only thing he's got right the entire time he's been in the media - the incompetant umpires - and he gets the sack for it.

[AndrewP6]

I don't mind him on Footy Classified... wonder if it'll come up in conversation tonight?

[bold-dogg]

What a beautiful thing. Hopefully it will be reality check to these so called experts you get paid extraodinary amounts of money for stating the bleeding obvious. Fingers crossed they have Brereton in their gun (the man who has never made a mistake and his opinion is always right)

Not a beautiful thing at all. The AFL owns SEN and its obvious they treat it ONLY as a business, and couldn't care less about Aussie Rules as something we share across Australia - in the suburbs, as banter at work, between friends and family, and so on. Part of the social fabric, if you will. We discuss game plans, individual performances, interpretations of the rules. Like Thomas or not, it seems SEN is not the place to have a normal conversation about football, because the boss is listening.

[bornadog]

There is a god:D

[The Doctor]

I know no one here like Grant Thomas but I think he is great on Footy Classified, always offering a different point of view and is interesting to listen to. He makes no apologies, doesn't back down and calls it how he sees it - brilliant.

I agree with you Slapper.

Whenever he came on I listened as he would always have something interesting to say. He was never a cliche critic. Some of his work on crunch time was fantastic.

[LostDoggy]

I agree with you Slapper.

Whenever he came on I listened as he would always have something interesting to say. He was never a cliche critic. Some of his work on crunch time was fantastic.

On Football Classified he is a marked improvement on Carey, while a cardboard cut out would have been as good as Archer.

[LostDoggy]

On Football Classified he is a marked improvement on Carey, while a cardboard cut out would have been as good as Archer.

Not as thick though.

[LostDoggy]

Oh, the irony.

The only thing he's got right the entire time he's been in the media - the incompetant umpires - and he gets the sack for it.

There's a moral in there somewhere.

[Sedat]

I think this is a black day for football journalism specifically and for free speech in more general terms. It is clear that SEN management have made a decision complicit with the wishes (some might say demands) of the AFL without any thought or regard to the basic concepts of unbiased objectivity, freedom of opinion and expression of thought. Whatever you thought of Thomas, he gave an opinion on every issue that was neither compromised nor watered down.

On the flipside, this will be fantastic news for on-line chat forums because this will be the only pure and uncompromised medium available to the football public to express their opinions on our game (and it will always be our game) without fear or favour.

Expect the vanilla flavoured football 'commentary' and 'discussion' to continue to rule the airwaves, column inches and TV screen.

[LostDoggy]

Expect the vanilla flavoured football 'commentary' and 'discussion' to continue to rule the airwaves, column inches and TV screen.

I don't mind vanilla. I don't like shit.

[mighty_west]

I think this is a black day for football journalism specifically and for free speech in more general terms. It is clear that SEN management have made a decision complicit with the wishes (some might say demands) of the AFL without any thought or regard to the basic concepts of unbiased objectivity, freedom of opinion and expression of thought. Whatever you thought of Thomas, he gave an opinion on every issue that was neither compromised nor watered down.

On the flipside, this will be fantastic news for on-line chat forums because this will be the only pure and uncompromised medium available to the football public to express their opinions on our game (and it will always be our game) without fear or favour.

Expect the vanilla flavoured football 'commentary' and 'discussion' to continue to rule the airwaves, column inches and TV screen.


Whilst i have never been a fan of Thomas, i do respect the way he does say what he thinks, and doesn't follow the rules, i think the decision stinks, and what a few other have stated, he is by far a better panellist on Footy Classifieds than Archer [who always looked like he was going to cry every time he spoke].

[Mantis]

I have been told from someone close to SEN that this is purely a cost cutting exercise.

The station has seen a big drop in advertising money coming in (due the economic crisis) and as a result has had to cut costs meaning a number of programs have been shelved as well as the release of GT.

[bulldogtragic]

I have been told from someone close to SEN that this is purely a cost cutting exercise.

The station has seen a big drop in advertising money coming in (due the economic crisis) and as a result has had to cut costs meaning a number of programs have been shelved as well as the release of GT.
So what and who will they have. Someone reading out WOOF posts live?

[Mantis]

So what and who will they have. Someone reading out WOOF posts live?

Can someone please translate this for me?

[aker39]

I have been told from someone close to SEN that this is purely a cost cutting exercise.

The station has seen a big drop in advertising money coming in (due the economic crisis) and as a result has had to cut costs meaning a number of programs have been shelved as well as the release of GT.


So did Grants mate Robbo make up the crap in the paper today.

[Mantis]

So did Grants mate Robbo make up the crap in the paper today.

His attitude had a little bit do with it, but his brashness is good for ratings.

[bornadog]

I have been told from someone close to SEN that this is purely a cost cutting exercise.

The station has seen a big drop in advertising money coming in (due the economic crisis) and as a result has had to cut costs meaning a number of programs have been shelved as well as the release of GT.

The General manager of SEN said that this morning on their morning show. However, in the Age they reported GT said he would do the role for nothing but it wasn't accepted.

[LostDoggy]

The General manager of SEN said that this morning on their morning show. However, in the Age they reported GT said he would do the role for nothing but it wasn't accepted.

Also **yawn**. Biggest non-story of the year.

It's their business they can run it how they like. Don't like it? Turn it off: consumers vote best with their feet.

[bornadog]

Also **yawn**. Biggest non-story of the year.

It's their business they can run it how they like. Don't like it? Turn it off: consumers vote best with their feet.

end thread;)

[AndrewP6]

Can't believe this issue has TWO separate threads..

[LostDoggy]

Can't believe this issue has TWO separate threads..


Strongest argument for mergers yet. Do you think we'll lose members from one thread when we merge the two? Should we move the merged threads to the Gold Coast or to West Sydney (or Tassie, as it were)? Would people losing their thread tearfully give up on WOOF altogether?

[Happy Days]

Strongest argument for mergers yet. Do you think we'll lose members from one thread when we merge the two? Should we move the merged threads to the Gold Coast or to West Sydney (or Tassie, as it were)? Would people losing their thread tearfully give up on WOOF altogether?

As long as we keep half of the posts, and the "Grant Thomas gets the Sack from Sen Radio" name.

[AndrewP6]

Strongest argument for mergers yet. Do you think we'll lose members from one thread when we merge the two? Should we move the merged threads to the Gold Coast or to West Sydney (or Tassie, as it were)? Would people losing their thread tearfully give up on WOOF altogether?

I think there'd be a certain amount of angst displayed from experienced threaders, but the younger brigade would be open to a merger, if the forum as a whole was to benefit from it. I think, at the end of the day, in the long run, going forward, it is a done deal.

[Sedat]

Mark Robinson has decided to pour some kerosine on this particular spot fire in today's Herald Sun:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25476452-19742,00.html

Thankfully some journalists out there have decided to fight the good fight on behalf of freedom of speech, as opposed to the far safer, but gutless, option of towing the party line for the sake of appeasment. It's doubly surprising that Robinson and Sheahan are the two that are ruffling the feathers of the AFL in this instance.

Funny how a powerful media organisation like Channel 9 are sticking by Grant Thomas, safe in the knowledge that the AFL desperately needs their coin when the next TV rights are up for negotiation. But a smaller media player like SEN (one that also has the AFL in direct involvement as a shareholder) has seemingly cowered and buckled under the pressure and have thrown their entire reason for existence out the window in the process - I guess they should just change their name to AFLEN and be done with it :rolleyes:

This issue is not about Grant Thomas - it is about protecting a basic fundamental cornerstone in our society.

[The Coon Dog]

Mark Robinson reveals he was pressured by SEN management (http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25476452-19742,00.html)

THIS is all wrong. The sacking of Grant Thomas was for financial reasons, SEN say. But I don't think that is the whole truth.

The AFL say they had nothing to do with Thomas's dismissal. But I don't think this is entirely the truth either.

Subtle pressure, or perceived pressure, was at play here. Or at least, that's what I think senior SEN officials must have believed.

My position?

I work at SEN and I'm paid for it. And I, too, felt this pressure from SEN management.

No, Thomas was sacked because his seemingly never-ending ridicule and questioning of umpires and the AFL, as well as his regular snide comments at chief executive Andrew Demetriou and football operations manager Adrian Anderson, annoyed the AFL.

Thomas has said they were never personal, instead, an attempt to uncover flaws in the system and the AFL.

Others believed he had a vendetta.

Despite denials from the AFL, SEN management, headed by station manager Barrie Quick and program director Mark Johnson, was aware that if the ridicule continued its "hand" in the discussions over the next radio broadcasting rights deal, which covers the 2010 and 2011 seasons, would apparently be near worthless.

Made aware by whom is the question.

Made aware to on-air staff is not the question.

I was told by Johnson at the station's season launch at Luke Darcy's pub in Richmond that the station's chances of securing the rights were close to nil.

Be delicate, were the words he used.

Thomas was also told that night.

I/we were also told, or asked, individually and together, to be careful when having on-air AFL debates as the rights discussions were taking place.

Thomas asked Johnson if he was being gagged, and Johnson said no. But Johnson told him to be careful with what he said.

The insinuation was absolute: don't bag the AFL for the hell of it.

I was reminded at least three times since.

Thomas was not the only angst for the AFL.

It is common knowledge SEN staffers were urged to curb their critique of the league.

And it wasn't only its on-air football talent that sometimes annoyed the AFL.

The AFL was said to be non-pleased that non-football programs on the 24-hour sports station - read soccer - frequently took free hits at the AFL, without recourse.

The AFL, quite rightly, wondered why the station should be given the mandate to call footy, the lifeblood of the sports station, when it got smashed every other hour.

A voice of the people more than any other radio network, it was often wondered in-house at SEN if the AFL appreciated the daily talkback extravaganza which didn't miss Demetriou or Anderson, umpires' boss Jeff Gieschen or the rules committee.

Not surprisingly, the AFL's media headkickers - or monitors if you wish - would often text on-air staff and producers, clearly outraged at what had just been said.

The gist was along the lines: That's rubbish. Take him off. Pull your heads in.

The most recent, to my knowledge, occurred last Wednesday when Sam Newman was a guest on the Morning Glory program. Newman, among other issues, urged the people to keep the pressure on the umpires.

Minutes later, host Andy Maher received a text message from the AFL.

The message: Umpire bashing again is not really constructive, or words to that effect.

An inflammatory, controversial and perhaps arrogant commentator, Thomas was SEN's agent provocateur.

He called games on Friday night with Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, among others, and McGuire was never one to discourage Thomas's gunslinger style.

Indeed, McGuire is never one to back down from a fight, or in fact the whiff of one.

On Saturday mornings, on the award-winning Crunch Time program, Thomas, when he thought it was deserved, savaged umpires and the AFL.

He didn't miss players, either. Ask Josh Fraser and Matthew Pavlich. Or coaches. Ask Mark Harvey.

Since the season-opening bash, attended by all the on-air personalities, including Kevin Bartlett, David Schwarz, Francis Leach, Billy Brownless and McGuire, the lingering message was, please, to avoid going too hard on the AFL.

It came to a head last week.

I was told on Friday by a senior on-air staff member that the rights talks were delicate - that word again - so be careful what I said.

Thomas learnt of the mandate about 15 minutes before we began the Crunch Time program last Saturday morning.

As is his wont, Thomas was uppity about the news and when the program began at 11am, he began by congratulating Demetriou, Anderson and Gieschen for their efforts.

To say it was sarcastic was an understatement.

Colleague Mike Sheahan suggested in yesterday's newspaper: "It seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back."

He added: "Hopefully, that straw doesn't carry AFL fingerprints."

Demetriou, when appearing on Fox Sports' On The Couch on Monday night, was angry the AFL had been implicated in Thomas's sacking.

"I've been watching this commentary for the past 24 hours and besides the fact that I find all of this commentary offensive, it's just complete drivel, it's absolute drivel," Demetriou said.

"We have had no involvement whatsoever, not one conversation with anyone that relates to Grant Thomas's employment with SEN and nor should we.

"I sat with an SEN board member last night who explained to me that this was a financial decision, the same comment that I heard Grant Thomas make in fairness last night on Footy Classified.

"They (Thomas's comments on the weekend) mean absolutely nothing. I mean, honestly, if we took umbrage at all the comments that were made and critical of the AFL and we sought to intervene because of that, there would be nobody covering football."

'Mean nothing' is an interesting observation, for the AFL requested a transcript of Thomas's comments made on Saturday.

What they did with them only the AFL knows.

At SEN, Quick and Johnson were said to be furious about Thomas's attitude.

On Monday, Thomas was told he was terminated.

The issues remain:

DID SEN jump at shadows to avoid conflict with the AFL?

DID Thomas push his often anti-AFL views too far and, indeed

CAN the AFL's pursuit of brand management be interpreted as pressure on radio rightsholders, in this case SEN?

It has to be remembered the AFL, a powerful body in this town, is a SEN shareholder under an agreement struck up at the end of 2006.

It was reported at the time, the AFL was given access to share options.

Talking money, it also has to be remembered that Thomas has been paid out despite assurances the decision was solely a "financial" one.

It can only be a financial decision if SEN believed getting the AFL rights would help it financially, and to do that they had to sack Thomas.

For what it's worth, I have worked at SEN since day one, with Mark Doran, the Ox, Huddo, Francis, Derm and, of course, Thommo, and many others.

And during times when no one at the station was being paid.

It makes an outstanding contribution to AFL and to the people, but being a fish finger in an ocean of big fish it can make life difficult.


Mark Robinson works as a footy commentator at SEN.

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What chance Robbo cops a 'Please Explain?'

[Sedat]

What chance Robbo cops a 'Please Explain?'
We'll know soon enough - he has a weekly spot on Thursday nights discussing the teams and the next round of matches in depth between 6-7pm.

[Sedat]

If you scroll down the Robbo article to the replies, you'll see one from Kieran Butler, who was an SEN employee and on-air contributor last year. This is his reply:

During my time on SEN in 2008 I had many a satirical crack at various AFL decisions. At the time, I felt I my right to an uncensored opinion was completely unencumbered. Something must have changed over summer. Before my last appearance in April I was asked if my new song contained any material that might be critical of the AFL. That particular song didn't - but the inference was that I would be censored if I had any plans to make any criticisms of the AFL as a part of my on air material. And I just write stupid songs. Congrats to you Mark Robinson. You have far more to lose than I. This type of stuff is bigger than SEN and the AFL. In all walks of Australian life a glaring lack of genuine pluralism in all sorts of supposed "free markets" stifles genuine critical debate and competition. If the status quo prevails we will all be poorer for it. Once again, kudos to you Robbo. Transperency is important here. If the AFL are significant shareholders in SEN then the station should let the public know all about it. Then the public can decide for themselves about what they are actually listening to.
Posted by: Kieran Butler of Melbourne 11:15am today

Couldn't have put it better myself.

[ledge]

One interesting point though, if the AFL have shares and then dont give SEN a contract to call games i would imagine the shares would drop, shooting themselves in the foot.

Would it be pretty obvious if you had shares in any company that they would not bag you?
Shares and sponsorship are very much the same.
Bit like the Western Bulldogs bagging Mission.

I know we are talking media here so it really is a conflict of interest, the AFL obviously thought if they partly owned a station they would be owning a nothing but positive station, how the hell that works when you have 70% calls from the public is beyond me, or ex footballers on it who really know AFL football is going downhill with rules etc.

[bornadog]

Demitrou on 774 this morning (as he appears every Friday to give his tips at 7.30am), we do not censor any station. You know what, I actually believe him. Imagine the uproar if it was made public that the AFL try and censor the media. Think about it, they are not that stupid.

I think SEN management are the ones doing the censoring. GT is just another DH on radio that has been given the flick, probably because there have been too many complaints about his arrogant opinions.

[comrade]

Demitrou on 774 this morning (as he appears every Friday to give his tips at 7.30am), we do not censor any station. You know what, I actually believe him. Imagine the uproar if it was made public that the AFL try and censor the media. Think about it, they are not that stupid.

I think SEN management are the ones doing the censoring. GT is just another DH on radio that has been given the flick, probably because there have been too many complaints about his arrogant opinions.

I honestly believe that rather than the AFL forcing SEN to give GT the flick, SEN have become gun shy with the radio rights being up for grabs and are censoring their own people in the belief that doing so will give them a better chance at landing a more lucrative deal (or any deal altogether).

They are a radio station that has always struggled financially, and losing the radio rights would threaten its ability to keep running. BUT the listeners deserve more respect – the football media is already too bland and cosy with each other. This is just another step in that direction and it stinks.

[aker39]

SEN have also given Simon Marshall and his Saturday morning racing show the flick.

[Mofra]

I think SEN management are the ones doing the censoring. GT is just another DH on radio that has been given the flick, probably because there have been too many complaints about his arrogant opinions.
I agree. People like conspiracy theories so the big bad AFL can cop another whack.
In any case, SEN knowing the rights negotiations were coming up would not want their on air staff bagging out the AFL administration at every opportunity, and would want their commentators to tone it down without the AFL making any direction to do so.

How many people bidding under a tender process would publically lambast the tender itself? AFL is a business, so in some circumstances business rules should apply.

[LostDoggy]

I think SEN and Grant Thomas were meant for each other.
I try to listen to the station on the chance they talk about some interesting AFL stuff but its so difficult to handle. The ads are excruciating, some of the presenters are painful and many discussion points are boring.
RRR breakfaster like to call the station MEN as for the lack of female input.

They need to replace Thomas with Tony Jones as he is a bigger idiot.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Demitrou on 774 this morning (as he appears every Friday to give his tips at 7.30am), we do not censor any station. You know what, I actually believe him. Imagine the uproar if it was made public that the AFL try and censor the media. Think about it, they are not that stupid.

I think SEN management are the ones doing the censoring. GT is just another DH on radio that has been given the flick, probably because there have been too many complaints about his arrogant opinions.

I absolutely believe the AFL would censor a radio station. In a heartbeat.

Read Keiran Butler's comment.