When you are in the business of talking sports and there is no sports, how do you go about filling three hours of airtime on the radio?
It’s a question that Sportsnet 650 radio morning host James Cybulski has asked himself more than once this past month.
Cybulski, who lives in Boundary Bay, has been broadcasting the morning show from 6 to 9 a.m. from a makeshift home studio.
“From a Sportsnet stand point, life started to shut down the night of March 11 when the NBA shut down,” he recalled. “I was hosting the JCC Sports Dinner and Drew Brees (quarterback from the New Orleans Saints), here we are literally about the start the event and it is already weird with the hand sanitizers all over the table next to the wine glasses and all of a sudden a colleague comes over and tells me the NBA just shut down. We did the show and the next day everyone else followed suit.”
He said within four or five days they decided it was best to look at work at home protocols.
“Our boss Craig McEwen took the lead and said we need to lead by example and stay at home if we have the technology to do so,” Cybulski said. “I have the 50-foot Ethernet cable that runs through the house and into the office, so we fire up the microphones and my colleague Perry [Solkowski] he is in Anmore and I’m in Boundary Bay. It sounds pretty smooth. This is week five for us.”
Cybulski said it’s a unique world when you are in sports talk radio without any sports.
“That is the great challenge,” he said. “What is the right solution, so where is the balance of providing news or sports? Do we run Justin Trudeau? What we try to provide is an alternative, an escape. Whether it’s Ron McLean every Friday who is a guy you can go anywhere with or Todd Bertuzzi taking questions from fans on Tuesdays. I think we can offer our own perspective on what is happening in the world. You can discuss current affairs, but also tell stories and try and have some fun.
“Everyone has their own ideas. There are days I wonder what are we doing here talking sports with no sports and other days you sit back and go ‘wow, that was a real fun show’ and then you say, ‘okay we had some fun, had a laugh and provided an escape for some people.”
Cybulski said it’s also afforded an opportunity to tell other stories in the market, do some larger features and profiles on athletes and also dip into the amateur sports world too.
“We are so focussed on the Canucks and that’s the straw that stirs the drink in this market, but I’m, a sports fan…I enjoy football, I enjoy basketball, baseball, local sports and there is great stories in the community that we can connect too,” he said. “We talked with Fred Fox, Terry’s brother to talk about the 40th Anniversary of the Marathon of Hope. That’s a story that still resonates with people.”
Cybulski is also the voice for NHL 20 from EA Sports, which has seen a huge surge as people find ways to pass the time. He’s voicing for the game from his makeshift home studio as well.
“It’s so unique, but I will say this, as someone who has to go through the Massey Tunnel every day, my commute has never been better,” he said.
