Tim and Sid ready to ramp up their game
They are recording the last podcast before their big return to television, and Tim Micallef and Sid Seixeiro are about to digress.
If you have somehow never seen or listened to the pair over their decade-plus on-air partnership, it is this type of verbal detour that shows off the brand of sports banter they specialize in.
Micallef throws out a “Where’s the Beef?” reference (admitting it’s dated), that sends Seixeiro reminiscing down a WrestleMania 2 rabbit hole that wends for a few minutes until Micallef gets him back to the actual news of the day — the most recent Pete Rose allegations. Seixeiro declares Rose’s rehabilitation tour done while Micallef tries to add a sober second thought, and then they’re on to the next topic.
That type of freewheeling sports and pop culture catchphrase-filled dialogue is a small slice of a career that has seen the pair move from TV to podcasting to radio across two national sports networks.
Starting out on The Score, they were poached by Rogers in 2011 to work early afternoons on Sportnet 590 The Fan, and now have seen their star rise to the point they are being given a national daily twohour television slot from 5-7 p.m. on Sportsnet that starts July 1. The pair feels they are uniquely prepared to try and create a new kind of sports television show, one that will try to take their freeform approach to the screen, although that’s easier on radio than the traditionally more structured television.
“I think the mandate we’ve been given is that the highlights shows are changing in this country, the 6 o’clock sport news show is changing,” says Seixeiro. “People are on their phones, every one knows what’s going on. So the question is, what else can you give them?”
“Our radio show proved you could literally interact, without taking phone calls, with your audience and react in real-time to any news that is going on at the time, or whatever is hot and topical on that day,” says Micallef. “So now the question is how to take that to TV.”
The return to TV came as a bit of a surprise as the pair was seemingly doing well in the 1-4 p.m. afternoon slot on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. They have a hardcore group of fans known as “Tim & Sid-izens” and have occasionally gone viral over the past year. Their over the top reaction to the winning goal of the 2014 Olympics women’s gold medal hockey game has been watched over 830,000 times on YouTube. Seixeiro’s rant about ice dancing is almost over 220,000. Rogers clearly sees the pair as key to attracting a younger audience, wherever they might be.
“I don’t think of it as primarily a TV show, I think of it as a sports content factory that will be on all our platforms. So yes, it will be anchored at 5-7 p.m. on Sportsnet, but it will also live online on social media,” says Scott Moore, president of Sportsnet and NHL Properties for Rogers. “These guys can connect with sports fans on any number of levels.
“I think they are a special talent.”
One of the strangest things about Tim & Sid’s new show is that it goes up against Prime Time Sports (PTS) with Bob McCown. He may be on radio, but the show will still be simulcast on Sportsnet 360. It’s an interesting decision because it feels like Rogers is competing with itself.
“Yes, we may be cannibalizing our audience, but if you’re doing it smartly, you’re doing it with a very different audience and very different content. Bob has a very loyal following that is of a certain demographic and he tends to focus more on business of sport,” he says.
“Whereas Tim and Sid, their demographic tends to skew a littlie bit younger and more multi-platform. The best way I’d describe it would be the team owner might be on PTS, whereas the pest from the hockey team would be on Tim & Sid.”
To that end, Seixeiro and Micallef have nothing but respect for McCown, who they say has been gracious and helpful since they’ve been at Rogers, although the pair did hire Ryan Walsh, a former longtime PTS producer and added him to their team, adding a little fuel to supposedly non-existent fire.
“This going up against him idea is not shared by us,” says Micallef. “The end goal is ratings, so if people are listening or watching either of us, our company wins.”
Seixeiro and Micallef are clearly close friends, and while they are confident, it’s clear they realize they are fortunate to be in this spot and worked toward it for a long time. Asked about what’s the best thing about having this show, the pair talks about getting more resources to create the show they want.
“I think we would leave a lot of ideas on the cutting room floor, just because we didn’t have the manpower to get it done during the 1-4 (timeslot). So the idea here was instead of having three or four guys work on the show, to get the most out of three hours, we’re going to have a lot more people working on a two-hour show,” says Micallef.
The question for the two now is if they can once again move their audience with them.
“I’m used to people asking ‘what are you going to do with a new audience? You’re going to piss people off and they’re not going to like you.’ We got cancelled from The Score Tonight; it was his idea to do the podcast. What’s a podcast going to do? It does well. We get picked up to go on The Fan. People were like, ‘oh, you’re going to radio, you could say whatever you liked on the podcast, now you’re going to be watered down.’ Well, no,” says Seixeiro.
“So when I hear that talk now, I’m used to it because I know how this is going to end.”