Aug 6, 2026 · 49 min · 10 segments
S1 E26: The Athletic's Aaron Portzline is back with host Michael Arace of TheDisrespected.com to talk about how the Columbus Blue Jackets, as an organization, are taking a dive into a pool of bad…
Michael AraceHost
Aaron PortzlineGuest
We have to get to that because that's part and parcel of what we're going to talk about with the end of the Blue Jackets radio career and the end of Blue Jackets dedicated radio calls with the – severing of ties his contract was up they didn't read you know it Bob McElligott is now a man without a team he had called the Blue Jackets games on radio for 17 years after taking over for George Matthews and uh uh isn't sure what he's gonna do next i know you've spoken with him porty i've only exchanged texts with him and and some stuff on social media but uh the bigger point here is that uh the jackets had made the decision to simulcast their um television and radio right which is to say that uh steve mares and jody shelly their call on television will now be heard on 97.1 and wherever else the blue jackets radio network such as it is reaches um and and both of us You had the news on it.
I wrote in the wake of the news on it rather stridently because I have strong feelings here.
You did a wonderful piece that popped into inboxes today over at The Athletic, taking a bigger picture view and putting it in a larger framework of the way things are going in the industry.
I mean, I'll try not to go on for too long here, but I mean, let's, let me start with two things.
But the way that this has been done, the way that it was presented to people, the timing of it, the fact that they've made one of the major arteries of communication between the team and their fans, lesser, significantly lesser, I think.
Again, nothing against Mears and Shelley, but a TV broadcast is not a radio broadcast.
The fact that McElligot isn't told that he won't be back until the end of July, and there are still openings in the NHL, but I mean, it's a late charge here if he's to even, I think it's Anaheim and Toronto that are closing in on new voices.
But McGillicud did more, I would venture to say, than just about any play-by-play guy in the league.
We have to get to that because that's part and parcel of what we're going to talk about with the end of the Blue Jackets radio career and the end of Blue Jackets dedicated radio calls with the – severing of ties his contract was up they didn't read you know it Bob McElligott is now a man without a team he had called the Blue Jackets games on radio for 17 years after taking over for George Matthews and uh uh isn't sure what he's gonna do next i know you've spoken with him porty i've only exchanged texts with him and and some stuff on social media but uh the bigger point here is that uh the jackets had made the decision to simulcast their um television and radio right which is to say that uh steve mares and jody shelly their call on television will now be heard on 97.1 and wherever else the blue jackets radio network such as it is reaches um and and both of us You had the news on it.
I wrote in the wake of the news on it rather stridently because I have strong feelings here.
You did a wonderful piece that popped into inboxes today over at The Athletic, taking a bigger picture view and putting it in a larger framework of the way things are going in the industry.
I mean, I'll try not to go on for too long here, but I mean, let's, let me start with two things.
But the way that this has been done, the way that it was presented to people, the timing of it, the fact that they've made one of the major arteries of communication between the team and their fans, lesser, significantly lesser, I think.
Again, nothing against Mears and Shelley, but a TV broadcast is not a radio broadcast.
The fact that McElligot isn't told that he won't be back until the end of July, and there are still openings in the NHL, but I mean, it's a late charge here if he's to even, I think it's Anaheim and Toronto that are closing in on new voices.
But McGillicud did more, I would venture to say, than just about any play-by-play guy in the league.
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