Live Audio Wrestling

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Live Audio Wrestling
Format Sports talk
Starring Dan Lovranski
Jason Agnew
Country of origin Canada
Production
Running time 2 hours
Broadcast
Original channel Virtually Canadian (May 1997 - Fall 1998)
The Fan 590 (Fall 1998 - Spring 2000)
Mojo Radio/Talk 640 (Spring 2000 - January 2005)
Fight Network Radio (2005 - present)
Original run May 13, 1997 – present
External links
Official website

Live Audio Wrestling (The LAW), is a syndicated radio show, based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and is owned by The Fight Network. The show is broadcast live from the studios of Newstalk 1010 - CFRB at 11:00pm (ET)/10:00pm (CT)/9:00pm (MT) on Sunday evenings, on Fight Network Radio. The show is a call in radio show, with opinions expressed by hosts The Mouth Dan Lovranski, Jason Agnew and producer John Pollock (who has filled in as co-host when Lovranski or Agnew have been unavailable), focusing on the Mixed Martial Arts and Pro Wrestling world.

Every week since the winter of 1999, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has joined the show. The segment, presently airing at midnight (ET), focuses on the major themes and issues of the week.

Contents

[edit] History

Live Audio Wrestling started in May of 1997 as an internet radio show available in Canada, on Virtually Canadian. The first guest of The LAW was Faarooq. The show aired online for a year and a half before being acquired by The Fan 590 in Toronto. Initially, the shows broadcast was only available as alternate programming during Toronto Raptor games, as The Fan 590 was not permitted by the NBA to broadcast basketball games on the internet. In an effort to obtain studio time, the show would be taped at 3:00am. However, due to the overwhelming support of listeners, within a few months the show moved onto The Fan 590's conventional airwaves and into their permanent schedule, airing on Sunday evenings from 1:00am-3:00am (although the show would be constantly pre-empted for coverage and post-game coverage of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors and NHL playoff games). In the fall of 1999, the show expanded with a Saturday afternoon edition, from 5:00pm-6:30pm.

The LAW aired on The Fan 590 until September 2000 when it moved to rival station Talk 640 as a companion to the station's recently acquired radio broadcasts of Toronto Maple Leafs games. In April 2001, CFYI changed the station's format to Mojo Radio - Talk Radio For Guys, and The LAW 's Saturday afternoon edition was dropped. The show remained in this time slot when CFYI was again re-branded as AM 640 - Toronto Radio.

[edit] The Fight Network buys majority interest in The LAW

In January 2005, The Fight Network purchased a majority stake in The LAW and in February of that same year they announced that they had secured an agreement with Broadcast News for national distribution the program, via Fight Network Radio.

In July of 2006, The LAW moved its base station to Newstalk CFRB in Toronto. In the fall of 2006, Live Audio Wrestling announced that in the future, the show would begin to air a simulcast of the show on The Fight Network, however atpresent time, the show has yet air on the sister, television outlet.

[edit] Live Audio Xtra

Starting in the winter of 2007, John Pollock began to host an extended, online edition of The LAW called Live Audio Xtra. The segement is available to those who listen to the archived edition of the show on The LAW website, as an add-on to the orignal radio production. Shortly after it's launch, Dan Lovranski began to co-host the segment, answering e-mail questions. Starting with the January 20th 2008 edition, Live Audio Xtra began to take call-in questions from listeners who were unable to get on the air during the radio portion of the program.

[edit] Fight Network Radio

Fight Network Radio is a group of conventional radio stations in Canada, partnered via an agreement between The Fight Network and Broadcast News, that airs The LAW. The conventional radio stations on Fight Network Radio include:

The show is available nationally in Canada on both nationally licensed satellite distributors, Star Choice and Bell ExpressVu through the radio streams of Fight Network Radio affiliates:

In addition, Live Audio Wrestling airs on Sirius Satellite Radio on channel 186 - Hardcore Sports Radio. Moreover, some local cable TV providers, including Rogers Cable, offer Fight Network Radio affiliate stations as audio streams via digital cable or cable radio. In the case of Rogers Cable in the Greater Toronto Area, CFRB is on channel 960.

[edit] Live Audio Wrestling

Former affiliates of Live Audio Wrestling include:

Additionally, Live Audio Wrestling has previously aired on an online radio station, Virtually Canadian.

[edit] Fight Network Radio

Former affiliates of Fight Network Radio include

[edit] Former Hosts

Former co-hosts of the show include:

  • Trish Stratus - 1999
  • Notorious T.I.D. Chris Tidwell - 1997-1999
  • Big Daddy Donnie Abreu - 1997-2000
  • Gentleman Jeff Marek - 1997-2003

[edit] Popularity

The show is ranked #1 in the demographic of male, on talk radio in the Toronto market, in its time slot. In April of 2006, The Bureau of Broadcast Measurement released their spring ratings with The LAW ranking #1 among Males 25 - 49 on Sunday nights with an 18.7 share and also scoring a 17.8 share among Males 18 – 34.

[edit] Quirky Fact

Due to the popularity of the show, TSN's Off the Record has had all past and current co-hosts of the radio program, excluding John Pollock, as guest panelists on the program, over the years.

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