Like previous IndyCar Title Sponsor Verizon used to
say, Can You Hear Me Now? Uhm, where’d they Go?
Presumably by the time I finally post this on No
fenders, it’ll already have been a Done Dealio’. (Since it’s been Obvious for
weeks or months now, especially since the only “remaining” competition Pulled
Out a long time ago…) And while I have very little against NBC’s production of
IndyCar races, I have many issues over where they and IndyCar seem to be
driving us, regardless of how GURR-REAT! Thar TV Ratings are.
Or no matter how
loudly IndyCar’s No. 1 Puffed Shirt Mark Miles tries positively Spinning the
new “TV” Deal. Since if It was truly as Fantastic as Miles will Pontificate,
then not only would the entire season be Shown on Terrestrial TV, but they’d
also be showing live Qualifying on Mainstream Cable Television…
The Funniest Ha Ha? Part about All of this is
how El Capitano’, nee Roger Penske said himself in a recent Indianapolis Star interview
with Motorsports reporter Nathan Browne, that IndyCar Needs Eyeballs on IT!
Which is something I’ve been saying for quite awhile now.
Thus taking that into consideration, is this
simply “lip service?” Kind of like the Drivers have been instructed to Always “Thank
the Fans” and include their major Sponsors whenever speaking publicly.
Since regardless of what anybody in Ye Blogosphere
says, the previous NBC Sports gold and Peacock TV Streaming services are
nothing more than Paywalls! And no matter how “little” these services cost per
month, that’s missing the point of how this completely Marginalizes IndyCar! As
just take a look-see how much the Viewership numbers have Dramatically Dropped
for Countries Across thou Puddle that have put Formula 1 behind TV Paywalls!
And countering
the Argument I get really tired of, with those in favour of Paying Extra
to watch IndyCar’s vs. us “freeloaders,” there’s No such think as Free TV! And
hasn’t been since the era of Ye trusty ‘Ol “Rabbit Ears” Television antenna could
Freely pick up the Big 3 Television Networks!
Thus either we “cut the Chord,” which is solely
a response to the Never ending monetary Increase in monthly Cable TV service
Fees, or the consumer Pays More per month for the same basic Cable TV programming
they were previously receiving, Seeing the Capitalistic Behemoths like Comcast
effectively “double dipping” their revenue Streams!
And if you’re paying more, then shouldn’t you
be getting the entire IndyCar season with the “A Team,” ergo Leigh Diffey, Paul
Tracy and Townsend Bell vs. the Junior Varsity Squad of Kevin “Howling At the
Moon” Lee and Townsend “I’m the Smartest” Bell?
Presumably being the only Blind IndyCar
Blogger, I feel I have an unique insight into how the Digital World is further
excluding those of us who cannot See the ever shrinking Colour Coded boxes that
need to be selected, as just listen to Leigh Diffey’s Nauseating promo’ for How
simple it’s to Use Peacock TV, BARF! As Just Scroll Down and select Detroit
IndyCar race, Oh Never Mind! And that doesn’t even address the possibility of
the User being Colourblind…
Hmm, may be this
will be a good thingy’ After all. Since I’ve had to give up on listening to
Friday IndyCar Practice sessions year’s ago when the previous TV Contract precluded
them being available on the IMS Radio Network. And now, I suppose instead of
waiting All day Saturday’s to “Watch,” Err listen to the Canned Qualie’ TV
Broadcasts at Midnight interrupted by 69 Freakin’ Commercial Breaks for Glow In
the Dark Helicopters! I can simply Quit wasting time on Saturdays too and just “focus”
upon Sunday races instead…
Meanwhile, when trying to escape this Madness and
go ‘Ol School and simply listen to the IndyCar Radio network via Zed Internet,
or the nightly Trackside with Cavin and Keving, or Beyond the Bricks programmes
during the Month of May, I simply gave up in Disgust with Emmis Communications
Putrefied website!
First it was trying to make me Sign Up for
something that my Zoomtext Fusion 2021 Screen Reader Software couldn’t recognize
and “Read” to me. As I won’t just Click Ok blindly!
Then after several attempts at different Search
Queries, I finally got onto their website, but when I repeatedly clicked upon
the Listen (now) tab Nothing Happened!
And is the Emmis Communcations 93.7/107.5 The
Fan website really that Retarded? As my Screen Reader repeatedly told me that I
needed to Scroll All the way Down to the very bottom of the page’s right hand corner
in order to select Play, WTF! As I needed to keep paging Down ‘N Down through
every single individual episode of both Trackside and Beyond the Bricks which
is absolutely Stupid! So I promptly gave up on trying to listen to either of
these programmes this past May, buggers!
Then after waiting All day without “looking” at
any Websites or listening to any of my NFB Newsline for The Blind telephone
news, waiting until Gory 9PM Pacific to “Watch,” Err listen to the Canned rebroadcast
of IndyCar’s Road America qualifying, I once again tried “googling” for what
Radio Stations Host IndyCar races to No avail!
Which was after Growling in dismay when
listening to the Indianapolis 500 via WFNI 1075 “the Fan” via a “Backdoor”
Internet web address and repeatedly hearing “Promos” for the “New &
Improved” Indycar Radio website, SPEW!
And not so fast Indianapolis Motor Speedway! Although
your website may be slightly improved? And I use the words may be loosely! Especially
since I haven’t been to your website now for the past several years since it
hasn’t been Screen Reader “Friendly” in an eternity, Sigh!
Nonetheless when I tried searching for Fast
Friday’s event schedule, I got stuck in a repeated loop of whenever I clicked
on Next, since I couldn’t get past Thursday even though I’d specifically querried
Fast Friday! It kept kicking me back to Previous, i.e.; Thursday’s schedule, Bite
Me!
And then like I mentioned, there was the annoying promos’ for IndyCar Radio’s “New
& Improved” website during the Indy 500 Qualifying weekend, although I
think this redesign was done by the same people who made keeping your
Indianapolis 500 Ticket Order the Same this year so G-Damn Difficult! El
Correctomundo?
Or is this part of the vastly “Improved” advent
of title sponsor NTT? As first when visiting the Official IndyCar website,
which naturally isn’t conducive with my Screen Reader, Urgh! The first thingy’ that
happens is being redirected to the new IndyCar Radio website. And every time I
went Thar, it immediately made me try signing up for something that once again,
Y’all know the Drill, my Screen Reader couldn’t Tell Me what it was? And like I
said, I’m pretty adverse to just Blindly signing up for something unknown these
days!
Yet if this unknown “Pop Up” was circumvented,
then the El Stupidio website would only
allow me to Download the App, which I Ain’t running a mobile device and do NOT
wish to Download some Friggin’ App on my ‘Ol School Desktop!
Ok, so I’ll just (Blindly) try going around
this Bullshit and querry what local Radio Stations broadcast IndyCar races
live, Righto? And the very first option that comes up for local Radio Stations
is a Blank page that says coming for the 2020 St Pete race, see list below. Which
of course Thar Ain’t Any Radio Stations listed and last time I checked, it’s
past the halfway point of the year 2021!
But fortunately, after spending way too much
time vainly trying to find a simple, easy to use and simply begin Streaming when
I open the website like other progammes I listen to via Ye Intrawoods’ (Internet)
like the Speed Freaks via Dallas’s 105.3FM The Fan.
Although it’s begun a Nasty Habbit of running
an extra commercial randomly during the Broadcast, wiping out whoever they’re
interviewing, Crap! Or Ahem, IMSA Radio which plays Zero Commercials during
their entire Broadcast! But I digress…
Alas, I’ve finally managed to Crack Zed Internets and successfully listen to the Indy 500, Road America and Mid Ohio All via WFNI 1075 The Fan whilst IndyCar’s pontificating about How Great their current TV Ratings are, which just makes me really wonder how large of a “Disconnect” Thar is, and if it’s All just Noise in order to improve both negotiating Parties economic success since there’s only one major TV Network willing to continue Airing IndyCar, and surely I’ll get a Refund on my Cable TV Bill when NBC Sports Disappears…