Rockets Fans To 'Root' For New Launch

Finally some good news coming for Houston sports fans, as the path seems to have been cleared for Root Sports to begin a new regional sports channel to include the Rockets and likely the Astros telecasts.

Although this story was still breaking at press time, reports on the afternoon of 11/6 indicate that Comcast is more concerned with recovering money invested than preventing another provider from handling the telecasts.

This looks to be excellent news for Rockets fans, considering the team's undefeated start in the new NBA season and likely solid ratings as soon as fans can see the majority of the games. This could be another story for Astros fans, as revenue from Root Sports will likely be much less than promised from the now defunct Comcast SportsNet package, while millions of dollars in revenue could be in dispute for months to come.


LOUISVILLE: A sad day last week when the "Joe B. and Denny Show" radio show signed off for the final time after a run of more than ten years. Joe B. is Joe B. Hall, former coach of the University of Kentucky Wildcats and Denny is Denny Crum, former coach of the University of Louisville. During their respective prime years, the rival schools wouldn't even think of playing each other and fans of both teams were passionate against the other team. Yet, in later years the two became good friends and it came across on the air as well.

To the show's credit, they treated that final broadcast last Thursday as a special event. Hall, in the Lexington studios of affiliate WVLK-FM, had former players Kenny Walker and Kyle Macy with him. In the Louisville studios of WKRD-AM, Crum had Darrell Griffith and Jerry Eaves with him.

The final show aired on the 18 station network the show had throughout Kentucky.

Not only will these two legends be missed by listeners, but the concept of former rival coaches analyzing and interviewing former players remains something that a lot of sports radio stations could and should be using.


CLEVELAND: The latest "decision" by LeBron James to return to Cleveland is already paying off in terms of ratings, and not just in the Cleveland/Akron area. The Cavaliers' opening telecast on TNT finished with 50% more viewers than its second night of NBA games last season. Even more significant is that the national rating was more than 110% higher than the "average" TNT audience for regular season games last year.

Locally, the same effect exists, which is a lot less surprising. Even with somewhat better expectations for the Knicks (the opponent for that telecast), the Cleveland/Akron market had a rating more than three times higher than the New York City market.


DALLAS: CBS Radio, which earlier this year added the Chicago Cubs broadcasts (starting next season) to its local sports portfolio, has now added the Rangers play-by-play for KRLD-FM 105.3 The Fan, beginning a multi-year deal in the spring. The Rangers had been airing on KESN 103.3 ESPN since the start of the 2011 season, following a 15 year run on KRLD-AM prior to that.

Since KRLD-FM is also the Cowboys flagship, conflicts will result in the Rangers airing on KRLD-AM. Eric Nadel and Matt Hicks remain as the play-by-play team. The station is also expected to announce more Rangers specific programming to be added to its schedule.


St. LOUIS: Not that anyone doubted the Cardinals for even one second for having moved their games back to KMOX a couple of years back, but there is even more proof now that the move was the best one for all concerned. The former KFNS 590, which aired the Cardinals (which owned part of the station at one point) for the non-KMOX seasons, has gone completely off the air with the station owners more than one-half million dollars in debt.


St. AUGUSTINE FL: It is rare to find a small market taking such an outrageous approach to a local sports show, but 96.5 FM is doing just that. Long time broadcaster Dino Costa returns to the market and begins a 2 PM to 5 PM weekday show with Pat Paolini as co-host. Paolini owns a local sports bar, but is also known for a one-hour show he has done on the station for nearly three years.

The pair are calling the show "The Sports Radio Mafia", and plan to discuss national sports from a local perspective. If that title sticks, it shows how far along the media has come over the years. Can't help but recall how the demise of then prominent CBS-TV sportscaster Jack Whitaker began after he referred to the crowd at one of the holes during a CBS telecast of The Masters as "a mob". Now, these hosts and the station will be mentioning "Mafia" on a regular basis.

Then again, in some markets, it is rare to find ANY approach for local sports radio programming.