RAMS & RAIDERS? REALLY?

The start of the full NFL pre-season is upon us. While local ratings for exhibition game telecasts don't mean much (beyond the local markets), one of the Saturday (8/10) games will be an interesting one for viewership. It seems that the L.A. Rams play in Oakland. This bring us one team which recently relocated back to L.A. to a so-so fan base playing in the final pre-season opener for the Raiders while they are still an Oakland team.

With both teams originating their respective telecasts, this game can be seen in almost every northern and southern California market, and beyond. The "beyond" includes Honolulu HI, Reno NV, ,Anchorage AK, and, of course, Las Vegas.

The Raiders pre-season games are carried in Los Angeles (where the team resided for years), obviously in Las Vegas (where they move after this season), and also in Honolulu, which is considered within the California region for local telecasts. The Rams are also carried in Las Vegas and Honolulu.

As a result, this exhibition game will appear with both telecasts airing simultaneously in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Honolulu. The Raiders telecast will be called by Beth Mowins with Rich Gannon, while the Rams telecast will have Andrew Siciliano and Nate Burleson on the call.

Ironically, this first week of exhibition games includes the New York battle with the Jets playing the Giants. The Jets are the road team. Yet, for these two established franchises, the Jets are not offering a telecast, forcing their fans to watch the Giants telecast as called by Bob Papa and Carl Banks. Go figure.

On the radio side, we will undoubtedly see the impact of the return of the NFL in key markets over the following couple of months on the ratings of the sports and flagship stations. Interesting research by industry trade publication Talkers Magazine showed that 57% of sports talk stations in metered markets saw declines from May to June this year. This is during the "height" of the NFL off season.

Four of the NBC Sports regional channels, including Washington and Chicago, are or will be airing "The Daily Line" on weekday afternoons. This is actually a simulcast of the NBC Sports Radio show which began earlier this year, but lacks a presence in the big markets. Michael Jenkins and Tim Murray are the hosts. The regional channels will, of course, preempt when local play-by-play and adjacent programming dictates. The focus of this show is on sports gambling. Although four hours a day on this topic may be a stretch, replacing infomercials, previous day game replays, and other programming which doesn't matter is a step in the right direction.


NEW YORK: The strong presence of WFAN 660 and 101.9 will pay dividends starting this week when play-by-play conflicts occur over the next couple of months. WFAN is the flagship for both the Yankees and Giants. When the teams conflict (which is three times in August and four times in September), the Giants broadcasts will air on 660, while Yankees broadcasts will air on 101.9.


BALTIMORE / D.C.: Bobby Trosset has joined WBAL 1090 and 101.5 as morning sports anchor along with being the station's Ravens reporter.

DC's WSBN ESPN 630, which earlier this year broke away from the news/talk simulcast of WMAL-FM, may need to re-think that decision. The just released ratings book showed the station with the lowest possible overall rating of .1.


MINNEAPOLIS: Mark Rosen, the former WCCO-TV sportscaster, and Kirk Cousins will co-host "Under Center with Kirk Cousins" on KFAN 100.3 each Tuesday at 6 PM starting Sept. 3rd. The weekly episodes will also be made available via Vikings.com. The pair plan to have interviews with other Vikings players on this show.


SAN DIEGO: KLSD 1360 has shuffled its weekday schedule. The Darren Smith Show, with co-host and producer Marty Caswell, moves to Noon to 3 PM. Jon Schaffer moves from the midday show to the Loose Cannons from 3 to 6 PM with Steve Hartman and Rich Ohrnberger. Nick Hardwick goes from midday co-host to the role as the NFL "Insider", including an hour on the Monday and Friday morning Costa & Richards show.


RALEIGH/DURHAM: "SportsChannel8: The Radio Show" started this week on WCMC 99.9 The Fan from 10 AM to Noon. Hayes Permar, Josh Goodson, and Brian Geisinger continue as co-hosts. This addition brings listeners nine hours of local sports programming on weekdays. As a result, the Dan LeBatard Show moves to Buzz Sports Radio, which now airs all three hours instead of only two hours.


MOBILE: WNSP 105.5 begins a new afternoon local sports show from 3 to 6 PM on Monday (8/12), co-hosted by David Schultz and Jordan Glass. Schultz joins WNSP from 103.7 The Game in Lafayette LA, where he had served as Program Director for six years.