Watch Half Of The NFL Games Live

This coming weekend offers the rare chance for NFL fans to watch half of the scheduled games entirely. We have the Christmas Day game, followed by a triple header on Saturday, although the middle game requires Amazon Prime in order to view outside of the local markets. Then, it's usual three games available in each market on Sunday, and the finale of Monday Night football to wrap it all up. That is a total of eight opportunities to view an entire game, with 16 games on the schedule.

The Amazon Prime stream on Saturday will be the first stream for Prime of a game not being shown nationally, which has been streaming Thursday Night Football since 2017. The game will also be available on the NFL and Yahoo Sports mobile apps. In addition, Amazon Prime will stream the Jan. 10th Wild Card playoff game which will be produced by CBS. This Saturday's game will be seen in San Francisco on KNTV and in Phoenix on KSAZ Fox 10.

Meanwhile, the drought is over and football is no longer the only major sport still going now that the NBA season is underway. Many cable/satellite subscribers enjoy a free preview of the NBA package through December 29th, although not every carrier promotes this. If you are an NBA fan, it is worth checking to see if you can get every game for the next few days at no additional cost.

DETROIT: A huge Christmas present for 97.1 The Ticket, as the station gets a brand new multi-year contract as flagship station for the Lions after a five year absence. It appears that the ownership change (from CBS to Entercom) made a huge difference to the Lions, which reportedly left The Ticket after the 2015 season over criticism of the team on its talk shows.

The significance for the station is that, once again, it is home to all four major Detroit sports teams. Of course, with the delayed start of the current NBA and NHL seasons, the station is facing continuing conflicts for game broadcasts during April and May when the Tigers, Pistons, and Red Wings are all scheduled to be in full gear.


NASHVILLE: A blow to WRPT 102.5 The Game with the announcement that Floyd Reese has left his afternoon drive co-hosting gig after more than five years. The former GM of the Titans (and Oilers before their move to Nashville) for 16 seasons stated that he "decided to take a step back" while thanking station management. Jared Stillman remains as afternoon co-host, with the show now airing as "Stillman and Company" instead of "Stillman and the GM". As of press time, there has been no announcement about a regular replacement for Reese.


NEW ORLEANS: WWL 870 has its 4 to 8 PM show back to full throttle with the return (last week) of Kristian Garic as co-host along with Bobby Herbert. Garic, co-hosting for nearly three years, continues to host the studio coverage surrounding Saints broadcasts, as he has done for the past nine seasons. It was Garic who revealed that treatment for alcoholism was the reason for his nearly one month absence

Al Michaels Might Lose His Week Off, But He Might Not

 UPDATE: The Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore game would now be played on Wednesday afternoon Dec. 2nd on NBC.

 
This telecast would also impact NBC's announcer schedule. If the Steelers-Ravens game is played, it would be Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth on the call. The pair originally was to have been off for this entire week. Mike Torico and Tony Dungy were scheduled to call both the Thanksgiving telecast and then the Chicago at Green Bay game on Sunday Night Football.

Meanwhile, the NFL has announced its Week 15 (Dec. 19th) selections for the Saturday doubleheader. Again this season, both games will appear only on NFL Network other than the local markets. The AFC game will be Buffalo at Denver at 4:30 PM ET, with its NFC telecast in prime time (8:15 PM ET) between Carolina and Green Bay.

As much as fans would like to be there, let's take the hunch that they wont mind as much to not be able to attend at night game in Green Bay in mid-December.


While we await word on the likelihood of the NBA starting its season, the ever-thinning line between sports betting and the leagues and teams continues. The Memphis Grizzlies announced a "multi-year sports betting partnership" with betting service FanDuel. This Agreement reportedly includes sports betting content being integrated into local Grizzlies telecasts.

The added significance to this deal is that, as of now, Tennessee does not have any casinos.


On the MLB side, reports have ESPN working on renewing its telecast deal with MLB, which expires after the 2021 season. The word is that ESPN is looking to reduce its number of telecasts, and be able to hand pick more of the games it shows. One possible result is that Sunday Night Baseball would continue, but scheduled Monday and Wednesday night telecasts would not.


CHICAGO: The White Sox have changed radio stations again after having been heard on 3 different flagship stations over the past 8 seasons. The broadcasts will return to WMVP ESPN 1000, which previously hosted the games from 1999 through 2005. This comes after WGN Radio declined its option to renew. There has been no word, as of press time, as to whether or not Andy Mazur or Darrin Jackson will return as the broadcast team.

WLS-TV has extended the contract of sports reporter Dionne Miller for another four years.

All In At Once

As we come into one of the most significant weeks in TV sports history (with all four most important sports airing significant games at the same time), we can wonder about how this will shape up in the ratings. The NFL becomes the first sport to begin as scheduled on Thursday (9/10) with NBC airing the League opener with Kansas City hosting Houston.

On Sunday (9/13), the Fox doubleheader game features Tom Brady making his debut with Tampa, which figures to be a ratings winner, especially with New England vs. Miami being an early game over on CBS.

Also this weekend (along with some college football on Saturday) will be more NBA and NHL Playoff games and a full slate of MLB regular season games with the majority of the teams still in the race for the expanded playoffs. This marks the first time that we have had NBA and NHL playoff telecasts on the same weekend as NFL games.

This will be a test of how many hours people will watch the live sports which was so craved for months earlier this year. However, the Nielsen ratings for the now concluded first found of the NBA Playoffs were down roughly 27% from last season, and down roughly 40% over two seasons ago. It remains to be seen (pun intended) whether the noteworthy ratings increase for the Game 7 telecast of Oklahoma City losing to Houston would start an upward trend for the 2nd round.

In addition, the U.S. Open start saw its average audience fall by nearly 50% for the first three days of the tournament. While those numbers do not reflect the Labor Day weekend (not available at press time), the reason could be because several of the top players opted out of the tournament.

There was more media news on the NFL front, including NBC confirming that Al Michaels will not be calling every Sunday Night Football game starting this season. The 75 year old Michaels is beginning his schedule cutback. Mike Torico will be calling at least three, and reportedly no more than five, of the games this season. The games which Torico calls will likely be determined in part by his Notre Dame schedule for NBC, which begins this coming Saturday (9/12) against Duke. Tony Dungy will join Torico in the booth for those games this season, with Doug Flutie moving over to a studio role.

NFL Media also announced that it is allowing YouTube TV to carry the NFL RedZone starting immediately, to go along with it already airing NFL Network.

As the NBA Playoffs move further into round 2, the word is that TNT will have Brian Anderson on play-by-play for its Conference Finals telecasts. Anderson normally leaves his Milwaukee Brewers assignment for three to four weeks in April and May to call early round games. Now, he would miss most or all of the Brewers games during the final days of the regular season. In this case, Anderson temporarily replaces Marv Albert, who is not in the NBA bubble in Orlando in order to protect his health.

Quite the moment for ESPN on Sunday (9/6) when ESPN and ESPN2 needed to do a simultaneous switch. Its U.S. Open tennis coverage was running past its scheduled 7 PM ET conclusion, at which its Sunday Night Baseball telecast of Cardinals at Cubs was scheduled to begin. The network put its Baseball Tonight lead in on ESPN 2. Exactly at 7 PM, ESPN switched their tennis over to ESPN2, with a match in progress, and started Baseball on ESPN, forcing everyone already watching one or the other to have to switch.

MINNEAPOLIS: This one slipped through the cracks of being major media news, but baseball fans lost a solid analyst when Bert Blyleven suddenly announced his immediate retirement from the Twins' TV booth last week. Rather than finish the season, Bert decided not to overshadow the team and go out quietly. He will be missed.

SAN FRANCISCO: KNBR 680/104.5 is going overboard with its coverage and analysis of the 49ers starting this week. It seems as though all of their local and non play-by-play programming will feature a contributing analyst. Their impressive list, along with the 49ers broadcast crew, will include Jim Nantz, Brent Musberger, Steve Young, Tim Ryan, Adam Schefter, Kyle Shanahan, and even Mike Pereira.

PHILADELPHIA: WNJE 920 (licensed to Trenton NJ) has dropped Fox Sports Radio and picked up ESPN Radio. This replaces WTEL 610 which changed to a non-sports format days earlier. The Trenton station has no plans for local programming, airing strictly the ESPN Radio national feed.

This Time, All At Once Is Fine

Sports fans are getting even closer to an extended period of having all of the major sports playing with multiple games at the same time as the NFL season is now within two weeks from its scheduled start.

Fox Sports is already, and understandably, aggressively promoting its Opening Day doubleheader game of Tampa Bay vs. New Orleans. This will mark the debut of Tom Brady with the Bucs, made even more special since there are no preseason telecasts leading up to it.

Once the NFL season starts, we will have a stretch of MLB games along with continued NBA and NHL Playoff games, making for perhaps the most significant period for content in sports TV history.

In addition, Fox Sports moved right away to replace Thom Brennaman from its NFL telecasts with the addition of Kevin Kugler to work with Chris Spielman. Kugler, who had been doing Sunday Night Football radio on Westwood One, has filled in on Fox NFL telecasts earlier, including calling a game in place of Brennaman during the 2018 season. No word yet from Westwood One on a Sunday night replacement as of press time.

ESPN appears to have completed its announcer switch between Monday Night Football and its college telecasts. Word is that Joe Tessitore, as expected, will team with Greg McElroy on selected college telecasts this season. Of course, ESPN is not in a position to officially announce their announcing assignment, since the schedules are still very much up in the air.

At CBS, Kyle Long, the just retired lineman and son of Howie Long, has joined CBS Sports starting immediately. Long's first assignment will be as an analyst on the "That Other Pregame Show" on CBS Sports Channel on Sunday mornings. Long comes with some radio experience, having done some co-hosting on Chicago's WMVP 1000 during last season.

NEW YORK: WEPN ESPN has extended host Dave Rothenberg for two more years. This comes as he celebrates his 10 year anniversary with the station. Rothenburg will continue as a co-host middays with Chris Canty and Rick DiPietro. However, the recent schedule change has this trio only on from 9 to 11 AM.


BUFFALO: Host Chris Brown has been suspended indefinitely as a co-host of One Bills Live, which airs on WGR and the local version of the MSG Network. If it's any consolation for Brown, it was not due to any comments about current social or political conditions on social media or on the air. The offense was Brown discussing specific events which happened at a team practice, which is against NFL policy. The station is going with guest hosts to fill in along with co-host Steve Tasker. As of press time, no word about the length of the suspension.

SAN LUIS OBISPO: C.J. Silas on The Ticket 1280 made news by not commenting on the current political climate this past Wednesday night (8/26). Her not commenting, however, made for a full hour of her show being almost totally silent, except for her announcing that the silence was in solidarity. This came shortly after the Bucks (and then other NBA teams) stopped the evening's playoff games from happening. 

DENVER: Darren McKee was removed from his long time hosting role last Monday (8/24) after tweeting the n-word on social media. McKee, known on the air as D-Mac, claimed he was typing Nuggets instead. As of press time, no word on a possible return date.

Think Before You Speak

 It was one of the ugliest weeks in sports media history as a result of comments made on the air during sports telecasts. It is a lesson for all broadcasters, sports or otherwise, to be very careful when anywhere near a microphone.

The most prominent incident was Thom Brennaman being suspended indefinitely by Fox Sports for his August 19th gay slur which got on the air during the Reds telecast on Fox Sports Ohio of the Reds game in Kansas City. There is no excuse for making such a comment, but making it under circumstances where it got on the air has likely cost him his broadcasting career.

As you would expect, he was immediately pulled off the Reds telecasts. Fox Sports followed up by pulling him from their NFL telecasts, where Brennaman had long been among the network's top three play-by-play voices.

In addition, it also means that for the first time since 1973, there is not anyone named Brennaman calling the Reds games in Cincinnati. Thom's father Marty had just retired from Reds radio following the 2019 baseball season.

Meanwhile, Mike Milbury, the long time NHL analyst for NBC and NBCSN has had his share on-air incidents since the NHL games have returned. Milbury got away with misidentifying the CN tower and criticizing Bruins goaltender Tuuka Rask's sudden decision to opt out. However, while commenting about the players remaining focused inside of the bubble during the playoffs, Milbury added that there is "not even any woman here to disrupt your concentration". Both NBC and the NHL issued statements showing their disappointment with what the sexist comment.

In Chicago, analyst Mark Grace, who has been providing studio analysis on the Chicago Cubs' Marquee Network during its debut season, was suspended from the broadcasts for five days. An on-air conversation drifted off topic and Grace referred to his ex-wife as "dingbat", a phrase taken from the old "All In The Family" TV show used by Archie Bunker nearly 50 years ago.

At least these actions were taken over comments made on the air during actual broadcasts and not due to something said or posted only on social media.


ESPN has stayed in the family for its new Monday Night Football broadcasting team. As expected, Steve Levy will move over from the college side and handle play-by-play, with his most recent college analyst, Brian Griese, staying with Levy. Louis Riddick will also serve as analyst. The trio will make their Monday Night Football debut as the second game of the Sept. 14th doubleheader calling the Titans vs. Broncos game. They replace Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland.


NBC's Peacock Channel is expanding its sports programming over the next six weeks. Along with streaming The Dan Patrick Show and The Rich Eisen Show, the network will add "Brother From Another" with Michael Smith (former ESPN anchor) and Michael Holley (former NBC Sports Boston) to its late afternoon time slot. Pro Football Talk Live with Mike Florio will stream in morning drive.


BALTIMORE: Ravens Radio WBAL-AM and WIYY-FM is going to a three man booth starting this season. Former Ravens Dennis Pitta and Femi Avanbadejo both join Gerry Sandusky in the booth.


CHICAGO: Just as the White Sox begin to rise in the standings for the first time in several years, the word is that WGN-AM is not looking to renew its White Sox contract which expires after this season after three seasons. The natural fit is WVMP ESPN 1000, which currently has no major local play-by-play. WMVP just moved its local morning show with David Kaplan and Jonathan Hood up to a 7 AM start, making it local in the morning for the first time (20 years as a sports station).

The Weekday Afternoon TV Sports Bonanza

 We have certainly seen the popularity of live sports telecasts over the past couple of weeks with the three major pro leagues offering an abundance of live telecasts. Most of the ratings reflect how an audience starved for sports has responded.

The coming week will put it to the test, as each weekday afternoon (in mid-August) offers both NBA and NHL Playoff telecasts along with more MLB regular season games competing.

For example, here is the TV schedule of NBA first round telecasts for the week ahead, with all times ET:

Monday, Aug. 17
1:30: Utah vs. Denver, ESPN
4:00: Brooklyn vs. Toronto, ESPN
6:30: Philadelphia vs. Boston, ESPN
9:00: Dallas vs. L.A.Clippers, ESPN

Tuesday, Aug. 18
1:30: Orlando vs. Milwaukee, TNT
4:00: Miami vs. Indiana, TNT
6:30: Oklahoma City vs. Houston, TNT
9:00: Play-In winner vs. L.A. Lakers, TNT

Wednesday, Aug. 19
1:30: Brooklyn vs. Toronto, NBA TV
4:00: Utah vs. Denver, TNT
6:30: Philadelphia vs. Boston, TNT
9:00: Dallas vs. L.A.Clippers, TNT

Thursday, Aug. 20
1:30: Miami vs. Indiana, ESPN
4:00: Orlando vs. Milwaukee, ESPN
6:30: Oklahoma City vs. Houston, ESPN
9:00: Play-In winner vs. L.A. Lakers, ESPN

Friday, Aug. 21
1:30: Toronto vs. Brooklyn, NBA TV
4:00: Denver vs. Utah, TNT
6:30: Boston vs. Philadelphia, TNT
9:00: L.A. Clippers vs. Dallas, TNT

Although times were not announced at press time, the NHL plans to continue to begin its daily playoff telecasts at 2 PM ET and also run into prime time.

ESPN also plans a pair of MLB regular season telecasts during upcoming weekday afternoons, going against these playoff games. Those are Tues. 8/18 with Giants vs. Dodgers (while an hour earlier MLB Network starts Rockies vs. Astros) and Thurs. 8/20 with White Sox vs. Tigers. The latter game means that ESPN will have both NBA and MLB live games at the same time on a Thursday afternoon.

The networks have a valid reason for this saturation, even though it seems that ratings are not a priority. Clearly the large amount of weekday telecasts will bring down overall ratings for the sport.

However, the networks are all required to air a specified number of live sports events over the course of a 12 month period in order to justify extra fees from cable and satellite providers. Of course, these fees are passed along to subscribers. If the number of live telecasts is not met, the networks would be required to refund millions of dollars. Saving that large amount takes priority over lost advertising revenue for ratings not as strong. As the same time, the prime time and weekend ratings remain stronger than ever due to feeding the hungry sports fans after nearly four months with nothing.

This is also the one, and probably only, time that MLB is allowing national networks to televise against each other so they can get all of their games in. We have numerous instances of MLB Network Showcase Games against Fox Sports 1 or ESPN telecasts, for example.

One example was this past Wednesday (8/12) when ESPN was airing the lengthy Arizona vs. Colorado telecast. The game was running into its scheduled start of the NBA telecast of Philly vs. Toronto. At 6:30 PM ET, ESPN actually switched the baseball game over to ESPN2 in order to begin its evening of NBA telecasts on ESPN.

Not only was that move a bit of a slap to MLB, but at that same time, FS1 was starting its K.C. vs. Cincinnati telecast AND MLB Network had the Oakland vs. L.A. Angels game already in progress.

CHICAGO: Saturday (8/15) brought us a truly bizarre programming decision from WGN 720. The flagship station of the White Sox also carries the Blackhawks, which have priority. On this day, the White Sox wound up scheduled with a doubleheader vs. the Cardinals due to a postponement from Friday. That left WGN with being able to air the first game of the White Sox vs. Cardinals, and having to farm the second game out to WMVP 1000 (which is not a sister station) because of the possibility of it running into its Blackhawks broadcast that evening.

That situation is unusual, but was understood because WGN does not own another radio station. Doing so left WGN with more than three hours between the end of its Game 1 broadcast and its Blackhawks programming. What did they air? Two hours of that period were spent airing its White Sox Weekly program. They expected fans to listen to recorded interviews and highlights from the week INSTEAD of listening to the team playing live on another station. Say what?

WMVP ESPN begins its new weekday schedule (on 8/17) with its first local show covering most of morning drive. The station will air ESPN Radio only until 7 AM. Now David Kaplan and Jonathan Hood will air from 7 to 10 AM. Kaplan moves up from his previous 9 AM to Noon spot. The station will air Mike Greenberg from ESPN from Noon to 7 to fulfill its network daytime requirement.

SAN DIEGO: The Mighty 1090 returns on Monday (8/17) after having been pulled off the air in April over a financial dispute. The station starts with local programming in afternoon drive, which will be Scott Kaplan with "Kaplan and Crew" from 3 to 7 PM. The remainder will be syndicated shows such as Rich Eisen, Tony Bruno, and Scott Ferrall.

CLEVELAND: The Browns have extended their partnership with WNCX 92.3/850 The Fan and with a new long term deal. When in season, there will be at least 20 hours of Browns "coverage" each week, including up to nine hours on game days.

COLUMBUS: 97.1 The Fan is also dumping ESPN Radio's new morning show and going local. Bobby Carpenter (former NFL and Buckeyes linebacker), Brandon Beam, and Anthony Schlegel will co-host the 6 to 9 AM morning show.

The Morning After For ESPN Radio Stations

 While the obviously busy time continues for ESPN, the ESPN Radio side is looking toward better results, especially in the top 3 markets. The timing fits with both the NBA and NHL being in playoff mode, the MLB season well underway, and just prior to the NFL getting underway. (Of course, this is all as of press time.)

In New York, WEPN 98.7 is making changes, primarily in support of its strong afternoon show, the Michael Kay Show. Kay's show has been coming in ahead of WFAN's afternoon drive prior to and since the recent departure of Mike Francesa. Now WEPN is shortening the ESPN Radio national morning show until 9 AM, but will air a block of national programming from 1:00 to 3:00 PM on weekdays.

What makes this strange is that WEPN has Rick DiPietro, Chris Canty, and Dave Rothenberg airing from 9:00 to 11:00 AM (an hour shorter than before) and Bart Scott and Alan Hahn from 11 AM to 1 PM (two hours earlier than before). It seems hard to believe that one hour of Max Kellerman's national show between 2:00 and 3:00 PM would be a better lead in for the Michael Kay show, but as of now that is the plan.

KSPN 710 Los Angeles is taking a "split day" approach, going with the national feed from 5:00 AM to 1:00 PM, which includes a delayed broadcast of the morning show. Travis Rogers, also a big part of the station's Rams coverage, will jump in on the morning show with local updates and content. The Mason & Ireland Show returns to early afternoon from the afternoon drive slot it held for the past year. Scott Kaplan joins the station for evenings (when no play-by-play) after a successful run on 1090 in San Diego. (No word yet about Kaplan's status, or lack of status, with 1090 if and when it reboots.)

Chicago's WMVP ESPN 1000 has not, as of press time, announced its intentions for morning drive, as it continues to carry the national feed with fill-in hosts through the coming week. The station has been local between 9:00 AM and 10:00 PM most weekdays, leading to speculation that they will soon attempt a local morning show. With a few long time local sports reporters having been let go due to cutbacks from the pandemic, the station has more "known" talent available than normal if they decide to do so.

 

OAKLAND: It took less than one week of regular season baseball for the A's to realize their mistake of not having pursued a much needed local radio package instead of only streaming their broadcasts. KNEW 960 now airs the games. The A's Radio Network, including nearby stations in Sacramento and Fresno, continues. This helps to cover up the A's failure to get a local radio deal sooner, while acting as though streaming was acceptable in Oakland while nearby regional radio stations carried the broadcasts.

 

SEATTLE: The new NHL Kraken have signed Everett Fitzhugh to be its first play-by-play voice. Fitzhugh comes from Cincinnati where he most recently served as radio voice of the Cyclones of the ECHL. Although the team has not yet determined if Fitzhugh will handle the TV or radio duties, either way he becomes the first black play-by-play voice for an NHL team. (Mike Torico of NBC calls regional or national games as assigned.)

 

AUBURN: Whether or not there is a football season in the SEC, ESPN 106.7 has already dumped its local midday show, The Lunch Break, along with hosts Justin Ferguson and Painter Sharpless. Ironically, Ferguson recently lost his writing job with The Athletic, meaning that he has not lost two media jobs resulting from layoffs during the pandemic.

If You Can't Come Out To The Game, Watch Us On TV

As Major League Baseball became the first of the four major pro sports to resume within the past week, its impact on sports media was felt immediately.

The national networks were able to jump right in with multiple national telecasts, including MLB Network having the very rare opportunity of overlapping some of its live game telecasts against ESPN national games. Fox Sports knowingly overlapped on Saturday (7/25) when FS1 began its Saturday night telecast less than two hours after Fox Sports began its prime time Yankees vs. Nationals telecast.

Many teams reported significantly higher ratings for local (regional) telecasts, as expected with the long absence of live pro sports. For example, the St. Louis Cardinals opening night telecast scored a rating which was 79% above the 2019 season opener ratings. Those numbers made it a higher rated telecast than any Fox Sports Midwest telecasts of the 2019 regular season, during which the Cardinals won the N.L. Central by only two games.

The shortened season is keeping Amazon from delivering in one respect. Amazon Sports was originally scheduled to simulcast 21 Yankees telecasts (regionally) which were not scheduled to be shown on their YES Network. This is/was due to the new MLB policy allowing teams to sell streaming rights to games not shown on their regional networks. (Subject to the specifics of individual team deals with their local/regional networks.)

However, the shortened season resulted in the Yankees canceling their WPIX contract in order to carry every available game (minus ESPN exclusives) on YES for the season. Not many people realize that Amazon will still benefit, since Amazon now owns a percentage of the YES Network.

Chicago Cubs fans were delighted to see a deal struck between Comcast and the new Marquee Network which allows more than 90% of the Chicago market to get Cubs telecasts. Until the announcement, the telecasts would have remained available to only roughly 40% of the market. The announcement of a deal came during morning drive on Opening Day (7/24), less than 12 hours before the first regular season game. There is no additional fee required for Comcast subscribers, much to the surprise of its subscribers who feared a separate monthly fee.

Next up will be the scheduled restarts for the NBA and NHL. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in terms of viewership for two reasons. First, it will be interesting to see whether or not MLB telecast ratings drop in accordance with NBA and/or NHL telecasts, especially in markets which do not host MLB teams.

The standings may also determine. For example, New York and Chicago do not have their teams playing in the NBA Playoffs, while there are expectations for their baseball teams. Los Angeles viewing might be the most interesting, given the strong presence of the Lakers and Clippers going against high expectations for the Dodgers.

Hopefully it will work out that sports will be able to continue and we can all see how this turns out.

We Feel A Draft Coming On

The recent NFL Draft produced the expected strong ratings, given the lack of live pro sports content we are faced with. However, the success was really in how well the virtual approach came across to the millions of viewers.

Here's hoping that this becomes the way the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB drafts are all conducted moving forward. Having a central location with fans cheering and booing, which often interrupts the important proceedings, is not necessary to the enjoyment of the proceedings.

It became obvious that the networks can utilize unlimited sources thanks to the online technology. Although this might not have been considered acceptable a couple of months ago, by the time sports returns this will seem "normal" and acceptable for years to come.

A virtual setting allows for more interviews and information directly from the teams as well as the analysts and other sources, and more quickly. This also allows for more of the selected players to directly participate, as opposed to only the likely higher picks only.

However, there is room for improvement of this format based on how the NFL Draft telecasts went. It happened far too many times where the "Pick Is In" appeared at the bottom of the screen while viewers had to wait through constant reaction interviews surrounding the prior pick.

If we are fans enough to watch the Draft, we already know that every player has a similar reaction to being selected. Family members screaming and jumping up and down is understandable, but not to the point of seeing it every five minutes hour after hour.

Most fans prefer information about the player's credentials and some video of them in play ahead of seeing just the reactions. This is especially the case after Round 2, when the picks tend to be much less familiar to even the most avid fans.

Data about the player and some video of them in action does not need to take more than one minute. Obviously, ESPN, NFL Network, and ABC were all ready with info about the players chosen. This is not like the old days when even the reporters would ask "Who???" and start their research.

In other words, we should not have to see "Pick Is In". We should be given the pick as soon as it is available. This could move the Draft along more quickly and eliminate time wasted with the same reactions. Saving ten "Pick Is In" delays of two minutes each would knock 20 minutes off of the Draft time.

Perhaps they could add in a 10 to 15 minute "half time" type intermission between rounds. This would give each team the chance to regroup, and give the network(s) covering the Draft the opportunity to present analysis. They could also show us only the "best" player interviews and reaction instead of practically every player's similar one.

Clearly the NFL Draft is the biggest draw of all, but this could also be done moving forward for the other sports. At least that is how it should be. The pick is in.

Meanwhile, Drew Brees is not only ahead of the pack as a QB, but he now is ahead of everything with what appear to be definitive retirement plans. Brees has reportedly been signed as a game analyst by NBC Sports, likely to begin for the 2022 season. His contract with the Saints is for two more years, but we do not know how that might be impacted if there is no NFL season in 2020.

Word is that NBC will be bidding for a 2nd NFL contract, which might open up for Mike Torico and Brees to be the team to call such games. If not, Brees would join Torico waiting in the wings behind Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth.

CHICAGO: The sad news is that Marc Silverman of WMVP ESPN 1000 announced last week that he has been diagnosed with Stage 3 Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system. Silverman has been with the station since it began in 1998, and has co-hosted with former Bears receiver Tom Waddle in either afternoon drive or middays since 2007.

SAN DIEGO: The "Mightier" 1090? The word is that a new owner has surfaced for the frequency, which was all sports as the "Mighty 1090" until it went off the air in the spring of 2019. Although Scott Kaplan, who hosted in the "Mighty" days is returning for afternoons, the "Mightier" days may include more than "only" sports.

Islands In The Stream

While we still don't know if and when live sports as we know it will resume, the question remains as to how extreme it will get when the time comes. Sports fans have differing views as to the "value" of airing classic games, especially as the weeks drag on. It is understandable that regional sports networks are showing classic games in a series such as a championship run or themes such as last minute victories. Whether or not people will watch for almost two hours when they know the outcome remains to be seen, but the hours need to be filled.
There is the aspect of the networks offering up their archives for free to explore. It does make sense for sports leagues and organizations to attempt to lure in new fans during this period, since potential fans can use the time to "catch up" on recent history.

For example, MLB-TV has made its archives of regular season games over the past two years available at no cost. During the first two weeks, they reported an 85% increase in views. The NBA and NHL have done the same, with the NFL joining the crowd. Of course, it remains to be seen whether or not the NFL season will take place as originally scheduled or not.

The feeling here is that the NFL is doing this in an effort to hold fan interest their way instead of them not being able to watch NFL games and going over to one of the other sports.

NBC Sports Gold has also been streaming its golf programming at no cost, with a promise to do so until "at least" May 17th. They recently added archives including tournaments going back more than 50 years.

This weekend (April 9 - 12) was supposed to have been The Masters. Tournament officials announced earlier this week that they are looking at rescheduling for later in 2020, hinting at the week of November 9th to 15th. Here is where it gets interesting, in terms of extremes.

Suppose live sports are back by that time. That same week in November could possibly have MLB post-season in the event of a delayed season and post-season games played at warm weather neutral sites. Obviously, the NFL and college football would be in full swing. The NBA and NHL "normally" are into their seasons by mid-November.

Although CBS could possibly reschedule its college football games for that Saturday, it is highly unlikely they would dump out of NFL coverage on that Sunday. Putting the final round of The Masters into prime time would not be feasible given the weather and the darkness at that hour.

As is stands without The Masters, having an abundance of major sports, which relies so much on TV revenue, all going on at the same time would be a crunch for the networks, the advertisers, and even for the viewers. There will be a lot to figure out before any of this happens.

Meanwhile, the announcement from Los Angeles has to rank up there among the most ironic sports media happenings ever. After years of frustration among Dodgers fans while roughly 70% of the market could not get the Dodgers telecasts, now comes the announcement that AT&T and DirecTV are carrying SportsNet LA. In the long run, having the option to get the games throughout the market will be great news for Dodgers fans.

No News Is Good News But No Sports Is Bad News

We still have no idea how much the shut down of sports will impact the media over the months and years to come. So much to think about, but plenty of time to do so. 

It is pure speculation about how this will impact the sports media in the long run. All we know is that there is likely to be a major impact.

As of press time, it appears it could be months, rather than weeks, before sports as we know it is able to fully resume. Since teams are not able to practice together, it is likely that players will return with a huge variation in their physical condition. It is quite possible that players not typically counted upon will be in better condition and perform better than some all stars normally would.

Consequently, a lot of fans may not take resumptions of the NBA and NHL seasons (if that happens) seriously. That could negatively alter the ratings for the post-season. Fans might not be as eager to watch knowing that the outcome of the current seasons would be tainted in comparison with previous seasons.

In addition, the delayed start for MLB and the possible "regular" start for the NFL could see skyrocketing ratings in comparison. However, all of the sports, also including golf, auto racing, and soccer, could combine for an overload of live sports after nothing new for weeks.

This will be a concern for advertisers, who may opt to cut back on expenses in order to cover lost sales and employee revenue, forcing the networks (national, regional, and local) which televise the games to take a financial hit. 

There is more to consider. Pro sports teams are currently making big money as a result of TV rights. Before all of this happened, reports had Comcast and Charter losing approximately 250,000 subscribers during just the 4th quarter of 2019. Economics are likely to dictate more consumers reducing or eliminating cable/satellite fees in order to better handle the economic crisis.

Another important factor is that ESPN reportedly is required (again - required) to provide a minimum amount of "premium" sports content to justify its higher fees to cable/satellite providers and subscribers. As a result, ESPN faces a financial hit if and as the shutdown of sports continues for months.

If fans can't afford to attend the games or subscribe to cable/satellite to watch them, advertisers need to reduce their spending in order to recover, and businesses and corporations can't afford season tickets and luxury suites, teams will lose significant revenue. 

Meanwhile, sports radio will suffer over the next couple of ratings periods. Markets such as Boston, where two sports stations consistently appear in the top 10, and Milwaukee with four competing sports stations, are among the many that will see an impact in ratings, and likely advertising revenue to go along with it.

I had planned to write about how the networks such as MLB Network, NHL Network, and NBA Network are making the best of the situation with replays of past games. It's not easy for them to face the challenges of suddenly having no programming when they had hours of live coverage and analysis already in place.

However, the bigger concern is how close things will get to "normal" over the next few years for the sports media, the sports fans, and for all of us around the world.

Hopefully we'll be back with The Broadcast Booth very soon.

Oakland Listeners Take It Up The A's

How disappointing that the Oakland A's are so frustrated with their radio broadcast situation that they couldn't even create their own deal with a radio station for the new season. The A's have struggled to be on the air on several occasions over the years, including starting one season on a college station.

The team was "unable to come to terms" with KTRB 860 which carried A's broadcasts last season. We don't know whether the station no longer wanted the broadcasts since they did not fit the format, or if the A's were not willing to make the investment to purchase the time. That doesn't really matter.

Instead, the team has announced that in the Oakland area, the only way (as of now) to hear the broadcasts will be to stream them. A's officials were quoted as saying they think this is the way to go by streaming instead of over the air. It may be the way to go to help the bank account instead.

As one who grew up before cable and internet and depended on radio for hundreds of hours of live baseball every year, this is especially disturbing. That doesn't even count my years as a radio sportscaster when radio was king of sports coverage and how much this news hurts.

Although the team claims streaming is the way to go, Bay Area listeners will continue to have the Spanish broadcasts on KIOI 1010. It would be interesting to get an explanation as to why Spanish listeners still get radio broadcasts but those that do not speak Spanish do not.

The lack of an English broadcast is only in the Oakland area. The 10 stations on the A's radio network, including KHTK Sacramento, KFPT 790 Fresno, and KESP 970 in Modesto, will continue to carry the regular broadcasts. Of course, baseball fans that subscribe to At Bat will be able to hear Ken Korach and Vince Cotroneo on play-by-play as usual.

Only fans in the immediate Oakland area would need to stream the primary English broadcast.

One more irony to the situation is that KGMZ-FM The Game, which aired the A's from 2011 to 2018, is finally enjoying respectable ratings after struggling against KNBR 680 for so many years.

The fear is that other teams hurting for radio deals would start going only to streaming, and consequently provide radio listeners with still ANOTHER reason that they no longer need to listen.

Meanwhile, TV ratings for the current NBA season continue to be cause for concern. Ratings for the first half of the season show the local RSN's down roughly 13%, while national telecast ratings have dipped about 12% overall. Although the San Antonio Spurs have the highest local ratings this season, those figures are down approximately 20% from last season.

Another pain point for the NBA ratings is that the N Y Knicks and Brooklyn Nets are two of the seven lowest rated telecasts this season. The Atlanta Hawks ratings have actually increased by more than 48% this season. However, the Hawks' ratings are also in the bottom seven. (Memphis, Utah, and Toronto market ratings were not available for this research.)


NBCSN has decided to observe International Women's Day on March 8th with an all female crew calling the St. Louis at Chicago NHL telecast. Kate Scott will handle play-by-play with Kendall Coyne-Schofield and A.J. Mleczko (both Olympic Gold Medalists) as analysts. Kathryn Tappen will anchor the studio coverage.


CHICAGO: The Marquee Network signed on the air on Saturday (2/22) as the Chicago Cubs network, airing the team's spring training opener, and with limited availability. So far, subscribers of AT&T, DirecTV, and other providers offering the service, have not seen an increase in monthly fees, but they are mostly under existing contracts.

WGN-TV, which does not currently have any baseball on its schedule for the first time in more than 70 years, is returning to live local sports. The station signed to air 24 Chicago Fire soccer telecasts starting in March. This is all that is available to them, since the Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Sox are all exclusive to NBC Sports Chicago after last season, depriving WGN-TV of its year round sports packages.

PHILADELPHIA: Nothing official as of press time but the word is that former Phillies GM Ruben Amaro is being signed as a studio analyst for Phillies telecasts on NBC Sports Philadelphia in time for the regular season. Adding to the speculation of Amaro becoming a member of the local media was Amaro's recent appearance on Angelo Cataldi's morning show on WIP-FM. The sports station is part of the recently announced shared content plan.

KANSAS CITY: Fox Sports Kansas City has reportedly extended its deal for Royals telecasts for at least 10  years after its deal with the team had expired last fall. This figured to happen, given the local situation. The Royals need a TV partner to provide millions in revenue and exposure of all of their games, while Fox Sports needs the content for its spring and summer programming.

The network will continue to provide live fall and winter content airing selected Oklahoma City Thunder and St. Louis Blues telecasts.

ATLANTA: Fox Sports South and Southeast has brought in Kelly Crull as sideline reporter for its Braves telecasts. Crull comes over from NBC Sports Chicago and similar duties on Chicago Cubs telecasts.

One, Two, Three And Out For Dallas Afternoons

More comings and goings than usual in the sports media this week. And an important "staying" to start.

Marc Kestecher has a multi-year contract extension to remain as the lead play-by-play voice of ESPN Radio. This includes the NBA Finals and "lead" playoff broadcasts, along with NFL and NCAA basketball and football year round.

NEW YORK: WQBU 92.7 will now air the Mets Spanish language broadcasts, which will be produced by flagship station WCBS 880. Max Perez Jiminez, Nestor Rosario, and Juan Alicea will continue. This move of to a different station is a result of the discontinuance of ESPN Deportes on 1050 AM, which had previously aired the games.

DALLAS: Afternoons are quite the story for Dallas sports radio!

103.5 The Fan has added Bryan Broaddus to its 2 to 7 PM show starting on Monday (2/17). Broaddus has been hosting the station's Cowboys pre and post-game coverage. As a result, Mike Bacsik will move to the midday show, K&C Masterpiece.

The Ticket KTCK-AM and Sportsradio 96.7 are also making an addition to their afternoon show, which airs from 3:00 to 7 PM. Bob Sturm takes over as co-host with Corby Davidson. The opening was created by the January retirement of long time host Mike Rhyner. As a result, Jake Kemp, who had been a producer, replaces Sturm on the Noon to 3 PM show and will co-host with Dan McDowell.

Over at KEGL-FM 97.1, Ben Rogers and Jeff 'Skin' Wade just began their afternoon show within the past week. The pair had left KRLD-FM back in October.

PHILADELPHIA: WCAU-TV Channel 10 and Telemundo Channel 62 have a new content partnership which includes sports. This partnership includes KWY 1060, which no longer partners with Channel 3. WIP-FM 94.1 is included within the partnership, with the specifics still to come (as of press time).

CHICAGO: What is 'coming' is the Marquee Network on Feb. 22nd, but as of press time it is still "discussions" with larger carriers such as Comcast. It is still AT&T, DirecTV, and smaller systems which have signed on. The network has added Mark Grace as another of its part-time analysts, along with reporter Elise Menaker, who will continue her work at Big Ten Network, also based in the Chicago area.

Meanwhile, Luke Stuckmeyer, formerly of NBC Sports Chicago, has joined WBBM-TV Channel 2 as a sports anchor and reporter. Stuckmeyer had been with NBC Sports Chicago (formerly Comcast SportsNet) since its inception in 2004.

NASHVILLE: Still no official word, as of press time, on the morning show for 102.5 The Game to replace Braden Gall and (former Titan) Derrick Mason. The pair are no longer with the station for reasons not yet known. They posted on social media that they are no longer hosting the morning show while the station simultaneously removed references to them from its web site.

NORFOLK: WTAR 850/96.5 has dropped its local morning show and added Rich Eisen's Fox Sports Show instead. Odd timing given Eisen's emphasis on the NFL and the season just ending. However, this appears to be due to Bob Matthews wanting out as host. Matthews is a producer at WNIS 790 and has reportedly been given an additional workload during this election year. As a result, the Nick Cattles show on ESPN 94.1 from 3 to 6 PM is now the only locally produced weekday sports radio show in the market.

PIERRE SD: Best wishes to Rod Fisher, who has announced his retirement at the end of May. Fisher finishes his incredible 44 year run as a sportscaster, going back to joining KCCR Radio in the late 70's. He was Sports Director of the Dakota Radio Group for 29 years, along with doing countless high school play-by-play broadcasts.

Sunday and Monday Night Booth Changes?

Still another job impacted by the Astros cheating scandal, except that this time it involves a member of the sports media. Jessica Mendoza, known much more for her role on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball in recent years than for her employment as a "special advisor" to the Mets, has made changes.

In addition to resigning from her role with the Mets, the NY Post reports that Mendoza is officially out of the Sunday Night Baseball booth. This comes after Mendoza guested on three separate ESPN shows to repeat specific opinions about the Astros scandal including pointing a finger at pitcher Mike Fiers.

While Mendoza received a contract extension from ESPN and is expected to continue her analyst role, such as making appearances on SportsCenter and the rarely produced "Baseball Tonight". There had already been rumblings of ESPN making changes in the Sunday Night Baseball booth again.

Although Alex Rodriguez will be back, it is still not certain if Matt Vasgersian will return to handle play-by-play or not. Unfortunately, Vasgersian has not been able to maintain a natural flow as the Sunday Night voice, often coming up far below his excellent play-by-play skills demonstrated elsewhere over the years. The recent threesome spent more time trying to be clever and blend together than focusing on the game at hand.

With spring training telecasts only a couple of weeks away, an announcement should be coming soon. Possibilities include Karl Ravich or Jason Sciambi moving over.

On the NFL side, reports continue that ESPN is considering a much needed change in its Monday Night Football crew. While rumors of the network making a play for Tony Romo to come over as lead game analyst, reports have former QB Jay Cutler having meetings with ESPN. Cutler was going to join Fox in 2017 when he was signed by the Dolphins for one last season as a player.


NBC has announced that three of its Notre Dame football telecasts later this year have been moved to prime time. The first one will be on Saturday October 3rd with Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin. What makes this special is that the telecast will come from Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Many fans forget that Curly Lambeau played his college football at Notre Dame.

The other two prime time games announced will be Oct. 10th vs. Stanford and Nov. 7th vs. Clemson, both from South Bend.


SAN FRANCISCO: The Giants' TV plans have been announced, with Mike Krukow calling 103 telecasts this season along with Duane Kuiper. This includes all home games, plus 22 road games against N.L. West opponents. However, Krukow, wishing to cut back his travel (he and Kuiper have worked together for more than 25 years), will be in the TV studio calling the road games while Kuiper will be at the stadium.

By doing so, Krukow will be able to call almost as many games (six fewer) than he did last year.

Meanwhile, KSFN-AM 1150 is turning to Spanish language sports radio this month. In addition to full-time sports programming, the station will air play-by-play of English Premier League soccer.


CHICAGO: The retirement of Kyle Long from the NFL's Chicago Bears just might lead to following his father's (Howie) footsteps once again. Long auditioned as a co-host on WMVP ESPN 1000 this week on its late morning local show with David Kaplan and did an excellent job.

Former WSCR The Score 670 morning co-host Brian Hanley has joined WMVP ESPN 1000 in a part-time role. Hanley has been off the air in Chicago since being forced out of WSCR's morning show in July 2018 after 26 years with that station. He starts this weekend (Feb. 8th) as a co-host of the station's hockey show, focusing on the Blackhawks, airing at 9 AM each Saturday.

The Marquee Battle Just Beginning

The December into the first weekend of the New Year radio ratings are not among the most important, but did show a couple of interesting trends. Atlanta's WZGC 92.9 The Game continues its impressive rise, having added more than 40% to its overall ratings since June.

We also saw the expected impact in some NFL markets, especially Minneapolis/St. Paul. Vikings flagship KFXN finished #1 in the market, which made it the only all sports radio station in the country to achieve that distinction. The Ravens' great regular season finish spurred Baltimore's WJZ-FM to rise by more than one-half of a ratings point for the month. Philadelphia's WIP-FM also increased overall for a top three market position.


CHICAGO: It's now officially less than one month before Marquee, the new Chicago Cubs TV Network, makes its scheduled debut on Feb. 22nd. The Network has added some nationally known analysts as contributors as well, including Rick Sutcliffe, Doug Glanville, Dan Plesac, Ryan Dempter, Mark DeRosa, and Carlos Pena (all former Cubs players). In addition, Lou Pinella will appear occasionally as an analyst.

However, as of press time, the AT&T family of providers and several smaller cable providers such as RCN are the only ones to sign up to carry the Network. With Comcast Xfinity not signed up, this means that roughly 40% of the Chicago market would be able to get Marquee. The significant difference from the Los Angeles Dodgers TV situation is that fans are able to subscribe to an AT&T outlet from the majority of locations. Comcast could very well be waiting to gauge the number of subscribers it loses to AT&T before making a decision, but continues to own a large part of NBC Sports Chicago, which shows all White Sox games available to it.

Faced with no over-the-air pro sports for the first time in more than 70 years, WGN-TV is taking an interesting approach toward serving the baseball fans without cable or satellite, along with its local audience. Starting on Monday (1/28), WGN-TV will present a live half hour sports recap Monday through Friday nights at 10:30 PM, following its local news. Many stations in Chicago and around the country do this on Sunday nights to feature NFL highlights. It will be interesting to see how the ratings go for this weeknight attempt.

Shea Peppler is out after almost two years as sports reporter and weekend anchor at WFLD-TV, along with contributions on WMVP ESPN 1000. Peppler is moving east to join her husband, who is ESPN anchor Jordan Cornette.


PHILADELPHIA: In addition to wonderful ratings just released, a nice honor for WIP-FM's long time morning man Angelo Cataldi. He celebrated his 30th Anniversary with the station by earning the Bill Campbell Broadcast Award for excellence in broadcasting.


CLEVELAND: Congrats to Matt Fishman on being named Director of Content at WKNR ESPN. Fishman has served as Sports Director at WSCR The Score in Chicago and Program Director at KCSP Kansas City.

A "Sign" Of Radio Things To Come

The past week might be best remembered for the number of major shocking stories and how the sports media was a part of them.

Several major sports radio shows were lost (with at least one brought back as of press time) due to corporate decisions instead of ratings or on-air controversy. The major cutbacks by iHeart Radio will negatively impact a lot for the over the air radio audience, which could prove devastating in the long run. Their stations in many key markets were forced to cut back, hurting their chances to try to regain audiences who have already taken to alternative sources as it is.

Sports fans in Louisville were hit hard with the sudden and immediate cancellation of Paul Rogers from the WHAS 820 morning show. Rogers had been a part of the morning show for most of his 47 years with the station. He does, however, continue as play-by-play voice for the University of Louisville. In fact, Rogers was out of town to call a game when he got the news. Also hard it in Louisville was WKRD 790, which airs the U. of Louisville games along with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Des Moines listeners raised enough of a protest after the announced firing of The Sports Fanatics with Ross Peterson and Chris Williams that the station brought them back within the week. The pair will return on Tuesday (1/21) to KXNO. This was based on what management termed "thousands of listeners expressing their support". In addition, although it is really to cut back programming costs for a sister station, KXNO-AM will now be simulcast on the more powerful 106.3 FM.

With these major cutbacks, much more than sports programming was effected around the country. Thus, even more FM and AM stations continue to provide listeners with even more reasons to listen less and less to conventional radio stations as we knew them.


Meanwhile, the aftermath of the Astros and the sign stealing penalties also took their toll in the media. Few fans knew before this past week that ESPN's Jessica Mendoza also worked for the N.Y. Mets. It became quite obvious when Mendoza appeared on three different ESPN TV and radio shows on the same day to try and defend Carlos Beltran before he and the Mets parted ways.

Mendoza is, understandably, receiving heavy criticism for her stand, leading to speculation that ESPN could or should remove her from her Sunday Night Baseball role. Perhaps ESPN deserves the criticism instead, for having her make the same comments on three different shows. Obviously trying to stir the pot, which may have backfired for all concerned.


Rich Eisen of the NFL Network may be changing affiliation for his separate weekday radio show. This is due to The Audience Network on DirecTV being removed (in favor of a different channel), which would also end the current simulcast on Fox Sports Radio Network. At the same time of this announcement, Eisen claims that he is lining up a different broadcast partner with plans to continue his weekday show.


BOSTON: The Red Sox radio broadcast team on WEEI-FM will continue its rotation of broadcasters for the coming season like it did last season. Joe Castiglione returns as the primary play-by-play voice for his 38th season. In addition, Will Fleming, the play-by-play voice of the Pawtucket Red Sox, will call some games again in 2020.

In addition, Sean McDonough will call some games for the 2nd season, while Lou Merloni, co-host of WEEI-FM's afternoon drive talk show, will also be in the booth on occasion. Just to add more to the mix, Jon "Boog" Sciambi and Dave O'Brien will also take the call for what is termed "select" games.

NFL Playoffs Benefit From Social Media

The amazing NFL Playoff game on Saturday (1/4) between Houston and Buffalo finished with strong ratings as a larger than expected audience watched the exciting conclusion. This telecast proved to be the highest rated Wild Card game ever on ESPN/ABC, and was up 14% over last year when the Texans played Indianapolis, another small market team.

As impressive as this is, the feeling is that these ratings would not have happened if the same game was 20 years ago. This all shows the power of social media. It was the ratings during the late 4th quarter and overtime which were the strongest during the time period. That shows that more fans tuned in for the outcome.

How did they know? Without social media, as well as group texts, many of the fans who tuned in would not have been alerted 20 years ago. Those watching would not have been able to individually call numerous friends and family members to ask them to tune in. Now, with social media posts and group texts, the opportunity is there to instantly increase an audience.

One other interesting find from these ratings. On the individual markets list, the highest market rating for this game for a market without a local NFL team was Norfolk. While we can understand this Virginia market scoring high ratings for the Redskins (and division rival Cowboys) telecasts, two distant AFC teams would not figure to attract major interest. 


Afternoon drive competition is heating up the winter for the major east coast market sports stations as we begin the new year.

In Philadelphia, WPEN 97.5 Sports Fanatic's afternoon show, led by Mike Missanelli (along with Tyrone Johnson and Natalie Egenolf) has just taken the lead over WIP-FM's Marks & Reese. The significance is that WIP-FM is ahead of Sports Fanatic during the other times of the day and night. This December ratings boost comes after WIP-FM led in this time slot for the earlier three quarters of 2019.

Both afternoon shows actually increased their overall ratings by at least 20% over 2018. Missanelli and crew have another advantage, since their show is simulcast over NBC Sports Philadelphia. Those viewership ratings do not count toward the Sports Fanatic audience.

Mornings are a different story in Philly. WIP-FM's Angelo Cataldi, Rhea Hughes, and Al Morganti remain solidly ahead of Marc Farzetta and Tra Thomas on WPEN.

The NYC afternoon battle will be more interesting for the first part of 2020. We begin the year with WEPN's Michael Kay Show leading the way  in afternoons, while WFAN begins its revised weekday lineup. Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts officially begin this week as the afternoon team (2 to 6 PM), moving from the midday slot.

They replace Mike Francesa, who remains with WFAN only for his new 6:00 to 6:30 PM show. The first quarter of 2020 will be critical to the afternoon drive battle going into baseball season. While WFAN is the flagship for the Yankees games, Michael Kay, as the play-by-play voice for most Yankees telecasts, has significant access to Yankees content for his show as well.

By the way, WFAN has confirmed that John Sterling will return for Yankees radio play-by-play this year at the age of 81. For the 16th season, he will be joined by Suzyn Waldman on the broadcasts.

In Boston, both WBZ-FM Sports Hub and WEEI-FM dropped overall during the final ratings period of 2019, with Sports Hub holding a one-half ratings point overall lead. Both stations showed higher audiences since September, yet both dropped from the previous ratings period.

With the Patriots losing on Saturday (1/4), and opinions across the board on the future of Tom Brady, look for an increase in audience for both stations. It will be interesting to see if the Sports Hub gains more as the flagship station of the Patriots and its expanded coverage.


CHICAGO: Normally being just over six weeks from the start of MLB Spring Training games is not big news, but the new year continues a most curious scenario for Chicago area baseball viewers. The Cubs are scheduled to begin their new RSN, Marquee "sometime" during February. As of press time, only AT&T and its subsidiaries are the only providers to be signed up to air Marquee. Yet, there has been no indication as to cost to viewers, or if this channel will be "forced" to all appropriate subscribers or become an additional fee option.

Comcast is the largest provider serving the Chicago area, and has not signed up to carry this network. NBC Sports Chicago, which aired the majority of Cubs telecasts through last season, and is now planning to air every available White Sox telecast, is owned in part by Comcast, while the White Sox maintain a partial ownership interest.

It is no coincidence that NBC Sports Chicago programming has been flooded with Comcast's "anti-AT&T" commercials over the past few weeks. Across town, the White Sox have made several major personnel moves to improve the team, while the Cubs have done little with their roster in comparison.

One crucial difference from the Dodgers' TV situation in Los Angeles is that AT&T's service does not have geographic restrictions. In L.A., only about 30% of area residents can get Dodgers telecasts on their channel. If things stay as they are in the Chicago area, the majority of residents would be able to switch or add AT&T (or a subsidiary) to be able to watch the Cubs.

Of course, if the White Sox show improvement, and their telecasts are far more easily accessed, NBC Sports Chicago would do well with advertisers and possibly be lax to add Marquee. The battle for subscribers early in the season could go a long way toward determining an outcome of the upstart network.


Finally, we go back to December 29th when Kevin Harlan was calling the conclusion of the Chiefs' win during Week 17 with the #2 seed in the AFC playoff race at stake. With New England losing during their game's final few minutes, fans watching the Chiefs telecast were more interested in the Patriots result than their own (at the time, since the Chiefs were well ahead).

To his credit, Harlan had the Patriots game on his monitor and was literally calling the play-by-play of the "other" game to viewers while the Chiefs game remained on the screen. Some people were critical of Harlan, thinking he should "stick to the game he is there to call". The Broadcast Booth could not disagree more. What Harlan did was nothing short of brilliant broadcasting.

Harlan was, as a play-by-play professional is supposed to do, telling the fans exactly what they wanted to know at the time. Thanks to him, fans were able to stay up to the second on the Patriots game, while being able to see the Chiefs game at the same time. The crew didn't have to wait and do the "Let's go back to New York" bit after the facts.

Handling two games at the same time is a difficult task. Harlan handled it with ease and did the viewers a great service. We need more like him.