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.
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Friday, February 14, 2020
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.
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.
Friday, February 7, 2020
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.
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.
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