I can't help but wonder how Fox Sports execs now feel about the hire of Mike Pereira for their NFL coverage now that the former head of NFL officiating failed miserably during the early games of opening Sunday. I was watching the Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears telecast at the time of the over-ruled "almost" TD catch that directly changed the outcome of the game in Chicago's favor.
Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick drew upon the opportunity to bring in Pereira from the Fox studios just as it was revealed that the TD catch was under review. Pereira then went on to explain "the procedure" and how the play could be ruled as "no catch" and not a touchdown. However, before turning it back over to Billick, Pereira then went on to add about how the officials could still determine that the Lions' receiver maintained possession long enough to be awarded the touchdown. Billick then added his reasoning behind the play standing during the next replay of the incident, of which Fox had multiple angles.
By the time the TD was taken away, Pereira was already off of the telecast. Having left it that we would have been "right" either way. Sorry, but if we are going to hear from the former head of league officials, he should ONLY call it as he sees it and not go back and forth to be safe no matter which possibility is determined. My expectation was "Here is how they should rule this play" instead of "They could say.......".
This while watching the telecast in Low Def. Normally not an issue. However, Fox Sports seems to have determine that since about half of their audience now watches in Hi Def that the score boxes on the top portion of the screen should be geared toward the Hi Def audience. As a result, the roughly half of the audience viewing in Low Def now has to struggle to see the score and time left in the game they are watching, while the scoreboard was nearly impossible to read without a struggle. They seem to overlook that many people can't afford to go to Hi Def because their cable or satellite bill each month keeps going up so that they can afford to pay to watch all of these sports events.
NBC got off to a great start for this season with a record high overnight rating (best Week 1 prime time telecast) for its Sunday Night Football opener. Of course, having the Dallas Cowboys' opener didn't hurt. Then again, the Sunday game beat out this past Thursday's league opener's ratings for NBC on the Minnesota vs. New Orleans telecast.
On the baseball side, even though ESPN has ended Monday Night Baseball (due to Monday Night Football), MLB Network continues to pick up the slack, even more as the division races heat up. On Tuesday night (Sept. 14th) they will originate the Yankees vs. Rays telecast with Matt Vasgersian and Joe Magrane. On Wednesday, they help bring baseball fans a live triple-header, as MLB Network picks up the San Diego at Colorado telecast at 3 PM ET prior to ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball live doubleheader. Then, on Thursday (Sept. 16) MLB Network picks up the White Sox vs. Twins game at 8 PM ET.
SAN FRANCISCO/OAKLAND: While the A's have had their share of on field success over their years in the Bay Area, it appears the radio jinx strikes again. Thinking their problems had been resolved with their broadcasts on 50,000 watt KTRB 860, the status of their radio broadcasts is unclear after this season. KTRB has gone into receivership as of this past Friday (9/9), also resulting in some personnel and program terminations. The A's say that while a regional bank is operating the station, the game broadcasts are scheduled to continue through this season, as will Stanford football broadcasts.
Over their years in Oakland, A's fans have been subjected to the team buying time on smaller stations, an entire season on a limited signal "educational" station, and limited surrounding coverage.
NEW YORK: The Boomer & Carton Show is now simulcast, as of Tuesday (9/14). The popular WFAN morning show now also shows on MSG Network. It will be interesting to see whether or not the simulcast takes away from the radio audience because of listeners becoming viewers during some or all of their available time to follow the show.
WFAN is also giving the Giants priority on Sundays through October 3rd, with conflicting Mets broadcasts being moved to WBBR 1130.
CHICAGO: The Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks will have every regular season game on TV again this season, including 20 of the telecasts on WGN-TV (in Chicago only). All other games not shown on Versus or NBC will be on Comcast SportsNet. WGN Radio will carry the games, along with 2 pre-season games. In an experimental move, the Blackhawks' pre-season game on Friday Oct. 1st will be broadcast only on WGNRadio.com. John Wiedeman and Troy Murray will again call the radio games.
DALLAS: The NHL Stars are understandably trying hard not to be lost in the shuffle, especially with the Cowboys' regular season just starting, the Rangers closing in on the A.L. West title, and college football now in full swing. On Saturday (9/11) the Stars held a fan fest at one of the regional malls which was free and featured several players and team officials. The Ticket 1310 was broadcasting live throughout the day from the mall, including team voice Daryl Razor Reaugh being a guest co-host for nearly 90 minutes.
AUSTIN: A nice start for KXBT 98.9 as the new Austin affiliate for the Houston Texans. The station's first regular season broadcast was the Texans' opening day win over the Indianapolis Colts.
MILWAUKEE: Congrats to Drew Olson, co-host of WAUK 540's "The D List" with Dan Needles for nearly 5 years. Olson has been rewarded with an expanded role, including being named Executive Producer of The D List and Senior Editor for the station's web site local team content. Olson also continues as a sideline reporter for Fox Sports Wisconsin's Brewers telecasts.
ALBANY: WTMM 104.5 says 'yes' to Noe. Brian Noe has been hired as Program Director and will also host the local 1 to 3 PM program starting next Monday (9/20).
DAYTON: Even with the Reds playing St. Louis and shooting for the N.L. Central title and the Bengals' season opener coming up, this past Friday (9/10) saw high school football take over the market. For "the game". Two of the area's leading schools, Centerville High School and Alter High School were meeting for the first time since 1967. WONE 980 SportsTalk and WING Sports Scene were both broadcasting from Centerville H.S. during afternoon drive, with WONE starting at 4:00. Centerville won the game 24-7, with post-game coverage including 3 of the local TV stations having covered it as well.
ABILENE TX: ESPN Radio has returned after having left the market in April, as 98.1 FM switched over last Friday (9/10).
GRAND FORKS ND: WDAY-TV Sports Director Dom Izzo will also host a half hour sports show on WDAY-AM at 6:30 on weeknights, beginning on September 27th. Izzo and local sports writer Jeff Kolpack will continue their Saturday 9 to 11 AM sports show as well.
Showing posts with label dallas cowboys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dallas cowboys. Show all posts
Monday, September 13, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
The Broadcast Booth - July 14th update
How about this? Opposing radio stations actually hustling to compete for listeners. This month. It's about time. Miami sports radio stations are gearing up for the upcoming NFL season whether the Dolphins are in contention or not.
We are waiting to learn what impact there may be as 790 The Ticket begins its extensive Dolphins coverage with play-by-play and an afternoon drive show dedicated to Dolphins and NFL coverage. Now rival Sports Talk WQAM 560 is bringing definitive football talk to the early afternoon. WQAM has reportedly signed Michael Irvin to host the local Noon to 3 PM slot beginning on July 26th and prior to the pre-season openers.
Many NFL fans may not realize that Irvin played high school football in South Florida and was a Miami U. Hurricane prior to his success with the NFL Dallas Cowboys. Thus the local ties in place.
Irvin's show appears to be an ideal fit. In addition to the local tie-in to draw Dolphins fans, his national scope figures to appeal to the large number of 'transplants' who follow other NFL teams but now reside in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area during at least some of the year.
Yet, what appeals to me the most about this is that WQAM is making the effort to compete against The Ticket for the NFL and Dolphins fans. This type of move is all too rare in local radio these days. In the markets with more than one sports stations, it seems like all these stations do is promote ratings victories over the other other station instead of breaking stories.
There is too much reporting what other media is reporting and spending hours and hours speculating about rumored trades and signings. Worse yet, I continue to hear "scoreboard updates" on sports stations which sometimes do not include scores in progress or finals of out of town games.
The Dolphins may not contend this season, but their fans will be among the best informed courtesy of the local sports stations.
Meanwhile, I'll admit that I am surprised by the two most watched sports programs over the past week. It goes to show how much the public has taken to live sports programming.
Even the LeBron James announcement finished among the 3 highest watched cable TV programs for the entire year, as fans not in those cities that had a chance to sign him watched as well. Those ratings speak for themselves.
I'll admit I was also surprised to see the large audience for ABC-TV and the World Cup final game this past Sunday (July 11). I was among the majority who had anticipated a large drop in audience after the USA was eliminated. After all of the "I suppose the over-under is 1 1/2 on these games" jokes about the lack of scoring that would seem to keep many casual observers from watching, the audience was there with a world championship on the line.
Getting back to the success of the LeBron James decision show. I must say that I was among the few who were fine with ESPN having the exclusive to the actual announcement. Maybe an hour looked to be overblown, but the audience response seems to say otherwise. ESPN has been and is a sports news organization, as well as a major partner in showcasing the NBA.
My personal hunch is that the LeBron decision show will prove to be the start of a new concept. I could see one of the NBA's television partners (ESPN, TNT, NBA-TV, etc.) hosting a one-hour showcase on July 8th (or whatever the first signing night will be) to let at least one major free agent announce where he will go. Granted, there won't be a LeBron James every year, but maybe there doesn't have to be. The audience for LeBron's decision from all over the USA tells me that people are going to watch even without direct local team impact. You read this here first.
Congrats to Chris Berman of ESPN on being awarded the Pete Rozelle Radio-Televison Award for "longtime exceptional contributions to radio and TV in pro football". Berman will go...........all............the...........way to Canton OH (the Pro Football Hall of Fame) to receive the award on August 6th. Believe it or not, Berman is about to begin his 25th season of hosting ESPN's Sunday NFL programming.
ESPN also continued its dominance in media news by announcing a new 12-year agreement for ACC telecasts, which takes effect for the 2011-12 seasons. This pact includes Raycom Sports handling regional distribution of Conference games not selected for ESPN or ABC.
While separate from the ACC contract, the College GameDay show will add another hour each Saturday morning. Starting September 4th, ESPNU will begin the show from 9 to 10 AM ET prior to its regular 2-hour airing on ESPN to set the scene for the day's and night's games. In addition, the entire 3-hours will also air on ESPN Radio.
During the games, Chris Fowler will host College Football Live on ESPN while John Saunders continues as ABC's pre-game, half-time, and postgame studio anchor.
NEW YORK: Add WFAN 660 to the list of sports stations holding contests for on-air positions. The Fan is holding auditions at 4 regional malls along with some locations of a sponsor of the promotion, while planning a live "finals" judging on August 27th. This is not new, even to WFAN, which found Joe Benigno (its current midday host) by a similar method back in 1995. Last week we reported on the sports station in Atlanta holding a contest to find a new program host.
In the Yankees' TV booth, John Flaherty, the former catcher, became more than an analyst when he happened to be working the telecast on Sunday (July 11). He displayed his catching skills when he caught a foul ball (on the fly) in the broadcast booth.
Speaking of timing, how about Fran Healy's "Game 365" series showing a series of interviews in tribute to George Steinbrenner this past Sunday on most of the Fox Sports regional TV networks? This scheduled installment in the series happened to air 2 days before Steinbrenner's passing.
NASHVILLE: Fox Sports Tennessee and SportsSouth have signed a new 4-year deal to televise the NHL Predators which takes effect for the coming season and increases the number of telecasts. 60 regular season games will be shown during the coming season, with the number increasing to 70 games during the 4th season. One benefit for Fox Sports, despite the increased rights fees, is getting SportsSouth added to Comcast's channel lineup in Nashville.
DENVER: Mark Schlereth, the former Broncos lineman, is set to join "D-Mac" and former Broncos teammate Alfred Williams on 104.3 The Fan for the 4 to 7 PM show starting August 2nd. The 3-time Super Bowl champ (2 with Denver) has done some part-time analyst work in the Denver market since 2004, and is expected to continue part-time on ESPN.
AUSTIN: The Horn 104.9 is losing its morning sports host, at least until November. For once, it is actually not due to cutbacks. Dan Neil claims he was "forced off the air" because he is currently running for the Texas House of Representatives in the November election. Neil claims that his opponent, Donna Howard, has forced him off the air because the station did not wish to give her (Howard) the daily air (equal) time she requested at no charge. Neil is a former University of Texas lineman and played for the NFL Denver Broncos. The lost income is expected to cost him about $3,000 per month. No word yet on a replacement.
NAPLES FL: Sports talk is coming off of the sister stations 1200 AM (Lee and Charlotte Counties) and 1460 AM (Collier County) at the end of July. Both stations will convert to an all-news format supporting the WINK-TV news department as of August 2nd. The stations will have sports news updates twice per hour when the revised format takes effect.
FARGO: Nice move by WDAY 970 to get NHL Minnesota Wild GM Chuck Fletcher as a live guest and taking phone calls on Wednesday (July 14) during its midday "Sports Talk" show. The team recently signed local (Fargo area) standout Matt Cullen. It is rare for an NHL GM (or major representative of an NHL team) to appear on an out-of-market station.
We are waiting to learn what impact there may be as 790 The Ticket begins its extensive Dolphins coverage with play-by-play and an afternoon drive show dedicated to Dolphins and NFL coverage. Now rival Sports Talk WQAM 560 is bringing definitive football talk to the early afternoon. WQAM has reportedly signed Michael Irvin to host the local Noon to 3 PM slot beginning on July 26th and prior to the pre-season openers.
Many NFL fans may not realize that Irvin played high school football in South Florida and was a Miami U. Hurricane prior to his success with the NFL Dallas Cowboys. Thus the local ties in place.
Irvin's show appears to be an ideal fit. In addition to the local tie-in to draw Dolphins fans, his national scope figures to appeal to the large number of 'transplants' who follow other NFL teams but now reside in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area during at least some of the year.
Yet, what appeals to me the most about this is that WQAM is making the effort to compete against The Ticket for the NFL and Dolphins fans. This type of move is all too rare in local radio these days. In the markets with more than one sports stations, it seems like all these stations do is promote ratings victories over the other other station instead of breaking stories.
There is too much reporting what other media is reporting and spending hours and hours speculating about rumored trades and signings. Worse yet, I continue to hear "scoreboard updates" on sports stations which sometimes do not include scores in progress or finals of out of town games.
The Dolphins may not contend this season, but their fans will be among the best informed courtesy of the local sports stations.
Meanwhile, I'll admit that I am surprised by the two most watched sports programs over the past week. It goes to show how much the public has taken to live sports programming.
Even the LeBron James announcement finished among the 3 highest watched cable TV programs for the entire year, as fans not in those cities that had a chance to sign him watched as well. Those ratings speak for themselves.
I'll admit I was also surprised to see the large audience for ABC-TV and the World Cup final game this past Sunday (July 11). I was among the majority who had anticipated a large drop in audience after the USA was eliminated. After all of the "I suppose the over-under is 1 1/2 on these games" jokes about the lack of scoring that would seem to keep many casual observers from watching, the audience was there with a world championship on the line.
Getting back to the success of the LeBron James decision show. I must say that I was among the few who were fine with ESPN having the exclusive to the actual announcement. Maybe an hour looked to be overblown, but the audience response seems to say otherwise. ESPN has been and is a sports news organization, as well as a major partner in showcasing the NBA.
My personal hunch is that the LeBron decision show will prove to be the start of a new concept. I could see one of the NBA's television partners (ESPN, TNT, NBA-TV, etc.) hosting a one-hour showcase on July 8th (or whatever the first signing night will be) to let at least one major free agent announce where he will go. Granted, there won't be a LeBron James every year, but maybe there doesn't have to be. The audience for LeBron's decision from all over the USA tells me that people are going to watch even without direct local team impact. You read this here first.
Congrats to Chris Berman of ESPN on being awarded the Pete Rozelle Radio-Televison Award for "longtime exceptional contributions to radio and TV in pro football". Berman will go...........all............the...........way to Canton OH (the Pro Football Hall of Fame) to receive the award on August 6th. Believe it or not, Berman is about to begin his 25th season of hosting ESPN's Sunday NFL programming.
ESPN also continued its dominance in media news by announcing a new 12-year agreement for ACC telecasts, which takes effect for the 2011-12 seasons. This pact includes Raycom Sports handling regional distribution of Conference games not selected for ESPN or ABC.
While separate from the ACC contract, the College GameDay show will add another hour each Saturday morning. Starting September 4th, ESPNU will begin the show from 9 to 10 AM ET prior to its regular 2-hour airing on ESPN to set the scene for the day's and night's games. In addition, the entire 3-hours will also air on ESPN Radio.
During the games, Chris Fowler will host College Football Live on ESPN while John Saunders continues as ABC's pre-game, half-time, and postgame studio anchor.
NEW YORK: Add WFAN 660 to the list of sports stations holding contests for on-air positions. The Fan is holding auditions at 4 regional malls along with some locations of a sponsor of the promotion, while planning a live "finals" judging on August 27th. This is not new, even to WFAN, which found Joe Benigno (its current midday host) by a similar method back in 1995. Last week we reported on the sports station in Atlanta holding a contest to find a new program host.
In the Yankees' TV booth, John Flaherty, the former catcher, became more than an analyst when he happened to be working the telecast on Sunday (July 11). He displayed his catching skills when he caught a foul ball (on the fly) in the broadcast booth.
Speaking of timing, how about Fran Healy's "Game 365" series showing a series of interviews in tribute to George Steinbrenner this past Sunday on most of the Fox Sports regional TV networks? This scheduled installment in the series happened to air 2 days before Steinbrenner's passing.
NASHVILLE: Fox Sports Tennessee and SportsSouth have signed a new 4-year deal to televise the NHL Predators which takes effect for the coming season and increases the number of telecasts. 60 regular season games will be shown during the coming season, with the number increasing to 70 games during the 4th season. One benefit for Fox Sports, despite the increased rights fees, is getting SportsSouth added to Comcast's channel lineup in Nashville.
DENVER: Mark Schlereth, the former Broncos lineman, is set to join "D-Mac" and former Broncos teammate Alfred Williams on 104.3 The Fan for the 4 to 7 PM show starting August 2nd. The 3-time Super Bowl champ (2 with Denver) has done some part-time analyst work in the Denver market since 2004, and is expected to continue part-time on ESPN.
AUSTIN: The Horn 104.9 is losing its morning sports host, at least until November. For once, it is actually not due to cutbacks. Dan Neil claims he was "forced off the air" because he is currently running for the Texas House of Representatives in the November election. Neil claims that his opponent, Donna Howard, has forced him off the air because the station did not wish to give her (Howard) the daily air (equal) time she requested at no charge. Neil is a former University of Texas lineman and played for the NFL Denver Broncos. The lost income is expected to cost him about $3,000 per month. No word yet on a replacement.
NAPLES FL: Sports talk is coming off of the sister stations 1200 AM (Lee and Charlotte Counties) and 1460 AM (Collier County) at the end of July. Both stations will convert to an all-news format supporting the WINK-TV news department as of August 2nd. The stations will have sports news updates twice per hour when the revised format takes effect.
FARGO: Nice move by WDAY 970 to get NHL Minnesota Wild GM Chuck Fletcher as a live guest and taking phone calls on Wednesday (July 14) during its midday "Sports Talk" show. The team recently signed local (Fargo area) standout Matt Cullen. It is rare for an NHL GM (or major representative of an NHL team) to appear on an out-of-market station.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Sports Media Report - Aug. 25th Update
Even though the baseball season is in its prime, the sports media is busy gearing up for the upcoming pro and college football seasons, as well as NHL training camps opening in less than a month.
One thing about college football coverage that distinguishes it now moreso than other sports (including pro football) is the spirit of the radio broadcast. The days of going to a baseball game and having at least one person in the section you were sitting in having the local broadcast on seem to be long gone. That even includes Dodger Stadium since Vin Scully no longer does the majority of the radio broadcasts for home games.
Yet, with college football, many schools are making it possible for alumni (or fans who didn't attend) to be able to hear their team's broadcast at road games. This is one situation where the concept can work well. Fans of a particular school don't always want to listen to announcers favoring the opposing school. I have long wondered why this wasn't made possible until recently.
Not many people knew about this, but going back nearly 40 years, some pro and college teams used a low power FM frequency to feed their broadcast within a stadium or arena so that broadcasters at field level or in the dugout or clubhouse for interviews could hear the broadcast and monitor off the air to know when they were supposed to be on the air.
In fact, the Dodgers were one of those teams. I still remember getting to hear Vin Scully doing the Dodgers broadcasts when I saw them play in Chicago and Cincinnati back in the 70's.
I would have thought that college team broadcasters especially would have promoted this to their fans attending road games.
A company called Live Sports Radio is now selling receivers that make hearing several college teams' broadcasts while attending road games. The SEC schools have been using this, as LSU now joins Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina in making the feature available. I'm not sure how I feel that there is a cost involved, since the broadcasts do carry the commercials and are "free" within the signal range of the stations carrying the games. On the other hand, it is a service to fans at road games beyond the signal coverage, and it would cost them for wi-fi to listen to a stream. At $20 per season, it could make sense for fans attending multiple road games. But considering that more than 11,000 University of Alabama fans purchased it last season, there is a market for it.
Meanwhile, LSU is making its weekly one hour radio show featuring football coaches and coverage of other sports on Sunday nights available online. The show begins this Sunday (Aug. 30) at 6 PM Central, will not air on the eve of Labor Day, and then start it up for the year on Sept. 13th. In addition to 107.3 FM Baton Rouge and the LSU Sports Radio Network, the show will stream on LSUSports.net. Jordy Hultberg will host the live show.
The show focused on U. of Alabama sports will be heard starting this week on WTUS in Tuscaloosa and on WENN 1320 in Birmingham along with 19 other stations this season. It will also be streamed on CRMSports.com.
On the NFL side, now that Comcast and some other cable systems have finally put the NFL Network on most digital packages so that many more subscribers will be able to see it, the Network is gearing up for the coming season even though their live game telecasts don't kick in until mid-November. Bob Papa and Matt Millen will handle the NFL Network game telecasts.
Of more immediate blessings, the NFL Network is expanding its GameDay Morning show to a full 4 hours leading into the kickoff of the Sunday first games, starting at 9 AM ET. This gives them a 2 or 2 1/2 hour jump on local TV pre-game shows and on ESPN's pre-game show, and starts 3 hours ahead of the Fox and CBS-TV pregame shows. So for the football crazed on the west coast, you'll be able to watch live pre-game programming on NFL Network starting at 6 AM.
For local coverage, the San Francisco 49ers have joined a few other NFL teams regarding TV pre-season coverage and are simulcasting their TV and radio broadcasts. This past weekend's game against the Raiders was done by Greg Papa, Tom Flores, and Jim Plunkett. A simulcast is unusual in the NFL since radio usually has more commercial time.
In Philadelphia, the Andy Reid (Eagles Head Coach) Show is moving to WIP 610 where Howard Eskin takes over as a co-host instead of Beasley Reece. The show will air on Monday evenings during Eskin's time slot. It had aired on WYSP in recent seasons.
In Dallas, the new stadium and a promising team mean media ratings, and we are now just 2 weeks into the pre-season. Word is that last weekend's pre-season game between the Cowboys and Tennessee generated a local rating of more than 20. That is rating - which is different than audience share.
In Green Bay, the local TV folks continue to believe that there will be a significant amount of interest in Brett Favre again this season. Last season several of the Jets' games were carried in Green Bay and Milwaukee. Now it looks like at least half of the Vikings games will be seen in the Green Bay TV market. Granted, the Vikings play in the same division and would normally be seen several times along with Chicago Bears games.
It has already gotten to the point where Don Carmichael, the General Manager of WBAY Channel 2 was quoted about having tried to pick up the Vikings vs. Kansas City pre-season game last week.
WLUK-TV will carry the Vikings' season opener on Sept. 13th and at least 5 others. They could also carry the Jan. 3rd game between the Vikings and Giants but will wait on that to determine playoff matchups.
WFRV Channel 5 will carry at least one Vikings game when they host Cincinnati in December. WBAY-TV already has the local rights to show the Monday Night Football game between the Packers and Vikings on October 5th.
It is hard to believe that NHL training camps open in less than a month. Versus has announced its tentative telecast schedule (times are Eastern):
Thurs. Oct. 1 Washington at Boston 7:00 PM
Thurs. Oct. 1 San Jose at Colorado 10:00 PM
Friday Oct. 2 Florida at Chicago
Friday Oct. 2 Detroit at St. Louis
Mon. Oct. 5 NY Rangers at New Jersey 7:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 6 Washington at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Mon. Oct. 12 Calgary at Chicago 8:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 13 Detroit at Buffalo 7:00 PM
Mon. Oct. 19 San Jose at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 20 St. Louis at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Mon. Oct. 26 Minnesota at Chicago 8:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 27 Philadelphia at Washington 7:00 PM
Tues. Nov. 3 Boston at Detroit 7:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 9 Los Angeles at Chicago 8:00 PM
Tues. Nov. 10 Pittsburgh at Boston 7:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 16 New Jersey at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Tues. Nov. 17 Washington at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 23 Detroit at Nashville 7:00 PM
Wed. Nov. 25 St. Louis at Dallas 8:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 30 Buffalo at Toronto 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 1 Columbus at Chicago 8:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 7 New Jersey at Buffalo 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 8 NY Islanders at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Wed. Dec. 9 Minnesota at Colorado 9:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 14 Buffalo at Montreal 7:30 PM
Tues. Dec. 15 Philadelphia at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 21 Buffalo at Toronto 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 22 San Jose at Chicago 8:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 28 Detroit at Columbus 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 29 Chicago at Dallas 8:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 4 Boston at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 5 Minnesota at Chicago 8:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 11 Pittsburgh at Minnesota 8:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 12 New Jersey at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 18 Minnesota at Dallas 8:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 19 Tampa Bay at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 25 Pittsburgh at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 26 Phoenix at Detroit 7:00 PM
Mon. Feb. 1 Buffalo at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Tues. Feb. 2 Minnesota at Dallas 8:00 PM
Mon. Feb. 8 New Jersey at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Tues. Feb. 9 Detroit at St. Louis 8:00 PM
Mon. March 1 Detroit at Colorado 9:00 PM
Tues. March 2 Philadelphia at Tampa Bay 7:30 PM
Mon. March 8 Dallas at Washington 7:00 PM
Tues. March 9 NY Islanders at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Mon. March 15 Boston at New Jersey 7:00 PM
Tues. March 16 Montreal at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. March 22 Pittsburgh at Detroit 7:00 PM
Tues. March 23 San Jose at Minnesota 8:00 PM
Mon. March 29 Buffalo at Boston 7:00 PM
Tues. March 30 Chicago at St. Louis 8:00 PM
Mon. April 5 Boston at Washington 7:00 PM
Tues. April 6 Washington at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
In Denver, the Avalanche will have a different play-by-play voice starting this coming season, as Marc Moser will handle the call on Mile High Sports 1510 AM. But that isn't the big part of the story. Moser replaces (if you can use that term in this case) Norm Jones after his more than 35 years on the local hockey scene. In fact, Jones' legacy goes back to his calling the Colorado Rockies of the NHL - years before the baseball team adopted the name.For that matter, Jones also called the baseball AAA Denver Zephyrs years before the baseball Rockies were granted a franchise. Yet, Jones showed no signs of retiring or cutting back. This appears to be a station move, probably for cost cutting purposes.
This comes weeks after the Avalanche stayed on 1510 AM even though there will also be conflicts with Nuggets broadcasts. Now the team learns that the local hockey voice residents in their 30's have heard all of their lives won't be calling the games this season.
ESPN is hard at work on its college hoops schedule for the coming season. This season Tuesday nights will feature a Big Ten and SEC doubleheader in random order. At least one Big Ten game will air each Thursday during the conference schedule. Penn State at Minnesota on Dec. 29th is the opening Conference telecast.
One thing about college football coverage that distinguishes it now moreso than other sports (including pro football) is the spirit of the radio broadcast. The days of going to a baseball game and having at least one person in the section you were sitting in having the local broadcast on seem to be long gone. That even includes Dodger Stadium since Vin Scully no longer does the majority of the radio broadcasts for home games.
Yet, with college football, many schools are making it possible for alumni (or fans who didn't attend) to be able to hear their team's broadcast at road games. This is one situation where the concept can work well. Fans of a particular school don't always want to listen to announcers favoring the opposing school. I have long wondered why this wasn't made possible until recently.
Not many people knew about this, but going back nearly 40 years, some pro and college teams used a low power FM frequency to feed their broadcast within a stadium or arena so that broadcasters at field level or in the dugout or clubhouse for interviews could hear the broadcast and monitor off the air to know when they were supposed to be on the air.
In fact, the Dodgers were one of those teams. I still remember getting to hear Vin Scully doing the Dodgers broadcasts when I saw them play in Chicago and Cincinnati back in the 70's.
I would have thought that college team broadcasters especially would have promoted this to their fans attending road games.
A company called Live Sports Radio is now selling receivers that make hearing several college teams' broadcasts while attending road games. The SEC schools have been using this, as LSU now joins Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina in making the feature available. I'm not sure how I feel that there is a cost involved, since the broadcasts do carry the commercials and are "free" within the signal range of the stations carrying the games. On the other hand, it is a service to fans at road games beyond the signal coverage, and it would cost them for wi-fi to listen to a stream. At $20 per season, it could make sense for fans attending multiple road games. But considering that more than 11,000 University of Alabama fans purchased it last season, there is a market for it.
Meanwhile, LSU is making its weekly one hour radio show featuring football coaches and coverage of other sports on Sunday nights available online. The show begins this Sunday (Aug. 30) at 6 PM Central, will not air on the eve of Labor Day, and then start it up for the year on Sept. 13th. In addition to 107.3 FM Baton Rouge and the LSU Sports Radio Network, the show will stream on LSUSports.net. Jordy Hultberg will host the live show.
The show focused on U. of Alabama sports will be heard starting this week on WTUS in Tuscaloosa and on WENN 1320 in Birmingham along with 19 other stations this season. It will also be streamed on CRMSports.com.
On the NFL side, now that Comcast and some other cable systems have finally put the NFL Network on most digital packages so that many more subscribers will be able to see it, the Network is gearing up for the coming season even though their live game telecasts don't kick in until mid-November. Bob Papa and Matt Millen will handle the NFL Network game telecasts.
Of more immediate blessings, the NFL Network is expanding its GameDay Morning show to a full 4 hours leading into the kickoff of the Sunday first games, starting at 9 AM ET. This gives them a 2 or 2 1/2 hour jump on local TV pre-game shows and on ESPN's pre-game show, and starts 3 hours ahead of the Fox and CBS-TV pregame shows. So for the football crazed on the west coast, you'll be able to watch live pre-game programming on NFL Network starting at 6 AM.
For local coverage, the San Francisco 49ers have joined a few other NFL teams regarding TV pre-season coverage and are simulcasting their TV and radio broadcasts. This past weekend's game against the Raiders was done by Greg Papa, Tom Flores, and Jim Plunkett. A simulcast is unusual in the NFL since radio usually has more commercial time.
In Philadelphia, the Andy Reid (Eagles Head Coach) Show is moving to WIP 610 where Howard Eskin takes over as a co-host instead of Beasley Reece. The show will air on Monday evenings during Eskin's time slot. It had aired on WYSP in recent seasons.
In Dallas, the new stadium and a promising team mean media ratings, and we are now just 2 weeks into the pre-season. Word is that last weekend's pre-season game between the Cowboys and Tennessee generated a local rating of more than 20. That is rating - which is different than audience share.
In Green Bay, the local TV folks continue to believe that there will be a significant amount of interest in Brett Favre again this season. Last season several of the Jets' games were carried in Green Bay and Milwaukee. Now it looks like at least half of the Vikings games will be seen in the Green Bay TV market. Granted, the Vikings play in the same division and would normally be seen several times along with Chicago Bears games.
It has already gotten to the point where Don Carmichael, the General Manager of WBAY Channel 2 was quoted about having tried to pick up the Vikings vs. Kansas City pre-season game last week.
WLUK-TV will carry the Vikings' season opener on Sept. 13th and at least 5 others. They could also carry the Jan. 3rd game between the Vikings and Giants but will wait on that to determine playoff matchups.
WFRV Channel 5 will carry at least one Vikings game when they host Cincinnati in December. WBAY-TV already has the local rights to show the Monday Night Football game between the Packers and Vikings on October 5th.
It is hard to believe that NHL training camps open in less than a month. Versus has announced its tentative telecast schedule (times are Eastern):
Thurs. Oct. 1 Washington at Boston 7:00 PM
Thurs. Oct. 1 San Jose at Colorado 10:00 PM
Friday Oct. 2 Florida at Chicago
Friday Oct. 2 Detroit at St. Louis
Mon. Oct. 5 NY Rangers at New Jersey 7:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 6 Washington at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Mon. Oct. 12 Calgary at Chicago 8:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 13 Detroit at Buffalo 7:00 PM
Mon. Oct. 19 San Jose at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 20 St. Louis at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Mon. Oct. 26 Minnesota at Chicago 8:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 27 Philadelphia at Washington 7:00 PM
Tues. Nov. 3 Boston at Detroit 7:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 9 Los Angeles at Chicago 8:00 PM
Tues. Nov. 10 Pittsburgh at Boston 7:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 16 New Jersey at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Tues. Nov. 17 Washington at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 23 Detroit at Nashville 7:00 PM
Wed. Nov. 25 St. Louis at Dallas 8:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 30 Buffalo at Toronto 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 1 Columbus at Chicago 8:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 7 New Jersey at Buffalo 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 8 NY Islanders at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Wed. Dec. 9 Minnesota at Colorado 9:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 14 Buffalo at Montreal 7:30 PM
Tues. Dec. 15 Philadelphia at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 21 Buffalo at Toronto 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 22 San Jose at Chicago 8:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 28 Detroit at Columbus 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 29 Chicago at Dallas 8:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 4 Boston at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 5 Minnesota at Chicago 8:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 11 Pittsburgh at Minnesota 8:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 12 New Jersey at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 18 Minnesota at Dallas 8:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 19 Tampa Bay at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 25 Pittsburgh at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 26 Phoenix at Detroit 7:00 PM
Mon. Feb. 1 Buffalo at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Tues. Feb. 2 Minnesota at Dallas 8:00 PM
Mon. Feb. 8 New Jersey at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Tues. Feb. 9 Detroit at St. Louis 8:00 PM
Mon. March 1 Detroit at Colorado 9:00 PM
Tues. March 2 Philadelphia at Tampa Bay 7:30 PM
Mon. March 8 Dallas at Washington 7:00 PM
Tues. March 9 NY Islanders at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Mon. March 15 Boston at New Jersey 7:00 PM
Tues. March 16 Montreal at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. March 22 Pittsburgh at Detroit 7:00 PM
Tues. March 23 San Jose at Minnesota 8:00 PM
Mon. March 29 Buffalo at Boston 7:00 PM
Tues. March 30 Chicago at St. Louis 8:00 PM
Mon. April 5 Boston at Washington 7:00 PM
Tues. April 6 Washington at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
In Denver, the Avalanche will have a different play-by-play voice starting this coming season, as Marc Moser will handle the call on Mile High Sports 1510 AM. But that isn't the big part of the story. Moser replaces (if you can use that term in this case) Norm Jones after his more than 35 years on the local hockey scene. In fact, Jones' legacy goes back to his calling the Colorado Rockies of the NHL - years before the baseball team adopted the name.For that matter, Jones also called the baseball AAA Denver Zephyrs years before the baseball Rockies were granted a franchise. Yet, Jones showed no signs of retiring or cutting back. This appears to be a station move, probably for cost cutting purposes.
This comes weeks after the Avalanche stayed on 1510 AM even though there will also be conflicts with Nuggets broadcasts. Now the team learns that the local hockey voice residents in their 30's have heard all of their lives won't be calling the games this season.
ESPN is hard at work on its college hoops schedule for the coming season. This season Tuesday nights will feature a Big Ten and SEC doubleheader in random order. At least one Big Ten game will air each Thursday during the conference schedule. Penn State at Minnesota on Dec. 29th is the opening Conference telecast.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
