As the baseball post-season continues to unfold, it has been interesting to note that 3 midwest markets each experienced baseball - football TV doubleheaders each involving local teams over a 2-day stretch (Oct. 9 & 10).
On Sunday (10/9), Milwaukee fans had the Brewers in the NLCS opener vs. St. Louis in the late afternoon spot on Fox followed by the Packers at Atlanta on NBC. The Brewers telecast, which was a home game, showed a 31 rating and about 53% of local TV sets tuned in, while the Packers game (on the road) had an overnight rating of 51.2 with about 66% of sets tuned in.
There are a number of theories about why the Packers telecast had the higher local ratings, including that the Packers game was scheduled long before the baseball game, which wasn't scheduled until late last Friday night, that the Brewers game was a home game and therefore at least 40,000 who attended did not need to watch on TV, or that "football seems more popular than baseball". Or perhaps some combination of those three.
Also, on Sunday St. Louis fans had the Rams vs. Redskins as an early regional game on Fox, and then TBS showed the Cardinals NLCS opener from Milwaukee in the late afternoon time slot. Then, on Monday (10/10), Detroit fans had the Tigers vs. Rangers game late afternoon on Fox (postponed from Sunday night) which went extra innings and ended early in the ESPN Monday Night Football telecast of the Lions vs. the Bears.
In Milwaukee, Sunday will wind up having been a banner day for WTMJ 620 Radio, which was able to carry both the Brewers and Packers broadcasts live. The mid-August to mid-September ratings for WTMJ show the station a solid #1 overall, up 3 ratings points since July, undoubtedly helped by the Brewers division title, the world champion Packers, and a strong start by the University of Wisconsin Badgers. The station carries play-by-play for all 3 teams.
In St. Louis, KMOX continued with strong overall ratings and got a slight boost from having the Cardinals back this season, with the Cards' post-season run sure to help for the next ratings period.
While the local teams' play-by-play spells success on the radio side (as well as TV) in Milwaukee and St. Louis, it still does not reflect from sports talk radio. In St. Louis, KMOX, with Cardinals play-by-play and sports talk as only a part of its night and 'off hour' schedule, dominates over KXOS and the other sports talk stations in the ratings.
This is the case to a bigger extent in Milwaukee. WTMJ has some sports talk within its otherwise news/talk format and is a solid #1 in the market. Yet, sports radio stations WAUK and WSSP had less than 10% of WTMJ's overall audience COMBINED during the same ratings period. While local fans are clearly watching and listening to the games, those same fans are not listening to chatter about the teams on the other stations. Again, this should be a reason for concern among sports radio stations in certain markets.
Yet, this is not an "across the board" trend as I thought earlier this year. The Ticket in Detroit bounced back to become #1 overall in the market, while, as mentioned last week, Dallas sports stations each showed increases. In Nashville, WGFX went from a 4.5 overall to an 8.2 in one month to take over as #1 overall in the market as the Titans' NFL season got underway.
This all seems to be a factor in the increase in radio rights deals for play-by-play of late.
On the TV side, the local viewership was not kind in 2 markets in particular for the just concluded regular season, with those being Baltimore/D.C. and Los Angeles.
Even with an improved record and some signs of a pulse this season, the Washington Nationals' local telecast ratings for the season were down nearly 5% from the 2009 disappointing season. However, it wasn't because fans switched over to the Orioles' local telecasts either, as the Orioles and the Oakland A's finished in a virtual tie for lowest average TV audience in the American League.
What makes this interesting is that the Nationals' average rating for the entire season was actually better than either the L.A. Dodgers or Angels. (Because of the much larger population, the L.A. teams actually had more viewers than the Nationals.) Yikes. Even with Vin Scully, who obviously won't be around too much longer doing the home and West Division road telecasts, and an Angels team which was in contention into late September.
The Phillies' runaway toward the N.L. East Division title helped to reduce TV audiences within the Division, as Atlanta, the N.Y. Mets, and Florida Marlins' telecasts all showed "double digit" local audience declines from the 2011 regular season.
Back to radio rights. In Houston, KILT AM & FM announced a 10-year extension of their contract to air the Texans play-by-play plus additional team related programming. This announcement came on top of sports radio KILT-AM more than doubling its overall audience within the past 3 months' ratings. One very interesting addition comes out of this new contract. KILT-AM will air a one-hour extended play-by-play recap of the just past weekend's Texans game each Tuesday night throughout the seasons, with all other Tuesday nights featuring a Texans specific talk show. Marc Vandermeer and Andre Ware will remain as the play-by-play voice and analyst, with Vandermeer likely to continue hosting mornings on KILT-AM. This move is significant not only in terms of the dollars commitment from KILT, but since its AM station ratings are on the rise in a market which has seen poor overall audience performance of late from its other 3 stations in the sports talk arena.
LOS ANGELES: Pleased to report that KCBS-TV 2 and/or the NFL actually have responded to viewer complaints after all. After my comments last week about how KCBS-TV could be put in the position of having to leave the Raiders vs. Texans telecast prior to conclusion on Sunday (10/9) merely to show the start of the San Diego vs. Denver game, it didn't happen. The station stayed with the final 4 minutes of the thrilling Raiders vs. Texans telecast, which went down to the very last second of play, alerting viewers on a screen scroll that the Chargers game would be "joined in progress". Thus, the station missed the first 11 1/2 minutes of the Chargers vs. Broncos game. The NFL considers Los Angeles to be a "secondary market" for Chargers' telecasts. Or at least they did on Sept. 18th when KCBS left the Raiders vs. Bills telecast with :27 left and the outcome in doubt to join the Chargers vs. Patriots telecast in time for kickoff. That's more like it!
St. LOUIS: Dan McLaughlin will not be seen on either University of Missouri or regional Missouri Valley Conference basketball telecasts for at least the upcoming season. Following McLaughlin's second arrest in 13 months on a drunk driving charge, McLaughlin is being replaced in both roles. Chris Gervino, also Sports Director at KOMU-TV Columbia, will handle all of the Missouri telecasts, after handling games when McLaughlin had a schedule conflict. The Missouri Valley telecasts will all be handled by Mitch Holthaus as primary voice, with Kevin Kugler also expected to see an increase in play-by-play assignments over last season. No word yet regarding McLaughlin's status as the Cardinals' primary TV voice.
JACKSONVILLE: WJXL 1010 has moved "Sports Final Radio" into the 6 to 10 AM weekday position, replacing the syndicated Lex & Terry Show, which had been its only non-sports show until this week.
Showing posts with label los angeles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label los angeles. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The Broadcast Booth - April 19th Update.....
Is this the beginning of the end for all sports radio? The radio ratings for March are gradually being released this week, and the early returns are not good for sports stations around the country.
Granted, as of press time we do not have the latest for Detroit and Boston, two of the larger markets with high performing sports stations, but even that may not be enough to stop this trend.
This late February to late March ratings period is usually friendly to sports stations. NBA and NHL teams are into playoff runs. Most major markets have at least one NCAA team ready for the NCAA Tournament, along with regional conference tournaments leading in. Spring training is underway and baseball fans begin their optimism for the coming season. There is plenty to talk about. But it appears fewer people are around to talk about it.
As I have said earlier, I look at the overall audience ratings, since sports is not limited to 25 to 54 year old males.
In New York, WFAN dropped out of the top 10 in overall (6 AM to Midnight, 12+), now having lost half of a ratings point (3.0 to 2.5) since January. During the same period, WEPN 1050 has lost about 20% of its total audience. This while the Knicks and Rangers both headed toward playoff appearances (not common over the past few years) and the Yankees and Mets were in spring training.
San Francisco's KNBR, which carries the World Champion Giants games, shows as having lost more than 100,000 listeners since January.
In Chicago, WMVP 1000 gained .4 in the ratings and passed by rival WSCR The Score for the first time in several months in overall audience. Hard to say if that is due to WMVP airing the Bulls games as they were going toward finishing the regular season with the NBA's best record, or it is due to The Score giving such poor scoreboard and information updates (as discussed last week). However, neither station finished better than 25th place overall. During this time, Chicago had the Bulls charging to the top, the Blackhawks in a rush to the playoffs to defend their Stanley Cup championship, and the White Sox and Cubs in spring training. (Maybe this audience loss will convince WSCR to forget their "interactive" White Sox exhibition broadcasts where they stop the play-by-play only to take phone calls from fans to talk with the game broadcasters about the team.)
Sports radio remains dismal in Los Angeles, although this is not much of a change from the past year. Again, neither KSPN 710 or KLAC 570 did any better than a 1.0 overall. Even worse in Houston, where KILT has no change in their audience size since January. Neither KBME or KFNC had any increase since the (previous) February ratings, and none of these 3 competing stations so much as cracked the top 20 in overall ratings.
Similar story out of Atlanta, where neither WCNN or WQXI made the top 20 overall. In fact, their combined rating would barely crack the top 20 in the market.
Philadelphia sports fans had plenty going on during March. The Sixers and Flyers in their runs for the playoffs. Local teams in the NCAA tourney. The Phillies in spring training looking to return to the World Series. Yet, WIP 610 droped from a 3.1 to a 2.4 rating in just one month, and they had a 3.5 for the January ratings period. Like most of the other cities, the audience lost by WIP did not go over to the sports talk competition. WPEN's overall rating for March was nearly a 20% decrease from just the month before!
Of those large markets with the March ratings released thus far, only Dallas has a reasonable sports talk presence when compared with news and some music formats. A combined rating of WTCK The Ticket, KESN, and KRLD-FM would be 4th overall in the market. However, this is primarily because the 3 rival stations are bunched closely in the ratings, since none of the 3 cracked the top 20 overall in the market.
This trend would not be so alarming if one sports station was losing its audience to one or more other sports stations. The sports radio audience is sinking.
I have two separate theories as to why. (I'm interested in your feedback about which one you think is the biggest factor.)
One theory is that there continues to (in general) be too much emphasis on fan opinions and not enough on information and compelling and informative guests. Sports fans now have many other choices for sports information and can get expert opinion. They can "follow" experts of their favorite teams and sports online. They can go online and get all of the scores they want instead of hoping the local sports update will "bother" to give out of town scores.
The other theory is that sports fans have a certain amount of time to devote to following sports, and now use it to watch the actual games on TV instead of to merely hear what other fans think about them. While sports radio listenership has begun its decline, TV ratings for pro and even college sports has been rising significantly over the past couple of years.
Whether it is HD telecasts, fans wanting to get their money's worth because of paying so much more for cable or satellite packages for the games, or a combination, TV ratings keep rising. And those 2 to 3 hours spent watching one or more games each day could well be replacing the listening time to sports radio.
Just take a look at the ratings increases for every network involved in opening week telecasts of both the NBA and NHL playoffs this month. After a successful NCAA Tournament showing for CBS and Turner Sports. Coming off incredible ratings for the entire NFL season.
While on the subject, hockey fans actually "win" with the new TV package between the NHL and the NBC "family" including Versus. This new 10 year deal brings a ton of NHL games to fans around the country.
At least 100 regular season games will be televised by Versus and NBC starting next season, with Versus getting an increase from 50 to about 90 games. Come playoff time, every game will be televised on one of the channels, whether NBC, Versus, or perhaps CNBC or one of their others.
No word yet on how many telecasts NHL Network will be able to pick up starting next season.
On the local NHL television scene, it seems that the Pittsburgh Penguins were the most watched local team in terms of ratings for the 4th season in a row. The Chicago Blackhawks moved up to 2nd among local audiences, followed by Boston, Detroit, and Philadelphia.
The bigger markets also dominated the NBA local market regular season ratings. The Lakers had the biggest regular season audience, followed by Chicago (which coincidentally, came in 2nd for both of its winter sports teams), New York Knicks, and Boston.
Yet, two of those markets also had an impact at the other end of the list. New Jersey Nets telecasts on YES were the NBA's lowest local ratings, for the 2nd season in a row, with the L.A. Clippers telecasts finishing just above Jersey.
NEW YORK: WEPN 1050 is reducing The Michael Kay Show by an hour each afternoon starting next month. Mike Lupica, the columnist and also ESPN "The Sports Reporters" panelist over the years, will begin a 2 to 3 PM weekday show starting May 9th. It will be interesting to see if management is looking for Lupica to springboard to more hours on WEPN each day, or if this is targeting to replace a show on the national ESPN Radio schedule.
SAN FRANCISCO/OAKLAND: From The Wolf to The Shark for 95.7? A few days after securing the Oakland A's baseball broadcasts effective immediately, 95.7 FM dumped "The Wolf" country music format and is now SportsRadio 95.7. The station is negotiating to also bring the NHL Sharks broadcasts over from KFOX to give them year-round local play-by-play.
Word is that 95.7 is also targeting Stanford football and possibly basketball, since those have been airing on KTRB, the station which bailed on the A's broadcasts just days before the season opener and still has its ownership status in limbo.
Granted, as of press time we do not have the latest for Detroit and Boston, two of the larger markets with high performing sports stations, but even that may not be enough to stop this trend.
This late February to late March ratings period is usually friendly to sports stations. NBA and NHL teams are into playoff runs. Most major markets have at least one NCAA team ready for the NCAA Tournament, along with regional conference tournaments leading in. Spring training is underway and baseball fans begin their optimism for the coming season. There is plenty to talk about. But it appears fewer people are around to talk about it.
As I have said earlier, I look at the overall audience ratings, since sports is not limited to 25 to 54 year old males.
In New York, WFAN dropped out of the top 10 in overall (6 AM to Midnight, 12+), now having lost half of a ratings point (3.0 to 2.5) since January. During the same period, WEPN 1050 has lost about 20% of its total audience. This while the Knicks and Rangers both headed toward playoff appearances (not common over the past few years) and the Yankees and Mets were in spring training.
San Francisco's KNBR, which carries the World Champion Giants games, shows as having lost more than 100,000 listeners since January.
In Chicago, WMVP 1000 gained .4 in the ratings and passed by rival WSCR The Score for the first time in several months in overall audience. Hard to say if that is due to WMVP airing the Bulls games as they were going toward finishing the regular season with the NBA's best record, or it is due to The Score giving such poor scoreboard and information updates (as discussed last week). However, neither station finished better than 25th place overall. During this time, Chicago had the Bulls charging to the top, the Blackhawks in a rush to the playoffs to defend their Stanley Cup championship, and the White Sox and Cubs in spring training. (Maybe this audience loss will convince WSCR to forget their "interactive" White Sox exhibition broadcasts where they stop the play-by-play only to take phone calls from fans to talk with the game broadcasters about the team.)
Sports radio remains dismal in Los Angeles, although this is not much of a change from the past year. Again, neither KSPN 710 or KLAC 570 did any better than a 1.0 overall. Even worse in Houston, where KILT has no change in their audience size since January. Neither KBME or KFNC had any increase since the (previous) February ratings, and none of these 3 competing stations so much as cracked the top 20 in overall ratings.
Similar story out of Atlanta, where neither WCNN or WQXI made the top 20 overall. In fact, their combined rating would barely crack the top 20 in the market.
Philadelphia sports fans had plenty going on during March. The Sixers and Flyers in their runs for the playoffs. Local teams in the NCAA tourney. The Phillies in spring training looking to return to the World Series. Yet, WIP 610 droped from a 3.1 to a 2.4 rating in just one month, and they had a 3.5 for the January ratings period. Like most of the other cities, the audience lost by WIP did not go over to the sports talk competition. WPEN's overall rating for March was nearly a 20% decrease from just the month before!
Of those large markets with the March ratings released thus far, only Dallas has a reasonable sports talk presence when compared with news and some music formats. A combined rating of WTCK The Ticket, KESN, and KRLD-FM would be 4th overall in the market. However, this is primarily because the 3 rival stations are bunched closely in the ratings, since none of the 3 cracked the top 20 overall in the market.
This trend would not be so alarming if one sports station was losing its audience to one or more other sports stations. The sports radio audience is sinking.
I have two separate theories as to why. (I'm interested in your feedback about which one you think is the biggest factor.)
One theory is that there continues to (in general) be too much emphasis on fan opinions and not enough on information and compelling and informative guests. Sports fans now have many other choices for sports information and can get expert opinion. They can "follow" experts of their favorite teams and sports online. They can go online and get all of the scores they want instead of hoping the local sports update will "bother" to give out of town scores.
The other theory is that sports fans have a certain amount of time to devote to following sports, and now use it to watch the actual games on TV instead of to merely hear what other fans think about them. While sports radio listenership has begun its decline, TV ratings for pro and even college sports has been rising significantly over the past couple of years.
Whether it is HD telecasts, fans wanting to get their money's worth because of paying so much more for cable or satellite packages for the games, or a combination, TV ratings keep rising. And those 2 to 3 hours spent watching one or more games each day could well be replacing the listening time to sports radio.
Just take a look at the ratings increases for every network involved in opening week telecasts of both the NBA and NHL playoffs this month. After a successful NCAA Tournament showing for CBS and Turner Sports. Coming off incredible ratings for the entire NFL season.
While on the subject, hockey fans actually "win" with the new TV package between the NHL and the NBC "family" including Versus. This new 10 year deal brings a ton of NHL games to fans around the country.
At least 100 regular season games will be televised by Versus and NBC starting next season, with Versus getting an increase from 50 to about 90 games. Come playoff time, every game will be televised on one of the channels, whether NBC, Versus, or perhaps CNBC or one of their others.
No word yet on how many telecasts NHL Network will be able to pick up starting next season.
On the local NHL television scene, it seems that the Pittsburgh Penguins were the most watched local team in terms of ratings for the 4th season in a row. The Chicago Blackhawks moved up to 2nd among local audiences, followed by Boston, Detroit, and Philadelphia.
The bigger markets also dominated the NBA local market regular season ratings. The Lakers had the biggest regular season audience, followed by Chicago (which coincidentally, came in 2nd for both of its winter sports teams), New York Knicks, and Boston.
Yet, two of those markets also had an impact at the other end of the list. New Jersey Nets telecasts on YES were the NBA's lowest local ratings, for the 2nd season in a row, with the L.A. Clippers telecasts finishing just above Jersey.
NEW YORK: WEPN 1050 is reducing The Michael Kay Show by an hour each afternoon starting next month. Mike Lupica, the columnist and also ESPN "The Sports Reporters" panelist over the years, will begin a 2 to 3 PM weekday show starting May 9th. It will be interesting to see if management is looking for Lupica to springboard to more hours on WEPN each day, or if this is targeting to replace a show on the national ESPN Radio schedule.
SAN FRANCISCO/OAKLAND: From The Wolf to The Shark for 95.7? A few days after securing the Oakland A's baseball broadcasts effective immediately, 95.7 FM dumped "The Wolf" country music format and is now SportsRadio 95.7. The station is negotiating to also bring the NHL Sharks broadcasts over from KFOX to give them year-round local play-by-play.
Word is that 95.7 is also targeting Stanford football and possibly basketball, since those have been airing on KTRB, the station which bailed on the A's broadcasts just days before the season opener and still has its ownership status in limbo.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
The Broadcast Booth - December 6th Update......
In addition to soaring TV ratings for live sports events, sports radio stations have generally increased their collective audiences over the past few weeks as well. Maybe it really is each feeding off the other.
The unlikely meeting of the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers in the World Series was a ratings factor for both markets according to the mid-October to November 10th ratings released this past week.
The Giants were a big factor in San Francisco's KNBR 680 which finished #1 in the market (for what is believed to be the first time), literally doubling its audience since the September ratings. In Dallas, the Rangers' station KRLD-FM increased its ratings by .7, more than 2 1/2 times its audience from November 2009. In addition, KESN ESPN 103.3 also shows an increase of .9 overall, giving the top 2 sports stations more than a combined 1.6 ratings increase there.
Other major markets also reflected more sports radio success in overall audience. (These reflect the overall radio audience, rather than just the 25-54 demographic.)
In Boston, WEEI finished #7 overall in the market, while Sports Hub WBZ-FM increased a full ratings point and finished 9th overall, which gives the Boston market 2 of top 9 rated stations being all sports.
Detroit's WXYT-FM The Ticket is now tied for the #1 spot overall (after previously having sole possession of the top spot), yet lower rated rival WDFN showed a .3 overall audience increase.
In Chicago, WSCR The Score 670 increased its audience lead over rival WMVP ESPN 1000, while play-by-play coverage seems to be more significant. WBBM-AM 780 came in #1 overall in the market while the NFL's Bears are off to their best season since 2006, and WGN Radio showed an audience increase as the NHL Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks broadcasts continue even while there has been change and turmoil with that station's daytime lineup.
NYC showed WFAN 660 holding steady and finishing #12 in overall audience, while lower rated WEPN ESPN 1050 went up .3.
Philadelphia, with the Phillies post-season run in progress early in the ratings period and the Eagles in contention, shows WIP at #8 overall, while KYW 1060 with its news format including regular sports updates being a solid #1.
St. Louis fans continue to flock to relative newcomer (less than 2 years on the air) WXOS, which gained again to finish #9 overall, its first ever top ten appearance. WXOS now has more than 5 times the total combined audience of KFNS and KSLG.
A similar story in Pittsburgh, where newcomer KDKA-FM rose .9 overall in one month and finished #12 overall, with WEAE-AM now having dropped .7 overall just since the September ratings period.
Yet, the sports radio competition has not made a difference in Los Angeles, Houston, and Miami in terms of overall audience.
L.A.'s KSPN went up .2, but only to a 1.1 overall rating, while KLAC 570 dropped from what little it had the month before. Miami's WQAM dipped .2 to now be only #25 in the market. A combined audience rating with WQAM and WAXY would not make the market's top 20. Sports fans seem to be drifting elsewhere in Atlanta since the Braves' fast post-season exit. WCNN dropped .8 overall and is now out of the top 20, while WAXY remains behind.
Even with the NFL Texans having an improved season, Houston sports radio has a problem. KILT dropped to #25 overall, dropping .3 in the ratings. Those listeners went to KBME (up .1) and KFNC (up .2).
On the TV side, several key markets got an NFL Manning doubleheader on Sunday (12/5), including many on the east coast and in AFC home team markets. Among the Fox-TV opening games was the Giants hosting Washington with Eli Manning at QB for New York. The primary double header game which followed was Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts hosting Dallas.
For all of the NFL's TV ratings success this season, LeBron James' return to Cleveland last Thursday (12/2) on TNT beat the Philadelphia vs. Houston NFL telecast on NFL Network by more than 22% nationally, which included a rating better than 25 in the Cleveland market. It wasn't the highest rated NBA telecast of the young season, as Miami's season opener vs. Boston continues to hold that distinction, as of now.
Hardly a day or week goes by without TV sports fans somewhere being stuck in a war between rights holding networks and cable and satellite providers. Now the biggest such "war" is between Comcast SportsNet California and Dish Network. Dish subscribers are now (as of press time) still without the San Jose Sharks and Sacramento Kings telecasts, among others. This comes after Dish had pulled MSG Network (including MSG Plus) in certain east coast areas in October. Dish acts as though its FairDealForYou.com web site is a reasonable response. The real issue is that the fans have no say. The cable or satellite providers should be able to deliver ANY network a subscribing fan wants, if he or she is willing to pay the price. Period. The phone companies don't stop us from calling certain area codes, so they shouldn't be able to stop us from receiving channels we want as long as we are willing to pay for them.
The NBA has inked another international deal, this one to bring 2 regular season telecasts per week, plus playoff games, to India, effective immediately. The result will be a record number of live telecasts available to the country with 1.2 billion people.
WILLIAMSBURG WV: What do you do when your radio station broadcasts both football and basketball, and games are about to overlap?
My answer would have been very much different from what 92.3 The Tide and 107.9 BACH-FM did on Saturday (12/4). It seems that William & Mary's basketball team had its opening game at Noon at VCU in Richmond, with the pre-game show scheduled for 11:30. However, William & Mary's football team had a 1:30 home game vs. Georgia Southern and a 1:00 pre-game show scheduled.
Granted, the basketball game was shown live on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. However, that was no reason for the radio stations to leave the basketball broadcast at 1:00 for the football pre-game show, leaving the basketball broadcast to only stream at TribeAthletics.com. They should have either put the basketball game on another station, or reduced the commercial load and had a knowledgeable studio host switch back and forth between the two broadcasts based on time outs, the closeness of the games, and scoring opportunities within the football game. (Since it was the same school, they would not upset one school or set of fans vs. another by switching around.)
LOS ANGELES: It's another difficult season for the Clippers, but even their long time broadcaster suffered an upset last Wednesday (12/1). Two accidents nearby on an interstate caused Ralph Lawler to drive only 6 miles in 6 1/2 hours and miss the Clippers home game broadcast vs. San Antonio that night. Lawler has been calling Clippers games (talk about earning combat pay!) since they were the San Diego Clippers in the early 80's. The game was also memorable because the Clippers actually won.
NEW YORK: A report from Newsday was not confirmed at press time that 1010 WINS will soon have a new morning drive sports anchor, and that it would be Sid Rosenberg. Speculation has it that Rosenberg will handle the duties from the WQAM Miami studios each morning and then continue to host afternoon drive on CBS sister station WQAM.
CHARLOTTE: Mark Packer (the son of basketball expert Billy Packer) is no longer hosting afternoons on WFNZ The Fan 610 (as of Thanksgiving weekend) after his contract ran out. The station had guest hosts filling in this past week and has yet to announce a replacement after 13 years with Packer. Yet, Packer continues to syndicate his program to 14 other stations, including Raleigh, Charleston, and Greensboro. In addition, his WJZY-TV 46 "Southern Fried Football" and sports commentary segments will continue as usual.
PROVIDENCE: Providence College basketball remains in the spotlight for 9 straight Thursdays returning January 6th on Sports Radio 103.7 WEEI at 7 PM with the (Coach) Keno Davis Show. Airing live from a local restaurant, the show (which aired last Thursday 12/2) is hosted by Dale Arnold (who co-hosts middays). Arnold is known for having done some play-by-play for the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins over the years and for having been with the station since its inception nearly 20 years ago.
The unlikely meeting of the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers in the World Series was a ratings factor for both markets according to the mid-October to November 10th ratings released this past week.
The Giants were a big factor in San Francisco's KNBR 680 which finished #1 in the market (for what is believed to be the first time), literally doubling its audience since the September ratings. In Dallas, the Rangers' station KRLD-FM increased its ratings by .7, more than 2 1/2 times its audience from November 2009. In addition, KESN ESPN 103.3 also shows an increase of .9 overall, giving the top 2 sports stations more than a combined 1.6 ratings increase there.
Other major markets also reflected more sports radio success in overall audience. (These reflect the overall radio audience, rather than just the 25-54 demographic.)
In Boston, WEEI finished #7 overall in the market, while Sports Hub WBZ-FM increased a full ratings point and finished 9th overall, which gives the Boston market 2 of top 9 rated stations being all sports.
Detroit's WXYT-FM The Ticket is now tied for the #1 spot overall (after previously having sole possession of the top spot), yet lower rated rival WDFN showed a .3 overall audience increase.
In Chicago, WSCR The Score 670 increased its audience lead over rival WMVP ESPN 1000, while play-by-play coverage seems to be more significant. WBBM-AM 780 came in #1 overall in the market while the NFL's Bears are off to their best season since 2006, and WGN Radio showed an audience increase as the NHL Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks broadcasts continue even while there has been change and turmoil with that station's daytime lineup.
NYC showed WFAN 660 holding steady and finishing #12 in overall audience, while lower rated WEPN ESPN 1050 went up .3.
Philadelphia, with the Phillies post-season run in progress early in the ratings period and the Eagles in contention, shows WIP at #8 overall, while KYW 1060 with its news format including regular sports updates being a solid #1.
St. Louis fans continue to flock to relative newcomer (less than 2 years on the air) WXOS, which gained again to finish #9 overall, its first ever top ten appearance. WXOS now has more than 5 times the total combined audience of KFNS and KSLG.
A similar story in Pittsburgh, where newcomer KDKA-FM rose .9 overall in one month and finished #12 overall, with WEAE-AM now having dropped .7 overall just since the September ratings period.
Yet, the sports radio competition has not made a difference in Los Angeles, Houston, and Miami in terms of overall audience.
L.A.'s KSPN went up .2, but only to a 1.1 overall rating, while KLAC 570 dropped from what little it had the month before. Miami's WQAM dipped .2 to now be only #25 in the market. A combined audience rating with WQAM and WAXY would not make the market's top 20. Sports fans seem to be drifting elsewhere in Atlanta since the Braves' fast post-season exit. WCNN dropped .8 overall and is now out of the top 20, while WAXY remains behind.
Even with the NFL Texans having an improved season, Houston sports radio has a problem. KILT dropped to #25 overall, dropping .3 in the ratings. Those listeners went to KBME (up .1) and KFNC (up .2).
On the TV side, several key markets got an NFL Manning doubleheader on Sunday (12/5), including many on the east coast and in AFC home team markets. Among the Fox-TV opening games was the Giants hosting Washington with Eli Manning at QB for New York. The primary double header game which followed was Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts hosting Dallas.
For all of the NFL's TV ratings success this season, LeBron James' return to Cleveland last Thursday (12/2) on TNT beat the Philadelphia vs. Houston NFL telecast on NFL Network by more than 22% nationally, which included a rating better than 25 in the Cleveland market. It wasn't the highest rated NBA telecast of the young season, as Miami's season opener vs. Boston continues to hold that distinction, as of now.
Hardly a day or week goes by without TV sports fans somewhere being stuck in a war between rights holding networks and cable and satellite providers. Now the biggest such "war" is between Comcast SportsNet California and Dish Network. Dish subscribers are now (as of press time) still without the San Jose Sharks and Sacramento Kings telecasts, among others. This comes after Dish had pulled MSG Network (including MSG Plus) in certain east coast areas in October. Dish acts as though its FairDealForYou.com web site is a reasonable response. The real issue is that the fans have no say. The cable or satellite providers should be able to deliver ANY network a subscribing fan wants, if he or she is willing to pay the price. Period. The phone companies don't stop us from calling certain area codes, so they shouldn't be able to stop us from receiving channels we want as long as we are willing to pay for them.
The NBA has inked another international deal, this one to bring 2 regular season telecasts per week, plus playoff games, to India, effective immediately. The result will be a record number of live telecasts available to the country with 1.2 billion people.
WILLIAMSBURG WV: What do you do when your radio station broadcasts both football and basketball, and games are about to overlap?
My answer would have been very much different from what 92.3 The Tide and 107.9 BACH-FM did on Saturday (12/4). It seems that William & Mary's basketball team had its opening game at Noon at VCU in Richmond, with the pre-game show scheduled for 11:30. However, William & Mary's football team had a 1:30 home game vs. Georgia Southern and a 1:00 pre-game show scheduled.
Granted, the basketball game was shown live on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. However, that was no reason for the radio stations to leave the basketball broadcast at 1:00 for the football pre-game show, leaving the basketball broadcast to only stream at TribeAthletics.com. They should have either put the basketball game on another station, or reduced the commercial load and had a knowledgeable studio host switch back and forth between the two broadcasts based on time outs, the closeness of the games, and scoring opportunities within the football game. (Since it was the same school, they would not upset one school or set of fans vs. another by switching around.)
LOS ANGELES: It's another difficult season for the Clippers, but even their long time broadcaster suffered an upset last Wednesday (12/1). Two accidents nearby on an interstate caused Ralph Lawler to drive only 6 miles in 6 1/2 hours and miss the Clippers home game broadcast vs. San Antonio that night. Lawler has been calling Clippers games (talk about earning combat pay!) since they were the San Diego Clippers in the early 80's. The game was also memorable because the Clippers actually won.
NEW YORK: A report from Newsday was not confirmed at press time that 1010 WINS will soon have a new morning drive sports anchor, and that it would be Sid Rosenberg. Speculation has it that Rosenberg will handle the duties from the WQAM Miami studios each morning and then continue to host afternoon drive on CBS sister station WQAM.
CHARLOTTE: Mark Packer (the son of basketball expert Billy Packer) is no longer hosting afternoons on WFNZ The Fan 610 (as of Thanksgiving weekend) after his contract ran out. The station had guest hosts filling in this past week and has yet to announce a replacement after 13 years with Packer. Yet, Packer continues to syndicate his program to 14 other stations, including Raleigh, Charleston, and Greensboro. In addition, his WJZY-TV 46 "Southern Fried Football" and sports commentary segments will continue as usual.
PROVIDENCE: Providence College basketball remains in the spotlight for 9 straight Thursdays returning January 6th on Sports Radio 103.7 WEEI at 7 PM with the (Coach) Keno Davis Show. Airing live from a local restaurant, the show (which aired last Thursday 12/2) is hosted by Dale Arnold (who co-hosts middays). Arnold is known for having done some play-by-play for the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins over the years and for having been with the station since its inception nearly 20 years ago.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The Broadcast Booth - April 28 update
Those outside of the media often joke that "Anybody can host a sports show". Come to think of it, not all of them are joking. During all my years of sportscasting and teaching, I always found media outlets with an abundance of applicants for sports positions.
Imagine my shock when I saw a Baltimore outlet actually advertising for a sports host:
https://sjobs.brassring.com/EN/ASP/TG/cim_jobdetail.asp?jobId=172376&partnerid=25084&siteid=5132&type=search&JobReqLang=1
(This was a sports host position open as of press time.)
One would think that a major league city (which I consider any city with at least one pro sports team to be) would go along with reviewing tons of applicants. The station should know what sound it wants. Maybe even what person or persons it wants. I know of people in the industry who were hired as a result of being monitored over the air on another station or network and approached. I have had that happen to me a couple of times. With many markets now having 2 or more sports stations, I would like to think that management knows how it wants the station to sound and have an idea of personnel that would make a good fit.
Not only are game broadcasts and telecasts for most pro sports rising big time, but even a "non-game" scored well. The NFL Draft TV ratings soared for its first time as a 3 day event, even with both ESPN and NFL Network televising separately. The ratings could have been even better were it not for prior trades. The Chicago market is a huge NFL ratings market when it comes to the Bears. Due to trades, the Bears did not have a first or second round pick this year. If they had their mid-first round pick, the audience from the Chicago area would have kicked the overall ratings up even more. Again, this was not even a game. No betting lines, and the fantasy leagues were not impacted.
From a media standpoint, this was a nice innovation compared with the previous all day Saturday with hours of continued coverage. This plan makes it better for the fans to follow the draft.
This plan will undoubtedly be retained for next year because of the response of the fans. Yet, from a football point of view, I'd like to see one aspect addressed. Is it fair for the first 3 or 4 teams picking in Round 2 to have all day to debate and research their picks? Not compared with the 5 minutes max they have had over the years gone by.
Normally the Sports Emmy Awards are not what I call "stop the presses" news. This year it is different. MLB Network won 4 of them, and this as they are still in only their 2nd year of existence. If there was a category for "Most Incredible Innovations in Sports Programming" they would have won that as well.
Great to see the recognition for the outstanding work they have done and continue to do. MLB Tonight, understandably, received 3 of their awards, while Studio 42 host Bob Costas won the "Outstanding Sports Personality - Studio Host" Award. Added congrats to Bob, since that is his personal 20th Emmy.
It took rain to stop a strange ESPN programming streak. Had Monday night's (April 26) Dodgers at Mets telecast not been rained out, it would have been the 4th consecutive National League telecast via the ESPN Networks. If this were September and that's where the only races were, I could understand. We need more balance among the national games.
Speaking of network scheduling, no matter what Fox Network thinks, good for NBC to finally schedule a Sunday Night Football telecast that will go against a World Series game. The reason the NFL went to 17 weeks for 16 game seasons was because of television, yet the NFL has been conceeding to MLB for the past few years.
But the most interesting part of this story will come up in October. NBC is scheduled to show Pittsburgh vs. New Orleans for this Week 7 telecast. If the recent suspension of Ben Roethlisberger is upheld for the entire 6 games, that night would likely be his return to action. A sure ratings grabber. Since the NFL is all about TV ratings and is now bucking a World Series telecast, I wonder how likely the NFL would be to reduce the suspension and not have him return in prime time against the World Series.
Radio ratings for MLB broadcasts continue on the upswing. Three more markets added to the People Meters all showed noteworth local radio audience increases during the new season's first 2 weeks. It's even more interesting when you realize that Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Kansas City each have teams which are not likely to be contenders this season. The Reds' opening day radio broadcast averaged better than a 51 share among men 25-54 on April 5th.
ESPN and the Big Ten Network are already lining up Big Ten football telecasts for next season, and already there is an Ohio State flavor. The Buckeyes season opener on Thursday Sept. 2 vs. Marshall will be shown on BTN. ESPN has scheduled their first ever meeting against Miami for Sept. 11th. ESPN or ABC will show conference games on Oct. 16 at Wisconsin and Oct. 30 at Minnesota.
ABC or ESPN will also have Michigan State vs. Notre Dame on Sept. 18th in prime time, Iowa vs. Penn State on Oct. 2, and Michigan at Penn State on October 30th.
As streaming of games becomes more popular, Network1 Sports continues to add high school and small college games around the country. Maybe some more "sleepers" will be discovered for the pro drafts this way. You can see a list of the day's scheduled steams at:
http://www.network1sports.com/todaysbroadcasts.asp
MILWAUKEE: We all wish Bob Uecker a speedy recovery from his pending heart surgery and hope he beats the "10 to 12 weeks" estimate for his return to the Brewers broadcast booth, where he began 40 seasons ago.
Davey Nelson will move over from the TV booth to provide color on WTMJ Radio, with Cory Provus handling extensive play-by-play. The guess from here is that Wayne Laravee will take over during the interim, which would likely end around the time the Packers' training camp begins. Laravee, voice of the Packers and Big Ten football, would be an ideal fit because of his schedule. Laravee did Chicago Cubs TV play-by-play in the 90's.
LOS ANGELES: Sports radio continues its growth as the latest monthly ratings reflect. KSPN 710 and KLAC 570 combined for a 1.2 share increase in men 25-54, with KSPN showing the larger increase.
Joe McDonnell, formerly of the McDonnell Douglas Show and other sports hosting gigs, is now doing the morning sports updates on KNX NewsRadio 1070.
DETROIT: Still another example of the growth of sports radio. WXYT The Ticket again increased its overall audience share in the latest monthly ratings, surging to the #1 position in the 25-54 age group. While the Red Wings continue in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Tigers expect to contend, this also took place while the Pistons were finishing another disappointing season.
MIAMI: In addition to the Dolphins Radio Network changing for the coming season, now a multi-year deal for Spanish broadcasts has een announced. WQBA-AM will carry all pre-season and regular season games, complete with a 2-hour pre-game show and a 1-hour wrapup. Plans are underway for a 2-hour weekday show focused on the team.
BOSTON: NESN's Heidi Watney has returned to the network after missing about 2 weeks due to a concussion.
Word is that Boston College may be among the schools having one play-by-play voice for both football and basketball. Football voice Jon Meterparel could be replacing Ted Sarandis on basketball broadcasts starting in the fall.
DALLAS: While many of us consider the concerns about what athletes and media members post on Twitter to be of little significance, The Ticket 1310 had cause to make it grounds for a termination. Former MLB player Mike Bacsik, who was both a host and producer for the station, was let go following a racist tweet resulting from a Mavericks vs. Spurs NBA Playoff game. Adding to the mix was the reported admission by Bacsik that he was "drunk at a bar". This instance was much different from others who merely express a harmless opinion, agreed with or not.
WASHINGTON D.C.: While the NHL Capitals being taken to a 7th game by Montreal in the opening round of the playoffs was surprising, so was Comcast SportsNet reporting record ratings for its coverage. The Game 6 telecast from Monday (April 26) was the highest rated post-season game in the Network's history. (Game 7 numbers were not available at press time.)
TAMPA: 1010 AM has a new local show from Noon to 3 to replace "The Grind". Former Buccaneers QB Shaun King, who also played high school football in St. Pete, has been hired as co-host along with Toby David. The show is being called the "King David Show". Got to wonder if it will get a "royal" welcome in the ratings.
SYRACUSE: The AAA Syracuse Chiefs baseball team continues to celebrate 50 years of local ownership, and this Friday (April 30) they plan to celebrate with one of their prior broadcast legends on hand. Sean McDonough will join Jason Benetti on the WHEN 620 broadcast. McDonough called Chiefs games in 1982, 1983, and 1984.
Imagine my shock when I saw a Baltimore outlet actually advertising for a sports host:
https://sjobs.brassring.com/EN/ASP/TG/cim_jobdetail.asp?jobId=172376&partnerid=25084&siteid=5132&type=search&JobReqLang=1
(This was a sports host position open as of press time.)
One would think that a major league city (which I consider any city with at least one pro sports team to be) would go along with reviewing tons of applicants. The station should know what sound it wants. Maybe even what person or persons it wants. I know of people in the industry who were hired as a result of being monitored over the air on another station or network and approached. I have had that happen to me a couple of times. With many markets now having 2 or more sports stations, I would like to think that management knows how it wants the station to sound and have an idea of personnel that would make a good fit.
Not only are game broadcasts and telecasts for most pro sports rising big time, but even a "non-game" scored well. The NFL Draft TV ratings soared for its first time as a 3 day event, even with both ESPN and NFL Network televising separately. The ratings could have been even better were it not for prior trades. The Chicago market is a huge NFL ratings market when it comes to the Bears. Due to trades, the Bears did not have a first or second round pick this year. If they had their mid-first round pick, the audience from the Chicago area would have kicked the overall ratings up even more. Again, this was not even a game. No betting lines, and the fantasy leagues were not impacted.
From a media standpoint, this was a nice innovation compared with the previous all day Saturday with hours of continued coverage. This plan makes it better for the fans to follow the draft.
This plan will undoubtedly be retained for next year because of the response of the fans. Yet, from a football point of view, I'd like to see one aspect addressed. Is it fair for the first 3 or 4 teams picking in Round 2 to have all day to debate and research their picks? Not compared with the 5 minutes max they have had over the years gone by.
Normally the Sports Emmy Awards are not what I call "stop the presses" news. This year it is different. MLB Network won 4 of them, and this as they are still in only their 2nd year of existence. If there was a category for "Most Incredible Innovations in Sports Programming" they would have won that as well.
Great to see the recognition for the outstanding work they have done and continue to do. MLB Tonight, understandably, received 3 of their awards, while Studio 42 host Bob Costas won the "Outstanding Sports Personality - Studio Host" Award. Added congrats to Bob, since that is his personal 20th Emmy.
It took rain to stop a strange ESPN programming streak. Had Monday night's (April 26) Dodgers at Mets telecast not been rained out, it would have been the 4th consecutive National League telecast via the ESPN Networks. If this were September and that's where the only races were, I could understand. We need more balance among the national games.
Speaking of network scheduling, no matter what Fox Network thinks, good for NBC to finally schedule a Sunday Night Football telecast that will go against a World Series game. The reason the NFL went to 17 weeks for 16 game seasons was because of television, yet the NFL has been conceeding to MLB for the past few years.
But the most interesting part of this story will come up in October. NBC is scheduled to show Pittsburgh vs. New Orleans for this Week 7 telecast. If the recent suspension of Ben Roethlisberger is upheld for the entire 6 games, that night would likely be his return to action. A sure ratings grabber. Since the NFL is all about TV ratings and is now bucking a World Series telecast, I wonder how likely the NFL would be to reduce the suspension and not have him return in prime time against the World Series.
Radio ratings for MLB broadcasts continue on the upswing. Three more markets added to the People Meters all showed noteworth local radio audience increases during the new season's first 2 weeks. It's even more interesting when you realize that Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Kansas City each have teams which are not likely to be contenders this season. The Reds' opening day radio broadcast averaged better than a 51 share among men 25-54 on April 5th.
ESPN and the Big Ten Network are already lining up Big Ten football telecasts for next season, and already there is an Ohio State flavor. The Buckeyes season opener on Thursday Sept. 2 vs. Marshall will be shown on BTN. ESPN has scheduled their first ever meeting against Miami for Sept. 11th. ESPN or ABC will show conference games on Oct. 16 at Wisconsin and Oct. 30 at Minnesota.
ABC or ESPN will also have Michigan State vs. Notre Dame on Sept. 18th in prime time, Iowa vs. Penn State on Oct. 2, and Michigan at Penn State on October 30th.
As streaming of games becomes more popular, Network1 Sports continues to add high school and small college games around the country. Maybe some more "sleepers" will be discovered for the pro drafts this way. You can see a list of the day's scheduled steams at:
http://www.network1sports.com/todaysbroadcasts.asp
MILWAUKEE: We all wish Bob Uecker a speedy recovery from his pending heart surgery and hope he beats the "10 to 12 weeks" estimate for his return to the Brewers broadcast booth, where he began 40 seasons ago.
Davey Nelson will move over from the TV booth to provide color on WTMJ Radio, with Cory Provus handling extensive play-by-play. The guess from here is that Wayne Laravee will take over during the interim, which would likely end around the time the Packers' training camp begins. Laravee, voice of the Packers and Big Ten football, would be an ideal fit because of his schedule. Laravee did Chicago Cubs TV play-by-play in the 90's.
LOS ANGELES: Sports radio continues its growth as the latest monthly ratings reflect. KSPN 710 and KLAC 570 combined for a 1.2 share increase in men 25-54, with KSPN showing the larger increase.
Joe McDonnell, formerly of the McDonnell Douglas Show and other sports hosting gigs, is now doing the morning sports updates on KNX NewsRadio 1070.
DETROIT: Still another example of the growth of sports radio. WXYT The Ticket again increased its overall audience share in the latest monthly ratings, surging to the #1 position in the 25-54 age group. While the Red Wings continue in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Tigers expect to contend, this also took place while the Pistons were finishing another disappointing season.
MIAMI: In addition to the Dolphins Radio Network changing for the coming season, now a multi-year deal for Spanish broadcasts has een announced. WQBA-AM will carry all pre-season and regular season games, complete with a 2-hour pre-game show and a 1-hour wrapup. Plans are underway for a 2-hour weekday show focused on the team.
BOSTON: NESN's Heidi Watney has returned to the network after missing about 2 weeks due to a concussion.
Word is that Boston College may be among the schools having one play-by-play voice for both football and basketball. Football voice Jon Meterparel could be replacing Ted Sarandis on basketball broadcasts starting in the fall.
DALLAS: While many of us consider the concerns about what athletes and media members post on Twitter to be of little significance, The Ticket 1310 had cause to make it grounds for a termination. Former MLB player Mike Bacsik, who was both a host and producer for the station, was let go following a racist tweet resulting from a Mavericks vs. Spurs NBA Playoff game. Adding to the mix was the reported admission by Bacsik that he was "drunk at a bar". This instance was much different from others who merely express a harmless opinion, agreed with or not.
WASHINGTON D.C.: While the NHL Capitals being taken to a 7th game by Montreal in the opening round of the playoffs was surprising, so was Comcast SportsNet reporting record ratings for its coverage. The Game 6 telecast from Monday (April 26) was the highest rated post-season game in the Network's history. (Game 7 numbers were not available at press time.)
TAMPA: 1010 AM has a new local show from Noon to 3 to replace "The Grind". Former Buccaneers QB Shaun King, who also played high school football in St. Pete, has been hired as co-host along with Toby David. The show is being called the "King David Show". Got to wonder if it will get a "royal" welcome in the ratings.
SYRACUSE: The AAA Syracuse Chiefs baseball team continues to celebrate 50 years of local ownership, and this Friday (April 30) they plan to celebrate with one of their prior broadcast legends on hand. Sean McDonough will join Jason Benetti on the WHEN 620 broadcast. McDonough called Chiefs games in 1982, 1983, and 1984.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Rod Van Hook
Sorry to learn of the death of long long time Los Angeles radio sportscaster Rod Van Hook, reportedly from pancreatic cancer.
http://www.kfwb.com/Sports-Broadcasting-Veteran-Dies/5634501
Rod helped establish KFWB as a "scoreboard update" leader in the 80's, before the internet and regional sports TV networks dominated how us sports fans got our information.
Being on the west coast means that sports events on the east coast start at 4:00 local time on weekday afternoons. Rod always knew to begin his sportscasts on KFWB every half hour with a scoreboard update, even in afternoon drive. And he was innovative enough to give the out of town scores in pretty much the same order throughout the afternoon and evening. This way, when you were following a particular out of town game, you knew you were going to the latest score, and when it was going to come.
Both he and his reporting style will be missed.
http://www.kfwb.com/Sports-Broadcasting-Veteran-Dies/5634501
Rod helped establish KFWB as a "scoreboard update" leader in the 80's, before the internet and regional sports TV networks dominated how us sports fans got our information.
Being on the west coast means that sports events on the east coast start at 4:00 local time on weekday afternoons. Rod always knew to begin his sportscasts on KFWB every half hour with a scoreboard update, even in afternoon drive. And he was innovative enough to give the out of town scores in pretty much the same order throughout the afternoon and evening. This way, when you were following a particular out of town game, you knew you were going to the latest score, and when it was going to come.
Both he and his reporting style will be missed.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Mourning the baseball season
There is always a sadness when the baseball season comes to an end, whether at the end of the regular season or at some point during the post-season. It usually depends on the fate of my favorite team, which is the White Sox. Their disappointing showing certainly contributes to feeling it today.
However, this year, there is more to it. I'm also feeling some sadness because my favorite sports in the whole wide world is slipping away again. I already stated my case for the need to stop the Wild Card, even though I know it probably won't happen.
The "revenue sharing" plan designed to create parity isn't working. Therein lies the problem. Both Los Angeles teams, the New York Yankees, and Boston Red Sox, comprise 4 out of the 6 teams in the post-season. The Cardinals are backed by a big bucks brewery. The one exception will be the representative from the American League Central, and Detroit is a top 10 media market.
These teams actually won in 2 ways. First, they won on the field, fair and square, even if they spent and spent and spent to do so. They also won based on strategy. Or it could be called a loophole. They have the ability to command additional revenue, based on market size, which the 'smaller' teams do not. Sure, the 30 MLB teams share in the pie. But the big market teams can generate expensive plates to put the pie on.
Folks, it really isn't revenue sharing. New York and Los Angeles, especially, command millions and millions more for media rights. Factor in the additional sponsorship deals, suites, merchandise (to a greater local population), and the list goes on.
The Yankees used having a new stadium as their justification to significantly increase ticket prices. Even with the media rights and sponsorship revenue they command which is well above that of most smaller markets.
Sorry, but I'm not buying the "it's the economy" argument to the overall decline in attendance, with the exception of Detroit. People will pay the higher prices to go, just not as often as in the past. Therein lies the difference.
It should be that you can take a family of 4 to a baseball game and spend less than $75 for the afternoon or evening, including parking and some food. Since the cost these days is now in the $150 to $200 range, that family can only afford to go once (if that), rather than 2 or 3 times.
Trust me that those kids going once a year today won't grow up avid fans like we did when their parents can hardly afford to take them once, and even a team t-shirt costs $25. THIS is why attendance is dropping.
Factor in that the big money teams are still finding loopholes to win, and small market teams have a lesser chance once again, and you will see the sadness.
At this rate, even I "can" wait until next year.
However, this year, there is more to it. I'm also feeling some sadness because my favorite sports in the whole wide world is slipping away again. I already stated my case for the need to stop the Wild Card, even though I know it probably won't happen.
The "revenue sharing" plan designed to create parity isn't working. Therein lies the problem. Both Los Angeles teams, the New York Yankees, and Boston Red Sox, comprise 4 out of the 6 teams in the post-season. The Cardinals are backed by a big bucks brewery. The one exception will be the representative from the American League Central, and Detroit is a top 10 media market.
These teams actually won in 2 ways. First, they won on the field, fair and square, even if they spent and spent and spent to do so. They also won based on strategy. Or it could be called a loophole. They have the ability to command additional revenue, based on market size, which the 'smaller' teams do not. Sure, the 30 MLB teams share in the pie. But the big market teams can generate expensive plates to put the pie on.
Folks, it really isn't revenue sharing. New York and Los Angeles, especially, command millions and millions more for media rights. Factor in the additional sponsorship deals, suites, merchandise (to a greater local population), and the list goes on.
The Yankees used having a new stadium as their justification to significantly increase ticket prices. Even with the media rights and sponsorship revenue they command which is well above that of most smaller markets.
Sorry, but I'm not buying the "it's the economy" argument to the overall decline in attendance, with the exception of Detroit. People will pay the higher prices to go, just not as often as in the past. Therein lies the difference.
It should be that you can take a family of 4 to a baseball game and spend less than $75 for the afternoon or evening, including parking and some food. Since the cost these days is now in the $150 to $200 range, that family can only afford to go once (if that), rather than 2 or 3 times.
Trust me that those kids going once a year today won't grow up avid fans like we did when their parents can hardly afford to take them once, and even a team t-shirt costs $25. THIS is why attendance is dropping.
Factor in that the big money teams are still finding loopholes to win, and small market teams have a lesser chance once again, and you will see the sadness.
At this rate, even I "can" wait until next year.
Friday, August 14, 2009
update on KFWB Los Angeles
As an update from Wednesday column, indeed KFWB in Los Angeles has announced that in addition to weekday Angels baseball, it will begin a multi-year deal to carry Los Angeles Clippers basketball, including all pre-season games.
The official announcement also said post-season games, but we strive for accuracy here.
Based on the state of radio lately, the Clippers seem a good match for a big radio story. How about the quote in the Press Release from Clippers’ President Andy Roeser. “Also, this long term relationship represents a tremendous development for our fans: no conflicts, a strong signal, with a strong adjacent programming schedule and supportive partners.”
First Roeser mentions "no conflicts". Does this mean that if and as the Angels have playoff games in October and then the Clippers have meaningless late regular season games in April that the Clippers would have priority over the Angels? If they don't, the quote is not accurate. If they do, how does KFWB think it will gain by putting the Clippers ahead of the Angels? Which team has the most sellouts and the most fan interest?
Second, Roeser comments about the "strong adjacent programming schedule". He says this about a station moving away from all news after 30+ years and starting a News/Talk format next month. I must have missed the connection of having Dr. Laura and the Clippers on the same station.
The official announcement also said post-season games, but we strive for accuracy here.
Based on the state of radio lately, the Clippers seem a good match for a big radio story. How about the quote in the Press Release from Clippers’ President Andy Roeser. “Also, this long term relationship represents a tremendous development for our fans: no conflicts, a strong signal, with a strong adjacent programming schedule and supportive partners.”
First Roeser mentions "no conflicts". Does this mean that if and as the Angels have playoff games in October and then the Clippers have meaningless late regular season games in April that the Clippers would have priority over the Angels? If they don't, the quote is not accurate. If they do, how does KFWB think it will gain by putting the Clippers ahead of the Angels? Which team has the most sellouts and the most fan interest?
Second, Roeser comments about the "strong adjacent programming schedule". He says this about a station moving away from all news after 30+ years and starting a News/Talk format next month. I must have missed the connection of having Dr. Laura and the Clippers on the same station.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Sports Media Report - July 8th update
It is a week where sports related publicity about the media is most definitely a mixed bag rather than a positive among the sports fans.CBS-TV Sports is making a big deal about its decision to replay a 1963 "Wonderful World of Golf" match between Jack Nicklaus and Sam Sneed this comong Sunday (7/12) as a lead-in to its scheduled coverage of the final round of the John Deere Classic.
Right idea, but wrong network. CBS-TV still has plenty of ground to make up if it wants to be recognized once again as a TV sports leader. Their offerings are still a far cry from their days in the '90's when they topped the TV sports world with MLB, NFL, and NBA coverage on a regular basis before bailing out on all for a while. Instead, this airing comes off as an obvious plea for the older audience to come back to watching televised golf. My hunch is that those who would tune in to remember Sam Sneed (who was around 50 years old at the time of the original airing) probably are not as in tune with today's golfers and might not stick around for the Deere Classic.
What would be the "right" network? That would be ESPN Classic, but that network continues its decline from years ago, unfortunately. Given the millions of dollars and relationships that ESPN enjoys with MLB, NFL, NBA, and the NCAA (plus a couple of stints with NHL rights in the past), one would think that ESPN Classic would provide a steady diet of major league pro and college games from over the years.
Instead, "Classic" gets trounced by the "Best Of" telecasts on MLB Network, NFL Network, and NBA Network. While there are some NCAA football and basketball classic games shown, these tend to be more in season and themed toward specific matchups. (That would be fine if the rest of the programming were up to standard.)
Instead, "classic" features have been reduced to programming such as poker, kick boxing, and the like. Or should I say, don't like. ESPN Classic seems to be more of an overflow channel when NCAA football and basketball schedules require use of another ESPN Family channel to show a live game. "Instant Classic" has some merit, but considering all of the years of great games, many long forgotten, sit on shelves instead of gather a bigger audience than boxing matches with fighters I have never heard of.
Meanwhile, Comcast Cable continues to make life dangerous (in the wallet) for its subscribers. Now things are getting vague as to where us sports fans stand. Within the past week, I have seen 3 separate newspaper accounts from different parts of the country with different stories about how subscribers will fare regarding certain channels. One story (from Illinois) says that NFL Network will be moved from the (extra fee) sports package to digital classic. Another story from Arizona claims that a similar sounding digital package is being eliminated resulting in a different additional charge to receive the sports channels. Instead a "digital preferred" package will magically appear, and you can bet it won't be for the same cost. Just a hunch that it will be about $5 per month more to receive these sports channels "free" which used to cost an additional $5 per month.
My local Comcast Cable system has posted that ESPN Classic is being moved to the "extra fee" sports package at the end of the month. It is likely the Big Ten Network also will be, since that was the plan last year when BTN was added to Comcast and other systems, but that matter has been quiet to this point.One of the reports I read does confirm that NFL Network and NBA Network are expected to be moved to "digital classic" in time for their respective seasons.
Frankly, they should have been there all along. No thank you cards from me if it really does happen, but a feeling that justice has been served.Hopefully the BTN realizes that, especially in this economy, they might not retain enough subscribers within a pay tier to make it worthwhile and will make the effort to remain on digital basic.
While I realize it would cost even more dollars to fight the battle, I'm still of the belief that we are already paying for these sports channels and there should not be an additional fee for them as long as consumers are still forced to pay for channels we don't want.
Meanwhile, after a bit of (undeserved, in my opinion) flac from some fans and media, ABC/ESPN seems to be increasing the role that Matt Millen will have on college football telecasts for this season. While nothing is official yet, the moving of Paul Maguire away from the primary team of Brad Nessler and Bob Griese and into more studio work and radio assignments could very well be to clear more room for Millen. Granted, Millen was not successful with the Detroit Lions, but he was recognized for his excellent broadcast work in the past, and there is no reason for that to have changed.
WASHINGTON D.C.: The speculation is even more rampant this week about WJFK 106.7 changing over to all sports within this month. Reports have surfaced that Wizards basketball will be moving over to WJFK for this season. Should this happen, it clears the landscape for the Nationals, Wizards, and Capitals to each have one radio station to itself for play-by-play. WFED 1500 had been carrying both the Wizards and Capitals (when not conflicting) with both teams reportedly buying their air time. One of those teams could move to WTEM 980, giving all 3 separate packages, always a better deal for the fans.
PHILADELPHIA: D.C.'s loss could be Philly's gain. Former Redskin Brian Mitchell, recently let go from WTEM in D.C. (either due to cost cutting or comments about the team, whose owner also owns the station), has returned to WIP, this time joining Howard Eskin for the afternoon drive spot.
MIAMI: While the speculation continues that Sid Rosenberg will join WQAM to host its midday sports talk show shortly after Labor Day and in time for the start of the NFL season, the 10 AM to 1 PM time slot has officially gone to sports. Panthers TV voice Steve Goldstein has been named interim host of that time slot.Miami's Channel 6, the NBC-TV affiliate, has cut back on its sports department with the layoffs of sportscaster Andrea Brody along with Jeff Tavss, who had served as Executive Sports Producer. The station is now down to a 2 person department, Joe Rose and Adam Kuperstein.
HOUSTON: Like Miami, reductions on the TV sports side. Keith Norton has left KPRC-TV Channel 2 after nearly 3 years, with management admitting that the position will not be filled. At Channel 39, Ray Fisher is out and that station now only brings the "Sports Minute" as part of its one hour nightly newscast. Why even bother with sports at all?
LOS ANGELES: It is tough enough to go up against Vin Scully, such as Charlie Steiner and Rick Monday do during Dodgers home games and road games in the west when Scully does most of the games on TV.But Steiner made it worse this past Sunday (7/6) from San Diego when the Padres shocked the Dodgers with a 5 run 9th inning to tie the game and send it to extra innings. The problem was that the Padres got the 2 run hit which tied the game with 2 out in the 9th, and the 3rd out was made on the bases an instant after the tying run had scored.
Steiner first reported that the "out" on the basepaths meant that the Dodgers had won the game, which they had not. Seconds later, he corrected himself, but the damage had already been done. Basic radio play-by-play instinct is that you wait until you are certain of what happened before relaying it to the audience. There were likely some fans who instantly turned the game off before Steiner made his immediate correction and apologized.
By all accounts, Vin Scully handled that play as smooth as always on the TV side. But, unfortunately for Charlie, one doesn't need nearly 60 years of play-by-play experience to call an important play correctly all the way through.
DENVER: KEPN 1600, the local ESPN Radio outlet will debut its new 7 - 9 AM morning show next week. Gary Miller (from Channel 4) and Vic Lombardi will host "Sports Insiders".
TAMPA: AM 1010 seems to have phased out the Sports Chix from its Noon to 3 PM weekday slot. Lynne Austin supposedly resigned within two weeks of Leslee Lacey also leaving the show. Tom Krasniqi has been named to take over the slot, but no co-host has been named as of this writing.
Right idea, but wrong network. CBS-TV still has plenty of ground to make up if it wants to be recognized once again as a TV sports leader. Their offerings are still a far cry from their days in the '90's when they topped the TV sports world with MLB, NFL, and NBA coverage on a regular basis before bailing out on all for a while. Instead, this airing comes off as an obvious plea for the older audience to come back to watching televised golf. My hunch is that those who would tune in to remember Sam Sneed (who was around 50 years old at the time of the original airing) probably are not as in tune with today's golfers and might not stick around for the Deere Classic.
What would be the "right" network? That would be ESPN Classic, but that network continues its decline from years ago, unfortunately. Given the millions of dollars and relationships that ESPN enjoys with MLB, NFL, NBA, and the NCAA (plus a couple of stints with NHL rights in the past), one would think that ESPN Classic would provide a steady diet of major league pro and college games from over the years.
Instead, "Classic" gets trounced by the "Best Of" telecasts on MLB Network, NFL Network, and NBA Network. While there are some NCAA football and basketball classic games shown, these tend to be more in season and themed toward specific matchups. (That would be fine if the rest of the programming were up to standard.)
Instead, "classic" features have been reduced to programming such as poker, kick boxing, and the like. Or should I say, don't like. ESPN Classic seems to be more of an overflow channel when NCAA football and basketball schedules require use of another ESPN Family channel to show a live game. "Instant Classic" has some merit, but considering all of the years of great games, many long forgotten, sit on shelves instead of gather a bigger audience than boxing matches with fighters I have never heard of.
Meanwhile, Comcast Cable continues to make life dangerous (in the wallet) for its subscribers. Now things are getting vague as to where us sports fans stand. Within the past week, I have seen 3 separate newspaper accounts from different parts of the country with different stories about how subscribers will fare regarding certain channels. One story (from Illinois) says that NFL Network will be moved from the (extra fee) sports package to digital classic. Another story from Arizona claims that a similar sounding digital package is being eliminated resulting in a different additional charge to receive the sports channels. Instead a "digital preferred" package will magically appear, and you can bet it won't be for the same cost. Just a hunch that it will be about $5 per month more to receive these sports channels "free" which used to cost an additional $5 per month.
My local Comcast Cable system has posted that ESPN Classic is being moved to the "extra fee" sports package at the end of the month. It is likely the Big Ten Network also will be, since that was the plan last year when BTN was added to Comcast and other systems, but that matter has been quiet to this point.One of the reports I read does confirm that NFL Network and NBA Network are expected to be moved to "digital classic" in time for their respective seasons.
Frankly, they should have been there all along. No thank you cards from me if it really does happen, but a feeling that justice has been served.Hopefully the BTN realizes that, especially in this economy, they might not retain enough subscribers within a pay tier to make it worthwhile and will make the effort to remain on digital basic.
While I realize it would cost even more dollars to fight the battle, I'm still of the belief that we are already paying for these sports channels and there should not be an additional fee for them as long as consumers are still forced to pay for channels we don't want.
Meanwhile, after a bit of (undeserved, in my opinion) flac from some fans and media, ABC/ESPN seems to be increasing the role that Matt Millen will have on college football telecasts for this season. While nothing is official yet, the moving of Paul Maguire away from the primary team of Brad Nessler and Bob Griese and into more studio work and radio assignments could very well be to clear more room for Millen. Granted, Millen was not successful with the Detroit Lions, but he was recognized for his excellent broadcast work in the past, and there is no reason for that to have changed.
WASHINGTON D.C.: The speculation is even more rampant this week about WJFK 106.7 changing over to all sports within this month. Reports have surfaced that Wizards basketball will be moving over to WJFK for this season. Should this happen, it clears the landscape for the Nationals, Wizards, and Capitals to each have one radio station to itself for play-by-play. WFED 1500 had been carrying both the Wizards and Capitals (when not conflicting) with both teams reportedly buying their air time. One of those teams could move to WTEM 980, giving all 3 separate packages, always a better deal for the fans.
PHILADELPHIA: D.C.'s loss could be Philly's gain. Former Redskin Brian Mitchell, recently let go from WTEM in D.C. (either due to cost cutting or comments about the team, whose owner also owns the station), has returned to WIP, this time joining Howard Eskin for the afternoon drive spot.
MIAMI: While the speculation continues that Sid Rosenberg will join WQAM to host its midday sports talk show shortly after Labor Day and in time for the start of the NFL season, the 10 AM to 1 PM time slot has officially gone to sports. Panthers TV voice Steve Goldstein has been named interim host of that time slot.Miami's Channel 6, the NBC-TV affiliate, has cut back on its sports department with the layoffs of sportscaster Andrea Brody along with Jeff Tavss, who had served as Executive Sports Producer. The station is now down to a 2 person department, Joe Rose and Adam Kuperstein.
HOUSTON: Like Miami, reductions on the TV sports side. Keith Norton has left KPRC-TV Channel 2 after nearly 3 years, with management admitting that the position will not be filled. At Channel 39, Ray Fisher is out and that station now only brings the "Sports Minute" as part of its one hour nightly newscast. Why even bother with sports at all?
LOS ANGELES: It is tough enough to go up against Vin Scully, such as Charlie Steiner and Rick Monday do during Dodgers home games and road games in the west when Scully does most of the games on TV.But Steiner made it worse this past Sunday (7/6) from San Diego when the Padres shocked the Dodgers with a 5 run 9th inning to tie the game and send it to extra innings. The problem was that the Padres got the 2 run hit which tied the game with 2 out in the 9th, and the 3rd out was made on the bases an instant after the tying run had scored.
Steiner first reported that the "out" on the basepaths meant that the Dodgers had won the game, which they had not. Seconds later, he corrected himself, but the damage had already been done. Basic radio play-by-play instinct is that you wait until you are certain of what happened before relaying it to the audience. There were likely some fans who instantly turned the game off before Steiner made his immediate correction and apologized.
By all accounts, Vin Scully handled that play as smooth as always on the TV side. But, unfortunately for Charlie, one doesn't need nearly 60 years of play-by-play experience to call an important play correctly all the way through.
DENVER: KEPN 1600, the local ESPN Radio outlet will debut its new 7 - 9 AM morning show next week. Gary Miller (from Channel 4) and Vic Lombardi will host "Sports Insiders".
TAMPA: AM 1010 seems to have phased out the Sports Chix from its Noon to 3 PM weekday slot. Lynne Austin supposedly resigned within two weeks of Leslee Lacey also leaving the show. Tom Krasniqi has been named to take over the slot, but no co-host has been named as of this writing.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sports Media Report - February 24th update.........
Could we have both sports figures and broadcasters looking at their watches while live on the air? Last Wednesday's (Feb. 18) college hoops game between North Carolina and NC State just might lead to a clock company becoming a corporate sponsor for a sports team. It could be quite the marketing tie-in.
What brought this on? During his post-game press conference, an emotional North Carolina coach Roy Williams used the f-word in answer to a question about his team's full court press (or lack thereof) in the just concluded game against N.C. State. Understandable, except that both the Tar Heels and Wolfpack Radio Networks, broadcasting live on numerous stations (including several duplicate markets) each carried this response live on the air.
Yet, we are not hearing or reading about possible fines of groups of radio stations which aired this. At least not yet. The reason? It is not because this could be considered a live news story. And it is not because the Coach immediately apologized, likely knowing his comments might have been (and indeed were) live on the air. It seems that Coach Williams made his comment after 10:00 PM, which is considered part of the "Safe Harbor" period by the FCC.
Personally, my hope is that the decision makers about carrying these press conferences live will keep in mind that this was a post-game press conference and not something that slipped through during an actual game. There have been a share of live 'language mishaps' during game action.
Considering the delay of a post-game press conference, which some radio and TV stations already do just for this reason, needs to be treated differently from delaying any game action.
It will be interesting to see if anyone else keeps the "Safe Harbor" situation in mind in the near future, especially if this incident continues to sneak through without a major reaction.
This brought back a memory of the late 80's when the "Safe Harbor" first went into effect between Midnight and 6:00 AM. I was living in Los Angeles and listening to KLSX in its days as a classic rock station. Phil Hendrie was then a late night music host. One night, he slipped up reading an announcement and said "Ooops. I'll get my (s-word) together". I was shocked, but then looked at my watch and it was four minutes past Midnight. And I never heard or read another word about that incident - and that was from the announcer on the air.
But in this instance, I have to believe the coach's incident aired live because both networks were airing this, and I'm sure neither wanted to wait until possibly after the other started to air it because of the duplication of markets. Yet, a few minutes earlier, and the FCC could have issued up millions in fines.
It's "Play Ball" big time starting this week for the exciting new MLB Network. In addition to one hour shows devoted to each team airing over the next 4 weeks, the Network has announced a full slate of spring training telecasts, most of them live, starting with two games on the first day of exhibition games. (The tentative schedule is shown below.)
SAN FRANCISCO - Oakland A's fans might have a tougher challenge than the A's themselves when the regular season starts. The A's games have moved to stations which are not strong signals. Now Comcast SportsNet and DirecTV still have not worked out their greed. Or should I say, financial differences. Of course, thousands of fans could lose out.
This season, as many as 145 of the A's games are to be shown on CSN. However, negotiations are continuing for the regional DirecTV feed, which as of this writing, is not settled. While Comcast
SportsNet and DirecTV officials have begun the usual public mudslinging that has become a part of the sports on TV landscape over the past couple of years, an estimated 300,000+ households might not have access to the A's games.
This, while the A's get millions from Comcast SportsNet for the rights to practically all of their games. And while many fans will have difficulty hearing or seeing the games. And this after the San Francisco Giants, with an expanded cable package of 134 games and only 20 games on KPIX Channel 11 (plus national telecasts) will have at least 159 out of 162 games televised.
For the sake of Bay Area baseball fans who are finally getting a major assortment of TV games, let's hope this does get resolved. It is not a given. Comcast's CSN Northwest in the Portland area has the Blazers' NBA telecasts, and those are still not available on that area's DirectTV, now almost 2/3 into this NBA season.
For those with digital cable in the Bay Area, Giants and A's games will be available for replay the next day at no additional charge.
NATIONAL - Maybe this information will alert sports radio stations which continue to carry delayed sports talk shows. This is a separate battle from the local vs. syndicated discussion. Sports stations in markets as large as Los Angeles and Chicago continue to air sports shows delayed by hours which sometimes results in outdated stories on the air.
Now comes word from ESPN that since going to live SportsCenter and related programming into the late morning and early afternoon its viewership is up anywhere from 10% to 20% so far. Sports fans want it "now".
PITTSBURGH - New Pirates play-by-play voice Tim Neverett makes his debut on Wednesday (Feb. 25) calling the Pirates exhibition opener against the Phillies on flagship WPGB 104.7 FM and the Pirates Radio Network. Greg Brown will also continue with play-by-play, with analysis from Steve Blass, Bob Walk, and John Wehner. Pirates radio will carry 16 spring training games, a higher total than most teams this season. FSN Pittsburgh will carry 125 regular season and 2 spring training games.
BOSTON - WEEI Sports Radio programming continues to go regional. Cape Cod's 96.3 FM will carry WEEI sports beginning April 1st, and will change its call letters to WEII. The Hyannis station will continue its music format through March.
BALTIMORE / D.C.: The rumor mill is churning about WJFK 106.7 in Washington possibly changing from "guy talk" to sports talk to compete with ESPN 980. I have to wonder about that, considering that nearby Baltimore has four - count 'em, four - sports stations, after CBS changed the former WHFS to sports WJZ-FM.
Here's hoping for a speedy recovery to WBAL afternoon host Ron Smith after emergency heart surgery on Feb. 14th. Same for WRC Channel 4 sports reporter Dan Hellie, recovering from a shoulder separation suffered in a ski accident last week.
No replacement named yet at D.C.'s WTTG Channel 5 for a weekend sports anchor postion. Dave Benz is leaving to join Comcast SportsNet Bay Area in San Francisco. Benz had previously anchored for FSN Rocky Mountain in the Denver area.
DENVER - Speaking of Denver, Mile High Sports 1510 AM is adding a weekly NASCAR radio show, "Hansen's Race Central" with Kurt Hansen. However, with some NASCAR events on Saturdays, a Sunday morning slot wouldn't be a fit every weekend. The show will air at the unusual but "fresh" time of 10 AM to Noon on Fridays. If race fans remember or are able to tune in, they will get timely information.
WHEELING: Sorry to learn of the passing of George Kellas, who passed away last week (Feb. 19) from cancer at the age of 53. Kellas was a sports anchor for eight years at WTOV-TV and for 12 years at WTRF-TV. Most recently, George hosted a show on KKKX 1600 AM since 2004.
MLB NETWORK SPRING TRAINING BROADCAST SCHEDULE
*Indicates live broadcast
All times ET and subject to change
February 25 3:00 p.m.* San Francisco Giants @ Cleveland Indians
7:00 p.m.* Boston Red Sox @ Minnesota Twins
February 26 4:00 p.m. Arizona Diamondbacks @ Cleveland Indians
February 27 1:00 p.m.* St. Louis Cardinals @ New York Mets
5:00 p.m. San Diego Padres @ Cleveland Indians
February 28 1:00 p.m.* Tampa Bay Rays @ Philadelphia Phillies
5:00 p.m. Minnesota Twins @ New York Yankees
March 1 1:00 p.m.* Boston Red Sox @ Minnesota Twins
5:00 p.m. Chicago White Sox @ Los Angeles Dodgers
9:00 p.m. Houston Astros @ New York Mets
March 3 1:00 p.m.* USA @ New York Yankees (WBC Exhibition)
5:00 p.m. Canada @ Toronto Blue Jays (WBC Exhibition)
March 4 9:00 p.m.* Australia @ Seattle Mariners (WBC Exhibition)
March 5 4:00 p.m.* Chicago White Sox @ Chicago Cubs
March 6 1:00 p.m.* Washington Nationals @ Baltimore Orioles
March 7 3:00 p.m.* Oakland Athletics @ San Diego Padres
March 9 1:00 p.m.* Baltimore Orioles @ New York Mets
March 14 4:00 p.m.* Texas Rangers @ Chicago White Sox
March 15 1:00 p.m.* St. Louis Cardinals @ Philadelphia Phillies
8:30 p.m. Kansas City Royals @ San Francisco Giants
March 16 1:00 p.m.* St. Louis Cardinals @ Detroit Tigers
7:00 p.m.* Tampa Bay Rays @ Pittsburgh Pirates
March 17 1:00 p.m.* Minnesota Twins @ Boston Red Sox
March 18 1:00 p.m.* Atlanta Braves @ New York Mets
March 19 1:00 p.m.* St. Louis Cardinals @ Tampa Bay Rays
7:00 p.m.* Boston Red Sox @ Cincinnati Reds
March 20 1:00 p.m.* Cincinnati Reds @ Houston Astros
5:00 p.m. San Diego Padres @ Chicago Cubs
9:00 p.m.* Los Angeles Dodgers @ Kansas City Royals
March 21 1:00 p.m.* Boston Red Sox @ Florida Marlins
5:00 p.m. Chicago Cubs @ Chicago White Sox
March 22 1:00 p.m.* New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays
5:00 p.m. Cleveland Indians @ Colorado Rockies
March 23 1:00 p.m.* Florida Marlins @ Houston Astros
5:00 p.m. Milwaukee Brewers @ Colorado Rockies
March 24 1:00 p.m.* New York Mets @ Houston Astros
7:00 p.m.* Boston Red Sox @ New York Yankees
March 25 1:00 p.m.* Detroit Tigers @ New York Mets
7:00 p.m.* Atlanta Braves @ Washington Nationals
March 26 4:00 p.m.* Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim @ Cleveland Indians
10:30 p.m.* Chicago Cubs @ San Francisco Giants
March 27 1:00 p.m.* Detroit Tigers @ Atlanta Braves
9:00 p.m.* Milwaukee Brewers @ Texas Rangers
March 28 1:00 p.m.* Philadelphia Phillies @ Pittsburgh Pirates
5:00 p.m. Chicago Cubs @ Colorado Rockies
9:00 p.m. New York Yankees @ Atlanta Braves
March 29 1:00 p.m.* Atlanta Braves @ Detroit Tigers
5:00 p.m. Kansas City Royals @ Seattle Mariners
March 30 1:00 p.m.* Tampa Bay Rays @ Minnesota Twins
7:00 p.m.* San Diego Padres @ Cleveland Indians
March 31 4:00 p.m.* Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim @ Chicago Cubs
10:00 p.m.* Milwaukee Brewers @ San Diego Padres
April 1 1:00 p.m.* Florida Marlins @ Baltimore Orioles
5:00 p.m. Texas Rangers @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
9:00 p.m. Arizona Diamondbacks @ Milwaukee Brewers
April 2 3:00 p.m.* Chicago White Sox @ Milwaukee Brewers
10:00 p.m.* Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim @ Los Angeles Dodgers
April 3 7:00 p.m.* Chicago Cubs @ New York Yankees
April 4 1:00 p.m.* Boston Red Sox @ New York Mets
6:00 p.m.* Baltimore Orioles @ Washington Nationals
10:00 p.m.* Milwaukee Brewers @ Los Angeles Dodgers
What brought this on? During his post-game press conference, an emotional North Carolina coach Roy Williams used the f-word in answer to a question about his team's full court press (or lack thereof) in the just concluded game against N.C. State. Understandable, except that both the Tar Heels and Wolfpack Radio Networks, broadcasting live on numerous stations (including several duplicate markets) each carried this response live on the air.
Yet, we are not hearing or reading about possible fines of groups of radio stations which aired this. At least not yet. The reason? It is not because this could be considered a live news story. And it is not because the Coach immediately apologized, likely knowing his comments might have been (and indeed were) live on the air. It seems that Coach Williams made his comment after 10:00 PM, which is considered part of the "Safe Harbor" period by the FCC.
Personally, my hope is that the decision makers about carrying these press conferences live will keep in mind that this was a post-game press conference and not something that slipped through during an actual game. There have been a share of live 'language mishaps' during game action.
Considering the delay of a post-game press conference, which some radio and TV stations already do just for this reason, needs to be treated differently from delaying any game action.
It will be interesting to see if anyone else keeps the "Safe Harbor" situation in mind in the near future, especially if this incident continues to sneak through without a major reaction.
This brought back a memory of the late 80's when the "Safe Harbor" first went into effect between Midnight and 6:00 AM. I was living in Los Angeles and listening to KLSX in its days as a classic rock station. Phil Hendrie was then a late night music host. One night, he slipped up reading an announcement and said "Ooops. I'll get my (s-word) together". I was shocked, but then looked at my watch and it was four minutes past Midnight. And I never heard or read another word about that incident - and that was from the announcer on the air.
But in this instance, I have to believe the coach's incident aired live because both networks were airing this, and I'm sure neither wanted to wait until possibly after the other started to air it because of the duplication of markets. Yet, a few minutes earlier, and the FCC could have issued up millions in fines.
It's "Play Ball" big time starting this week for the exciting new MLB Network. In addition to one hour shows devoted to each team airing over the next 4 weeks, the Network has announced a full slate of spring training telecasts, most of them live, starting with two games on the first day of exhibition games. (The tentative schedule is shown below.)
SAN FRANCISCO - Oakland A's fans might have a tougher challenge than the A's themselves when the regular season starts. The A's games have moved to stations which are not strong signals. Now Comcast SportsNet and DirecTV still have not worked out their greed. Or should I say, financial differences. Of course, thousands of fans could lose out.
This season, as many as 145 of the A's games are to be shown on CSN. However, negotiations are continuing for the regional DirecTV feed, which as of this writing, is not settled. While Comcast
SportsNet and DirecTV officials have begun the usual public mudslinging that has become a part of the sports on TV landscape over the past couple of years, an estimated 300,000+ households might not have access to the A's games.
This, while the A's get millions from Comcast SportsNet for the rights to practically all of their games. And while many fans will have difficulty hearing or seeing the games. And this after the San Francisco Giants, with an expanded cable package of 134 games and only 20 games on KPIX Channel 11 (plus national telecasts) will have at least 159 out of 162 games televised.
For the sake of Bay Area baseball fans who are finally getting a major assortment of TV games, let's hope this does get resolved. It is not a given. Comcast's CSN Northwest in the Portland area has the Blazers' NBA telecasts, and those are still not available on that area's DirectTV, now almost 2/3 into this NBA season.
For those with digital cable in the Bay Area, Giants and A's games will be available for replay the next day at no additional charge.
NATIONAL - Maybe this information will alert sports radio stations which continue to carry delayed sports talk shows. This is a separate battle from the local vs. syndicated discussion. Sports stations in markets as large as Los Angeles and Chicago continue to air sports shows delayed by hours which sometimes results in outdated stories on the air.
Now comes word from ESPN that since going to live SportsCenter and related programming into the late morning and early afternoon its viewership is up anywhere from 10% to 20% so far. Sports fans want it "now".
PITTSBURGH - New Pirates play-by-play voice Tim Neverett makes his debut on Wednesday (Feb. 25) calling the Pirates exhibition opener against the Phillies on flagship WPGB 104.7 FM and the Pirates Radio Network. Greg Brown will also continue with play-by-play, with analysis from Steve Blass, Bob Walk, and John Wehner. Pirates radio will carry 16 spring training games, a higher total than most teams this season. FSN Pittsburgh will carry 125 regular season and 2 spring training games.
BOSTON - WEEI Sports Radio programming continues to go regional. Cape Cod's 96.3 FM will carry WEEI sports beginning April 1st, and will change its call letters to WEII. The Hyannis station will continue its music format through March.
BALTIMORE / D.C.: The rumor mill is churning about WJFK 106.7 in Washington possibly changing from "guy talk" to sports talk to compete with ESPN 980. I have to wonder about that, considering that nearby Baltimore has four - count 'em, four - sports stations, after CBS changed the former WHFS to sports WJZ-FM.
Here's hoping for a speedy recovery to WBAL afternoon host Ron Smith after emergency heart surgery on Feb. 14th. Same for WRC Channel 4 sports reporter Dan Hellie, recovering from a shoulder separation suffered in a ski accident last week.
No replacement named yet at D.C.'s WTTG Channel 5 for a weekend sports anchor postion. Dave Benz is leaving to join Comcast SportsNet Bay Area in San Francisco. Benz had previously anchored for FSN Rocky Mountain in the Denver area.
DENVER - Speaking of Denver, Mile High Sports 1510 AM is adding a weekly NASCAR radio show, "Hansen's Race Central" with Kurt Hansen. However, with some NASCAR events on Saturdays, a Sunday morning slot wouldn't be a fit every weekend. The show will air at the unusual but "fresh" time of 10 AM to Noon on Fridays. If race fans remember or are able to tune in, they will get timely information.
WHEELING: Sorry to learn of the passing of George Kellas, who passed away last week (Feb. 19) from cancer at the age of 53. Kellas was a sports anchor for eight years at WTOV-TV and for 12 years at WTRF-TV. Most recently, George hosted a show on KKKX 1600 AM since 2004.
MLB NETWORK SPRING TRAINING BROADCAST SCHEDULE
*Indicates live broadcast
All times ET and subject to change
February 25 3:00 p.m.* San Francisco Giants @ Cleveland Indians
7:00 p.m.* Boston Red Sox @ Minnesota Twins
February 26 4:00 p.m. Arizona Diamondbacks @ Cleveland Indians
February 27 1:00 p.m.* St. Louis Cardinals @ New York Mets
5:00 p.m. San Diego Padres @ Cleveland Indians
February 28 1:00 p.m.* Tampa Bay Rays @ Philadelphia Phillies
5:00 p.m. Minnesota Twins @ New York Yankees
March 1 1:00 p.m.* Boston Red Sox @ Minnesota Twins
5:00 p.m. Chicago White Sox @ Los Angeles Dodgers
9:00 p.m. Houston Astros @ New York Mets
March 3 1:00 p.m.* USA @ New York Yankees (WBC Exhibition)
5:00 p.m. Canada @ Toronto Blue Jays (WBC Exhibition)
March 4 9:00 p.m.* Australia @ Seattle Mariners (WBC Exhibition)
March 5 4:00 p.m.* Chicago White Sox @ Chicago Cubs
March 6 1:00 p.m.* Washington Nationals @ Baltimore Orioles
March 7 3:00 p.m.* Oakland Athletics @ San Diego Padres
March 9 1:00 p.m.* Baltimore Orioles @ New York Mets
March 14 4:00 p.m.* Texas Rangers @ Chicago White Sox
March 15 1:00 p.m.* St. Louis Cardinals @ Philadelphia Phillies
8:30 p.m. Kansas City Royals @ San Francisco Giants
March 16 1:00 p.m.* St. Louis Cardinals @ Detroit Tigers
7:00 p.m.* Tampa Bay Rays @ Pittsburgh Pirates
March 17 1:00 p.m.* Minnesota Twins @ Boston Red Sox
March 18 1:00 p.m.* Atlanta Braves @ New York Mets
March 19 1:00 p.m.* St. Louis Cardinals @ Tampa Bay Rays
7:00 p.m.* Boston Red Sox @ Cincinnati Reds
March 20 1:00 p.m.* Cincinnati Reds @ Houston Astros
5:00 p.m. San Diego Padres @ Chicago Cubs
9:00 p.m.* Los Angeles Dodgers @ Kansas City Royals
March 21 1:00 p.m.* Boston Red Sox @ Florida Marlins
5:00 p.m. Chicago Cubs @ Chicago White Sox
March 22 1:00 p.m.* New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays
5:00 p.m. Cleveland Indians @ Colorado Rockies
March 23 1:00 p.m.* Florida Marlins @ Houston Astros
5:00 p.m. Milwaukee Brewers @ Colorado Rockies
March 24 1:00 p.m.* New York Mets @ Houston Astros
7:00 p.m.* Boston Red Sox @ New York Yankees
March 25 1:00 p.m.* Detroit Tigers @ New York Mets
7:00 p.m.* Atlanta Braves @ Washington Nationals
March 26 4:00 p.m.* Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim @ Cleveland Indians
10:30 p.m.* Chicago Cubs @ San Francisco Giants
March 27 1:00 p.m.* Detroit Tigers @ Atlanta Braves
9:00 p.m.* Milwaukee Brewers @ Texas Rangers
March 28 1:00 p.m.* Philadelphia Phillies @ Pittsburgh Pirates
5:00 p.m. Chicago Cubs @ Colorado Rockies
9:00 p.m. New York Yankees @ Atlanta Braves
March 29 1:00 p.m.* Atlanta Braves @ Detroit Tigers
5:00 p.m. Kansas City Royals @ Seattle Mariners
March 30 1:00 p.m.* Tampa Bay Rays @ Minnesota Twins
7:00 p.m.* San Diego Padres @ Cleveland Indians
March 31 4:00 p.m.* Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim @ Chicago Cubs
10:00 p.m.* Milwaukee Brewers @ San Diego Padres
April 1 1:00 p.m.* Florida Marlins @ Baltimore Orioles
5:00 p.m. Texas Rangers @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
9:00 p.m. Arizona Diamondbacks @ Milwaukee Brewers
April 2 3:00 p.m.* Chicago White Sox @ Milwaukee Brewers
10:00 p.m.* Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim @ Los Angeles Dodgers
April 3 7:00 p.m.* Chicago Cubs @ New York Yankees
April 4 1:00 p.m.* Boston Red Sox @ New York Mets
6:00 p.m.* Baltimore Orioles @ Washington Nationals
10:00 p.m.* Milwaukee Brewers @ Los Angeles Dodgers
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Sports Media Update - February 18th..............
While too many sportscasts focus on sports news other than the games themselves being played, now we have an overlooked story about basketball games which may not be able to be broadcast in the interest of selling tickets.
The nomination for the "Say what?" Award of the month goes to the promoters of a pair of Kentucky regional high school basketball tournaments coming up in March. That state's 9th and 10th Region Tournaments will be played at the Bank of Kentucky Center. Yet, arena officials have announced that unless specific games are sold out at least one week prior to being played, there can be no live broadcasts of the games. Not even radio or internet.
The only "exception" would be if a school located more than 30 miles away from the arena is playing. But there is a catch. No teams from the Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference are located more than 30 miles from the 9,400-seat arena.
Let's get this straight. An arena sponsored by a local bank for the benefit of added publicity doesn't want one of its biggest events on radio, TV, or even on the internet. I have made a few inquiries and thus far haven't found out about any local radio stations which are even talking about this, let alone trying to broadcast the games.
As I have commented several times in the past, a high school tournament is the type of event that "should" be on HD Radio and might help to make HD Radio viable after all. News and sports stations could use the secondary and perhaps thirdary channels to broadcast and then replay important high school games.
It gives the people who can't get to the games, such as grandparents and shift workers, the chance to hear a loved one and/or the local school in action. The family of the kid who has the big game or makes the winning shot would want to listen to and record the replay as a keepsake.
Local advertisers would know the small but targeted audience they are reaching.
But the radio stations would rather put on "album b-sides of the 80's" or some format that doesn't cost anything and the people forget about. And now, to top it off, we have a local bank behind preventing local high school tournament games from being broadcast. But where is the Cincinnati media on this one?
To this point, as far as I know, only the Kentucky Enquirer (part of the Cincinnati Enquirer) newspaper and web site have picked up on this story.
KR Sports has handled broadcasting the 9th Region tourney over the years. This new restriction probably means that Kevin Rengering and Randy Wilson will miss doing these broadcasts for first time since 1984.
The arena and promoters "defend" this by saying that a specific tournament game which sells out at least one week in advance could then be broadcast. But this isn't like the NFL where a local TV station buys remaining tickets to be able to have the local telecast and generate the ad revenue. This could be thousands of tickets for each of several games. Since the teams in the games generally aren't known more than a week ahead of time (and don't think that is a coincidence either), a TV or radio station buying tickets early could then be shutting out fans of one or both participating schools.
Meanwhile, elsewhere around Kentucky, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association enables a participating high school to select or allow a broadcast outlet for its games, at a cost of $350 for the radio rights.
If the Bank and the arena are that worried about not selling enough tickets, then don't host the games. But if they insist on bringing greed into high school sports, this is a different story. One that merits additional and immediate attention.
But I'm afraid that with the state of radio management being where it is today, this will go untouched. If I were in a position to do something about this, I would ask a competing bank or S & L to purchase all remaining tickets, give them the value of that purchase in air time, and have that competing bank sponsor the broadcasts after giving away the tickets at their branches nearest the participating schools.
The sponsoring bank generates walk-in traffic from the schools and positive publicity. The radio station has provided a unique opportunity for the bank to deliver its message. The community would be properly served with coverage of its local high school tournament.
And that radio station would perform a positive local innovation. If not, what kind of precedent could this set?
LOS ANGELES - As we suspected last week, the Angels have followed the Texas Rangers into the idea of splitting their radio coverage, as if fans will remember that different stations carry the weekend games than during the week. KFWB 980 will be airing 110 of the Angels regular season games starting in April. KLAA 830 (owned by Angels owner Arte Moreno) will only carry the weekend games.
However inconsistent, this marks a return of baseball to KFWB which was the Dodgers flagship station from 2003 through 2007. The broadcast team stays the same, with Rory Markas and Steve Physioc on play-by-play and Rex Hudler on color, as well as Terry Smith.
As a result, Angels and Rangers fans now have to find out where to listen to the games instead of having one station all the time. This, after trying to find out if that night's game is on over-the-air TV, regional cable (or an overflow channel when conflicts with other teams), ESPN, or Fox-TV. These teams could have a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday series with 3 TV channels and 2 radio stations involved. This helps the fans how?
MILWAUKEE - Cory Provus has left the Chicago Cubs radio booth to become the #2 broadcaster of the division rival Milwaukee Brewers starting immediately. Provus will handle radio play-by-play of the middle 3 innings and pre and post-game shows, with ageless Bob Uecker handling most of the play-by-play.
No replacement named yet for WGN Radio and the Cubs broadcast booth yet, which is only for handling one inning each game to relieve Pat Hughes. Provus is another Syracuse University graduate, coming from the school which has produced Bob Costas, Marv Albert, and Dick Stockton, among others.
CHICAGO - Congrats to Kip Lewis, the son of former New York Jets defensive back and NFL assistant coach Sherman Lewis, has been hired by Comcast SportsNet Chicago. His reporter and anchor duties will begin on March 2nd. Lewis was a sports anchor for WRTV-TV Indianapolis, and is best known for a weekend sports stint at WPIX-TV New York in 2004 and '05.
DENVER - The Rockies TV coverage stands to have improved pre and post-game programming. Fox Sports Rocky Mountain no longer has local studios, and as a result the surrounding game coverage will originate at the site of the game. In a perfect world, this should mean better access to interviews and game specific information. Drew Goodman and George Frazier remain as the play-by-play team.
Nearby Ft. Collins Colorado has 870 KJMP Radio joining the regional network by picking up the Nuggets and Avalanche broadcasts starting in the fall. Flagship KCKK 1510 from Denver takes over, with KTNI 101.5 handling one of the conflicting games. KJMP carries ESPN programming the majority of the time, but word is they are targeting local sports talk prior to the start of the upcoming football season.
Denver's "The Fan" 104.3 FM, which loses the Nuggets and Avalanche, will continue along carrying ESPN Radio's national games. They are adding Colorado College hockey. Realistically, that is not a threat to compete against the Avalanche games. Sister station KEPN 1600 cointinues with Irv Brown and Joe Williams talking sports during the afternoon.
Mile High Sports Radio 1510 is losing morning co-host Tyler Maun to his dream of baseball play-by-play. Maun is leaving the Denver market and relocating to Myrtle Beach to handle the Class A South Carolina Pelicans broadcasts. That will make a nice resume for Maun to have play-by-play experience along with the Denver market, considering that he is at the tender age of 23.
COLUMBUS GA - Out with the local, in with more syndicated programming. Even smaller markets making the cutbacks. Mike Vee and Rachel Baribeau are out from WEAM 1580 as their 4 - 7 PM sports show has been canceled after 2 1/2 years due to budget cutbacks.
The replacement is a syndicated show from Alabama. So much for U. of Georgia fans wanting to hear about their team on a regular basis. The station has added Atlanta Hawks basketball along with the ESPN NBA package. Vee will continue as the voice of the Columbus Cottonmouths road games. This while the Columbus market now has - get this - a mighty one hour of local sports talk each day. And that is on a different station. WSHE 1270 airs B. R. Johnson from Noon to 1 PM on weekdays.
The nomination for the "Say what?" Award of the month goes to the promoters of a pair of Kentucky regional high school basketball tournaments coming up in March. That state's 9th and 10th Region Tournaments will be played at the Bank of Kentucky Center. Yet, arena officials have announced that unless specific games are sold out at least one week prior to being played, there can be no live broadcasts of the games. Not even radio or internet.
The only "exception" would be if a school located more than 30 miles away from the arena is playing. But there is a catch. No teams from the Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference are located more than 30 miles from the 9,400-seat arena.
Let's get this straight. An arena sponsored by a local bank for the benefit of added publicity doesn't want one of its biggest events on radio, TV, or even on the internet. I have made a few inquiries and thus far haven't found out about any local radio stations which are even talking about this, let alone trying to broadcast the games.
As I have commented several times in the past, a high school tournament is the type of event that "should" be on HD Radio and might help to make HD Radio viable after all. News and sports stations could use the secondary and perhaps thirdary channels to broadcast and then replay important high school games.
It gives the people who can't get to the games, such as grandparents and shift workers, the chance to hear a loved one and/or the local school in action. The family of the kid who has the big game or makes the winning shot would want to listen to and record the replay as a keepsake.
Local advertisers would know the small but targeted audience they are reaching.
But the radio stations would rather put on "album b-sides of the 80's" or some format that doesn't cost anything and the people forget about. And now, to top it off, we have a local bank behind preventing local high school tournament games from being broadcast. But where is the Cincinnati media on this one?
To this point, as far as I know, only the Kentucky Enquirer (part of the Cincinnati Enquirer) newspaper and web site have picked up on this story.
KR Sports has handled broadcasting the 9th Region tourney over the years. This new restriction probably means that Kevin Rengering and Randy Wilson will miss doing these broadcasts for first time since 1984.
The arena and promoters "defend" this by saying that a specific tournament game which sells out at least one week in advance could then be broadcast. But this isn't like the NFL where a local TV station buys remaining tickets to be able to have the local telecast and generate the ad revenue. This could be thousands of tickets for each of several games. Since the teams in the games generally aren't known more than a week ahead of time (and don't think that is a coincidence either), a TV or radio station buying tickets early could then be shutting out fans of one or both participating schools.
Meanwhile, elsewhere around Kentucky, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association enables a participating high school to select or allow a broadcast outlet for its games, at a cost of $350 for the radio rights.
If the Bank and the arena are that worried about not selling enough tickets, then don't host the games. But if they insist on bringing greed into high school sports, this is a different story. One that merits additional and immediate attention.
But I'm afraid that with the state of radio management being where it is today, this will go untouched. If I were in a position to do something about this, I would ask a competing bank or S & L to purchase all remaining tickets, give them the value of that purchase in air time, and have that competing bank sponsor the broadcasts after giving away the tickets at their branches nearest the participating schools.
The sponsoring bank generates walk-in traffic from the schools and positive publicity. The radio station has provided a unique opportunity for the bank to deliver its message. The community would be properly served with coverage of its local high school tournament.
And that radio station would perform a positive local innovation. If not, what kind of precedent could this set?
LOS ANGELES - As we suspected last week, the Angels have followed the Texas Rangers into the idea of splitting their radio coverage, as if fans will remember that different stations carry the weekend games than during the week. KFWB 980 will be airing 110 of the Angels regular season games starting in April. KLAA 830 (owned by Angels owner Arte Moreno) will only carry the weekend games.
However inconsistent, this marks a return of baseball to KFWB which was the Dodgers flagship station from 2003 through 2007. The broadcast team stays the same, with Rory Markas and Steve Physioc on play-by-play and Rex Hudler on color, as well as Terry Smith.
As a result, Angels and Rangers fans now have to find out where to listen to the games instead of having one station all the time. This, after trying to find out if that night's game is on over-the-air TV, regional cable (or an overflow channel when conflicts with other teams), ESPN, or Fox-TV. These teams could have a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday series with 3 TV channels and 2 radio stations involved. This helps the fans how?
MILWAUKEE - Cory Provus has left the Chicago Cubs radio booth to become the #2 broadcaster of the division rival Milwaukee Brewers starting immediately. Provus will handle radio play-by-play of the middle 3 innings and pre and post-game shows, with ageless Bob Uecker handling most of the play-by-play.
No replacement named yet for WGN Radio and the Cubs broadcast booth yet, which is only for handling one inning each game to relieve Pat Hughes. Provus is another Syracuse University graduate, coming from the school which has produced Bob Costas, Marv Albert, and Dick Stockton, among others.
CHICAGO - Congrats to Kip Lewis, the son of former New York Jets defensive back and NFL assistant coach Sherman Lewis, has been hired by Comcast SportsNet Chicago. His reporter and anchor duties will begin on March 2nd. Lewis was a sports anchor for WRTV-TV Indianapolis, and is best known for a weekend sports stint at WPIX-TV New York in 2004 and '05.
DENVER - The Rockies TV coverage stands to have improved pre and post-game programming. Fox Sports Rocky Mountain no longer has local studios, and as a result the surrounding game coverage will originate at the site of the game. In a perfect world, this should mean better access to interviews and game specific information. Drew Goodman and George Frazier remain as the play-by-play team.
Nearby Ft. Collins Colorado has 870 KJMP Radio joining the regional network by picking up the Nuggets and Avalanche broadcasts starting in the fall. Flagship KCKK 1510 from Denver takes over, with KTNI 101.5 handling one of the conflicting games. KJMP carries ESPN programming the majority of the time, but word is they are targeting local sports talk prior to the start of the upcoming football season.
Denver's "The Fan" 104.3 FM, which loses the Nuggets and Avalanche, will continue along carrying ESPN Radio's national games. They are adding Colorado College hockey. Realistically, that is not a threat to compete against the Avalanche games. Sister station KEPN 1600 cointinues with Irv Brown and Joe Williams talking sports during the afternoon.
Mile High Sports Radio 1510 is losing morning co-host Tyler Maun to his dream of baseball play-by-play. Maun is leaving the Denver market and relocating to Myrtle Beach to handle the Class A South Carolina Pelicans broadcasts. That will make a nice resume for Maun to have play-by-play experience along with the Denver market, considering that he is at the tender age of 23.
COLUMBUS GA - Out with the local, in with more syndicated programming. Even smaller markets making the cutbacks. Mike Vee and Rachel Baribeau are out from WEAM 1580 as their 4 - 7 PM sports show has been canceled after 2 1/2 years due to budget cutbacks.
The replacement is a syndicated show from Alabama. So much for U. of Georgia fans wanting to hear about their team on a regular basis. The station has added Atlanta Hawks basketball along with the ESPN NBA package. Vee will continue as the voice of the Columbus Cottonmouths road games. This while the Columbus market now has - get this - a mighty one hour of local sports talk each day. And that is on a different station. WSHE 1270 airs B. R. Johnson from Noon to 1 PM on weekdays.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Sports Media Report - November 19th update
The Houston Astros, like the N.Y. Mets, are standing pat as far as their flagship radio outlet is concerned. KTRH 740 will indeed remain as the Astros station for 2009. The night time signal strength of KTRH is believed to have been an important factor in negotiations. Exact length and terms have yet to be announced. Thus, the two largest National League teams with radio rights up for 2009 have now both stayed with the same station, as the Mets already announced continuing and adding coverage through WFAN.
On the TV side, the Colorado Rockies have just announced a (get this) 12 year contract extension with FSN Rocky Mountain which runs through the 2020 season. This contract reflects the national trend of fewer games on over-the-air TV and many more on cable. To the point that KTVD-TV will no longer carry any Rockies games, effective immediately. FSN Rocky Mountain will carry approximately 150 games each season, which covers everything except for Fox and any exclusive ESPN (or other cable network) telecasts.
To put this in perspective, when FSN Rocky Mountain first televised any Rockies games in 1997, they showed a grand total of seven games. Ironically, this announcement comes on the heels of a reported 5.5% decline in Rockies ratings from the recently completed season. The expert level of coverage will continue, as FSN plans to continue with extended pre and post-game programming and the post-game manager's press conference. Some cable systems in Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nebraska, and Kansas, are also expected to receive the telecasts.
Needless to say, comments abound from the big announcement that ESPN will handle the BCS telecasts from January 2011 through January of 2014 and the impact on the championship system and the game itself. Or is it a "game" anymore?
I feel like saying the 'business' of college football in every sentence. This new agreement continues the current system which supposedly determines a national champion each season but really continues the same arguments that have gone on for years. Only at a much higher cost.
Normally, I don't step away from the field and make this a business column either. But I have a different take on this ESPN BCS announcement and its true impact on the 'business' of college football.
Hundreds of millions of dollars supposedly go to the universities and colleges. Yet, tuition plus room and board continue to rise. Advertisers will be charged more money to help pay the freight, which usually means an increase in the cost of products and services which spend the big promotional dollars. The price of game tickets, even at the college level, continues to rise to the point of pricing out more people than ever before who are not current students. Yet, the players who lead their school to a conference, bowl game, or a national championship, are not paid any of this cash.
And all of this while universities and conferences are forming their own TV and marketing deals for direct profit. It may be more interesting than the games themselves to see how this shakes out within the next few months. Will the upcoming BCS Series sell all of its TV time? Word is that there are still national spots available during the upcoming Super Bowl.
Oh, and before we get to college championship time, the TV competition heats up in early December.
The Dec. 6th rivalry game between Arizona and Arizona State has been moved to a 6:00 PM start time. Of course, it has been moved for television. Believe it or not, not just for one telecast. ESPN will carry the game, but it will also be shown, via separate feed and announcers, in Arizona on Fox Sports Arizona. FSA can show the game based on its Pac 12 contract; however the non-exclusive portion of the contract allows ESPN to step in.
Thanksgiving weekend college football telecasts have also been announced. CBS will have LSU at Arkansas, with Don Criqui and Dan Fouts on the call, for Friday Nov. 28th at 2:30 ET. On Sat. Nov. 29th CBS shows Georgia vs. Georgia TEch followed by Alabama hosting Auburn.
On the NFL side, CBS has moved the N.Y. Jets game vs. Denver to a 4:00 ET start on Nov. 30th. Given that the Jets and Giants were both tentatively scheduled for 1:00 ET that day, it was inevitable that one of those games would go later. Fox keeps the Giants vs. Washington game for its early primary regional telecast.
Following up on a comment from last week, we did receive clarification about FOX-TV's decision to send Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to handle the Cowboys vs. 49ers telecast this coming Sunday (Nov. 23). Turns out it is a matter of logistics, as the Fox "#1 crew" needs to be in Dallas for the Thanksgiving game just 4 days later. Thus, Kenny Albert calling the Giants vs. Cardinals doubleheader game will be seen in more than 75% of the nation.
Getting back to baseball, Dennis Eckersley will continue as studio analyst for Red Sox telecasts on NESN under a new contract. Eck is also expected to continue in studio for TBS for next season.
No word yet from Chicago as to whether or not Darin Jackson will shift over to the White Sox radio booth or leave to pursue other opportunities. A decision had been expected within 2 weeks of the end of the World Series.
Meanwhile, word from Los Angeles is that veteran sportscaster Rory Markas continues a positive recovery from blood clot surgery on his brain. Steve Physioc continues to fill in for Rory on USC basketball broadcasts, except for a few schedule conflicts. USC football voice Pete Arbogast was originally selected to fill in for Physioc filling in for Markas.
Now the L.A. Daily News reports that sources claim Arbogast complained to USC's Athletic Director about that decision. Athletic Director Mike Garrett took action in response. Pac-10 Conference basketball play-by-play man Isaac Lowendron, who has also called games on KLAC 570, will handle the assignments originally targeted for Arbogast. Ooops.
On the TV side, the Colorado Rockies have just announced a (get this) 12 year contract extension with FSN Rocky Mountain which runs through the 2020 season. This contract reflects the national trend of fewer games on over-the-air TV and many more on cable. To the point that KTVD-TV will no longer carry any Rockies games, effective immediately. FSN Rocky Mountain will carry approximately 150 games each season, which covers everything except for Fox and any exclusive ESPN (or other cable network) telecasts.
To put this in perspective, when FSN Rocky Mountain first televised any Rockies games in 1997, they showed a grand total of seven games. Ironically, this announcement comes on the heels of a reported 5.5% decline in Rockies ratings from the recently completed season. The expert level of coverage will continue, as FSN plans to continue with extended pre and post-game programming and the post-game manager's press conference. Some cable systems in Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nebraska, and Kansas, are also expected to receive the telecasts.
Needless to say, comments abound from the big announcement that ESPN will handle the BCS telecasts from January 2011 through January of 2014 and the impact on the championship system and the game itself. Or is it a "game" anymore?
I feel like saying the 'business' of college football in every sentence. This new agreement continues the current system which supposedly determines a national champion each season but really continues the same arguments that have gone on for years. Only at a much higher cost.
Normally, I don't step away from the field and make this a business column either. But I have a different take on this ESPN BCS announcement and its true impact on the 'business' of college football.
Hundreds of millions of dollars supposedly go to the universities and colleges. Yet, tuition plus room and board continue to rise. Advertisers will be charged more money to help pay the freight, which usually means an increase in the cost of products and services which spend the big promotional dollars. The price of game tickets, even at the college level, continues to rise to the point of pricing out more people than ever before who are not current students. Yet, the players who lead their school to a conference, bowl game, or a national championship, are not paid any of this cash.
And all of this while universities and conferences are forming their own TV and marketing deals for direct profit. It may be more interesting than the games themselves to see how this shakes out within the next few months. Will the upcoming BCS Series sell all of its TV time? Word is that there are still national spots available during the upcoming Super Bowl.
Oh, and before we get to college championship time, the TV competition heats up in early December.
The Dec. 6th rivalry game between Arizona and Arizona State has been moved to a 6:00 PM start time. Of course, it has been moved for television. Believe it or not, not just for one telecast. ESPN will carry the game, but it will also be shown, via separate feed and announcers, in Arizona on Fox Sports Arizona. FSA can show the game based on its Pac 12 contract; however the non-exclusive portion of the contract allows ESPN to step in.
Thanksgiving weekend college football telecasts have also been announced. CBS will have LSU at Arkansas, with Don Criqui and Dan Fouts on the call, for Friday Nov. 28th at 2:30 ET. On Sat. Nov. 29th CBS shows Georgia vs. Georgia TEch followed by Alabama hosting Auburn.
On the NFL side, CBS has moved the N.Y. Jets game vs. Denver to a 4:00 ET start on Nov. 30th. Given that the Jets and Giants were both tentatively scheduled for 1:00 ET that day, it was inevitable that one of those games would go later. Fox keeps the Giants vs. Washington game for its early primary regional telecast.
Following up on a comment from last week, we did receive clarification about FOX-TV's decision to send Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to handle the Cowboys vs. 49ers telecast this coming Sunday (Nov. 23). Turns out it is a matter of logistics, as the Fox "#1 crew" needs to be in Dallas for the Thanksgiving game just 4 days later. Thus, Kenny Albert calling the Giants vs. Cardinals doubleheader game will be seen in more than 75% of the nation.
Getting back to baseball, Dennis Eckersley will continue as studio analyst for Red Sox telecasts on NESN under a new contract. Eck is also expected to continue in studio for TBS for next season.
No word yet from Chicago as to whether or not Darin Jackson will shift over to the White Sox radio booth or leave to pursue other opportunities. A decision had been expected within 2 weeks of the end of the World Series.
Meanwhile, word from Los Angeles is that veteran sportscaster Rory Markas continues a positive recovery from blood clot surgery on his brain. Steve Physioc continues to fill in for Rory on USC basketball broadcasts, except for a few schedule conflicts. USC football voice Pete Arbogast was originally selected to fill in for Physioc filling in for Markas.
Now the L.A. Daily News reports that sources claim Arbogast complained to USC's Athletic Director about that decision. Athletic Director Mike Garrett took action in response. Pac-10 Conference basketball play-by-play man Isaac Lowendron, who has also called games on KLAC 570, will handle the assignments originally targeted for Arbogast. Ooops.
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