Sports fans continue to benefit by the various major sports having multiple networks showing their games, and even moreso based on recent announcements and events.
Even the NHL is catching up and not hiding their telecasts liked they used to, or so it seemed. For yars, every MLB and NFL playoff game has been televised on a national basis. Last season, NBA-TV filled in the occasional early round "gap" and made certain that every playoff game was seen nationally. We are also in the midst of our second year of every NCAA Basketball Tournament game being seen live on one of four channels.
NBC has come out with the announcement that starting in early April, every NHL playoff game will be shown live. NBC will continue to showcase weekend action, with NBC Sports Network providing doubelheader coverage when possible. In addition, CNBC will be utilized to show additional early round action, since the strength of CNBC programming comes during the business day and would not be impacted by NHL coverage at night. NHL Network will also carry local feeds of additional telecasts.
This is good to see, as networks normally competing for viewers continue to work together, including cross-promotion, for the benefit of fans of the sport or the league(s). After all, CBS would normally not promote programming appearing on TNT or TBS, and vice versa, but these networks have devoted air time toward cross promoting the NCAA telecasts.
Even on regular season NBA telecasts, ESPN/ABC and TNT regularly promote the "national TV schedule" within their game telecasts regardless of which games are on other networks.
On the heels of this comes the word that Fox Sports is partnering with MLB Network for its Saturday baseball pre-game show starting in just over 2 weeks. The pregame show for the Fox Game Of The Week will now originate from the MLB Network studios, and be hosted by Matt Vasgersian. Personnel from both MLB Network and Fox Sports will participate.
This all serves to show how far the various "league" networks have come, and the progress they continue to add. NBA-TV did a great job with its "Trade Deadline Special" last week (3/15), with a 2-hour live special centered upon the league trade deadline. The network also came back with a prime-time recap and a fresh look at the teams. Of course, the network had no way of knowing there would not be a major deal done, but having this show available and utilizing the available resources around the league was a great approach. For the NBA fan, it certainly beat hours of nothing but speculation on the various sports talk radio stations around the country. NBA-TV also didn't stop because these shows were on up against the NCAA opening round telecasts during the afternoon, instead doing their job to maintain interest in NBA activities on what could have been a significant day.
NFL Media, which includes NFL Network (along with NFL.com and NFL Films) has received 14 Sports Emmy Award nominations. This is an amazing and very positive reflection on NFL Media. Other award nominees come from the various networks and programmers who invest millions and millions of dollars and use prime time toward showcasing the games and leagues they telecast.
Included among the nominations are Mike Mayock, who acted as analyst for NFL Network's Thursday Night Football telecasts this past season. Mayock was established as analyst on NBC's Notre Dame football telecasts and did quite well in his first regular NFL assignment.
By the way, NBC has moved the Notre Dame vs. Miami college football telecast on October 6th, which will be played in Chicago at Soldier Field as an ND home game, to prime-time for an 8:30 PM ET telecast.
Meanwhile, this might seem like an issue only in Vermont, but it should not be treated as such. It seems that administrators at the University of Vermont went as far as to ask University President John Bramley to take terminate the school's contract for its sports broadcasts with WVMT-AM Radio. The reason? Because that station happens to carry Rush Limbaugh's show during the day. It seems that some faculty and school personnel remain upset over the remarks Limbaugh made last month and do not think the University should be associated with a radio station that carries that show as well.
UVM President John Bramley officially took the position of urging those upset about Limbaugh's comments to contact the station. WMVT General Manager Paul Goldman was quoted as saying that the station has no plans to drop Limbaugh's show, and that it wishes to keep the UVM sports contract, which as of now runs through the 2016 seasons.
Frankly, this attempt from the faculty members is more outrageous than anything Limbaugh said. Maybe the next group of students who disagree with a comment made by a professor should contact the school about ending the course. Those who work in the media should be totally offended by this crap.
NEW YORK: The latest radio ratings show that ESPN Radio is gaining on WFAN, especially in the afternoon, although Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton continue with solid morning numbers.
CHICAGO: WFLD-TV has added Dionne Miller as a sports anchor in early April. She will anchor the Friday and Saturday night sportscasts on the late news and participate in the Sunday half hour recap show, "The Final Word". Miller has worked for Big Ten Network, WBNS-TV Columbus, and also hosted studio shows before and after Cavaliers basketball telecasts.
97.5 ESPN Deportes will carry the Spanish broadcasts of White Sox games this season, as well as Chicago Fire MLS broadcasts for this season.
SAN DIEGO: XX Sports 1090 is adding Josh Rosenberg and Charod Williams to its lineup starting next week, with the pair coming over from XTRA Sports 1360. Rosenberg and Williams will take over the 10 AM to 2 PM spot, which also reduces Darren Smith's show to 2 to 5 PM. XX 1090 is the Padres' flagship station, and this means that John Kentera will air from 8 to 11 PM only on nights that the Padres are not playing at that time. What makes this move even more interesting is that it moves Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton into the 5 to 8 PM time slot after handling the midday spot. Most of the Padres road games will pre-empt some or all of Hamilton's show.
Hacksaw has always been very good at handling the "national" sports fans, as in the transplants and tourists in the San Diego area. Now, the evening time slot puts Hamilton up against the majority of games being televised and/or broadcast on other stations. Chances are, based on sports radio ratings vs. live sports telecasts around the country, this could cut into Hamilton's audience in the short term. Makes us wonder if there aren't any further changes in the hopper at 1090.
Showing posts with label nfl network. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nfl network. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Perhaps teams, leagues, and schools are learning the importance of preventing speculation and getting to an actual announcements. Maybe it's the TV networks getting on top of actual sports "news" stories in hopes of increasing their audiences just as showing live games is doing. Or, it could be a combination of both.
It is no secret to readers of The Broadcast Booth over the years that "speculation" stories are tarnishing the image of many sportscasts. The "Such-and-such is reporting that (name of player) will sign with Baltimore....." ramblings that take up sports "reporting" time instead of the station or reporter gathering his or her own confirmations or denials have made it a challenge to get actual sports "news" when it happens.
Finally, some TV sources are doing something about "speculation" stories, by making it known when the actual "news" or "announcement" will be made, and then providing live coverage.
The Peyton Manning Press Conference on Wednesday (3/7) was a great example of what needs to happen more often. This is an important story to NFL fans all over the country. Yet, I'm among those who found myself (as a fan) tired of nothing but "speculation" stories for weeks and weeks. In this instance, a press conference by the Colts was announced for Noon ET specifically regarding Manning. After nearly tuning out this story from week after week of "Look for Manning to be released...." or "Manning will likely sign with......" speculation, we finally were told exactly what the Colts were going to do.
During the morning hours leading in to the press conference, both NFL Network and ESPN were heavily promoting their live coverage of this announcement. Some sports radio stations around the country also carried this. On one hand, it is too bad it has come to this. Setting this up ahead of time took away any spontaneous reaction that used to happen when only actual "news" stories were announced.
On the other hand, doing it via press conference meant that NFL fans could avoid speculation stories all morning, and simply tune in to their chosen source to learn the actual news. That's a positive. Here's hoping that the next "news" story about Peyton Manning comes when he actually signs with another team (or retires if that's his choice).
But I know it won't happen. The supposed "reporting" media is already filling up time and space with "This team and that team would be the best fit". Sportscasts are becoming too much like weather forecasts. Too many educated guesses, and no backlash every time an "expert" is wrong. The difference is the weather HAS TO BE a prediction. Sports news does not and should not be.
I'd rather wait patiently for the time and channel of Manning's press conference to announce either a signing or his retirement, and not waste time with pure speculation. It doesn't help us (as sports fans) to know a few days in advance where he will sign since nothing happens until it becomes official. And it only hurts every time such speculation is wrong. Credibility is still important among reporters. All they need to do is "report", and they'll be fine.
The same should apply to these next few days as the NCAA Tournament selections come to fruition on Sunday evening. We don't need to have every conference game end with announcers speculating that "(Name of school) could now be a 3-seed and go out west". Just tell us that we'll know after 6 PM on Sunday.
CBS will have the actual unveiling of the pairings, and has been promoting that, as expected. Considering that CBS, as well as partners TBS, TNT, and TruTV, will be showing every NCAA Tournament game live again this year, something that college hoops fans have dreamed of and clamored for year after year until it came to fruition.
Yet, ESPN promises 13 hours of bracket "coverage" on Sunday. Sure, I prefer live programming as much as anyone, but announcing "coverage" prior to the actual announcement is speculation, no matter how accurate it may prove to be. All it takes is the "Oh, (name of school) has been sent out east", and it screws up hours of mere speculation, making viewers/listeners realize their time was wasted.
Just give us the pairings, and THEN we can all react to the matchups, as well as the specific schedule of when and where each game will be on.
A curious decision by the NFL Network earlier this week. To its credit, NFL Network did not run and hide from the major story about whether or not the New Orleans Saints players have participated in a "bounty" plan to injure opposing players over the past couple of seasons. A good portion of its news coverage was devoted to the issue, including footage from key Saints games. Yet, on Monday (3/5), the Network had originally scheduled to show a recent Saints vs. Vikings playoff game in one of its "classic game" telecasts. However, NFL Network instead aired a Dallas Cowboys game from the 90's.
From what I have learned, the majority of cable/satellite systems which have indicators as to what program is being shown continued to have the Saints telecast as scheduled. This means that NFL Network made this "decision" not to air a Saints playoff game (from during the 'bounty' period) too late to change the original schedule. It would seem to indicate that the decision to air another, and much less controversial, game was made after the bounty story had broken.
College football fans will enjoy this tribute to several of the leading announcers who broadcast for one school for many years:
http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/03/05/the-7-most-legendary-college-sports-announcers/
This is a well done presentation for those who did or did not get to enjoy the likes of Larry Munson, Cawood Ledford, and several others.
SAN FRANCISCO: While KNBR 680 continues its strong ratings, the station has announced it will continue to air Giants baseball through at least the 2018 season. Credit the Giants for being a part of the announcement. Team President Larry Baer appeared on the station's Murph & Mac Show to help make the announcement, realizing the large audience of sports fans the station continues to reach. Compare that to the situation in Los Angeles, where the Dodgers games are now being heard (starting this season) on KLAC 570, which just about requires a telescope to find in the ratings book. KLAC's hosts might need to call out to get reaction to Dodgers broadcasts.
It is no secret to readers of The Broadcast Booth over the years that "speculation" stories are tarnishing the image of many sportscasts. The "Such-and-such is reporting that (name of player) will sign with Baltimore....." ramblings that take up sports "reporting" time instead of the station or reporter gathering his or her own confirmations or denials have made it a challenge to get actual sports "news" when it happens.
Finally, some TV sources are doing something about "speculation" stories, by making it known when the actual "news" or "announcement" will be made, and then providing live coverage.
The Peyton Manning Press Conference on Wednesday (3/7) was a great example of what needs to happen more often. This is an important story to NFL fans all over the country. Yet, I'm among those who found myself (as a fan) tired of nothing but "speculation" stories for weeks and weeks. In this instance, a press conference by the Colts was announced for Noon ET specifically regarding Manning. After nearly tuning out this story from week after week of "Look for Manning to be released...." or "Manning will likely sign with......" speculation, we finally were told exactly what the Colts were going to do.
During the morning hours leading in to the press conference, both NFL Network and ESPN were heavily promoting their live coverage of this announcement. Some sports radio stations around the country also carried this. On one hand, it is too bad it has come to this. Setting this up ahead of time took away any spontaneous reaction that used to happen when only actual "news" stories were announced.
On the other hand, doing it via press conference meant that NFL fans could avoid speculation stories all morning, and simply tune in to their chosen source to learn the actual news. That's a positive. Here's hoping that the next "news" story about Peyton Manning comes when he actually signs with another team (or retires if that's his choice).
But I know it won't happen. The supposed "reporting" media is already filling up time and space with "This team and that team would be the best fit". Sportscasts are becoming too much like weather forecasts. Too many educated guesses, and no backlash every time an "expert" is wrong. The difference is the weather HAS TO BE a prediction. Sports news does not and should not be.
I'd rather wait patiently for the time and channel of Manning's press conference to announce either a signing or his retirement, and not waste time with pure speculation. It doesn't help us (as sports fans) to know a few days in advance where he will sign since nothing happens until it becomes official. And it only hurts every time such speculation is wrong. Credibility is still important among reporters. All they need to do is "report", and they'll be fine.
The same should apply to these next few days as the NCAA Tournament selections come to fruition on Sunday evening. We don't need to have every conference game end with announcers speculating that "(Name of school) could now be a 3-seed and go out west". Just tell us that we'll know after 6 PM on Sunday.
CBS will have the actual unveiling of the pairings, and has been promoting that, as expected. Considering that CBS, as well as partners TBS, TNT, and TruTV, will be showing every NCAA Tournament game live again this year, something that college hoops fans have dreamed of and clamored for year after year until it came to fruition.
Yet, ESPN promises 13 hours of bracket "coverage" on Sunday. Sure, I prefer live programming as much as anyone, but announcing "coverage" prior to the actual announcement is speculation, no matter how accurate it may prove to be. All it takes is the "Oh, (name of school) has been sent out east", and it screws up hours of mere speculation, making viewers/listeners realize their time was wasted.
Just give us the pairings, and THEN we can all react to the matchups, as well as the specific schedule of when and where each game will be on.
A curious decision by the NFL Network earlier this week. To its credit, NFL Network did not run and hide from the major story about whether or not the New Orleans Saints players have participated in a "bounty" plan to injure opposing players over the past couple of seasons. A good portion of its news coverage was devoted to the issue, including footage from key Saints games. Yet, on Monday (3/5), the Network had originally scheduled to show a recent Saints vs. Vikings playoff game in one of its "classic game" telecasts. However, NFL Network instead aired a Dallas Cowboys game from the 90's.
From what I have learned, the majority of cable/satellite systems which have indicators as to what program is being shown continued to have the Saints telecast as scheduled. This means that NFL Network made this "decision" not to air a Saints playoff game (from during the 'bounty' period) too late to change the original schedule. It would seem to indicate that the decision to air another, and much less controversial, game was made after the bounty story had broken.
College football fans will enjoy this tribute to several of the leading announcers who broadcast for one school for many years:
http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/03/05/the-7-most-legendary-college-sports-announcers/
This is a well done presentation for those who did or did not get to enjoy the likes of Larry Munson, Cawood Ledford, and several others.
SAN FRANCISCO: While KNBR 680 continues its strong ratings, the station has announced it will continue to air Giants baseball through at least the 2018 season. Credit the Giants for being a part of the announcement. Team President Larry Baer appeared on the station's Murph & Mac Show to help make the announcement, realizing the large audience of sports fans the station continues to reach. Compare that to the situation in Los Angeles, where the Dodgers games are now being heard (starting this season) on KLAC 570, which just about requires a telescope to find in the ratings book. KLAC's hosts might need to call out to get reaction to Dodgers broadcasts.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Broadcast Booth - August 1st Update....
August just arrived and already it signals change in sports media. Normally a change of name without a change in the "product" is overrated. But certainly not in the case of Sporting News Radio making way to be known as Yahoo Sports. This one is a surprise, at least to the "over 40" generations.
Once upon a time, and a land that is still here but at times seems so far away, The Sporting News was as important to sports fans as the internet is today. Years ago, long before cable TV and the internet, TSN was our link to sports teams beyond our local teams' coverage area. Fans would practically wait at the mailbox for the new issue for the weekly sports newspaper to arrive. It had every box score of every MLB game, reports on each team, and excellent columnists. More importantly, it had credibility among sports fans.
In later years, the onslaught of ESPN, regional cable sports networks, and even newspapers such as (the former) The National and USA Today came along and took away from the impact of The Sporting News as a magazine. Yet, the brand name held up as TSN moved more to radio and other ways of being an information source.
As a result, those in the "over 40" age range most likely consider The Sporting News to have more credibility as a sports news and information source than Yahoo, which has come along within the past 15 years, and is not solely a sports reporting entity. Sure, it's merely a name change, as the Yahoo Sports Radio Network will have the same content. But to the "over 40" range, this takes away from the Sporting News credibility. It's as if this should be the other way around, with Yahoo Sports movin' on up to become a part of TSN's stable.
Yet, to those under the age of 40, they are seeing this as a growth of Yahoo Sports, and see it as taking over for "some newspaper" or a source they never had the opportunity to worship.
Yahoo Sports Radio will continue with the same shows and content, and continue to broadcast from the network's Houston studios. It's nothing more than still another name change for this network, which was known as "One on One Sports Network" in the 90's before The Sporting News purchased it. To me, it's the same content with a "lesser" name behind it.
On the other hand, NBC is upgrading its brand by finally eliminating the Versus name from the sports TV scene at the end of this year. There will be little to no impact on the cable network's programming. This, too, is just a name change. It took until the past 12 to 18 months for the audience to find this network, and that was due to NHL fans finally finding where most of the games are televised. Sports fans rarely, if ever, use the term "Versus", and the name never caught on. Once it becomes known as NBC Sports Network, it should make a difference, given NBC's presence with the NFL and NHL.
It will be interesting to see how NBC Sports Network works to increase their presence starting in 2012. Perhaps they will look to supplement Sunday Night Football with expanded pre and post-game coverage only on the cable channel, and more NFL related programming during the week. I'm sure that TNT and ESPN/ABC are now pleased they have longer term deals with the NBA, since you would think NBC will start bidding for other major sports once again.
Meanwhile, there must be a logical explanation for the big audience that NFL Network received last week for its coverage of the start of the free agent and trading period which began as the lockout was settled. NFL Network jumped in with 12+ hours per day of live "coverage" of the signing and trading period, which resulted in an audience increase of more than 200% over the same time period last year. One explanation is that fantasy players have less time to track the players before their drafts.
On the baseball side, we have the Red Sox vs. Yankees coming up this weekend (Aug. 5 - 7). At times, it seems as though the networks expect the rest of MLB to shut down completely so that the entire nation can focus on nothing but the Yankees - Red Sox series. It's as if it's in the national contracts that these two teams can't play a game not shown nationally or regionally.
This Friday's game will be on MLB Network, Saturday on Fox, and Sunday night, of course, on ESPN. What makes this weekend "different" is that this time around it really is the best series in baseball as the two teams are in a battle for first place (at press time). For once, the hype for this series is legit. Let's see how the audiences respond. Many are so used to the overhype of this matchup that it might take an adjustment to get more people to tune in this time around.
Of course, this means that TBS gets shut out from showing either team this Sunday on its supposed "national" package. Oh my! So, TBS will show the NY Mets hosting Atlanta on Sunday Aug. 7th. Not to worry. On Aug. 14 TBS shows the Yankees hosting Tampa. (This past Sunday 7/31 it was Boston at Chicago.)
In some ways it's the end of an era in southeast Michigan. A month away from the start of the college football season, and (as of press time) the University of Michigan still does not have a radio deal finalized for the Detroit area. WOMC 104.3 still has not renewed its deal for football, nor has WWJ 950 for the school's basketball games. WJR 760 continues with Michigan State football. Yikes.
DALLAS: The Fan 105.3 will have a major presence for fans attending Cowboys games at Cowboys Stadium for this new season. Roger Emrich is taking over as the new Public Address announcer at the stadium. In addition, the station's Armen Williams will act as "In-Game Emcee". This is expected to include fan interaction, contests, and probably commercials. Seems to be a growing trend in the Dallas market, as Jim Knox has been doing this during Rangers games. Here's hoping that Williams' role doesn't get overbearing and acts as a quick promo for the station rather than becoming an annoyance to fans who spend a ton of money on game tickets.
St. LOUIS: Now that the NFL exhibition season is upon us, KTVI-TV 2 is preparing to televise all four of the Rams' exhibition games, since none were picked up by national networks. The new play-by-play crew consists of Andrew Siciliano (an NFL Network host) on play-by-play with former Rams all-pro Marshall Faulk hired as the analyst. Their opening telecast will be the Rams vs. Indianapolis Colts on August 13th.
ALBANY: With the growth of the NFL on TV, it might not matter as much, but it seems that area radio listeners will not have as many choices for the upcoming season. The NY Giants broadcasts will again by on WPYX 106.5, and the NY Jets will air on WTMM 104.5 when there are no Yankees baseball conflicts. WOFX 980 is able to air the Westwood One NFL doubleheaders, but airs Mets baseball as a priority. And, WQBK 103.9 has chosen not to carry the Buffalo Bills broadcasts. Thus, on September Sundays when both the Mets and Yankees are playing, local NFL on radio choices will be very limited.
BRYAN TX: KZNE 1150 The Zone will begin airing a 2-hour weekday show dedicated to Texas A & M sports starting Aug. 22. Gabe Bock will host the show, which will air from 9 to 11 AM Monday through Friday.
LUBBOCK TX: Sorry to learn of the passing of former Texas Tech football and basketball play-by-play voice Jack Dale. He lost his battle with cancer at the age of 79 this past Friday (7/29). Dale actually began his broadcast career in Lubbock in 1952, and was hosting a morning sports show on 1340 AM until he was hospitalized a few weeks ago.
Once upon a time, and a land that is still here but at times seems so far away, The Sporting News was as important to sports fans as the internet is today. Years ago, long before cable TV and the internet, TSN was our link to sports teams beyond our local teams' coverage area. Fans would practically wait at the mailbox for the new issue for the weekly sports newspaper to arrive. It had every box score of every MLB game, reports on each team, and excellent columnists. More importantly, it had credibility among sports fans.
In later years, the onslaught of ESPN, regional cable sports networks, and even newspapers such as (the former) The National and USA Today came along and took away from the impact of The Sporting News as a magazine. Yet, the brand name held up as TSN moved more to radio and other ways of being an information source.
As a result, those in the "over 40" age range most likely consider The Sporting News to have more credibility as a sports news and information source than Yahoo, which has come along within the past 15 years, and is not solely a sports reporting entity. Sure, it's merely a name change, as the Yahoo Sports Radio Network will have the same content. But to the "over 40" range, this takes away from the Sporting News credibility. It's as if this should be the other way around, with Yahoo Sports movin' on up to become a part of TSN's stable.
Yet, to those under the age of 40, they are seeing this as a growth of Yahoo Sports, and see it as taking over for "some newspaper" or a source they never had the opportunity to worship.
Yahoo Sports Radio will continue with the same shows and content, and continue to broadcast from the network's Houston studios. It's nothing more than still another name change for this network, which was known as "One on One Sports Network" in the 90's before The Sporting News purchased it. To me, it's the same content with a "lesser" name behind it.
On the other hand, NBC is upgrading its brand by finally eliminating the Versus name from the sports TV scene at the end of this year. There will be little to no impact on the cable network's programming. This, too, is just a name change. It took until the past 12 to 18 months for the audience to find this network, and that was due to NHL fans finally finding where most of the games are televised. Sports fans rarely, if ever, use the term "Versus", and the name never caught on. Once it becomes known as NBC Sports Network, it should make a difference, given NBC's presence with the NFL and NHL.
It will be interesting to see how NBC Sports Network works to increase their presence starting in 2012. Perhaps they will look to supplement Sunday Night Football with expanded pre and post-game coverage only on the cable channel, and more NFL related programming during the week. I'm sure that TNT and ESPN/ABC are now pleased they have longer term deals with the NBA, since you would think NBC will start bidding for other major sports once again.
Meanwhile, there must be a logical explanation for the big audience that NFL Network received last week for its coverage of the start of the free agent and trading period which began as the lockout was settled. NFL Network jumped in with 12+ hours per day of live "coverage" of the signing and trading period, which resulted in an audience increase of more than 200% over the same time period last year. One explanation is that fantasy players have less time to track the players before their drafts.
On the baseball side, we have the Red Sox vs. Yankees coming up this weekend (Aug. 5 - 7). At times, it seems as though the networks expect the rest of MLB to shut down completely so that the entire nation can focus on nothing but the Yankees - Red Sox series. It's as if it's in the national contracts that these two teams can't play a game not shown nationally or regionally.
This Friday's game will be on MLB Network, Saturday on Fox, and Sunday night, of course, on ESPN. What makes this weekend "different" is that this time around it really is the best series in baseball as the two teams are in a battle for first place (at press time). For once, the hype for this series is legit. Let's see how the audiences respond. Many are so used to the overhype of this matchup that it might take an adjustment to get more people to tune in this time around.
Of course, this means that TBS gets shut out from showing either team this Sunday on its supposed "national" package. Oh my! So, TBS will show the NY Mets hosting Atlanta on Sunday Aug. 7th. Not to worry. On Aug. 14 TBS shows the Yankees hosting Tampa. (This past Sunday 7/31 it was Boston at Chicago.)
In some ways it's the end of an era in southeast Michigan. A month away from the start of the college football season, and (as of press time) the University of Michigan still does not have a radio deal finalized for the Detroit area. WOMC 104.3 still has not renewed its deal for football, nor has WWJ 950 for the school's basketball games. WJR 760 continues with Michigan State football. Yikes.
DALLAS: The Fan 105.3 will have a major presence for fans attending Cowboys games at Cowboys Stadium for this new season. Roger Emrich is taking over as the new Public Address announcer at the stadium. In addition, the station's Armen Williams will act as "In-Game Emcee". This is expected to include fan interaction, contests, and probably commercials. Seems to be a growing trend in the Dallas market, as Jim Knox has been doing this during Rangers games. Here's hoping that Williams' role doesn't get overbearing and acts as a quick promo for the station rather than becoming an annoyance to fans who spend a ton of money on game tickets.
St. LOUIS: Now that the NFL exhibition season is upon us, KTVI-TV 2 is preparing to televise all four of the Rams' exhibition games, since none were picked up by national networks. The new play-by-play crew consists of Andrew Siciliano (an NFL Network host) on play-by-play with former Rams all-pro Marshall Faulk hired as the analyst. Their opening telecast will be the Rams vs. Indianapolis Colts on August 13th.
ALBANY: With the growth of the NFL on TV, it might not matter as much, but it seems that area radio listeners will not have as many choices for the upcoming season. The NY Giants broadcasts will again by on WPYX 106.5, and the NY Jets will air on WTMM 104.5 when there are no Yankees baseball conflicts. WOFX 980 is able to air the Westwood One NFL doubleheaders, but airs Mets baseball as a priority. And, WQBK 103.9 has chosen not to carry the Buffalo Bills broadcasts. Thus, on September Sundays when both the Mets and Yankees are playing, local NFL on radio choices will be very limited.
BRYAN TX: KZNE 1150 The Zone will begin airing a 2-hour weekday show dedicated to Texas A & M sports starting Aug. 22. Gabe Bock will host the show, which will air from 9 to 11 AM Monday through Friday.
LUBBOCK TX: Sorry to learn of the passing of former Texas Tech football and basketball play-by-play voice Jack Dale. He lost his battle with cancer at the age of 79 this past Friday (7/29). Dale actually began his broadcast career in Lubbock in 1952, and was hosting a morning sports show on 1340 AM until he was hospitalized a few weeks ago.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Broadcast Booth - June 23 Update
When does one team's policy about announcers doing every game impact the two largest media markets? Seems to be when the N.Y. Knicks have one policy and the L.A. Lakers have another.
Spero Dedes had reportedly verbally agreed to move over to the L.A. Lakers TV side for the long haul until he learned that doing so would prevent him from his expanding national work for CBS TV. The Lakers do not want their announcers missing games due to outside conflicts. Yet, this decision by the team ultimately impacted three other announcers.
The Lakers moved on, and immediately signed Bill MacDonald to handle TV play-by-play, working with Stu Lantz. MacDonald has been a part of the Lakers TV coverage for years, most notably handling studio segments and regularly interviewing now retired Head Coach Phil Jackson. MacDonald would have been the Lakers radio voice until this opening came along. Next, the Lakers named sideline reporter John Ireland to the radio play-by-play gig starting for the coming season. Ireland will team with Mychal Thompson.
Ironically, long-time Los Angeles based sportscaster Joel Meyers was taken out of consideration for the TV job earlier due to regional and national play-by-play conflicts. The Lakers seem to remember Meyers missing the telecast of the game in which Kobe Bryant scored 81 points.
While Dedes will continue his assignments for CBS TV, which are expected to include NFL regional telecasts if and when there will be a season. And, since it so happens the N.Y. Knicks are among those teams that allow their announcers flexibility, Dedes will still be calling some NBA games as his schedule allows.
The Knicks have hired Dedes to call some games on MSG Network, most likely covering conflicts for Mike Breen when he has ESPN/ABC games to call. Dedes worked at YES Network before heading to L.A. handling Yankees and Nets studio hosting.
Next NBA season will be the final one with the Lakers on KCAL-TV, as their huge multi-year cable package is scheduled to kick in for the 2012-13 season.
Football voice Tim Brando will soon have his Sporting News Radio show simulcast on CBS Sports Network as an unexpected partnership has been formed between the two networks. His 3-hour late morning show will add the TV element on August 22, just in time for the start of the college football season, and originate from Shreveport.
Joe Morgan, bounced from his ESPN analyst role prior to this season after 21 seasons, will begin hosting a radio show, coincidentally on August 22nd. He has been hired by Sports USA for a one hour weekday show, and it supposedly will not be limited to baseball. Without Jon Miller to bail him out, it might be worth a listen to hear him give conflicting views within the same thought about football and basketball too.
Meanwhile, whether it is a negotiation ploy by the league or fear of needing programming desparately, the NFL Network is actually going ahead with showing Canadian Football League games for "at least" 5 weeks. This will mean two games each week in the early going. If there are no NFL games, the Network has the ability to increase its CFL coverage.
As of now, the coverage is scheduled through July and is open for early August when the NFL is scheduled to have its pre-season games. For those chomping at the bit to know, these start on Thurs. June 30th with British Columbia at Montreal and then Sat. July 2 with Toronto at Calgary.
All of this while NFL Network is supposedly working toward a package of 15 (or more if the regular season expands) Thursday Night Football telecasts, with NBC retaining the Thursday season opener.
Other networks are also working toward having football programming if and as the NFL games are not played as scheduled in September and beyond. It's to the point where CBS Sports Network is paying for a package of Patriot League football games. Participating schools include Colgate, Bucknell, American, and Lehigh. The Network will also carry several basketball games.
If CFL and Patriot League games are considered for replacing a possible NFL football void, frankly it doesn't justify the NFL players asking for all that money. Let's hope it doesn't come to this.
CHICAGO: Local announcers in the news, and it's all positive. Blackhawks radio voices John Wiedeman and Troy Murray were honored, and justifably so, with the Illinois Association Silver Dome Award, for their work on WGN Radio.
Cubs TV play-by-play voice Len Kasper has been signed to a five-year contract extension that keeps him in the TV booth through the 2016 season. Kasper is now in his 7th season, teamed with analyst Bob Brenly, who is currently signed through the 2012 season.
It's not as positive for WMAQ-TV this week. This past Sunday (6/19), the local NBC-TV station showed interview clips with both Chicago baseball managers (Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox and Mike Quade of the Cubs) as usual. However, the graphics identified BOTH as "General Manager" of their respective teams. This while now "sister network" Comcast SportsNet Chicago displays the "now part of NBC Sports" promos throughout its (to this point) outstanding coverage of the local teams. Yikes.
NASHVILLE: The NFL Titans have extended contracts with their radio and TV flagship stations. WGFX 104.5 will continue to air the games, with Mike Keith on play-by-play and analyst Frank Wycheck, as well as the (head coach) Mike Munchak Show for one hour on Tuesday nights.
WKRN-TV 2 will continue to televise 'non-network' exhibition games and the TV version of the Mike Munchak Show. In addition, the team tried to make it a big deal that their broadcasts will also be available on SiriusXM Satellite. Their announcement overlooked the fact that the Titans had been the only NFL team not already doing so.
MILWAUKEE: The woes of sports talk radio are no more evident in any "major league" market as they are this month in Milwaukee. The latest monthly ratings again show WTMJ, with Brewers play-by-play, as a strong #1 in the market, while a news/talk station the majority of the time it does not have game broadcasts. Once again, those same ratings showed WSCR The Score from Chicago (75 miles away) with the same overall audience rating in the Milwaukee market as the TWO Milwaukee sports radio stations. Thus, WTMJ now has literally more than 10 times the audience of both WAUK and WSSP combined!
Within the week, WSSP let go of Doug Russell, who had been its morning drive co-host, and named the show's producer Chuck Freimund as the new co-host. Russell also had served as Sports Director. The first inkling of this actually came from Russell via Twitter. Wonder if more people knew it from there or from listening to the station.
MIAMI: The uncertainty about if and when the NFL exhibition game season will start gives the Dolphins more time to decide how they will handle their game broadcasts after the passing of Jim Mandich. As of now (press time) Jimmy Cefalo and Joe Rose are the only definites, with no announcement yet of a third man in the booth.
VALDOSTA GA: WTHV 810 has added a local sports show during morning drive with a major focus on the local high school sports scene. Monty Long is primary host, with Marty Rodgers and Taylor Biddle also participating.
Spero Dedes had reportedly verbally agreed to move over to the L.A. Lakers TV side for the long haul until he learned that doing so would prevent him from his expanding national work for CBS TV. The Lakers do not want their announcers missing games due to outside conflicts. Yet, this decision by the team ultimately impacted three other announcers.
The Lakers moved on, and immediately signed Bill MacDonald to handle TV play-by-play, working with Stu Lantz. MacDonald has been a part of the Lakers TV coverage for years, most notably handling studio segments and regularly interviewing now retired Head Coach Phil Jackson. MacDonald would have been the Lakers radio voice until this opening came along. Next, the Lakers named sideline reporter John Ireland to the radio play-by-play gig starting for the coming season. Ireland will team with Mychal Thompson.
Ironically, long-time Los Angeles based sportscaster Joel Meyers was taken out of consideration for the TV job earlier due to regional and national play-by-play conflicts. The Lakers seem to remember Meyers missing the telecast of the game in which Kobe Bryant scored 81 points.
While Dedes will continue his assignments for CBS TV, which are expected to include NFL regional telecasts if and when there will be a season. And, since it so happens the N.Y. Knicks are among those teams that allow their announcers flexibility, Dedes will still be calling some NBA games as his schedule allows.
The Knicks have hired Dedes to call some games on MSG Network, most likely covering conflicts for Mike Breen when he has ESPN/ABC games to call. Dedes worked at YES Network before heading to L.A. handling Yankees and Nets studio hosting.
Next NBA season will be the final one with the Lakers on KCAL-TV, as their huge multi-year cable package is scheduled to kick in for the 2012-13 season.
Football voice Tim Brando will soon have his Sporting News Radio show simulcast on CBS Sports Network as an unexpected partnership has been formed between the two networks. His 3-hour late morning show will add the TV element on August 22, just in time for the start of the college football season, and originate from Shreveport.
Joe Morgan, bounced from his ESPN analyst role prior to this season after 21 seasons, will begin hosting a radio show, coincidentally on August 22nd. He has been hired by Sports USA for a one hour weekday show, and it supposedly will not be limited to baseball. Without Jon Miller to bail him out, it might be worth a listen to hear him give conflicting views within the same thought about football and basketball too.
Meanwhile, whether it is a negotiation ploy by the league or fear of needing programming desparately, the NFL Network is actually going ahead with showing Canadian Football League games for "at least" 5 weeks. This will mean two games each week in the early going. If there are no NFL games, the Network has the ability to increase its CFL coverage.
As of now, the coverage is scheduled through July and is open for early August when the NFL is scheduled to have its pre-season games. For those chomping at the bit to know, these start on Thurs. June 30th with British Columbia at Montreal and then Sat. July 2 with Toronto at Calgary.
All of this while NFL Network is supposedly working toward a package of 15 (or more if the regular season expands) Thursday Night Football telecasts, with NBC retaining the Thursday season opener.
Other networks are also working toward having football programming if and as the NFL games are not played as scheduled in September and beyond. It's to the point where CBS Sports Network is paying for a package of Patriot League football games. Participating schools include Colgate, Bucknell, American, and Lehigh. The Network will also carry several basketball games.
If CFL and Patriot League games are considered for replacing a possible NFL football void, frankly it doesn't justify the NFL players asking for all that money. Let's hope it doesn't come to this.
CHICAGO: Local announcers in the news, and it's all positive. Blackhawks radio voices John Wiedeman and Troy Murray were honored, and justifably so, with the Illinois Association Silver Dome Award, for their work on WGN Radio.
Cubs TV play-by-play voice Len Kasper has been signed to a five-year contract extension that keeps him in the TV booth through the 2016 season. Kasper is now in his 7th season, teamed with analyst Bob Brenly, who is currently signed through the 2012 season.
It's not as positive for WMAQ-TV this week. This past Sunday (6/19), the local NBC-TV station showed interview clips with both Chicago baseball managers (Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox and Mike Quade of the Cubs) as usual. However, the graphics identified BOTH as "General Manager" of their respective teams. This while now "sister network" Comcast SportsNet Chicago displays the "now part of NBC Sports" promos throughout its (to this point) outstanding coverage of the local teams. Yikes.
NASHVILLE: The NFL Titans have extended contracts with their radio and TV flagship stations. WGFX 104.5 will continue to air the games, with Mike Keith on play-by-play and analyst Frank Wycheck, as well as the (head coach) Mike Munchak Show for one hour on Tuesday nights.
WKRN-TV 2 will continue to televise 'non-network' exhibition games and the TV version of the Mike Munchak Show. In addition, the team tried to make it a big deal that their broadcasts will also be available on SiriusXM Satellite. Their announcement overlooked the fact that the Titans had been the only NFL team not already doing so.
MILWAUKEE: The woes of sports talk radio are no more evident in any "major league" market as they are this month in Milwaukee. The latest monthly ratings again show WTMJ, with Brewers play-by-play, as a strong #1 in the market, while a news/talk station the majority of the time it does not have game broadcasts. Once again, those same ratings showed WSCR The Score from Chicago (75 miles away) with the same overall audience rating in the Milwaukee market as the TWO Milwaukee sports radio stations. Thus, WTMJ now has literally more than 10 times the audience of both WAUK and WSSP combined!
Within the week, WSSP let go of Doug Russell, who had been its morning drive co-host, and named the show's producer Chuck Freimund as the new co-host. Russell also had served as Sports Director. The first inkling of this actually came from Russell via Twitter. Wonder if more people knew it from there or from listening to the station.
MIAMI: The uncertainty about if and when the NFL exhibition game season will start gives the Dolphins more time to decide how they will handle their game broadcasts after the passing of Jim Mandich. As of now (press time) Jimmy Cefalo and Joe Rose are the only definites, with no announcement yet of a third man in the booth.
VALDOSTA GA: WTHV 810 has added a local sports show during morning drive with a major focus on the local high school sports scene. Monty Long is primary host, with Marty Rodgers and Taylor Biddle also participating.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
The Broadcast Booth - May 5th Update
It is amazing that so many of the major sports media stories have little to do with what is happening on the fields and the courts at the moment. And it probably shouldn't be that way.
The college conference pot-o-gold continues this week as the Pac-12 has become the latest major conference to score a jackpot with a 12-year agreement involving ESPN and Fox Sports. Basically, everything from intra-mural tiddly winks on up will be shown somewhere every season, bringing millions and millions of dollars to the Conference and its member schools.
This contract kicks in for the 2012 football season, during which the Pac-12 Network will air 36 football games, while ABC/ESPN and Fox/FX will combine for 44 of the games. The Pac-12 Championship game will alternate (Fox or ESPN) and be a Friday prime time game. At least 68 baskeball games will be shown on ESPN or Fox.
Sorry, but as much as I like having even more live games televised, I'm still having a problem with these mega-packages the conferences are getting. While millions more dollars pour into these schools, our cable or satellite bills continue to increase because of these packages, and it's not as though tuitions are dropping each year during these 12 years of the contract.
Meanwhile, the ESPN/ABC crossover took on a few moments of added significance this past Sunday (5/1) night. As the Bin Laden story was breaking during ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, the announcing crew verified the story before mentioning it over the air. Thus, Dan Shulman became the voice who alerted thousands of people to this major news.
Obviously, it is very rare that a news story leaks into an unrelated sports telecast. Maybe this will be more common due to social media. Those who continued to watch the Phillies vs. Mets game later heard and saw the crowd at the game cheering for the U.S. and using their personal devices to learn more, even with a 1-0 late inning baseball game (at the time) going on in front of them. Upon reporting the news bulletin, Shulman told viewers to "switch to ABC News" for coverage of that story. Even with the impact of portable and social media, and the significance of this news story, it would have been interesting to see how ESPN might have handled this were it not for the crossover with ABC News.
The Sports Emmy Awards last Sunday (5/1) had a noticeable Cincinnati flavor. Al Michaels, who was the voice of the Reds on radio in the early 70's (prior to Marty Brennaman) was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award". Chris Collinsworth, Michaels' partner on Sunday Night Football, won his 12th Sports Emmy for "Outstanding Event Analyst". Collinsworth played on the NFL Cincinnati Bengals prior to starting his broadcast career in Cinci, including a hosting stint on WLW Radio. Other individual winners included Ernie Johnson of TNT and Bob Papa of HBO (and NFL Network), as well as Harold Reynolds of MLB Network.
Bob Papa, however, will have a reduced role on NFL Network next season. The Network has announced that Brad Nessler will take over the play-by-play for Thursday Night Football, which starts Nov. 10 (if there is a season and/or the regular schedule is in tact) with Oakland vs. San Diego. Mike Mayock will step in as analyst, an odd choice since he has been doing Notre Dame Football for NBC rather than much pro football commentary, replacing Joe Theismann in that role.
Compass Media, which plans to continue with NFL radio broadcasts, is adding Thursday Night Football to its inventory. Except in this case, it will be college football starting this fall. (At least we know there will be a season!)
Scheduled games include Sept. 15 LSU vs. Mississippi State and Oct. 27 Virginia vs. Miami. Compass will also air the Sept. 4th (Sunday night leading into Labor Day) SMU vs. Texas A&M game.
Racing fans across the country awaiting the Indy 500 are now able to enjoy Donald Davidson's nightly "Talk of Gasoline Alley" radio show via podcast. Indianapolis' 1070 The Fan is making its one hour nightly show (until the night before the big race) available via www.1070TheFan.com. The show airs from 8 to 9 PM ET, a later time than previous years. Davidson is now in his 41st year of doing this show, a fixture on Indianapolis radio every May, now heard on 1070 The Fan.
Jim Rome returned and spoke at his alma mater, University of California Santa Barbara, last weekend, and received the "2011 Distinguished Alumni Award". He began his career at school station KCSB and graduated in 1986.
New York's WFAN is scheduled (at press time) to have a guest co-host on Friday (5/6) morning who is not a sportscaster. None other than New Jersey Governor Christie will join Craig Carton from 6 to 10 AM, where he is expected to talk about his favorite team, the Mets, among other topics. It will be interesting to hear if or how many serious issues are discussed or whether it becomes a fun and laid back appearance. The last I heard is that the show will be streamed.
BOSTON: Here's hoping that Red Sox TV analyst Jerry Remy has a successful recovery from his reported bout with pneumonia. Remy has already missed a week's worth of games. Dennis Eckersley has filled in on NESN for most of the telecasts, with Peter Gammons handling the analysis once thus far.
PITTSBURGH: Root Sports has decided not to mess around with its relationship with the NHL Penguins, especially after another season with significant ratings, and has further extended its contract to televise the games. While they already have the contract for the next 3 seasons, the extension gives Root the TV rights through the 2028-29 season. Although Root also televises the Pirates games, I wouldn't expect a mad dash from them to extend that contract.
SAN FRANCISCO: While former A's flagship station KTRB remains in ownership limbo, that station's loss of Stanford University football and basketball is "The Ticket's" gain. KTCT 1050 takes over airing both sports for the coming seasons, along with airing the monthly "Inside Stanford Sports" coaches shows starting this August.
The announcing crew remains the same, with Dave Flemming and Todd Husak calling football and John Platz and Drew Shiller handling the hoops broadcasts.
TOLEDO: Sorry to learn that WMTR 96.1 will have a new voice for its high school football, basketball, and baseball broadcasts starting this summer. After 40 years of calling those sports, along with some volleyball, softball, and wrestling matches, Larry Christy is unable to continue after having been diagnosed with a severe kidney disorder. Christy had already given up his role of morning sports reporter on the station last fall.
The college conference pot-o-gold continues this week as the Pac-12 has become the latest major conference to score a jackpot with a 12-year agreement involving ESPN and Fox Sports. Basically, everything from intra-mural tiddly winks on up will be shown somewhere every season, bringing millions and millions of dollars to the Conference and its member schools.
This contract kicks in for the 2012 football season, during which the Pac-12 Network will air 36 football games, while ABC/ESPN and Fox/FX will combine for 44 of the games. The Pac-12 Championship game will alternate (Fox or ESPN) and be a Friday prime time game. At least 68 baskeball games will be shown on ESPN or Fox.
Sorry, but as much as I like having even more live games televised, I'm still having a problem with these mega-packages the conferences are getting. While millions more dollars pour into these schools, our cable or satellite bills continue to increase because of these packages, and it's not as though tuitions are dropping each year during these 12 years of the contract.
Meanwhile, the ESPN/ABC crossover took on a few moments of added significance this past Sunday (5/1) night. As the Bin Laden story was breaking during ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, the announcing crew verified the story before mentioning it over the air. Thus, Dan Shulman became the voice who alerted thousands of people to this major news.
Obviously, it is very rare that a news story leaks into an unrelated sports telecast. Maybe this will be more common due to social media. Those who continued to watch the Phillies vs. Mets game later heard and saw the crowd at the game cheering for the U.S. and using their personal devices to learn more, even with a 1-0 late inning baseball game (at the time) going on in front of them. Upon reporting the news bulletin, Shulman told viewers to "switch to ABC News" for coverage of that story. Even with the impact of portable and social media, and the significance of this news story, it would have been interesting to see how ESPN might have handled this were it not for the crossover with ABC News.
The Sports Emmy Awards last Sunday (5/1) had a noticeable Cincinnati flavor. Al Michaels, who was the voice of the Reds on radio in the early 70's (prior to Marty Brennaman) was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award". Chris Collinsworth, Michaels' partner on Sunday Night Football, won his 12th Sports Emmy for "Outstanding Event Analyst". Collinsworth played on the NFL Cincinnati Bengals prior to starting his broadcast career in Cinci, including a hosting stint on WLW Radio. Other individual winners included Ernie Johnson of TNT and Bob Papa of HBO (and NFL Network), as well as Harold Reynolds of MLB Network.
Bob Papa, however, will have a reduced role on NFL Network next season. The Network has announced that Brad Nessler will take over the play-by-play for Thursday Night Football, which starts Nov. 10 (if there is a season and/or the regular schedule is in tact) with Oakland vs. San Diego. Mike Mayock will step in as analyst, an odd choice since he has been doing Notre Dame Football for NBC rather than much pro football commentary, replacing Joe Theismann in that role.
Compass Media, which plans to continue with NFL radio broadcasts, is adding Thursday Night Football to its inventory. Except in this case, it will be college football starting this fall. (At least we know there will be a season!)
Scheduled games include Sept. 15 LSU vs. Mississippi State and Oct. 27 Virginia vs. Miami. Compass will also air the Sept. 4th (Sunday night leading into Labor Day) SMU vs. Texas A&M game.
Racing fans across the country awaiting the Indy 500 are now able to enjoy Donald Davidson's nightly "Talk of Gasoline Alley" radio show via podcast. Indianapolis' 1070 The Fan is making its one hour nightly show (until the night before the big race) available via www.1070TheFan.com. The show airs from 8 to 9 PM ET, a later time than previous years. Davidson is now in his 41st year of doing this show, a fixture on Indianapolis radio every May, now heard on 1070 The Fan.
Jim Rome returned and spoke at his alma mater, University of California Santa Barbara, last weekend, and received the "2011 Distinguished Alumni Award". He began his career at school station KCSB and graduated in 1986.
New York's WFAN is scheduled (at press time) to have a guest co-host on Friday (5/6) morning who is not a sportscaster. None other than New Jersey Governor Christie will join Craig Carton from 6 to 10 AM, where he is expected to talk about his favorite team, the Mets, among other topics. It will be interesting to hear if or how many serious issues are discussed or whether it becomes a fun and laid back appearance. The last I heard is that the show will be streamed.
BOSTON: Here's hoping that Red Sox TV analyst Jerry Remy has a successful recovery from his reported bout with pneumonia. Remy has already missed a week's worth of games. Dennis Eckersley has filled in on NESN for most of the telecasts, with Peter Gammons handling the analysis once thus far.
PITTSBURGH: Root Sports has decided not to mess around with its relationship with the NHL Penguins, especially after another season with significant ratings, and has further extended its contract to televise the games. While they already have the contract for the next 3 seasons, the extension gives Root the TV rights through the 2028-29 season. Although Root also televises the Pirates games, I wouldn't expect a mad dash from them to extend that contract.
SAN FRANCISCO: While former A's flagship station KTRB remains in ownership limbo, that station's loss of Stanford University football and basketball is "The Ticket's" gain. KTCT 1050 takes over airing both sports for the coming seasons, along with airing the monthly "Inside Stanford Sports" coaches shows starting this August.
The announcing crew remains the same, with Dave Flemming and Todd Husak calling football and John Platz and Drew Shiller handling the hoops broadcasts.
TOLEDO: Sorry to learn that WMTR 96.1 will have a new voice for its high school football, basketball, and baseball broadcasts starting this summer. After 40 years of calling those sports, along with some volleyball, softball, and wrestling matches, Larry Christy is unable to continue after having been diagnosed with a severe kidney disorder. Christy had already given up his role of morning sports reporter on the station last fall.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
The Broadcast Booth - August 17th update
There is no excuse for the decision of Detroit Tigers' TV not to have shown the dugout confrontation which occured during this past Sunday's (8/15) game in Chicago.
After the (opposing) White Sox had batted bottom of the first inning, a heated discussion took place between Tigers starting pitcher Armando Gallaraga and catcher Alex Avila which resulted in the pitcher needing to be restrained from a possible physical confrontation with Gerald Laird (also a catcher).
When the top of the 2nd was beginning, the White Sox telecast on Comcast SportsNet did show the confrontation, with announcer Steve Stone making a comment to the effect of "the battery could be getting battered" and then getting back to the game. Obviously, fans in attendance seated on the 3rd base side could see it, and probably White Sox personnel from the 3rd base dugout, and the TV cameras caught it.
Yet, fans watching their Tigers on Fox Sports Detroit did NOT see this video, and it was their team involved. Media accounts from Detroit indicate this was a decision made by the crew and not by FSD executives or the Tigers. FSD did show the video of the incident on its pre-game show on Monday night, but that should have been the case even had it been shown right away on Sunday.
This should not have been a "cover up". FSD replays errors and poor play by the Tigers on the field. The dugout is in full view of fans and media. It's not like this incident occured in the clubhouse or someplace off limits and was secretly videotaped.
For example, baseball fans recall the June incident with Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano and his tantrum in the dugout that caused manager Lou Pinella to remove him after 1 inning and suspend him from the team. That was immediately shown on TV. The list goes on. If FSD is going to say the dugout "is not part of the playing field", then they shouldn't show the bullpen. They put Manager Jim Leyland on camera during the game, mostly when he is in the dugout. Why was this important incident off limits?
This is not the first time a TV crew has been called out for not covering an incident which happened during the course of a game. My memory even went back to the late 70's when Ohio State was in a bowl game and Coach Woody Hayes punched an opposing linebacker live on camera. Yet, the announcing team made absolutely no mention of what took place while local TV ABC-TV stations were all flooded with phone calls from confused fans.
Hopefully TV sports crews will take note of what happened, or as I should say, didn't happen, during Sunday's Tigers telecast, and make certain that the fans watching the game are given all of the pertinent "news" of the game. And not just the opposing team's telecast either.
Speaking of fans not seeing what they are entitled, it's time for another NFL season. Thus, the media "right of summer" that not everyone can get The NFL Network, even when they once had it.
It seems that Comcast Cable has taken away the NFL Network from some of the Digital Starter packages they offer, even though it was once a part of the package. Naturally, those who are effected by this could get it again, if (you guessed it) they upgrade to a higher package for more money each month.
On the NBA side, it's good to see the Portland Trailblazers get involved in a similar mess. Team President Larry Miller reportedly has written to the FCC regarding Comcast and its handling of the Blazers' TV rights, which will soon enter the 4th year of a 10-year agreement. Comcast is being accused of making it financially difficult for competing carriers to carry its Blazers telecasts.
Comcast isn't the only problem. The MLB Network is still not available on AT&T U-Verse, Dish Network, or Wow. With all of this, sports fans everywhere continue to be subjected to game telecasts being blacked out on cable and satellite, even though we still have to pay for a full day's worth of programming.
Maybe we should all write the FCC.
Meanwhile, Fox Sports sports adds coach Jim Mora Jr. and former QB Kurt Warner to its roster of analysts for the coming season. Mora will act as a 2nd analyst along with Charles Davis while Dick Stockton handles play-by-play on that crew. Warner will provide color commentary on the "Chris crew" working with either Chris Myers or Chris Rose.
ARKANSAS: Renee Gork should be pursuing becoming a household name, if she isn't already. Gork appears to have been fired by KAKS Sports Hog on Monday (8/16). Not because of anything she said or did on the air. Not because she is female. Not because she made an error of fact or missed an assignment.
All she did was wear a Florida Gators hat at an Arkansas news conference which got coach Bobby Petrino upset. Amazing that Petrino held back the tears. Here's hoping that a regional or national media organization hires Gork. Her first report should be to question University of Arkansas and SEC officials about why they allow a coach representing a major university to conduct himself in such a matter. Then find students on the Arkansas campus wearing items from other schools and ask if they feel safe. And keep on the story until Petrino is disciplined.
While one media member loses her job for no apparent good reason, another is about to be hired, likely without enough qualifications. If this is a legit advertisement, a Portland radio sports station is attempting to hire via Craigslist.
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/tfr/1894650652.html
If this were for a small town I could maybe understand, but not for a "major league" market. Even at the low pay the position probably offers, you would think they could find applicants from other stations in the area. This is almost as insane as the contests to hire sportscasters.
Steve Czaban has become even busier. He has joined Sporting News Radio to co-host the 6 to 9 AM morning show along with Scott Linn from Washington D.C. Czaban will continue to co-host the "Sports Reporters|" with Andy Pollin on WTEM 980(Washington D.C.) from 4 to 7 PM. What about in between? He continues to contribute to The Hog 102.9 in Milwaukee during afternoon drive with segments for that rock station.
LONDON ENGLAND: BBC 5 changed its live MLB broadcast this past Sunday (8/15) in order to broadcast the Rogers Cup Final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray. They got a more important game in the process, taking the later starting Giants vs. Padres broadcast instead of the originally scheduled Yankees vs. Kansas City game.
CLEVELAND: Congrats to Joe Tait on receiving the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame this past Friday. This honor comes a few weeks before Tait begins his final season calling the Cavaliers games on his way to retirement. Hopefully he will be honored throughout the NBA on his "final stop" at the various arenas throughout the season. He has called the Cavs' games for most of the seasons since 1970. He will also be remembered for calling Indians games during most of the 70's and 80's along with Herb Score.
St. LOUIS: Even though the Rams are not considered a threat to make the Super Bowl this season, I still like the idea of an HD Radio channel "Rams Radio" as unique programming. Now Rams fans around the country can hear it, at least for the time being as this channel is wisely being streamed since hardly anyone has purchased an HD Radio lately.
http://www.clearchannelmusic.com/hdradio/
NEW YORK: Michael Kay and WEPN 1050 pushed one under the rug last Wednesday (8/11) when they were not able to interview Isiah Thomas during the 4 PM hour as originally scheduled. The N.Y. Daily News reported that the NBA and the Knicks may have played a role in canceling the interview after Thomas was not allowed to have a consulting position with the Knicks due to his college coaching gig.
It would have been interesting to hear Thomas' take on the situation. Wonder what is being hidden that he couldn't go on the radio to talk about. WEPN was deprived of a chance to have a newsworthy interview. Might have helped, considering that the latest monthly ratings show WFAN with literally 3 times the overall audience of WEPN, finishing at #10 in the market overall.
CHICAGO: AM radio listeners preferred sports radio a bit more often during the June - July ratings period. Sports stations WSCR The Score and WMVP 1000 combined for a .5 overall ratings increase, while NewsRadio WBBM and News / Talk WGN combined to drop .6 overall.
DETROIT: WXYT-FM The Ticket picked up enough of the ratings it lost in June and regained the #1 spot overall in the market for the July ratings. In a similar trend to Chicago, NewsRadio WWJ fell by .3 overall.
MINNEAPOLIS: KSTP 1500 isn't taking any chances with its Twins contract, given the big attendance and standings year the team is having. The station has successfully extended for 2 more seasons, continuing as the flagship station for the Twins' Network through the 2012 season. The Network totals 85 stations for this season.
DENVER: It is all but official that the Nuggets and Avalanche broadcasts will quickly be moving to a better signal. KRWZ 950 is expected to air the games of both teams, with KCKK 1510 only being used when there is a conflict with both teams playing.
DALLAS: Bruce Gilbert replaces Tom Bigby as Program Director at The Fan 105.3 in hopes of improving the station's ratings quickly. Gilbert was P.D. at The Ticket for about 6 years until 2003, and returned to Dallas from Washington D.C. where he was with the sports stations owned by Redskins owner Dan Snyder.
Last week's Rangers telecasts vs. the Yankees (on Tuesday 10 and Weds. 11) set ratings records for Fox Sports Southwest. They were the most watched Rangers telecasts on FSS since 1998, and its most watched event since a Mavericks game vs. the Lakers late in the 2001-02 regular season.
With TV voice Josh Lewin also calling San Diego Chargers pre-season games as of this past weekend, Dave Barnett moves over on the games Lewin is not available for to handle TV play-by-play, while Bryan Dolgin fills in for Barnett.
CINCINNATI: While WLW again tops the ratings with its Reds broadcasts, the full-time sports stations again did not fare well, even with the Reds in contention. WCKY 1530 finished tied for 17th overall, while Fox Sports WSAI 1360 failed to crack the top 25 overall. Same for WQRT 1160 which is not a sports station other than Andy Furman's afternoon drive show.
St. LOUIS: KMOV-TV Channel 4 and WXOS 101.1 will utilize each other's reporters starting in 2 weeks. Channel 4's Steve Savard will do a 5:45 PM report on WXOS while radio reporters will handle some of the weekend sports reporting on the TV side.
BALTIMORE: The Ravens games will also be heard on Washington's WTOP-FM 103.5 starting this season in addition to WBAL Baltimore.
PITTSBURGH: The Fan KDKA-FM has overtaken WEAE 1250 ESPN by 1/10 of a ratings point in the latest ratings, while WBGG Fox 970 is a very distant 3rd.
LEXINGTON: To some it was only a 3-game exhibition series for the University of Kentucky's basketball team in Ontario Canada this past weekend. But not to Kentucky fans. All 3 games were shown live on WKYT-TV in Lexington and WMYO-TV Louisville along with Fox Sports South, and broadcast on WLAP Radio Lexington and WHAS Louisville.
SCHEDULES: ESPN will again kick off the college hoops regular season with a 24-hour marathon of live games on November 16th, with start times Eastern:
Midnight Miami at Memphis ESPN
2 a.m. St. John’s at Saint Mary’s ESPN
4 a.m. Central Michigan at Hawaii ESPN
6 a.m. Stony Brook at Monmouth ESPN
8 a.m. Robert Morris at Kent State ESPN
10 a.m. Northeastern at Southern Illinois ESPN
Noon Oral Roberts at Tulsa ESPN
2 p.m. La Salle at Baylor ESPN
4 p.m. Virginia Tech at Kansas State ESPN
5:30 p.m. NIT Season Tip-Off (from Villanova): Marist at Villanova ESPNU
6 p.m. Ohio State at Florida ESPN
7:30 p.m. CBE Classic (from Durham): Miami (Ohio) at Duke ESPNU
8 p.m. Butler at Louisville ESPN
9:30 p.m. NIT Season Tip-Off (from Knoxville): Belmont at Tennessee ESPNU
10 p.m. South Carolina at Michigan State ESPN
11 p.m. CBE Classic (from Spokane): San Diego State vs. Gonzaga ESPN2
11:30 p.m. NIT Season Tip-Off (from Los Angeles): Nevada or Pacific at UCLA ESPNU
After the (opposing) White Sox had batted bottom of the first inning, a heated discussion took place between Tigers starting pitcher Armando Gallaraga and catcher Alex Avila which resulted in the pitcher needing to be restrained from a possible physical confrontation with Gerald Laird (also a catcher).
When the top of the 2nd was beginning, the White Sox telecast on Comcast SportsNet did show the confrontation, with announcer Steve Stone making a comment to the effect of "the battery could be getting battered" and then getting back to the game. Obviously, fans in attendance seated on the 3rd base side could see it, and probably White Sox personnel from the 3rd base dugout, and the TV cameras caught it.
Yet, fans watching their Tigers on Fox Sports Detroit did NOT see this video, and it was their team involved. Media accounts from Detroit indicate this was a decision made by the crew and not by FSD executives or the Tigers. FSD did show the video of the incident on its pre-game show on Monday night, but that should have been the case even had it been shown right away on Sunday.
This should not have been a "cover up". FSD replays errors and poor play by the Tigers on the field. The dugout is in full view of fans and media. It's not like this incident occured in the clubhouse or someplace off limits and was secretly videotaped.
For example, baseball fans recall the June incident with Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano and his tantrum in the dugout that caused manager Lou Pinella to remove him after 1 inning and suspend him from the team. That was immediately shown on TV. The list goes on. If FSD is going to say the dugout "is not part of the playing field", then they shouldn't show the bullpen. They put Manager Jim Leyland on camera during the game, mostly when he is in the dugout. Why was this important incident off limits?
This is not the first time a TV crew has been called out for not covering an incident which happened during the course of a game. My memory even went back to the late 70's when Ohio State was in a bowl game and Coach Woody Hayes punched an opposing linebacker live on camera. Yet, the announcing team made absolutely no mention of what took place while local TV ABC-TV stations were all flooded with phone calls from confused fans.
Hopefully TV sports crews will take note of what happened, or as I should say, didn't happen, during Sunday's Tigers telecast, and make certain that the fans watching the game are given all of the pertinent "news" of the game. And not just the opposing team's telecast either.
Speaking of fans not seeing what they are entitled, it's time for another NFL season. Thus, the media "right of summer" that not everyone can get The NFL Network, even when they once had it.
It seems that Comcast Cable has taken away the NFL Network from some of the Digital Starter packages they offer, even though it was once a part of the package. Naturally, those who are effected by this could get it again, if (you guessed it) they upgrade to a higher package for more money each month.
On the NBA side, it's good to see the Portland Trailblazers get involved in a similar mess. Team President Larry Miller reportedly has written to the FCC regarding Comcast and its handling of the Blazers' TV rights, which will soon enter the 4th year of a 10-year agreement. Comcast is being accused of making it financially difficult for competing carriers to carry its Blazers telecasts.
Comcast isn't the only problem. The MLB Network is still not available on AT&T U-Verse, Dish Network, or Wow. With all of this, sports fans everywhere continue to be subjected to game telecasts being blacked out on cable and satellite, even though we still have to pay for a full day's worth of programming.
Maybe we should all write the FCC.
Meanwhile, Fox Sports sports adds coach Jim Mora Jr. and former QB Kurt Warner to its roster of analysts for the coming season. Mora will act as a 2nd analyst along with Charles Davis while Dick Stockton handles play-by-play on that crew. Warner will provide color commentary on the "Chris crew" working with either Chris Myers or Chris Rose.
ARKANSAS: Renee Gork should be pursuing becoming a household name, if she isn't already. Gork appears to have been fired by KAKS Sports Hog on Monday (8/16). Not because of anything she said or did on the air. Not because she is female. Not because she made an error of fact or missed an assignment.
All she did was wear a Florida Gators hat at an Arkansas news conference which got coach Bobby Petrino upset. Amazing that Petrino held back the tears. Here's hoping that a regional or national media organization hires Gork. Her first report should be to question University of Arkansas and SEC officials about why they allow a coach representing a major university to conduct himself in such a matter. Then find students on the Arkansas campus wearing items from other schools and ask if they feel safe. And keep on the story until Petrino is disciplined.
While one media member loses her job for no apparent good reason, another is about to be hired, likely without enough qualifications. If this is a legit advertisement, a Portland radio sports station is attempting to hire via Craigslist.
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/tfr/1894650652.html
If this were for a small town I could maybe understand, but not for a "major league" market. Even at the low pay the position probably offers, you would think they could find applicants from other stations in the area. This is almost as insane as the contests to hire sportscasters.
Steve Czaban has become even busier. He has joined Sporting News Radio to co-host the 6 to 9 AM morning show along with Scott Linn from Washington D.C. Czaban will continue to co-host the "Sports Reporters|" with Andy Pollin on WTEM 980(Washington D.C.) from 4 to 7 PM. What about in between? He continues to contribute to The Hog 102.9 in Milwaukee during afternoon drive with segments for that rock station.
LONDON ENGLAND: BBC 5 changed its live MLB broadcast this past Sunday (8/15) in order to broadcast the Rogers Cup Final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray. They got a more important game in the process, taking the later starting Giants vs. Padres broadcast instead of the originally scheduled Yankees vs. Kansas City game.
CLEVELAND: Congrats to Joe Tait on receiving the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame this past Friday. This honor comes a few weeks before Tait begins his final season calling the Cavaliers games on his way to retirement. Hopefully he will be honored throughout the NBA on his "final stop" at the various arenas throughout the season. He has called the Cavs' games for most of the seasons since 1970. He will also be remembered for calling Indians games during most of the 70's and 80's along with Herb Score.
St. LOUIS: Even though the Rams are not considered a threat to make the Super Bowl this season, I still like the idea of an HD Radio channel "Rams Radio" as unique programming. Now Rams fans around the country can hear it, at least for the time being as this channel is wisely being streamed since hardly anyone has purchased an HD Radio lately.
http://www.clearchannelmusic.com/hdradio/
NEW YORK: Michael Kay and WEPN 1050 pushed one under the rug last Wednesday (8/11) when they were not able to interview Isiah Thomas during the 4 PM hour as originally scheduled. The N.Y. Daily News reported that the NBA and the Knicks may have played a role in canceling the interview after Thomas was not allowed to have a consulting position with the Knicks due to his college coaching gig.
It would have been interesting to hear Thomas' take on the situation. Wonder what is being hidden that he couldn't go on the radio to talk about. WEPN was deprived of a chance to have a newsworthy interview. Might have helped, considering that the latest monthly ratings show WFAN with literally 3 times the overall audience of WEPN, finishing at #10 in the market overall.
CHICAGO: AM radio listeners preferred sports radio a bit more often during the June - July ratings period. Sports stations WSCR The Score and WMVP 1000 combined for a .5 overall ratings increase, while NewsRadio WBBM and News / Talk WGN combined to drop .6 overall.
DETROIT: WXYT-FM The Ticket picked up enough of the ratings it lost in June and regained the #1 spot overall in the market for the July ratings. In a similar trend to Chicago, NewsRadio WWJ fell by .3 overall.
MINNEAPOLIS: KSTP 1500 isn't taking any chances with its Twins contract, given the big attendance and standings year the team is having. The station has successfully extended for 2 more seasons, continuing as the flagship station for the Twins' Network through the 2012 season. The Network totals 85 stations for this season.
DENVER: It is all but official that the Nuggets and Avalanche broadcasts will quickly be moving to a better signal. KRWZ 950 is expected to air the games of both teams, with KCKK 1510 only being used when there is a conflict with both teams playing.
DALLAS: Bruce Gilbert replaces Tom Bigby as Program Director at The Fan 105.3 in hopes of improving the station's ratings quickly. Gilbert was P.D. at The Ticket for about 6 years until 2003, and returned to Dallas from Washington D.C. where he was with the sports stations owned by Redskins owner Dan Snyder.
Last week's Rangers telecasts vs. the Yankees (on Tuesday 10 and Weds. 11) set ratings records for Fox Sports Southwest. They were the most watched Rangers telecasts on FSS since 1998, and its most watched event since a Mavericks game vs. the Lakers late in the 2001-02 regular season.
With TV voice Josh Lewin also calling San Diego Chargers pre-season games as of this past weekend, Dave Barnett moves over on the games Lewin is not available for to handle TV play-by-play, while Bryan Dolgin fills in for Barnett.
CINCINNATI: While WLW again tops the ratings with its Reds broadcasts, the full-time sports stations again did not fare well, even with the Reds in contention. WCKY 1530 finished tied for 17th overall, while Fox Sports WSAI 1360 failed to crack the top 25 overall. Same for WQRT 1160 which is not a sports station other than Andy Furman's afternoon drive show.
St. LOUIS: KMOV-TV Channel 4 and WXOS 101.1 will utilize each other's reporters starting in 2 weeks. Channel 4's Steve Savard will do a 5:45 PM report on WXOS while radio reporters will handle some of the weekend sports reporting on the TV side.
BALTIMORE: The Ravens games will also be heard on Washington's WTOP-FM 103.5 starting this season in addition to WBAL Baltimore.
PITTSBURGH: The Fan KDKA-FM has overtaken WEAE 1250 ESPN by 1/10 of a ratings point in the latest ratings, while WBGG Fox 970 is a very distant 3rd.
LEXINGTON: To some it was only a 3-game exhibition series for the University of Kentucky's basketball team in Ontario Canada this past weekend. But not to Kentucky fans. All 3 games were shown live on WKYT-TV in Lexington and WMYO-TV Louisville along with Fox Sports South, and broadcast on WLAP Radio Lexington and WHAS Louisville.
SCHEDULES: ESPN will again kick off the college hoops regular season with a 24-hour marathon of live games on November 16th, with start times Eastern:
Midnight Miami at Memphis ESPN
2 a.m. St. John’s at Saint Mary’s ESPN
4 a.m. Central Michigan at Hawaii ESPN
6 a.m. Stony Brook at Monmouth ESPN
8 a.m. Robert Morris at Kent State ESPN
10 a.m. Northeastern at Southern Illinois ESPN
Noon Oral Roberts at Tulsa ESPN
2 p.m. La Salle at Baylor ESPN
4 p.m. Virginia Tech at Kansas State ESPN
5:30 p.m. NIT Season Tip-Off (from Villanova): Marist at Villanova ESPNU
6 p.m. Ohio State at Florida ESPN
7:30 p.m. CBE Classic (from Durham): Miami (Ohio) at Duke ESPNU
8 p.m. Butler at Louisville ESPN
9:30 p.m. NIT Season Tip-Off (from Knoxville): Belmont at Tennessee ESPNU
10 p.m. South Carolina at Michigan State ESPN
11 p.m. CBE Classic (from Spokane): San Diego State vs. Gonzaga ESPN2
11:30 p.m. NIT Season Tip-Off (from Los Angeles): Nevada or Pacific at UCLA ESPNU
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Sports Media Report - Aug. 25th Update
Even though the baseball season is in its prime, the sports media is busy gearing up for the upcoming pro and college football seasons, as well as NHL training camps opening in less than a month.
One thing about college football coverage that distinguishes it now moreso than other sports (including pro football) is the spirit of the radio broadcast. The days of going to a baseball game and having at least one person in the section you were sitting in having the local broadcast on seem to be long gone. That even includes Dodger Stadium since Vin Scully no longer does the majority of the radio broadcasts for home games.
Yet, with college football, many schools are making it possible for alumni (or fans who didn't attend) to be able to hear their team's broadcast at road games. This is one situation where the concept can work well. Fans of a particular school don't always want to listen to announcers favoring the opposing school. I have long wondered why this wasn't made possible until recently.
Not many people knew about this, but going back nearly 40 years, some pro and college teams used a low power FM frequency to feed their broadcast within a stadium or arena so that broadcasters at field level or in the dugout or clubhouse for interviews could hear the broadcast and monitor off the air to know when they were supposed to be on the air.
In fact, the Dodgers were one of those teams. I still remember getting to hear Vin Scully doing the Dodgers broadcasts when I saw them play in Chicago and Cincinnati back in the 70's.
I would have thought that college team broadcasters especially would have promoted this to their fans attending road games.
A company called Live Sports Radio is now selling receivers that make hearing several college teams' broadcasts while attending road games. The SEC schools have been using this, as LSU now joins Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina in making the feature available. I'm not sure how I feel that there is a cost involved, since the broadcasts do carry the commercials and are "free" within the signal range of the stations carrying the games. On the other hand, it is a service to fans at road games beyond the signal coverage, and it would cost them for wi-fi to listen to a stream. At $20 per season, it could make sense for fans attending multiple road games. But considering that more than 11,000 University of Alabama fans purchased it last season, there is a market for it.
Meanwhile, LSU is making its weekly one hour radio show featuring football coaches and coverage of other sports on Sunday nights available online. The show begins this Sunday (Aug. 30) at 6 PM Central, will not air on the eve of Labor Day, and then start it up for the year on Sept. 13th. In addition to 107.3 FM Baton Rouge and the LSU Sports Radio Network, the show will stream on LSUSports.net. Jordy Hultberg will host the live show.
The show focused on U. of Alabama sports will be heard starting this week on WTUS in Tuscaloosa and on WENN 1320 in Birmingham along with 19 other stations this season. It will also be streamed on CRMSports.com.
On the NFL side, now that Comcast and some other cable systems have finally put the NFL Network on most digital packages so that many more subscribers will be able to see it, the Network is gearing up for the coming season even though their live game telecasts don't kick in until mid-November. Bob Papa and Matt Millen will handle the NFL Network game telecasts.
Of more immediate blessings, the NFL Network is expanding its GameDay Morning show to a full 4 hours leading into the kickoff of the Sunday first games, starting at 9 AM ET. This gives them a 2 or 2 1/2 hour jump on local TV pre-game shows and on ESPN's pre-game show, and starts 3 hours ahead of the Fox and CBS-TV pregame shows. So for the football crazed on the west coast, you'll be able to watch live pre-game programming on NFL Network starting at 6 AM.
For local coverage, the San Francisco 49ers have joined a few other NFL teams regarding TV pre-season coverage and are simulcasting their TV and radio broadcasts. This past weekend's game against the Raiders was done by Greg Papa, Tom Flores, and Jim Plunkett. A simulcast is unusual in the NFL since radio usually has more commercial time.
In Philadelphia, the Andy Reid (Eagles Head Coach) Show is moving to WIP 610 where Howard Eskin takes over as a co-host instead of Beasley Reece. The show will air on Monday evenings during Eskin's time slot. It had aired on WYSP in recent seasons.
In Dallas, the new stadium and a promising team mean media ratings, and we are now just 2 weeks into the pre-season. Word is that last weekend's pre-season game between the Cowboys and Tennessee generated a local rating of more than 20. That is rating - which is different than audience share.
In Green Bay, the local TV folks continue to believe that there will be a significant amount of interest in Brett Favre again this season. Last season several of the Jets' games were carried in Green Bay and Milwaukee. Now it looks like at least half of the Vikings games will be seen in the Green Bay TV market. Granted, the Vikings play in the same division and would normally be seen several times along with Chicago Bears games.
It has already gotten to the point where Don Carmichael, the General Manager of WBAY Channel 2 was quoted about having tried to pick up the Vikings vs. Kansas City pre-season game last week.
WLUK-TV will carry the Vikings' season opener on Sept. 13th and at least 5 others. They could also carry the Jan. 3rd game between the Vikings and Giants but will wait on that to determine playoff matchups.
WFRV Channel 5 will carry at least one Vikings game when they host Cincinnati in December. WBAY-TV already has the local rights to show the Monday Night Football game between the Packers and Vikings on October 5th.
It is hard to believe that NHL training camps open in less than a month. Versus has announced its tentative telecast schedule (times are Eastern):
Thurs. Oct. 1 Washington at Boston 7:00 PM
Thurs. Oct. 1 San Jose at Colorado 10:00 PM
Friday Oct. 2 Florida at Chicago
Friday Oct. 2 Detroit at St. Louis
Mon. Oct. 5 NY Rangers at New Jersey 7:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 6 Washington at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Mon. Oct. 12 Calgary at Chicago 8:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 13 Detroit at Buffalo 7:00 PM
Mon. Oct. 19 San Jose at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 20 St. Louis at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Mon. Oct. 26 Minnesota at Chicago 8:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 27 Philadelphia at Washington 7:00 PM
Tues. Nov. 3 Boston at Detroit 7:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 9 Los Angeles at Chicago 8:00 PM
Tues. Nov. 10 Pittsburgh at Boston 7:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 16 New Jersey at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Tues. Nov. 17 Washington at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 23 Detroit at Nashville 7:00 PM
Wed. Nov. 25 St. Louis at Dallas 8:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 30 Buffalo at Toronto 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 1 Columbus at Chicago 8:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 7 New Jersey at Buffalo 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 8 NY Islanders at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Wed. Dec. 9 Minnesota at Colorado 9:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 14 Buffalo at Montreal 7:30 PM
Tues. Dec. 15 Philadelphia at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 21 Buffalo at Toronto 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 22 San Jose at Chicago 8:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 28 Detroit at Columbus 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 29 Chicago at Dallas 8:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 4 Boston at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 5 Minnesota at Chicago 8:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 11 Pittsburgh at Minnesota 8:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 12 New Jersey at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 18 Minnesota at Dallas 8:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 19 Tampa Bay at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 25 Pittsburgh at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 26 Phoenix at Detroit 7:00 PM
Mon. Feb. 1 Buffalo at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Tues. Feb. 2 Minnesota at Dallas 8:00 PM
Mon. Feb. 8 New Jersey at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Tues. Feb. 9 Detroit at St. Louis 8:00 PM
Mon. March 1 Detroit at Colorado 9:00 PM
Tues. March 2 Philadelphia at Tampa Bay 7:30 PM
Mon. March 8 Dallas at Washington 7:00 PM
Tues. March 9 NY Islanders at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Mon. March 15 Boston at New Jersey 7:00 PM
Tues. March 16 Montreal at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. March 22 Pittsburgh at Detroit 7:00 PM
Tues. March 23 San Jose at Minnesota 8:00 PM
Mon. March 29 Buffalo at Boston 7:00 PM
Tues. March 30 Chicago at St. Louis 8:00 PM
Mon. April 5 Boston at Washington 7:00 PM
Tues. April 6 Washington at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
In Denver, the Avalanche will have a different play-by-play voice starting this coming season, as Marc Moser will handle the call on Mile High Sports 1510 AM. But that isn't the big part of the story. Moser replaces (if you can use that term in this case) Norm Jones after his more than 35 years on the local hockey scene. In fact, Jones' legacy goes back to his calling the Colorado Rockies of the NHL - years before the baseball team adopted the name.For that matter, Jones also called the baseball AAA Denver Zephyrs years before the baseball Rockies were granted a franchise. Yet, Jones showed no signs of retiring or cutting back. This appears to be a station move, probably for cost cutting purposes.
This comes weeks after the Avalanche stayed on 1510 AM even though there will also be conflicts with Nuggets broadcasts. Now the team learns that the local hockey voice residents in their 30's have heard all of their lives won't be calling the games this season.
ESPN is hard at work on its college hoops schedule for the coming season. This season Tuesday nights will feature a Big Ten and SEC doubleheader in random order. At least one Big Ten game will air each Thursday during the conference schedule. Penn State at Minnesota on Dec. 29th is the opening Conference telecast.
One thing about college football coverage that distinguishes it now moreso than other sports (including pro football) is the spirit of the radio broadcast. The days of going to a baseball game and having at least one person in the section you were sitting in having the local broadcast on seem to be long gone. That even includes Dodger Stadium since Vin Scully no longer does the majority of the radio broadcasts for home games.
Yet, with college football, many schools are making it possible for alumni (or fans who didn't attend) to be able to hear their team's broadcast at road games. This is one situation where the concept can work well. Fans of a particular school don't always want to listen to announcers favoring the opposing school. I have long wondered why this wasn't made possible until recently.
Not many people knew about this, but going back nearly 40 years, some pro and college teams used a low power FM frequency to feed their broadcast within a stadium or arena so that broadcasters at field level or in the dugout or clubhouse for interviews could hear the broadcast and monitor off the air to know when they were supposed to be on the air.
In fact, the Dodgers were one of those teams. I still remember getting to hear Vin Scully doing the Dodgers broadcasts when I saw them play in Chicago and Cincinnati back in the 70's.
I would have thought that college team broadcasters especially would have promoted this to their fans attending road games.
A company called Live Sports Radio is now selling receivers that make hearing several college teams' broadcasts while attending road games. The SEC schools have been using this, as LSU now joins Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina in making the feature available. I'm not sure how I feel that there is a cost involved, since the broadcasts do carry the commercials and are "free" within the signal range of the stations carrying the games. On the other hand, it is a service to fans at road games beyond the signal coverage, and it would cost them for wi-fi to listen to a stream. At $20 per season, it could make sense for fans attending multiple road games. But considering that more than 11,000 University of Alabama fans purchased it last season, there is a market for it.
Meanwhile, LSU is making its weekly one hour radio show featuring football coaches and coverage of other sports on Sunday nights available online. The show begins this Sunday (Aug. 30) at 6 PM Central, will not air on the eve of Labor Day, and then start it up for the year on Sept. 13th. In addition to 107.3 FM Baton Rouge and the LSU Sports Radio Network, the show will stream on LSUSports.net. Jordy Hultberg will host the live show.
The show focused on U. of Alabama sports will be heard starting this week on WTUS in Tuscaloosa and on WENN 1320 in Birmingham along with 19 other stations this season. It will also be streamed on CRMSports.com.
On the NFL side, now that Comcast and some other cable systems have finally put the NFL Network on most digital packages so that many more subscribers will be able to see it, the Network is gearing up for the coming season even though their live game telecasts don't kick in until mid-November. Bob Papa and Matt Millen will handle the NFL Network game telecasts.
Of more immediate blessings, the NFL Network is expanding its GameDay Morning show to a full 4 hours leading into the kickoff of the Sunday first games, starting at 9 AM ET. This gives them a 2 or 2 1/2 hour jump on local TV pre-game shows and on ESPN's pre-game show, and starts 3 hours ahead of the Fox and CBS-TV pregame shows. So for the football crazed on the west coast, you'll be able to watch live pre-game programming on NFL Network starting at 6 AM.
For local coverage, the San Francisco 49ers have joined a few other NFL teams regarding TV pre-season coverage and are simulcasting their TV and radio broadcasts. This past weekend's game against the Raiders was done by Greg Papa, Tom Flores, and Jim Plunkett. A simulcast is unusual in the NFL since radio usually has more commercial time.
In Philadelphia, the Andy Reid (Eagles Head Coach) Show is moving to WIP 610 where Howard Eskin takes over as a co-host instead of Beasley Reece. The show will air on Monday evenings during Eskin's time slot. It had aired on WYSP in recent seasons.
In Dallas, the new stadium and a promising team mean media ratings, and we are now just 2 weeks into the pre-season. Word is that last weekend's pre-season game between the Cowboys and Tennessee generated a local rating of more than 20. That is rating - which is different than audience share.
In Green Bay, the local TV folks continue to believe that there will be a significant amount of interest in Brett Favre again this season. Last season several of the Jets' games were carried in Green Bay and Milwaukee. Now it looks like at least half of the Vikings games will be seen in the Green Bay TV market. Granted, the Vikings play in the same division and would normally be seen several times along with Chicago Bears games.
It has already gotten to the point where Don Carmichael, the General Manager of WBAY Channel 2 was quoted about having tried to pick up the Vikings vs. Kansas City pre-season game last week.
WLUK-TV will carry the Vikings' season opener on Sept. 13th and at least 5 others. They could also carry the Jan. 3rd game between the Vikings and Giants but will wait on that to determine playoff matchups.
WFRV Channel 5 will carry at least one Vikings game when they host Cincinnati in December. WBAY-TV already has the local rights to show the Monday Night Football game between the Packers and Vikings on October 5th.
It is hard to believe that NHL training camps open in less than a month. Versus has announced its tentative telecast schedule (times are Eastern):
Thurs. Oct. 1 Washington at Boston 7:00 PM
Thurs. Oct. 1 San Jose at Colorado 10:00 PM
Friday Oct. 2 Florida at Chicago
Friday Oct. 2 Detroit at St. Louis
Mon. Oct. 5 NY Rangers at New Jersey 7:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 6 Washington at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Mon. Oct. 12 Calgary at Chicago 8:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 13 Detroit at Buffalo 7:00 PM
Mon. Oct. 19 San Jose at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 20 St. Louis at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Mon. Oct. 26 Minnesota at Chicago 8:00 PM
Tues. Oct. 27 Philadelphia at Washington 7:00 PM
Tues. Nov. 3 Boston at Detroit 7:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 9 Los Angeles at Chicago 8:00 PM
Tues. Nov. 10 Pittsburgh at Boston 7:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 16 New Jersey at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Tues. Nov. 17 Washington at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 23 Detroit at Nashville 7:00 PM
Wed. Nov. 25 St. Louis at Dallas 8:00 PM
Mon. Nov. 30 Buffalo at Toronto 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 1 Columbus at Chicago 8:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 7 New Jersey at Buffalo 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 8 NY Islanders at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Wed. Dec. 9 Minnesota at Colorado 9:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 14 Buffalo at Montreal 7:30 PM
Tues. Dec. 15 Philadelphia at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 21 Buffalo at Toronto 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 22 San Jose at Chicago 8:00 PM
Mon. Dec. 28 Detroit at Columbus 7:00 PM
Tues. Dec. 29 Chicago at Dallas 8:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 4 Boston at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 5 Minnesota at Chicago 8:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 11 Pittsburgh at Minnesota 8:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 12 New Jersey at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 18 Minnesota at Dallas 8:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 19 Tampa Bay at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. Jan. 25 Pittsburgh at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Tues. Jan. 26 Phoenix at Detroit 7:00 PM
Mon. Feb. 1 Buffalo at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Tues. Feb. 2 Minnesota at Dallas 8:00 PM
Mon. Feb. 8 New Jersey at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Tues. Feb. 9 Detroit at St. Louis 8:00 PM
Mon. March 1 Detroit at Colorado 9:00 PM
Tues. March 2 Philadelphia at Tampa Bay 7:30 PM
Mon. March 8 Dallas at Washington 7:00 PM
Tues. March 9 NY Islanders at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Mon. March 15 Boston at New Jersey 7:00 PM
Tues. March 16 Montreal at NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Mon. March 22 Pittsburgh at Detroit 7:00 PM
Tues. March 23 San Jose at Minnesota 8:00 PM
Mon. March 29 Buffalo at Boston 7:00 PM
Tues. March 30 Chicago at St. Louis 8:00 PM
Mon. April 5 Boston at Washington 7:00 PM
Tues. April 6 Washington at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
In Denver, the Avalanche will have a different play-by-play voice starting this coming season, as Marc Moser will handle the call on Mile High Sports 1510 AM. But that isn't the big part of the story. Moser replaces (if you can use that term in this case) Norm Jones after his more than 35 years on the local hockey scene. In fact, Jones' legacy goes back to his calling the Colorado Rockies of the NHL - years before the baseball team adopted the name.For that matter, Jones also called the baseball AAA Denver Zephyrs years before the baseball Rockies were granted a franchise. Yet, Jones showed no signs of retiring or cutting back. This appears to be a station move, probably for cost cutting purposes.
This comes weeks after the Avalanche stayed on 1510 AM even though there will also be conflicts with Nuggets broadcasts. Now the team learns that the local hockey voice residents in their 30's have heard all of their lives won't be calling the games this season.
ESPN is hard at work on its college hoops schedule for the coming season. This season Tuesday nights will feature a Big Ten and SEC doubleheader in random order. At least one Big Ten game will air each Thursday during the conference schedule. Penn State at Minnesota on Dec. 29th is the opening Conference telecast.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
