As the baseball post-season continues to unfold, it has been interesting to note that 3 midwest markets each experienced baseball - football TV doubleheaders each involving local teams over a 2-day stretch (Oct. 9 & 10).
On Sunday (10/9), Milwaukee fans had the Brewers in the NLCS opener vs. St. Louis in the late afternoon spot on Fox followed by the Packers at Atlanta on NBC. The Brewers telecast, which was a home game, showed a 31 rating and about 53% of local TV sets tuned in, while the Packers game (on the road) had an overnight rating of 51.2 with about 66% of sets tuned in.
There are a number of theories about why the Packers telecast had the higher local ratings, including that the Packers game was scheduled long before the baseball game, which wasn't scheduled until late last Friday night, that the Brewers game was a home game and therefore at least 40,000 who attended did not need to watch on TV, or that "football seems more popular than baseball". Or perhaps some combination of those three.
Also, on Sunday St. Louis fans had the Rams vs. Redskins as an early regional game on Fox, and then TBS showed the Cardinals NLCS opener from Milwaukee in the late afternoon time slot. Then, on Monday (10/10), Detroit fans had the Tigers vs. Rangers game late afternoon on Fox (postponed from Sunday night) which went extra innings and ended early in the ESPN Monday Night Football telecast of the Lions vs. the Bears.
In Milwaukee, Sunday will wind up having been a banner day for WTMJ 620 Radio, which was able to carry both the Brewers and Packers broadcasts live. The mid-August to mid-September ratings for WTMJ show the station a solid #1 overall, up 3 ratings points since July, undoubtedly helped by the Brewers division title, the world champion Packers, and a strong start by the University of Wisconsin Badgers. The station carries play-by-play for all 3 teams.
In St. Louis, KMOX continued with strong overall ratings and got a slight boost from having the Cardinals back this season, with the Cards' post-season run sure to help for the next ratings period.
While the local teams' play-by-play spells success on the radio side (as well as TV) in Milwaukee and St. Louis, it still does not reflect from sports talk radio. In St. Louis, KMOX, with Cardinals play-by-play and sports talk as only a part of its night and 'off hour' schedule, dominates over KXOS and the other sports talk stations in the ratings.
This is the case to a bigger extent in Milwaukee. WTMJ has some sports talk within its otherwise news/talk format and is a solid #1 in the market. Yet, sports radio stations WAUK and WSSP had less than 10% of WTMJ's overall audience COMBINED during the same ratings period. While local fans are clearly watching and listening to the games, those same fans are not listening to chatter about the teams on the other stations. Again, this should be a reason for concern among sports radio stations in certain markets.
Yet, this is not an "across the board" trend as I thought earlier this year. The Ticket in Detroit bounced back to become #1 overall in the market, while, as mentioned last week, Dallas sports stations each showed increases. In Nashville, WGFX went from a 4.5 overall to an 8.2 in one month to take over as #1 overall in the market as the Titans' NFL season got underway.
This all seems to be a factor in the increase in radio rights deals for play-by-play of late.
On the TV side, the local viewership was not kind in 2 markets in particular for the just concluded regular season, with those being Baltimore/D.C. and Los Angeles.
Even with an improved record and some signs of a pulse this season, the Washington Nationals' local telecast ratings for the season were down nearly 5% from the 2009 disappointing season. However, it wasn't because fans switched over to the Orioles' local telecasts either, as the Orioles and the Oakland A's finished in a virtual tie for lowest average TV audience in the American League.
What makes this interesting is that the Nationals' average rating for the entire season was actually better than either the L.A. Dodgers or Angels. (Because of the much larger population, the L.A. teams actually had more viewers than the Nationals.) Yikes. Even with Vin Scully, who obviously won't be around too much longer doing the home and West Division road telecasts, and an Angels team which was in contention into late September.
The Phillies' runaway toward the N.L. East Division title helped to reduce TV audiences within the Division, as Atlanta, the N.Y. Mets, and Florida Marlins' telecasts all showed "double digit" local audience declines from the 2011 regular season.
Back to radio rights. In Houston, KILT AM & FM announced a 10-year extension of their contract to air the Texans play-by-play plus additional team related programming. This announcement came on top of sports radio KILT-AM more than doubling its overall audience within the past 3 months' ratings. One very interesting addition comes out of this new contract. KILT-AM will air a one-hour extended play-by-play recap of the just past weekend's Texans game each Tuesday night throughout the seasons, with all other Tuesday nights featuring a Texans specific talk show. Marc Vandermeer and Andre Ware will remain as the play-by-play voice and analyst, with Vandermeer likely to continue hosting mornings on KILT-AM. This move is significant not only in terms of the dollars commitment from KILT, but since its AM station ratings are on the rise in a market which has seen poor overall audience performance of late from its other 3 stations in the sports talk arena.
LOS ANGELES: Pleased to report that KCBS-TV 2 and/or the NFL actually have responded to viewer complaints after all. After my comments last week about how KCBS-TV could be put in the position of having to leave the Raiders vs. Texans telecast prior to conclusion on Sunday (10/9) merely to show the start of the San Diego vs. Denver game, it didn't happen. The station stayed with the final 4 minutes of the thrilling Raiders vs. Texans telecast, which went down to the very last second of play, alerting viewers on a screen scroll that the Chargers game would be "joined in progress". Thus, the station missed the first 11 1/2 minutes of the Chargers vs. Broncos game. The NFL considers Los Angeles to be a "secondary market" for Chargers' telecasts. Or at least they did on Sept. 18th when KCBS left the Raiders vs. Bills telecast with :27 left and the outcome in doubt to join the Chargers vs. Patriots telecast in time for kickoff. That's more like it!
St. LOUIS: Dan McLaughlin will not be seen on either University of Missouri or regional Missouri Valley Conference basketball telecasts for at least the upcoming season. Following McLaughlin's second arrest in 13 months on a drunk driving charge, McLaughlin is being replaced in both roles. Chris Gervino, also Sports Director at KOMU-TV Columbia, will handle all of the Missouri telecasts, after handling games when McLaughlin had a schedule conflict. The Missouri Valley telecasts will all be handled by Mitch Holthaus as primary voice, with Kevin Kugler also expected to see an increase in play-by-play assignments over last season. No word yet regarding McLaughlin's status as the Cardinals' primary TV voice.
JACKSONVILLE: WJXL 1010 has moved "Sports Final Radio" into the 6 to 10 AM weekday position, replacing the syndicated Lex & Terry Show, which had been its only non-sports show until this week.
Showing posts with label packers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label packers. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Weathering The TV Networks
Even for all those millions of dollars the sports media still can't control the weather. But the sports media can control itself. It's too soon to know if this will happen more often, but the past weekend's weather delays for football games and a key NASCAR race raise some interesting questions for those in charge of the TV coverage.
Rain or weather delays have been a factor regarding baseball telecasts for years, but very rarely has it come up during football telecasts, only to have several college football games delayed (with one stopped completely) due to severe storm conditions.
Granted, ESPN has an advantage over most other networks during weather delays since it has immediate studio and game resources on which to rely, even when not expected during a football telecast.
On Saturday (9/3) NBC was put in the rare position of what turned out to be lengthy rain delays during its Notre-Dame vs. South Florida telecast that began during the late afternoon hours. The network began by doing an excellent job given the unusual circumstances. It was one instance where having a "reporter" in addition to the broadcast booth actually enhanced the telecast, as Alex Flanagan was able to secure an interview with N.D. Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick. Viewers were brought up to date on what the players could and could not do during the weather delay. Tom Hicks, filling in for Tom Hammond on play-by-play (odd that Hammond would have another NBC assignment ahead of the N.D. season opener), was able to interview Terry McAulay of the Big East Conference regarding the rules and procedures for such weather delays.
Granted, the weather delays totaled more than 2 1/2 hours, NBC wasn't expecting this, and it was not a full slate of other NCAA games on Saturday. Yet, NBC instead opted to replay much of a past Notre Dame game while keeping the South Bend radar and delay information on the screen during a large portion of these delays. I know I'll get the responses that NBC's contract is for Notre Dame games and not with the NCAA. My point is that replaying a past game, no matter how enjoyable at the time it happened for N.D. fans, leaves much of the audience hanging. Or should I say looking for something else to watch. During this time period, there were several other live games still being televised just about everywhere in the country in addition to the ESPN and ABC games.
As one who complains because the networks tend to have way too many studio analysts for pre-game, halftime, and post-game segments because the good ones don't get enough time to comment, this was a situation where it would have helped. Sorry, NBC, but the idea should be to stay live and current. This was the season opener for N.D. No reason there shouldn't have been profiles of players at key positions, an in-depth look at the remaining schedule (at the very least the home games), and more scoreboard updates. Heck, even more info about future opponents would likely have retained the viewing audience ahead of a recorded game from a past season.
NBC was fortunate to have Versus to take over the live coverage into prime time. Normally, I'd be upset about them moving the game, but in this instance I certainly understand that weather delays of this magnitude could not have been anticipated in time to make revised programming arrangements.
On Sunday (9/4)ESPN wound up with weather delays during both its Marshall at West VA football coverage and the its NASCAR rate scheduled for Atlanta. The football game was delayed, and later not completed with the score at the time standing as the final, during its late afternoon time slot. The telecast was scheduled to have ended in time for the NASCAR race, which was also delayed and eventually postponed. Although ESPN hoped to fill the NASCAR delay with the conclusion of the football game, neither took place.
The saving grace is that ESPN has so many "live" resources immediately available, including its College GameDay coverage crew and its NASCAR studio crew. Thus, ESPN was able to offer the live updates, analysis, and coverage of scores, other games, and sports events, that NBC didn't.
I'm sure that there will be more discussion and perhaps policy discussed by the NCAA, member schools, and likely TV network officials, in the very near future, regarding ways to handle these weather delays. Storms such as these do impact player and fan safety, and it's good that the schools consider fan safety given the high cost of attending a game these days.
Hopefully the networks other than ESPN/ABC will be ready with live programming, interviews, and features in the event of future delays.
Meanwhile, while the fallout understandably continues about the startup of the Texas Longhorn Network, the University of Missouri is moving forward with its own TV presentation. To its credit, Missouri is doing it much differently. The Mizzou Network is scheduled to debut on December 1st (thus not for this new football season), and will be internet based. Most of the content will be free, including some live telecasts of lesser sports events. Word is there will also be some shows from football and basketball practices and other behind-the-scenes sports activities, with the idea being for branding rather than revenue, as it should be.
The Mizzou Network will have the rights to show one football game per season (starting in 2012) and any basketball games not already picked up by TV stations or regional/national networks, but may do so as a pay-per-view. Normally, I'm not in favor of pay-per-view of sports events, but if the cost is reasonable, it makes more sense than the Longhorn Network expecting people who do not support the U. of Texas to cough up still more dollars each month to have the channel they might not want. When even some of the large cable/satellite companies aren't carrying the Longhorn Network because of the revenue concerns, it shows you how much out of proportion TV costs have become.
Yet, the Longhorn Network snuck through another aggravating announcement late last week. Now that it won't easily be able to show high school games live as it hoped, the Longhorn Network will now show five home football games of UTSA (University of Texas San Antonio) starting this Saturday (9/10) vs. McMurry. They seem to have overlooked how UTSA is part of the University of Texas. Now it is as though the Network was limited to UT in Austin, and not even for the entire university system. Yes, how nice of the University of Texas to be willing to share some of the millions and millions of dollars it is trying to soak people for with a part of its own system.
On the NHL side, NBC and Versus continue to be aggressive about the NHL on TV for this season, especially as the NBA lockout continues while NHL teams open training camp. Versus now plans to air at least 4 exhibition games nationally. In the past few years, only the NHL Network showed some. It is possible that these will be national feeds of local Comcast SportsNet telecasts to reduce production costs, but understandable since the CSN family is also part of the NBC Sports Network family. Three of the telecasts are Flyers games, already scheduled to be shown on CSN Philadelphia, while the fourth is a Chicago Blackhawks game already scheduled for CSN Chicago:
Sept. 21, 7:00 p.m. – Toronto vs. Philadelphia
Sept. 26, 7:00 p.m. – NY Rangers vs. Philadelphia
Sept. 28, 8:30 p.m. – Detroit vs. Chicago
Sept. 29, 7:00 p.m. – New Jersey vs. Philadelphia (VERSUS)
On the Canadian side, CBC and TSN will each air at least 4 exhibition games, with all featuring at least one of the Canadian teams in action.
In the Atlanta market, efforts are underway to maintain an NHL presence on the regional sports networks. As of press time, an announcement is pending regarding the market receiving a steady diet of Nashville Predators games this coming season. If so, it will be most interesting to see the audience measurements, and see if fans have given up on the NHL or would rally to indicate that Atlanta should again have a team in the league.
SAN DIEGO: As a disappointing season comes to an end for the Padres, it could be end of an era for the team's local radio and TV coverage. The XX Sports Radio contract for the broadcasts is up at the end of this season, with no renewal announced as of yet. Last week, Channel 4 confirmed that it will not televise the Padres after this season. Dick Enberg is, as of press time, the only announcer under contract for 2012, and that's as far as his agreement goes. Mark Grant, Ted Leitner, and Andy Masur have not yet been renewed.
CHICAGO: We have another instance of a current player being signed to a paid media deal, as Comcast SportsNet Chicago has hired White Sox pitcher Jack Peavy for a "Jake's Take" segment to appear as a weekly video diary. The segments are expected to air on White Sox pre-game shows along with some of the network's nightly sports recap shows. Have to wonder about the demand for such a feature, given that the fans have heard enough excuses for Peavy earning close to $2 million per pitching victory this season.
MILWAUKEE: It's not just "any" football for Milwaukee area TV viewers. It's the Super Bowl champion Packers, obviously. This past Thursday (9/1) the Packers final exhibition game vs. Kansas City was on up against the University of Wisconsin's season opener head-to-head. Yet, the meaningless Packers telecast more than doubled the audience of the Badgers' opener of what could be a big bowl season.
PORTLAND ME: WPEI 95.9 has increased area coverage thanks to WLOB-FM 95.5 Topsham dropping its talk format (which continues on its AM) and picking up a simulcast of WPEI as of this week.
CORPUS CHRISTI TX and PENSACOLA FL: After losing several affiliates to Fox Sports Radio, ESPN Radio is taking steps to add more affiliates once again. Corpus Christi's 1440 KEYS went from news/talk to ESPN Radio on Thursday (9/1), while Pensacola's WBSR 1450 dropped its light music format to become "1450 ESPN) this week.
Rain or weather delays have been a factor regarding baseball telecasts for years, but very rarely has it come up during football telecasts, only to have several college football games delayed (with one stopped completely) due to severe storm conditions.
Granted, ESPN has an advantage over most other networks during weather delays since it has immediate studio and game resources on which to rely, even when not expected during a football telecast.
On Saturday (9/3) NBC was put in the rare position of what turned out to be lengthy rain delays during its Notre-Dame vs. South Florida telecast that began during the late afternoon hours. The network began by doing an excellent job given the unusual circumstances. It was one instance where having a "reporter" in addition to the broadcast booth actually enhanced the telecast, as Alex Flanagan was able to secure an interview with N.D. Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick. Viewers were brought up to date on what the players could and could not do during the weather delay. Tom Hicks, filling in for Tom Hammond on play-by-play (odd that Hammond would have another NBC assignment ahead of the N.D. season opener), was able to interview Terry McAulay of the Big East Conference regarding the rules and procedures for such weather delays.
Granted, the weather delays totaled more than 2 1/2 hours, NBC wasn't expecting this, and it was not a full slate of other NCAA games on Saturday. Yet, NBC instead opted to replay much of a past Notre Dame game while keeping the South Bend radar and delay information on the screen during a large portion of these delays. I know I'll get the responses that NBC's contract is for Notre Dame games and not with the NCAA. My point is that replaying a past game, no matter how enjoyable at the time it happened for N.D. fans, leaves much of the audience hanging. Or should I say looking for something else to watch. During this time period, there were several other live games still being televised just about everywhere in the country in addition to the ESPN and ABC games.
As one who complains because the networks tend to have way too many studio analysts for pre-game, halftime, and post-game segments because the good ones don't get enough time to comment, this was a situation where it would have helped. Sorry, NBC, but the idea should be to stay live and current. This was the season opener for N.D. No reason there shouldn't have been profiles of players at key positions, an in-depth look at the remaining schedule (at the very least the home games), and more scoreboard updates. Heck, even more info about future opponents would likely have retained the viewing audience ahead of a recorded game from a past season.
NBC was fortunate to have Versus to take over the live coverage into prime time. Normally, I'd be upset about them moving the game, but in this instance I certainly understand that weather delays of this magnitude could not have been anticipated in time to make revised programming arrangements.
On Sunday (9/4)ESPN wound up with weather delays during both its Marshall at West VA football coverage and the its NASCAR rate scheduled for Atlanta. The football game was delayed, and later not completed with the score at the time standing as the final, during its late afternoon time slot. The telecast was scheduled to have ended in time for the NASCAR race, which was also delayed and eventually postponed. Although ESPN hoped to fill the NASCAR delay with the conclusion of the football game, neither took place.
The saving grace is that ESPN has so many "live" resources immediately available, including its College GameDay coverage crew and its NASCAR studio crew. Thus, ESPN was able to offer the live updates, analysis, and coverage of scores, other games, and sports events, that NBC didn't.
I'm sure that there will be more discussion and perhaps policy discussed by the NCAA, member schools, and likely TV network officials, in the very near future, regarding ways to handle these weather delays. Storms such as these do impact player and fan safety, and it's good that the schools consider fan safety given the high cost of attending a game these days.
Hopefully the networks other than ESPN/ABC will be ready with live programming, interviews, and features in the event of future delays.
Meanwhile, while the fallout understandably continues about the startup of the Texas Longhorn Network, the University of Missouri is moving forward with its own TV presentation. To its credit, Missouri is doing it much differently. The Mizzou Network is scheduled to debut on December 1st (thus not for this new football season), and will be internet based. Most of the content will be free, including some live telecasts of lesser sports events. Word is there will also be some shows from football and basketball practices and other behind-the-scenes sports activities, with the idea being for branding rather than revenue, as it should be.
The Mizzou Network will have the rights to show one football game per season (starting in 2012) and any basketball games not already picked up by TV stations or regional/national networks, but may do so as a pay-per-view. Normally, I'm not in favor of pay-per-view of sports events, but if the cost is reasonable, it makes more sense than the Longhorn Network expecting people who do not support the U. of Texas to cough up still more dollars each month to have the channel they might not want. When even some of the large cable/satellite companies aren't carrying the Longhorn Network because of the revenue concerns, it shows you how much out of proportion TV costs have become.
Yet, the Longhorn Network snuck through another aggravating announcement late last week. Now that it won't easily be able to show high school games live as it hoped, the Longhorn Network will now show five home football games of UTSA (University of Texas San Antonio) starting this Saturday (9/10) vs. McMurry. They seem to have overlooked how UTSA is part of the University of Texas. Now it is as though the Network was limited to UT in Austin, and not even for the entire university system. Yes, how nice of the University of Texas to be willing to share some of the millions and millions of dollars it is trying to soak people for with a part of its own system.
On the NHL side, NBC and Versus continue to be aggressive about the NHL on TV for this season, especially as the NBA lockout continues while NHL teams open training camp. Versus now plans to air at least 4 exhibition games nationally. In the past few years, only the NHL Network showed some. It is possible that these will be national feeds of local Comcast SportsNet telecasts to reduce production costs, but understandable since the CSN family is also part of the NBC Sports Network family. Three of the telecasts are Flyers games, already scheduled to be shown on CSN Philadelphia, while the fourth is a Chicago Blackhawks game already scheduled for CSN Chicago:
Sept. 21, 7:00 p.m. – Toronto vs. Philadelphia
Sept. 26, 7:00 p.m. – NY Rangers vs. Philadelphia
Sept. 28, 8:30 p.m. – Detroit vs. Chicago
Sept. 29, 7:00 p.m. – New Jersey vs. Philadelphia (VERSUS)
On the Canadian side, CBC and TSN will each air at least 4 exhibition games, with all featuring at least one of the Canadian teams in action.
In the Atlanta market, efforts are underway to maintain an NHL presence on the regional sports networks. As of press time, an announcement is pending regarding the market receiving a steady diet of Nashville Predators games this coming season. If so, it will be most interesting to see the audience measurements, and see if fans have given up on the NHL or would rally to indicate that Atlanta should again have a team in the league.
SAN DIEGO: As a disappointing season comes to an end for the Padres, it could be end of an era for the team's local radio and TV coverage. The XX Sports Radio contract for the broadcasts is up at the end of this season, with no renewal announced as of yet. Last week, Channel 4 confirmed that it will not televise the Padres after this season. Dick Enberg is, as of press time, the only announcer under contract for 2012, and that's as far as his agreement goes. Mark Grant, Ted Leitner, and Andy Masur have not yet been renewed.
CHICAGO: We have another instance of a current player being signed to a paid media deal, as Comcast SportsNet Chicago has hired White Sox pitcher Jack Peavy for a "Jake's Take" segment to appear as a weekly video diary. The segments are expected to air on White Sox pre-game shows along with some of the network's nightly sports recap shows. Have to wonder about the demand for such a feature, given that the fans have heard enough excuses for Peavy earning close to $2 million per pitching victory this season.
MILWAUKEE: It's not just "any" football for Milwaukee area TV viewers. It's the Super Bowl champion Packers, obviously. This past Thursday (9/1) the Packers final exhibition game vs. Kansas City was on up against the University of Wisconsin's season opener head-to-head. Yet, the meaningless Packers telecast more than doubled the audience of the Badgers' opener of what could be a big bowl season.
PORTLAND ME: WPEI 95.9 has increased area coverage thanks to WLOB-FM 95.5 Topsham dropping its talk format (which continues on its AM) and picking up a simulcast of WPEI as of this week.
CORPUS CHRISTI TX and PENSACOLA FL: After losing several affiliates to Fox Sports Radio, ESPN Radio is taking steps to add more affiliates once again. Corpus Christi's 1440 KEYS went from news/talk to ESPN Radio on Thursday (9/1), while Pensacola's WBSR 1450 dropped its light music format to become "1450 ESPN) this week.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
The Broadcast Booth - February 1st Update....
Never mind Media Day for the Super Bowl. It's the amount of media attention devoted to it that is the story.
ESPN and Fox Sports Radio are doing many of their national shows from Dallas throughout the week. One national voice with an attachment to the game is Westwood One Radio play-by-play voice Kevin Harlan, who will call the national broadcast on Sunday. Harlan's father Bob was a huge part of the Packers' organization and its success for more than 40 years. Kevin also does play-by-play of the pre-season Packers games not shown on network TV. Technically, this will not be Harlan's first call of a Super Bowl. He actually called CBS' then separate HD telecast of the 2000 game between Baltimore and the N.Y. Giants. Boomer Esiason will again join him on Sunday.
Packers fans in the Milwaukee and Green Bay areas will have no shortage of local coverage this week. WTMJ 620 (the team's flagship station) and WTMJ-TV sent a crew of 20 people to Dallas, including their team of sportscasters. In addition, TV morning hosts Vince Vitrano and Mike Jacobs made the trip, along with WTMJ Radio's morning and afternoon show hosts.
WTMJ-TV is airing half hour reports from Dallas at 6:30 and 10:30 PM all this week, as well as a prime time preview at 9 PM this Saturday.
WITI-TV, which had sent Sports Director Tom Pipines to Pittsburgh last week to supplement their coverage, is in Dallas this week along with Tim Van Vooren and that station's morning show hosts and news anchors. The Fox TV affiliate will carry the game telecast, planning on a total of at least 12 hours of live coverage including the Fox pre-game and post-game coverage.
WISN-TV has a crew in Dallas and is sharing content with its sister TV station in Pittsburgh. Sports Director Dan Needles and sportscaster Dario Melendez are both on the scene all week. The station even plans a 4 hour live pre-game show on Sunday afternoon going up against the Fox TV national one. Interesting that a local and competing TV station can do so, given the price of commercial time on Fox.
Also on the radio side, WAUK ESPN 540 has hosts Drew Olson and Steve True in Dallas and plans 31 consecutive hours of coverage on Saturday and until game time on Sunday. WSSP 1250 also has its morning and afternoon host teams, including former Packer Leroy Butler on the scene.
Meanwhile, ESPN is looking ahead to upcoming seasons. Their newest college football analyst is none other than Urban Meyer, fresh from his coaching spot at the University of Florida. Meyer will do analysis on a game telecast each week and is expected to participate on "College Football Live".
I was certainly proven wrong by NHL fans when it came to this past Sunday's (1/30) All-Star Game. Versus reports strong ratings for its game telecast, even with it being a group of players with no rhyme or reason and even hardcore fans struggling to know who was on which team, with nothing to play for. Even with teammates forced to play against each other, the strong ratings could mean a return of this format for next year.
ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball telecasts will have Dave O'Brien and Nomar Garciaparra on the call this season. The network completed its MLB assignments, putting Sean McDonough with Rick Sutcliffe and Aaron Boone on its Monday games.
Now that Comcast owns NBC-TV it will be interesting to see if this has any impact on the sports departments of NBC owned TV stations. Since the recent approval of ownership, rumors have begun in Chicago that Comcast SportsNet Chicago's reporters could take over the sports segments on newscasts on WMAQ-TV, the Chicago NBC station.
LOS ANGELES: Max Kellerman already has a co-host for his new midday show on ESPN 710. Former NFL player Marcellus Wiley has joined the show, now called "Max & Marcellus".
St. LOUIS: A successful debut of the KMOX nightly sports block on Monday (1/31) with "The Sports Hub" starting off. Hosts of the show include Mike Claiborne and Scott Warmann, as well as Blues voice Chris Kerber and Cardinals TV voice Dan McLaughlin. This show caps off the final 3 hours of sports programming, following Sports Open Line which airs from 6 to 9 PM. Kevin Wheeler and Ron Jacober are the hosts.
Cardinals radio voices John Rooney and Mike Shannon, along with Missouri Tigers voice Mike Kelly, will also participate as their schedules allow.
This sets the stage for the return of Cardinals baseball to KMOX in less than a month.
MINNEAPOLIS: It's the start of the end of an era on ESPN 1500, as Joe Soucheray's workload is reduced this month. After nearly 30 years, Joe will no longer co-host SportsTalk on Saturday mornings and will only appear with Patrick Reusse on weekdays from 3 to 4 PM instead of 2 to 4.
Judd Zulgad, the Vikings beat writer is ending his KFAN appearances to co-host the Saturday show as of February 19th.
COLUMBIA MO: There will be a new color commentator on University of Missouri football broadcasts this fall due to the retirement of John Kadlec from that role after 16 seasons. Kadlec had actually planned to retire one year ago but returned for "one more year" of working with Mike Kelly. He is 81 years young.
NORMAN OK: There are not many areas where college baseball receives significant radio coverage, but Norman is definitely one of them. KREF 1400 will again carry University of Oklahoma baseball, airing 54 games, plus any post-season games, complete with a 30 minute pre-game show. About half of those games, as called by Chuck Kelly and analyst Ross Hubbard, will air statewide on the Sooners Sports Network. Kelly starts his 7th year as play-by-play voice with the February 18th opening game.
SAVANNAH GA: Sorry to hear of the passing of Al Jennings on Friday (1/28). The 88 year young Jennings called local football games and Savannah's South Atlantic League minor league baseball team for years on WCCP and WJCL. He was the first media member inducted into the Greater Savannah Athletic Hall of Fame. A well deserved honor.
ESPN and Fox Sports Radio are doing many of their national shows from Dallas throughout the week. One national voice with an attachment to the game is Westwood One Radio play-by-play voice Kevin Harlan, who will call the national broadcast on Sunday. Harlan's father Bob was a huge part of the Packers' organization and its success for more than 40 years. Kevin also does play-by-play of the pre-season Packers games not shown on network TV. Technically, this will not be Harlan's first call of a Super Bowl. He actually called CBS' then separate HD telecast of the 2000 game between Baltimore and the N.Y. Giants. Boomer Esiason will again join him on Sunday.
Packers fans in the Milwaukee and Green Bay areas will have no shortage of local coverage this week. WTMJ 620 (the team's flagship station) and WTMJ-TV sent a crew of 20 people to Dallas, including their team of sportscasters. In addition, TV morning hosts Vince Vitrano and Mike Jacobs made the trip, along with WTMJ Radio's morning and afternoon show hosts.
WTMJ-TV is airing half hour reports from Dallas at 6:30 and 10:30 PM all this week, as well as a prime time preview at 9 PM this Saturday.
WITI-TV, which had sent Sports Director Tom Pipines to Pittsburgh last week to supplement their coverage, is in Dallas this week along with Tim Van Vooren and that station's morning show hosts and news anchors. The Fox TV affiliate will carry the game telecast, planning on a total of at least 12 hours of live coverage including the Fox pre-game and post-game coverage.
WISN-TV has a crew in Dallas and is sharing content with its sister TV station in Pittsburgh. Sports Director Dan Needles and sportscaster Dario Melendez are both on the scene all week. The station even plans a 4 hour live pre-game show on Sunday afternoon going up against the Fox TV national one. Interesting that a local and competing TV station can do so, given the price of commercial time on Fox.
Also on the radio side, WAUK ESPN 540 has hosts Drew Olson and Steve True in Dallas and plans 31 consecutive hours of coverage on Saturday and until game time on Sunday. WSSP 1250 also has its morning and afternoon host teams, including former Packer Leroy Butler on the scene.
Meanwhile, ESPN is looking ahead to upcoming seasons. Their newest college football analyst is none other than Urban Meyer, fresh from his coaching spot at the University of Florida. Meyer will do analysis on a game telecast each week and is expected to participate on "College Football Live".
I was certainly proven wrong by NHL fans when it came to this past Sunday's (1/30) All-Star Game. Versus reports strong ratings for its game telecast, even with it being a group of players with no rhyme or reason and even hardcore fans struggling to know who was on which team, with nothing to play for. Even with teammates forced to play against each other, the strong ratings could mean a return of this format for next year.
ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball telecasts will have Dave O'Brien and Nomar Garciaparra on the call this season. The network completed its MLB assignments, putting Sean McDonough with Rick Sutcliffe and Aaron Boone on its Monday games.
Now that Comcast owns NBC-TV it will be interesting to see if this has any impact on the sports departments of NBC owned TV stations. Since the recent approval of ownership, rumors have begun in Chicago that Comcast SportsNet Chicago's reporters could take over the sports segments on newscasts on WMAQ-TV, the Chicago NBC station.
LOS ANGELES: Max Kellerman already has a co-host for his new midday show on ESPN 710. Former NFL player Marcellus Wiley has joined the show, now called "Max & Marcellus".
St. LOUIS: A successful debut of the KMOX nightly sports block on Monday (1/31) with "The Sports Hub" starting off. Hosts of the show include Mike Claiborne and Scott Warmann, as well as Blues voice Chris Kerber and Cardinals TV voice Dan McLaughlin. This show caps off the final 3 hours of sports programming, following Sports Open Line which airs from 6 to 9 PM. Kevin Wheeler and Ron Jacober are the hosts.
Cardinals radio voices John Rooney and Mike Shannon, along with Missouri Tigers voice Mike Kelly, will also participate as their schedules allow.
This sets the stage for the return of Cardinals baseball to KMOX in less than a month.
MINNEAPOLIS: It's the start of the end of an era on ESPN 1500, as Joe Soucheray's workload is reduced this month. After nearly 30 years, Joe will no longer co-host SportsTalk on Saturday mornings and will only appear with Patrick Reusse on weekdays from 3 to 4 PM instead of 2 to 4.
Judd Zulgad, the Vikings beat writer is ending his KFAN appearances to co-host the Saturday show as of February 19th.
COLUMBIA MO: There will be a new color commentator on University of Missouri football broadcasts this fall due to the retirement of John Kadlec from that role after 16 seasons. Kadlec had actually planned to retire one year ago but returned for "one more year" of working with Mike Kelly. He is 81 years young.
NORMAN OK: There are not many areas where college baseball receives significant radio coverage, but Norman is definitely one of them. KREF 1400 will again carry University of Oklahoma baseball, airing 54 games, plus any post-season games, complete with a 30 minute pre-game show. About half of those games, as called by Chuck Kelly and analyst Ross Hubbard, will air statewide on the Sooners Sports Network. Kelly starts his 7th year as play-by-play voice with the February 18th opening game.
SAVANNAH GA: Sorry to hear of the passing of Al Jennings on Friday (1/28). The 88 year young Jennings called local football games and Savannah's South Atlantic League minor league baseball team for years on WCCP and WJCL. He was the first media member inducted into the Greater Savannah Athletic Hall of Fame. A well deserved honor.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Sports Media Update - November 5th update
Maybe, just maybe, it is possible that pro sports teams realize the economics that face the true fans when it comes to supporting their favorite team. While some teams continue to increase ticket prices and push PSL's on fans that are struggling with real life, others have begun to see the need for a marketing push. But who would have thought the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs would be among them?
Yes, the Maple Leafs have used the TAXI 2 agency to produce 30 and 60 second spots to air all during November in the Toronto area using a "Spirit Is Everything" slogan. A franchise once so dominant in the marketplace that experts questioned the possibilities of baseball's Blue Jays and the NBA's Raptors even making it in Toronto due to having to compete for the entertainment dollar against the Leafs.
The spots use the concept of having fans tell the story of his or her most memorable goal by the Leafs. But it seems to me that having to promote the Maple Leafs to fans in Toronto is like, well, having to promote the Leafs to the fans in Toronto.
Baseball fans across the U.S will be flat out amazed at the upcoming MLB-TV Network which debuts on basic cable on January 1st. While it is already expected to be the largest debut for a cable network in terms of available homes upon inception, the Network appears well on its way to hitting a home run for the fans.
MLB-TV has announced its first studio host hire. Matt Vasgersian is leaving his position as TV voice of the San Diego Padres and FOX-TV Saturday baseball to become a primary studio host. The Network now is already planning to be on the air live every night during the season from 6:00 ET until at least after the final out of the night is made in MLB. This could be 7 to 8 hours per night during the week. The coverage will include live cut-ins and heavy studio analysis, along the lines of ESPN's Baseball Tonight, all evening every night.
The Padres have begun their search for a new TV voice, which will continue to be separate from the radio team which remains in tact.
On the college football side, the Big Ten Network is taking its football coverage up to the next level this week (Nov. 8) and a week from Saturday (Nov. 15th). BTN will be televising two games simultaneously, using an overflow channel on the majority of the cable systems which carry it.
This Saturday (Nov. 8), they will televise Wisconsin at Indiana and Purdue at Michigan State, both starting at Noon ET. On the 15th, the games will be Indiana at Penn State and Purdue at Iowa, also at Noon ET. Fans should be able to find the overflow channel at www.BigTenNetwork.com/GameFinder.
Is he the coach or a member of the media? In a way, NFL Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak was both at the same time earlier this week. He used his own radio show to break a story, rather than do so under questioning from the regular covering media. Kubiak questioned the legality of three specific plays from the Sunday game vs. Minnesota during which is QB Matt Schaub was hit by Vikings defenders, asking the NFL to review the plays at the NFL office for possible infractions.
That is perfectly fine, and it is understandable that Kubiak wants to defend his QB. He is far from the first coach ever to question such actions. Yet, he first brought this up on his weekly segment on Sports Radio 610.
To me, this raises a media ethics question. Kubiak, as far as I know, is paid for his appearances on "his" radio segment, whether by advertisers or the station itself. Does this mean he deliberately withheld this information so unveil it on the radio show, or was it because no one else asked him until his co-host on the show did?
On the other hand, how do reporters for other radio and TV stations handle this story? Do they really have to "credit" his radio segment for the story? Doing so would lend publicity to another station. Do they simply quote him as if his comment is in the public domain? Or do they leave the story alone, and allow a competing station to break and maintain an exclusive on a story?
I could probably justify any one of those possibilities to some extent, and it would not be an easy decision. If it were up to me, I would have gone with the story and not credited "his" show or the radio station.
NEW YORK - YES TV Network has extended the contract of Yankees TV voice Michael Kay with a multi-year extension. Kay has been with YES all the way, going back to 2002.
CHICAGO - Expect at least a partial announcement about White Sox radio within the next 10 days. Darin Jackson, out as a TV voice with Steve Stone moving over from the radio booth starting next season, is expected to announce his decision by the end of next week as to whether or not he will make the move over to radio for an analyst role. I think that Jackson will consider this a step back and decline, provided he knows of other work. If he declines, White Sox exec Brooks Boyer was quoted on the White Sox web site as saying that the team will seek another play-by-play voice to handle at least two innings. Under the present structure, Ed Farmer has been handling play-by-play for every inning, and that takes its toll over the course of a season.
The NHL Blackhawks, now a month into having every home game on local TV for the first time ever, have produced a 150% in their TV ratings over the season's first month. Comcast SportsNet, handling the majority of the home and road telecasts (with WGN-TV handling about one-third of the games locally), also reports solid ratings increases in their pre and post-game programming.
BALTIMORE - As of this week, Sports Radio WHFS 105.7 is now streamed at www.1057TheFan.com and brings a local lineup including Ed Norris, Mark Viviano, Bruce Cunningham, Scott Garceau and Anita Marks, among others. The station also carries play-by-play of the U. of Maryland Terrapins and the Baltimore Orioles. ESPN 1300 AM now carries more of the national programming and play-by-play than ever before.
St. LOUIS - The University of St. Louis Billikens are "movin" their basketball broadcasts to WMVN 101.1 FM starting next week to kick off a new three year deal. The first six weeks of games will air before the station changes to all sports on Jan. 1. Bob Ramsey returns for his 22nd season of play-by-play even though Ramsey continues to work on soon-to-be rival KFNS 590.
The station has also hired Post Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell, perhaps to co-host the midday spot. Market vet Randy Karraker will co-host afternoons. The station is also expected to bid prominently for Rams football in the future.
MIAMI - The improvement in the Dolphins this season continues to mean improvements in the ratings. Last week we pointed out the impact on the latest radio ratings. Now comes word that Dolphins telecast ratings are already up 10% over last year overall, and up more than 17% in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale TV market. Only the Jets with Brett Favre and the improved Atlanta Falcons have shown bigger increases.
MINNEAPOLIS - University of Minnesota basketball broadcasts will have a new analyst for the upcoming season on WCCO 830. Call it an "off-season" job if you will, as Don Zierden, coach of the WNBA Lynx (who recently finished their season) will help call the Gophers broadcasts along with play-by-play voice Mike Grimm.
CINCINNATI - WLW 700 began its weekly "Hot Stove League" off-season baseball show this past Tuesday (Nov. 4th). The show will now air on the 50,000 watt powerhouse from 6 to 7 PM ET, and with early darkness will reach as many as 38 states. This is a new time, designed to eliminate all but a couple of conflicts with U. of Cincinnati and Xavier basketball broadcasts. "The Homer" 1530 AM will carry the baseball show when there are hoops conflicts.
Meanwhile, fans watching the FSN Friday telecasts of high school football will now have Dave Lapham sending it over to Dave Lapham. Dave Jr. continues as sideline reporter and pre-game show host for the telecasts, while Dave Sr. added a role in the booth to go along with his Bengals analyst duties, his WLW Bengals radio show work, and assignments for both Channel 5 and Channel 12 sports. It is a chance to work with his son. This gives Cinci a leg up on father and son broadcast teams, as the same market has Marty and son Thom Brennaman calling the Reds games.
MILWAUKEE - Congrats to the Bucks TV team of Jim Paschke, Jon McGlocklin, and Craig Coshun on winning a regional Emmy Award for "Outstanding Achievement for Sports Program - Live Sports Event/Game - Unedited".
Meanwhile, even though Brett Favre still matters in Milwaukee since every possible Jets telecast is carried in Milwaukee, the Packers definitely rule the ratings. This past Sunday (Nov. 2), the Packers vs. Tennessee telecast on WITI-TV had a 35.7 rating, more than 10 times the 3.0 rating which the Jets at Buffalo telecast got on WDJT-TV. Upon further review, ANY game getting a 3.0 rating in Milwaukee dead against a meaningful Packers game is actually quite an accomplishment.
OKLAHOMA CITY - While the city celebrated the debut of the NBA Thunder last week, the sports radio scene doesn't reflect well. After the Sports Animal WWLS, sports talkers WKY "Jox" 930 and KOKC 1520 had dismal showings in the latest radio ratings. Jox 930, after 16 months in the sports format, failed to show up in the overall ratings.
Yes, the Maple Leafs have used the TAXI 2 agency to produce 30 and 60 second spots to air all during November in the Toronto area using a "Spirit Is Everything" slogan. A franchise once so dominant in the marketplace that experts questioned the possibilities of baseball's Blue Jays and the NBA's Raptors even making it in Toronto due to having to compete for the entertainment dollar against the Leafs.
The spots use the concept of having fans tell the story of his or her most memorable goal by the Leafs. But it seems to me that having to promote the Maple Leafs to fans in Toronto is like, well, having to promote the Leafs to the fans in Toronto.
Baseball fans across the U.S will be flat out amazed at the upcoming MLB-TV Network which debuts on basic cable on January 1st. While it is already expected to be the largest debut for a cable network in terms of available homes upon inception, the Network appears well on its way to hitting a home run for the fans.
MLB-TV has announced its first studio host hire. Matt Vasgersian is leaving his position as TV voice of the San Diego Padres and FOX-TV Saturday baseball to become a primary studio host. The Network now is already planning to be on the air live every night during the season from 6:00 ET until at least after the final out of the night is made in MLB. This could be 7 to 8 hours per night during the week. The coverage will include live cut-ins and heavy studio analysis, along the lines of ESPN's Baseball Tonight, all evening every night.
The Padres have begun their search for a new TV voice, which will continue to be separate from the radio team which remains in tact.
On the college football side, the Big Ten Network is taking its football coverage up to the next level this week (Nov. 8) and a week from Saturday (Nov. 15th). BTN will be televising two games simultaneously, using an overflow channel on the majority of the cable systems which carry it.
This Saturday (Nov. 8), they will televise Wisconsin at Indiana and Purdue at Michigan State, both starting at Noon ET. On the 15th, the games will be Indiana at Penn State and Purdue at Iowa, also at Noon ET. Fans should be able to find the overflow channel at www.BigTenNetwork.com/GameFinder.
Is he the coach or a member of the media? In a way, NFL Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak was both at the same time earlier this week. He used his own radio show to break a story, rather than do so under questioning from the regular covering media. Kubiak questioned the legality of three specific plays from the Sunday game vs. Minnesota during which is QB Matt Schaub was hit by Vikings defenders, asking the NFL to review the plays at the NFL office for possible infractions.
That is perfectly fine, and it is understandable that Kubiak wants to defend his QB. He is far from the first coach ever to question such actions. Yet, he first brought this up on his weekly segment on Sports Radio 610.
To me, this raises a media ethics question. Kubiak, as far as I know, is paid for his appearances on "his" radio segment, whether by advertisers or the station itself. Does this mean he deliberately withheld this information so unveil it on the radio show, or was it because no one else asked him until his co-host on the show did?
On the other hand, how do reporters for other radio and TV stations handle this story? Do they really have to "credit" his radio segment for the story? Doing so would lend publicity to another station. Do they simply quote him as if his comment is in the public domain? Or do they leave the story alone, and allow a competing station to break and maintain an exclusive on a story?
I could probably justify any one of those possibilities to some extent, and it would not be an easy decision. If it were up to me, I would have gone with the story and not credited "his" show or the radio station.
NEW YORK - YES TV Network has extended the contract of Yankees TV voice Michael Kay with a multi-year extension. Kay has been with YES all the way, going back to 2002.
CHICAGO - Expect at least a partial announcement about White Sox radio within the next 10 days. Darin Jackson, out as a TV voice with Steve Stone moving over from the radio booth starting next season, is expected to announce his decision by the end of next week as to whether or not he will make the move over to radio for an analyst role. I think that Jackson will consider this a step back and decline, provided he knows of other work. If he declines, White Sox exec Brooks Boyer was quoted on the White Sox web site as saying that the team will seek another play-by-play voice to handle at least two innings. Under the present structure, Ed Farmer has been handling play-by-play for every inning, and that takes its toll over the course of a season.
The NHL Blackhawks, now a month into having every home game on local TV for the first time ever, have produced a 150% in their TV ratings over the season's first month. Comcast SportsNet, handling the majority of the home and road telecasts (with WGN-TV handling about one-third of the games locally), also reports solid ratings increases in their pre and post-game programming.
BALTIMORE - As of this week, Sports Radio WHFS 105.7 is now streamed at www.1057TheFan.com and brings a local lineup including Ed Norris, Mark Viviano, Bruce Cunningham, Scott Garceau and Anita Marks, among others. The station also carries play-by-play of the U. of Maryland Terrapins and the Baltimore Orioles. ESPN 1300 AM now carries more of the national programming and play-by-play than ever before.
St. LOUIS - The University of St. Louis Billikens are "movin" their basketball broadcasts to WMVN 101.1 FM starting next week to kick off a new three year deal. The first six weeks of games will air before the station changes to all sports on Jan. 1. Bob Ramsey returns for his 22nd season of play-by-play even though Ramsey continues to work on soon-to-be rival KFNS 590.
The station has also hired Post Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell, perhaps to co-host the midday spot. Market vet Randy Karraker will co-host afternoons. The station is also expected to bid prominently for Rams football in the future.
MIAMI - The improvement in the Dolphins this season continues to mean improvements in the ratings. Last week we pointed out the impact on the latest radio ratings. Now comes word that Dolphins telecast ratings are already up 10% over last year overall, and up more than 17% in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale TV market. Only the Jets with Brett Favre and the improved Atlanta Falcons have shown bigger increases.
MINNEAPOLIS - University of Minnesota basketball broadcasts will have a new analyst for the upcoming season on WCCO 830. Call it an "off-season" job if you will, as Don Zierden, coach of the WNBA Lynx (who recently finished their season) will help call the Gophers broadcasts along with play-by-play voice Mike Grimm.
CINCINNATI - WLW 700 began its weekly "Hot Stove League" off-season baseball show this past Tuesday (Nov. 4th). The show will now air on the 50,000 watt powerhouse from 6 to 7 PM ET, and with early darkness will reach as many as 38 states. This is a new time, designed to eliminate all but a couple of conflicts with U. of Cincinnati and Xavier basketball broadcasts. "The Homer" 1530 AM will carry the baseball show when there are hoops conflicts.
Meanwhile, fans watching the FSN Friday telecasts of high school football will now have Dave Lapham sending it over to Dave Lapham. Dave Jr. continues as sideline reporter and pre-game show host for the telecasts, while Dave Sr. added a role in the booth to go along with his Bengals analyst duties, his WLW Bengals radio show work, and assignments for both Channel 5 and Channel 12 sports. It is a chance to work with his son. This gives Cinci a leg up on father and son broadcast teams, as the same market has Marty and son Thom Brennaman calling the Reds games.
MILWAUKEE - Congrats to the Bucks TV team of Jim Paschke, Jon McGlocklin, and Craig Coshun on winning a regional Emmy Award for "Outstanding Achievement for Sports Program - Live Sports Event/Game - Unedited".
Meanwhile, even though Brett Favre still matters in Milwaukee since every possible Jets telecast is carried in Milwaukee, the Packers definitely rule the ratings. This past Sunday (Nov. 2), the Packers vs. Tennessee telecast on WITI-TV had a 35.7 rating, more than 10 times the 3.0 rating which the Jets at Buffalo telecast got on WDJT-TV. Upon further review, ANY game getting a 3.0 rating in Milwaukee dead against a meaningful Packers game is actually quite an accomplishment.
OKLAHOMA CITY - While the city celebrated the debut of the NBA Thunder last week, the sports radio scene doesn't reflect well. After the Sports Animal WWLS, sports talkers WKY "Jox" 930 and KOKC 1520 had dismal showings in the latest radio ratings. Jox 930, after 16 months in the sports format, failed to show up in the overall ratings.
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