Competition among networks is one thing, but completely different handling of a similar situation is another. In an unfortunate coincidence, both CBS and Fox Sports have been faced with a reporter putting out a premature death story within 24 hours of the actual occurence. Yet, the aftermath was the opposite for each network.
On Saturday Jan. 21, a report from CBS Sports that Joe Paterno had passed away was denied by the Paterno family. However, Paterno passed away the following morning. The reporter, Adam Jacobi, was dismissed from his position by CBS within the following week because of this. To his credit, Jacobi went on Twitter and (over the course of multiple posts) told his followers "CBS had to let me go for the Paterno story going out the way it did, and I understand completely. I had an awesome 17 months with CBSSports.com. I'm sorry to everyone, most importantly the Paterno family, for how it ended."
In this instance, not even the dismissed employee questioned the move and why CBS had do make it.
We flash back to November 7, 2011, less than 3 months ago. The sports world and especially the boxing world lost Joe Frazier who passed away that day. Yet, the night before (Nov. 6), Fox Sports Radio host Mike North went on the air on his national radio show and reported that Frazier had already passed away. North, realizing his error before the show was over, apologized for going with the then erroneous report. Since that time, North has been promoted to more on-air work on Fox Sports Network, while no word of any disciplinary action was announced, if any was even taken.
Although I have my opinion on how both networks should have handled this situation, what is noteworthy is that these two major networks each took a separate road out of this. North not only remained on the air without any publicly known consequences, while Jacobi lost his job, for the very same infraction.
My hope is that reporters and news and sports directors will learn from these incidents. The idea is not always to be "first" to report a story. Rather, it is to use your sources and check your facts. It's not as though these were local radio station guys reporters fresh out of school. As a sports fan, I would like to think that the likes of CBS and Fox would have and use their vast resources to check the facts before they report anything. Instead, we all continue to get far too many of the "ESPN is reporting that......" going out on other major networks, most of which should be using their internal resources instead of taking the lazy approach of stealing a possible story from another source.
Meanwhile, ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio are among those providing fans around the country with wall-to-wall coverage leading into Sunday's Super Bowl, whether they want it or not. Other than in the participating teams' markets, I can't believe that the casual football fan needs to hear a full-length story about an offensive lineman's personal life, hotel prices in the host city, and other such "stories" that fill up the airwaves in place of the NBA, NHL, and college basketball games and results. The vast majority of sports fans I talk with, both within and outside of the media, don't care what commercials will be shown during the telecast either. That sports specific radio stations and TV networks spend any time on this fluff amazes me (but not in a good way). Most of this material is fine for Entertainment Tonight or shows which are not targeted specifically toward sports fans.
Within the Giants and Patriots markets, the Super Bowl hype all week is a different story. Many fans can't get enough. (Except for things such as actual news reports that Chris Mad Dog Russo "said hello" to WFAN's Mike Francesa on radio row on Monday.)
On the New York side, WFAN has Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason (morning team), Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts (middays), and Mike Francesa (afternoons) all broadcasting for at least some of this week from Indianapolis. Since WFAN is also the Giants' flagship station, the broadcast team of Bob Papa, Carl Banks, and Howard Cross will also appear throughout the week, as well as beat reporters Paul Dottino and Peter Schwartz. Benigno and Roberts will host a local WFAN pre-game show from 2 to 5 PM on Sunday.
In addition, WFAN and sister station WBZ-FM The Sports Hub Boston are doing some sharing and on air "mingling" with the hosts on each station.
WEPN 1050, New York's ESPN station is also on the scene at Indy along with its national coverage from ESPN Radio. This leads up to what WEPN plans as the "world's longest post-game show" with Bill Daughtry hosting for the entire overnight.
In Boston, both WEEI and WBZ-FM will broadcast the game to top off their week of non-stop coverage.
SAN ANTONIO: KZDC 1250 plans to continue with Jason Minnix as the lone host of its afternoon drive show after dismissing Chris Duel, who had been co-host until last week. The station cited ratings as the reason over and above cost-cutting, pointing out that ESPN's Mike & Mike morning show has been drawing higher ratings than the local afternoon show. We shall see if taking off one co-host instead of both makes a difference in the ratings over the next few months.
MINNEAPOLIS: Michelle Tafoya is heading for sidelines. Not just for the Super Bowl coverage on NBC. From her afternoon drive show on WCCO Radio after nearly three years. Tafoya will do occasional fill-ins for the station but is expected to increase her duties with NBC.
HOUSTON: Another big change on the Houston sports landscape. Just before the Astros relocate to the American League at the end of this year, Bob Allen will no longer be handling sports on KTRK Channel 13, or any other station. Allen has been Sports Director since 1975 (having joined Channel 13 in 1974), but announced last week (on Jan. 24th) that he plans to retire toward the end of this year. Allen began in Houston in 1971 at KPRC-AM. He joined KTRK-TV as a weekend anchor, replacing Dan Lovett when he (Lovett) left for WABC New York.
CHICAGO: While the Bulls are off to the best start in the shortened NBA season, the TV ratings are off to just as good of a start this season. Comcast SportsNet has been setting ratings records for the Bulls telecasts this season. Although it did not exist during the Michael Jordan era, last Wednesday's (Jan. 25) against Indiana had the highest regular season ratings for any Comcast SportsNet Chicago telecast (including Blackhawks, White Sox, and Cubs) in its history. Overall, through last week, CSN's Bulls telecasts are up more than 50% over last season's.
LOS ANGELES: Local NBA telecast ratings are also soaring for one of the city's local teams. That isn't the story. That the "team" is the Clippers certainly is. After all these years, it appears people are actually watching the Clippers to see the Clippers. Now Fox Sports West has actually expanded its Clippers pre-game show to a full hour. It's news to a lot of local basketball fans that they actually had a Clippers pre-game show before this season.
NEW YORK: The near future of Kim Jones is still up in the air (but not on the air - yet) after she reportedly has left the YES Network. Although she has appeared with Mike Francesa on occasion, the word is she will go with a national source, possibly NFL Network.Still another loss for the sports media, as Channel 5's Oren Stevens, most recently a contributor on Sunday's "Sports Extra" has passed away from cancer at the age of 73. People around the country might remember Stevens from his acting role in the movie "Downhill Racer" with Robert Redford and Gene Hackman from the late 60's.
NEW ORLEANS: Just as Bob Allen is leaving Houston TV, a similar change in New Orleans where WWL-TV's Sports Director Jim Henderson is retiring this week after 34 years. The good news for Saints fans is that Henderson is not retiring. He plans to continue indefinitely as the radio voice of the Saints, which he has done since 1982. WWL-TV is presenting reflections of Henderson's career with the station on all of its nightly newscasts this week in a fitting tribute.
BOSTON: Former first baseman Matt Stairs has been added as a part-time studio analyst for its Red Sox telecasts. NESN will also add Jenny Dell as its field reporter for Red Sox games. Dell comes from ESPN where she has appeared on the X Games and events on ESPN.com, and replaces Heidi Watney who has moved to Los Angeles.
HARTFORD: WPKX-FM has officially relocated from Enfield CT to Windsor Locks, which is closer to Hartford, and now carries ESPN Radio. The station is reportedly developing a local afternoon drive show. WPOP 1410 already carries ESPN on the AM side out of Hartford.
Showing posts with label super bowl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label super bowl. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
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.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Sports Media Report - Feb. 4th update
Obviously, it's not possible to ignore the Super Bowl in a Sports Media Update. Yet, I'm close to doing so. Unless you are a fan of one of the teams actually participating, the hour after hour of trying to make a story out of a routine practice becomes too much.
Yet, I will say that I am disappointed at one aspect that seems to be overlooked. Personally, the anticipation comes from this being what I call a "legitimate" Super Bowl matchup. The "wild card" teams are gone, and I love the fact that it is a pair of actual first place teams doing battle. Better yet, it is the teams with the 2 best records in their respective conferences. I don't recall if or when that has happened before. And that's my point.
I always thought the emphasis on sports - at any level - is about winning and working toward the ultimate success. It makes me very pleased to see the two teams that did the best for the regular season have this opportunity. Whichever team wins will have truly earned it. They didn't get there because of a stunning upset, a late season "comeback", or because of a fluke play or key injury from a favored opponent. This really is a "Super" Bowl, whether the game is close or not. This regular season actually meant something.
Meanwhile, this is the root of my disappointment with the NCAA and the very likely upcoming expansion of the basketball tourney to (gulp) 96 teams. I'm 100% sure it will happen because it means millions more in TV money and exposure for the NCAA and its teams.
But it also means further destroying college basketball. Why even have a regular season? Getting into the NCAA Tournament will become even less "special" when .500 teams in most conferences will get in. And without a formula other than opinions based on schedules and point spreads. But for one more day filled with games and thousands of additional hours of media coverage generating millions of dollars, regular season be damned. They'll make it March Sadness, and the media will eat it up.
Meanwhile, I think I found my ultimate example of my recently expressed concerns about how much the media "reports" news from competing sources instead of either confirming or breaking their own stories.
Last week, former NBA player Paul Shirley was dismissed from ESPN due to some sorry comments about not wanting to donate to the Haiti relief efforts. Whether a blogger (the comments were reportedly on his blog for ESPN) should be dismissed for expressing an opinion, no matter how unpopular, when no facts were in error, is for another day.
How did I find out this "news"? I first saw it on the "Chicago Breaking News" web site, which is a combination from the Chicago Tribune and WGN Radio and WGN-TV. A major newspaper, highly rated AM station, and a nationally known TV station, each with independent sports departments.
I don't understand why a media combo with its own sports departments would even publish a story about personnel at a competitor. As a sports fan, I have a choice of going to ESPN or (for example) WGN-TV's web site for breaking sports news. So if WGN tells me this, and I want more information, why wouldn't I click away and go right to ESPN?
Believe it or not, it doesn't stop there. You see, the "Chicago Breaking News" story on behalf of WGN and the Tribune did credit the source of the story in the first sentence. It read "CBSNews.com reports: Former Bulls forward Paul Shirley........".
Let's get this straight. The Tribune, WGN Radio, and WGN-TV, each with sports departments, allowed a story taken from CBSNews.com to appear on their web site as "Breaking News". While the story was about a dismissal at another prime source of breaking news. In Chicago, CBS Radio's WBBM News Radio has overtaken WGN Radio in the ratings within the past couple of years. CBS Radio's WSCR Sports Radio is in a battle with ESPN's WMVP 1000, while WGN Radio airs "Sports Central" on weeknights it doesn't carry a Blackhawks hockey or Cubs baseball broadcast. Yet, "Chicago Breaking News" was giving direct promotion of its 2 biggest competitors.
Now I fit in with the times. I just reported which other media WGN reported on.
Sorry, but I come from the old school where you would be severely scolded if you so much as mentioned a competitor on the air without a darn good reason.
Speaking of ESPN, ESPN Radio and Yahoo have unveiled a new stream player allowing fans to listen to ESPN Radio stations from (presently) 19 markets including its Chicago outlet WMVP 1000. From a fan's point of view, this is a really fun idea. After a big trade or signing, or a big sports story from a particular city, it can be fun to hear the local fans take.
From a radio standpoint, with the new reliance on PPM's to measure the "radio" audience, fans streaming out of town ESPN broadcasts online won't show up as "radio" listeners in the same way. This could be sports radio's equivalent of the music stations that sell the songs they play for download, giving listeners one more reason NOT to listen. While they scratch their heads wondering where the audience went to.
Congrats to Jon Miller on winning the Ford C. Frick Award and his upcoming induction into the Broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. It is very well deserved. As he gets ready for his 21st consecutive season calling the Sunday Night Baseball games for ESPN, you stop to realize that Miller might have the longest continuous run of calling national telecasts on the same network in modern MLB history. Yet, I also wonder if Jon will deliver his Hall of Fame speech imitating Vin Scully.
It was nice to see so many rememberances of Tom Brookshier, who passed away last week at the age of 78. His performance as both a player and broadcaster will not be forgotten. In another sense, he had an indirect impact on TV football telecasts. After he was let go by CBS following an off-color comment on the air in 1983, it set the stage of John Madden to join Pat Summerall and take even the boring Summerall with him to the top of the TV broadcast teams.
CHICAGO: How much will fans want to hear from an interim head coach? WSCR 670 The Score is looking for an answer to that question. DePaul University, again a distant last in Big East basketball this season, recently named Tracy Webster as Interim Head Coach for the remainder of this season. Yet, WSCR will have Webster in its studios each Monday night for the next few weeks (through the season) to talk DePaul basketball with host Laurence Holmes.
As much as I think coaches shows should be more prominent on sports radio, I'm not so sure that this show will set the ratings world on fire.
PITTSBURGH: WBGG Fox Sports 970 has gone local in the morning as of this week, naming Greg Linelli to host from 6 - 9 AM Monday through Friday.
Down the dial, ESPN 1250 has again dismissed Eddy Crow as one of the co-hosts of "The Drive". As of now, Scott Paulsen and Mike Logan remain on the show.
Both stations are preparing to battle against the new KDKA-FM "The Fan", which promises at least twice the number of local sports programming hours on weekdays than 1250 ESPN now offers.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs might be an influence as to how quickly the Pittsburgh market will support 3 sports stations. If the Penguins make another deep run into the Playoffs, it would probably make a difference for at least the month of May. If not, the Pirates are not likely to hold enough interest until fall when college football, the Steelers, and then the Penguins return and bring plenty to talk about locally.
HOUSTON: KFNC 97.5 has ended Calvin Murphy's afternoon show, but Murphy remains with the station for what is termed "special assignments". Fred Faour and Matt Dean now host from 1 to 4 PM while Carl Dukes will host solo from 4 until 5. No changes in the morning, where KFNC remains in 3rd place from 6 to 10 AM among the 4 Houston area sports stations with KBME 790 showing a nice increase. KILT is the overall sports radio ratings leader through December.
KANSAS CITY: Chiefs football returns to KCFX-FM for the 21st season in the fall. However, WHB 810 has inked a deal for additional and official Chiefs programming starting for next season.
WHB will carry a 2nd hour of post-game programming, the Todd Haley Show, and a show with the starting QB, along with extensive interviews. The station is already planning to broadcast live from the Chiefs' training camp in August.
TULSA: KTBZ 1430 will once again carry the AA (baseball) Tulsa Drillers for the upcoming season, with Dennis Higgins back for his 2nd season as play-by-play voice. However, the station gives priority to Jim Rome's show on weekday afternoons, and will bump conflicting games to KAKC 1300.
WAUSAU WI: Fans who have complained about lack of signal from WXCO 1230 and its ESPN Radio finally got their wish. As of last week (Jan. 25), the sports station moved to 100.5 FM, expanding its coverage by as much as 50 miles. Word is that 1230 will continue to broadcast local high schoo games, but will likely change to a different format for the rest of its broadcast day.
Since I get a lot of requests for telecast schedules, here is the lineup for Fox-TV's MLB Game of the Week for the coming season, with the Fox NASCAR schedule below:
MLB on FOX REGULAR SEASON BROADCAST SCHEDULE (Schedule Subject to Change; All times 4:00 PM ET unless noted)
April 10 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers
April 17 New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers
April 24 New York Yankees at Anaheim Angels, Seattle Mariners at Chicago White Sox
May 1 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros at Atlanta Braves
May 8 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies
May 15 Philadelphia Phillies at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros at San Francisco Giants
May 22 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at New York Mets, Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs at Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers
May 29 St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
June 5 Florida Marlins at New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Anaheim Angels at Seattle Mariners
June 12 Philadelphia Phillies at Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs
June 19 Los Angeles Dodgers at Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins at Philadelphia Phillies
June 26 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox at San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox
July 3 Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays at Minnesota Twins, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
July 10 Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers
July 17 Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals
July 24 New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies at Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles
July 31 Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins
August 7 Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves
August 14 Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays
August 21 Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers at Baltimore Orioles
August 28 Philadelphia Phillies at San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
September 4 New York Mets at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Oakland A’s, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins
September 11 Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
September 18 Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers
Upcoming NASCAR on FOX 2010 Schedule
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500 Qualifying, 1:00 PM
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Budweiser Shootout, 8:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 14 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500, 12:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 21 - California Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fontana, 2:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 28 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Las Vegas, 2:00 PM
Sun. March 7 - Atlanta Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Atlanta, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 21 - Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Bristol, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 28 - Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Martinsville, 12:00 PM
Sat. April 10 - Phoenix Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Phoenix, 7:00 PM
Sun. April 18 - Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fort Worth, 2:00 PM
Sun. April 25 - Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR Racing from Talladega, 12:00 PM
Sat. May 1 - Richmond Int’l Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Richmond, 7:00 PM
Sat. May 8 - Darlington Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Darlington, 7:00 PM
Sun. May 16 - Dover Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Dover, 12:00 PM
Sun. May 30 - Lowe’s Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Charlotte, 5:00 PM
Yet, I will say that I am disappointed at one aspect that seems to be overlooked. Personally, the anticipation comes from this being what I call a "legitimate" Super Bowl matchup. The "wild card" teams are gone, and I love the fact that it is a pair of actual first place teams doing battle. Better yet, it is the teams with the 2 best records in their respective conferences. I don't recall if or when that has happened before. And that's my point.
I always thought the emphasis on sports - at any level - is about winning and working toward the ultimate success. It makes me very pleased to see the two teams that did the best for the regular season have this opportunity. Whichever team wins will have truly earned it. They didn't get there because of a stunning upset, a late season "comeback", or because of a fluke play or key injury from a favored opponent. This really is a "Super" Bowl, whether the game is close or not. This regular season actually meant something.
Meanwhile, this is the root of my disappointment with the NCAA and the very likely upcoming expansion of the basketball tourney to (gulp) 96 teams. I'm 100% sure it will happen because it means millions more in TV money and exposure for the NCAA and its teams.
But it also means further destroying college basketball. Why even have a regular season? Getting into the NCAA Tournament will become even less "special" when .500 teams in most conferences will get in. And without a formula other than opinions based on schedules and point spreads. But for one more day filled with games and thousands of additional hours of media coverage generating millions of dollars, regular season be damned. They'll make it March Sadness, and the media will eat it up.
Meanwhile, I think I found my ultimate example of my recently expressed concerns about how much the media "reports" news from competing sources instead of either confirming or breaking their own stories.
Last week, former NBA player Paul Shirley was dismissed from ESPN due to some sorry comments about not wanting to donate to the Haiti relief efforts. Whether a blogger (the comments were reportedly on his blog for ESPN) should be dismissed for expressing an opinion, no matter how unpopular, when no facts were in error, is for another day.
How did I find out this "news"? I first saw it on the "Chicago Breaking News" web site, which is a combination from the Chicago Tribune and WGN Radio and WGN-TV. A major newspaper, highly rated AM station, and a nationally known TV station, each with independent sports departments.
I don't understand why a media combo with its own sports departments would even publish a story about personnel at a competitor. As a sports fan, I have a choice of going to ESPN or (for example) WGN-TV's web site for breaking sports news. So if WGN tells me this, and I want more information, why wouldn't I click away and go right to ESPN?
Believe it or not, it doesn't stop there. You see, the "Chicago Breaking News" story on behalf of WGN and the Tribune did credit the source of the story in the first sentence. It read "CBSNews.com reports: Former Bulls forward Paul Shirley........".
Let's get this straight. The Tribune, WGN Radio, and WGN-TV, each with sports departments, allowed a story taken from CBSNews.com to appear on their web site as "Breaking News". While the story was about a dismissal at another prime source of breaking news. In Chicago, CBS Radio's WBBM News Radio has overtaken WGN Radio in the ratings within the past couple of years. CBS Radio's WSCR Sports Radio is in a battle with ESPN's WMVP 1000, while WGN Radio airs "Sports Central" on weeknights it doesn't carry a Blackhawks hockey or Cubs baseball broadcast. Yet, "Chicago Breaking News" was giving direct promotion of its 2 biggest competitors.
Now I fit in with the times. I just reported which other media WGN reported on.
Sorry, but I come from the old school where you would be severely scolded if you so much as mentioned a competitor on the air without a darn good reason.
Speaking of ESPN, ESPN Radio and Yahoo have unveiled a new stream player allowing fans to listen to ESPN Radio stations from (presently) 19 markets including its Chicago outlet WMVP 1000. From a fan's point of view, this is a really fun idea. After a big trade or signing, or a big sports story from a particular city, it can be fun to hear the local fans take.
From a radio standpoint, with the new reliance on PPM's to measure the "radio" audience, fans streaming out of town ESPN broadcasts online won't show up as "radio" listeners in the same way. This could be sports radio's equivalent of the music stations that sell the songs they play for download, giving listeners one more reason NOT to listen. While they scratch their heads wondering where the audience went to.
Congrats to Jon Miller on winning the Ford C. Frick Award and his upcoming induction into the Broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. It is very well deserved. As he gets ready for his 21st consecutive season calling the Sunday Night Baseball games for ESPN, you stop to realize that Miller might have the longest continuous run of calling national telecasts on the same network in modern MLB history. Yet, I also wonder if Jon will deliver his Hall of Fame speech imitating Vin Scully.
It was nice to see so many rememberances of Tom Brookshier, who passed away last week at the age of 78. His performance as both a player and broadcaster will not be forgotten. In another sense, he had an indirect impact on TV football telecasts. After he was let go by CBS following an off-color comment on the air in 1983, it set the stage of John Madden to join Pat Summerall and take even the boring Summerall with him to the top of the TV broadcast teams.
CHICAGO: How much will fans want to hear from an interim head coach? WSCR 670 The Score is looking for an answer to that question. DePaul University, again a distant last in Big East basketball this season, recently named Tracy Webster as Interim Head Coach for the remainder of this season. Yet, WSCR will have Webster in its studios each Monday night for the next few weeks (through the season) to talk DePaul basketball with host Laurence Holmes.
As much as I think coaches shows should be more prominent on sports radio, I'm not so sure that this show will set the ratings world on fire.
PITTSBURGH: WBGG Fox Sports 970 has gone local in the morning as of this week, naming Greg Linelli to host from 6 - 9 AM Monday through Friday.
Down the dial, ESPN 1250 has again dismissed Eddy Crow as one of the co-hosts of "The Drive". As of now, Scott Paulsen and Mike Logan remain on the show.
Both stations are preparing to battle against the new KDKA-FM "The Fan", which promises at least twice the number of local sports programming hours on weekdays than 1250 ESPN now offers.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs might be an influence as to how quickly the Pittsburgh market will support 3 sports stations. If the Penguins make another deep run into the Playoffs, it would probably make a difference for at least the month of May. If not, the Pirates are not likely to hold enough interest until fall when college football, the Steelers, and then the Penguins return and bring plenty to talk about locally.
HOUSTON: KFNC 97.5 has ended Calvin Murphy's afternoon show, but Murphy remains with the station for what is termed "special assignments". Fred Faour and Matt Dean now host from 1 to 4 PM while Carl Dukes will host solo from 4 until 5. No changes in the morning, where KFNC remains in 3rd place from 6 to 10 AM among the 4 Houston area sports stations with KBME 790 showing a nice increase. KILT is the overall sports radio ratings leader through December.
KANSAS CITY: Chiefs football returns to KCFX-FM for the 21st season in the fall. However, WHB 810 has inked a deal for additional and official Chiefs programming starting for next season.
WHB will carry a 2nd hour of post-game programming, the Todd Haley Show, and a show with the starting QB, along with extensive interviews. The station is already planning to broadcast live from the Chiefs' training camp in August.
TULSA: KTBZ 1430 will once again carry the AA (baseball) Tulsa Drillers for the upcoming season, with Dennis Higgins back for his 2nd season as play-by-play voice. However, the station gives priority to Jim Rome's show on weekday afternoons, and will bump conflicting games to KAKC 1300.
WAUSAU WI: Fans who have complained about lack of signal from WXCO 1230 and its ESPN Radio finally got their wish. As of last week (Jan. 25), the sports station moved to 100.5 FM, expanding its coverage by as much as 50 miles. Word is that 1230 will continue to broadcast local high schoo games, but will likely change to a different format for the rest of its broadcast day.
Since I get a lot of requests for telecast schedules, here is the lineup for Fox-TV's MLB Game of the Week for the coming season, with the Fox NASCAR schedule below:
MLB on FOX REGULAR SEASON BROADCAST SCHEDULE (Schedule Subject to Change; All times 4:00 PM ET unless noted)
April 10 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers
April 17 New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers
April 24 New York Yankees at Anaheim Angels, Seattle Mariners at Chicago White Sox
May 1 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros at Atlanta Braves
May 8 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies
May 15 Philadelphia Phillies at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros at San Francisco Giants
May 22 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at New York Mets, Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs at Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers
May 29 St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
June 5 Florida Marlins at New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Anaheim Angels at Seattle Mariners
June 12 Philadelphia Phillies at Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs
June 19 Los Angeles Dodgers at Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins at Philadelphia Phillies
June 26 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox at San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox
July 3 Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays at Minnesota Twins, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
July 10 Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers
July 17 Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals
July 24 New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies at Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles
July 31 Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins
August 7 Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves
August 14 Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays
August 21 Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers at Baltimore Orioles
August 28 Philadelphia Phillies at San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
September 4 New York Mets at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Oakland A’s, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins
September 11 Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
September 18 Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers
Upcoming NASCAR on FOX 2010 Schedule
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500 Qualifying, 1:00 PM
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Budweiser Shootout, 8:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 14 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500, 12:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 21 - California Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fontana, 2:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 28 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Las Vegas, 2:00 PM
Sun. March 7 - Atlanta Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Atlanta, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 21 - Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Bristol, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 28 - Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Martinsville, 12:00 PM
Sat. April 10 - Phoenix Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Phoenix, 7:00 PM
Sun. April 18 - Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fort Worth, 2:00 PM
Sun. April 25 - Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR Racing from Talladega, 12:00 PM
Sat. May 1 - Richmond Int’l Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Richmond, 7:00 PM
Sat. May 8 - Darlington Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Darlington, 7:00 PM
Sun. May 16 - Dover Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Dover, 12:00 PM
Sun. May 30 - Lowe’s Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Charlotte, 5:00 PM
Sports Media Report - Feb. 4th update
Obviously, it's not possible to ignore the Super Bowl in a Sports Media Update. Yet, I'm close to doing so. Unless you are a fan of one of the teams actually participating, the hour after hour of trying to make a story out of a routine practice becomes too much.
Yet, I will say that I am disappointed at one aspect that seems to be overlooked. Personally, the anticipation comes from this being what I call a "legitimate" Super Bowl matchup. The "wild card" teams are gone, and I love the fact that it is a pair of actual first place teams doing battle. Better yet, it is the teams with the 2 best records in their respective conferences. I don't recall if or when that has happened before. And that's my point.
I always thought the emphasis on sports - at any level - is about winning and working toward the ultimate success. It makes me very pleased to see the two teams that did the best for the regular season have this opportunity. Whichever team wins will have truly earned it. They didn't get there because of a stunning upset, a late season "comeback", or because of a fluke play or key injury from a favored opponent. This really is a "Super" Bowl, whether the game is close or not. This regular season actually meant something.
Meanwhile, this is the root of my disappointment with the NCAA and the very likely upcoming expansion of the basketball tourney to (gulp) 96 teams. I'm 100% sure it will happen because it means millions more in TV money and exposure for the NCAA and its teams.
But it also means further destroying college basketball. Why even have a regular season? Getting into the NCAA Tournament will become even less "special" when .500 teams in most conferences will get in. And without a formula other than opinions based on schedules and point spreads. But for one more day filled with games and thousands of additional hours of media coverage generating millions of dollars, regular season be damned. They'll make it March Sadness, and the media will eat it up.
Meanwhile, I think I found my ultimate example of my recently expressed concerns about how much the media "reports" news from competing sources instead of either confirming or breaking their own stories.
Last week, former NBA player Paul Shirley was dismissed from ESPN due to some sorry comments about not wanting to donate to the Haiti relief efforts. Whether a blogger (the comments were reportedly on his blog for ESPN) should be dismissed for expressing an opinion, no matter how unpopular, when no facts were in error, is for another day.
How did I find out this "news"? I first saw it on the "Chicago Breaking News" web site, which is a combination from the Chicago Tribune and WGN Radio and WGN-TV. A major newspaper, highly rated AM station, and a nationally known TV station, each with independent sports departments.
I don't understand why a media combo with its own sports departments would even publish a story about personnel at a competitor. As a sports fan, I have a choice of going to ESPN or (for example) WGN-TV's web site for breaking sports news. So if WGN tells me this, and I want more information, why wouldn't I click away and go right to ESPN?
Believe it or not, it doesn't stop there. You see, the "Chicago Breaking News" story on behalf of WGN and the Tribune did credit the source of the story in the first sentence. It read "CBSNews.com reports: Former Bulls forward Paul Shirley........".
Let's get this straight. The Tribune, WGN Radio, and WGN-TV, each with sports departments, allowed a story taken from CBSNews.com to appear on their web site as "Breaking News". While the story was about a dismissal at another prime source of breaking news. In Chicago, CBS Radio's WBBM News Radio has overtaken WGN Radio in the ratings within the past couple of years. CBS Radio's WSCR Sports Radio is in a battle with ESPN's WMVP 1000, while WGN Radio airs "Sports Central" on weeknights it doesn't carry a Blackhawks hockey or Cubs baseball broadcast. Yet, "Chicago Breaking News" was giving direct promotion of its 2 biggest competitors.
Now I fit in with the times. I just reported which other media WGN reported on.
Sorry, but I come from the old school where you would be severely scolded if you so much as mentioned a competitor on the air without a darn good reason.
Speaking of ESPN, ESPN Radio and Yahoo have unveiled a new stream player allowing fans to listen to ESPN Radio stations from (presently) 19 markets including its Chicago outlet WMVP 1000. From a fan's point of view, this is a really fun idea. After a big trade or signing, or a big sports story from a particular city, it can be fun to hear the local fans take.
From a radio standpoint, with the new reliance on PPM's to measure the "radio" audience, fans streaming out of town ESPN broadcasts online won't show up as "radio" listeners in the same way. This could be sports radio's equivalent of the music stations that sell the songs they play for download, giving listeners one more reason NOT to listen. While they scratch their heads wondering where the audience went to.
Congrats to Jon Miller on winning the Ford C. Frick Award and his upcoming induction into the Broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. It is very well deserved. As he gets ready for his 21st consecutive season calling the Sunday Night Baseball games for ESPN, you stop to realize that Miller might have the longest continuous run of calling national telecasts on the same network in modern MLB history. Yet, I also wonder if Jon will deliver his Hall of Fame speech imitating Vin Scully.
It was nice to see so many rememberances of Tom Brookshier, who passed away last week at the age of 78. His performance as both a player and broadcaster will not be forgotten. In another sense, he had an indirect impact on TV football telecasts. After he was let go by CBS following an off-color comment on the air in 1983, it set the stage of John Madden to join Pat Summerall and take even the boring Summerall with him to the top of the TV broadcast teams.
CHICAGO: How much will fans want to hear from an interim head coach? WSCR 670 The Score is looking for an answer to that question. DePaul University, again a distant last in Big East basketball this season, recently named Tracy Webster as Interim Head Coach for the remainder of this season. Yet, WSCR will have Webster in its studios each Monday night for the next few weeks (through the season) to talk DePaul basketball with host Laurence Holmes.
As much as I think coaches shows should be more prominent on sports radio, I'm not so sure that this show will set the ratings world on fire.
PITTSBURGH: WBGG Fox Sports 970 has gone local in the morning as of this week, naming Greg Linelli to host from 6 - 9 AM Monday through Friday.
Down the dial, ESPN 1250 has again dismissed Eddy Crow as one of the co-hosts of "The Drive". As of now, Scott Paulsen and Mike Logan remain on the show.
Both stations are preparing to battle against the new KDKA-FM "The Fan", which promises at least twice the number of local sports programming hours on weekdays than 1250 ESPN now offers.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs might be an influence as to how quickly the Pittsburgh market will support 3 sports stations. If the Penguins make another deep run into the Playoffs, it would probably make a difference for at least the month of May. If not, the Pirates are not likely to hold enough interest until fall when college football, the Steelers, and then the Penguins return and bring plenty to talk about locally.
66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666
HOU:
Calvin Murphy’s afternoon talk show on KFNC (97.5 FM) has been canceled, but he has been told he will remain with the Cumulus Media station in an unspecified role.
Cumulus employees were told in a memo that Murphy was “leaving … to focus on other things.” Murphy said he does have other interests and activities to pursue but that the decision to end the show rested with Cumulus.
“I have some other things I can do, so I’m not in a cramp,” he said. “I enjoyed it. It’s their decision. I always have something else ready to do. I’m going to be at the station and on special assignments, and I am pleased with that.”
Murphy, who hosted the show with KFNC program director Dave Tepper and Julie Takahashi, joined KFNC in July 2007. KFNC rarely polled above 1 percent of the listening audience for men 25-54 in afternoon drive and was generally in fourth place among the four Houston sports stations.
With Murphy’s departure, Fred Faour and Matt Dean now will host from 1 to 4 p.m. Carl Dukes will host solo from 4 to 5 p.m. and with Tepper and Takahashi from 5 to 7 p.m.
Ratings updates
Arbitron’s Christmas present for KILT (610 AM) was an upswing in what has become a consistent give-and-take pattern in the four-way competition for Houston’s sports radio audience.
KILT regained the lead in morning drive among men 25-54, the key demo for sports radio, over KGOW (1560 AM). KFNC (97.5 FM) remains third in morning drive, and KBME (790 AM) doubled its morning-drive audience share in its first partial book with new morning hosts Matt Jackson and Adam Wexler.
The four stations combined for a 9 percent share of the audience in morning drive for what Arbitron describes as the holiday ratings period, up from 7.8 percent in the December ratings book and, for comparison purposes, only 6 percent in January 2009. (Reality check: Spanish-language KLTN nearly exceeded that total on its own, and KODA’s Christmas music boosted its share to a point greater than the three stations other than KILT combined.)
KILT extended its lead at middays (10 a.m.-3 p.m.), even though all four stations were up from December, and in afternoon drive time, where it was the only one of the four stations that was up from the previous book. The CBS station also had a strong nighttime show, thanks, no doubt, to Rockets games, and its week-long numbers were larger than the other three stations combined.
KANSAS CITY: Chiefs football returns to KCFX-FM for the 21st season in the fall. However, WHB 810 has inked a deal for additional and official Chiefs programming starting for next season.
WHB will carry a 2nd hour of post-game programming, the Todd Haley Show, and a show with the starting QB, along with extensive interviews. The station is already planning to broadcast live from the Chiefs' training camp in August.
TULSA: KTBZ 1430 will once again carry the AA (baseball) Tulsa Drillers for the upcoming season, with Dennis Higgins back for his 2nd season as play-by-play voice. However, the station gives priority to Jim Rome's show on weekday afternoons, and will bump conflicting games to KAKC 1300.
WAUSAU WI: Fans who have complained about lack of signal from WXCO 1230 and its ESPN Radio finally got their wish. As of last week (Jan. 25), the sports station moved to 100.5 FM, expanding its coverage by as much as 50 miles. Word is that 1230 will continue to broadcast local high schoo games, but will likely change to a different format for the rest of its broadcast day.
Since I get a lot of requests for telecast schedules, here is the lineup for Fox-TV's MLB Game of the Week for the coming season, with the Fox NASCAR schedule below:
MLB on FOX REGULAR SEASON BROADCAST SCHEDULE (Schedule Subject to Change; All times 4:00 PM ET unless noted)
April 10 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers
April 17 New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers
April 24 New York Yankees at Anaheim Angels, Seattle Mariners at Chicago White Sox
May 1 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros at Atlanta Braves
May 8 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies
May 15 Philadelphia Phillies at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros at San Francisco Giants
May 22 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at New York Mets, Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs at Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers
May 29 St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
June 5 Florida Marlins at New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Anaheim Angels at Seattle Mariners
June 12 Philadelphia Phillies at Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs
June 19 Los Angeles Dodgers at Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins at Philadelphia Phillies
June 26 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox at San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox
July 3 Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays at Minnesota Twins, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
July 10 Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers
July 17 Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals
July 24 New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies at Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles
July 31 Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins
August 7 Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves
August 14 Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays
August 21 Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers at Baltimore Orioles
August 28 Philadelphia Phillies at San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
September 4 New York Mets at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Oakland A’s, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins
September 11 Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
September 18 Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers
Upcoming NASCAR on FOX 2010 Schedule
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500 Qualifying, 1:00 PM
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Budweiser Shootout, 8:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 14 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500, 12:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 21 - California Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fontana, 2:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 28 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Las Vegas, 2:00 PM
Sun. March 7 - Atlanta Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Atlanta, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 21 - Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Bristol, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 28 - Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Martinsville, 12:00 PM
Sat. April 10 - Phoenix Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Phoenix, 7:00 PM
Sun. April 18 - Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fort Worth, 2:00 PM
Sun. April 25 - Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR Racing from Talladega, 12:00 PM
Sat. May 1 - Richmond Int’l Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Richmond, 7:00 PM
Sat. May 8 - Darlington Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Darlington, 7:00 PM
Sun. May 16 - Dover Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Dover, 12:00 PM
Sun. May 30 - Lowe’s Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Charlotte, 5:00 PM
Yet, I will say that I am disappointed at one aspect that seems to be overlooked. Personally, the anticipation comes from this being what I call a "legitimate" Super Bowl matchup. The "wild card" teams are gone, and I love the fact that it is a pair of actual first place teams doing battle. Better yet, it is the teams with the 2 best records in their respective conferences. I don't recall if or when that has happened before. And that's my point.
I always thought the emphasis on sports - at any level - is about winning and working toward the ultimate success. It makes me very pleased to see the two teams that did the best for the regular season have this opportunity. Whichever team wins will have truly earned it. They didn't get there because of a stunning upset, a late season "comeback", or because of a fluke play or key injury from a favored opponent. This really is a "Super" Bowl, whether the game is close or not. This regular season actually meant something.
Meanwhile, this is the root of my disappointment with the NCAA and the very likely upcoming expansion of the basketball tourney to (gulp) 96 teams. I'm 100% sure it will happen because it means millions more in TV money and exposure for the NCAA and its teams.
But it also means further destroying college basketball. Why even have a regular season? Getting into the NCAA Tournament will become even less "special" when .500 teams in most conferences will get in. And without a formula other than opinions based on schedules and point spreads. But for one more day filled with games and thousands of additional hours of media coverage generating millions of dollars, regular season be damned. They'll make it March Sadness, and the media will eat it up.
Meanwhile, I think I found my ultimate example of my recently expressed concerns about how much the media "reports" news from competing sources instead of either confirming or breaking their own stories.
Last week, former NBA player Paul Shirley was dismissed from ESPN due to some sorry comments about not wanting to donate to the Haiti relief efforts. Whether a blogger (the comments were reportedly on his blog for ESPN) should be dismissed for expressing an opinion, no matter how unpopular, when no facts were in error, is for another day.
How did I find out this "news"? I first saw it on the "Chicago Breaking News" web site, which is a combination from the Chicago Tribune and WGN Radio and WGN-TV. A major newspaper, highly rated AM station, and a nationally known TV station, each with independent sports departments.
I don't understand why a media combo with its own sports departments would even publish a story about personnel at a competitor. As a sports fan, I have a choice of going to ESPN or (for example) WGN-TV's web site for breaking sports news. So if WGN tells me this, and I want more information, why wouldn't I click away and go right to ESPN?
Believe it or not, it doesn't stop there. You see, the "Chicago Breaking News" story on behalf of WGN and the Tribune did credit the source of the story in the first sentence. It read "CBSNews.com reports: Former Bulls forward Paul Shirley........".
Let's get this straight. The Tribune, WGN Radio, and WGN-TV, each with sports departments, allowed a story taken from CBSNews.com to appear on their web site as "Breaking News". While the story was about a dismissal at another prime source of breaking news. In Chicago, CBS Radio's WBBM News Radio has overtaken WGN Radio in the ratings within the past couple of years. CBS Radio's WSCR Sports Radio is in a battle with ESPN's WMVP 1000, while WGN Radio airs "Sports Central" on weeknights it doesn't carry a Blackhawks hockey or Cubs baseball broadcast. Yet, "Chicago Breaking News" was giving direct promotion of its 2 biggest competitors.
Now I fit in with the times. I just reported which other media WGN reported on.
Sorry, but I come from the old school where you would be severely scolded if you so much as mentioned a competitor on the air without a darn good reason.
Speaking of ESPN, ESPN Radio and Yahoo have unveiled a new stream player allowing fans to listen to ESPN Radio stations from (presently) 19 markets including its Chicago outlet WMVP 1000. From a fan's point of view, this is a really fun idea. After a big trade or signing, or a big sports story from a particular city, it can be fun to hear the local fans take.
From a radio standpoint, with the new reliance on PPM's to measure the "radio" audience, fans streaming out of town ESPN broadcasts online won't show up as "radio" listeners in the same way. This could be sports radio's equivalent of the music stations that sell the songs they play for download, giving listeners one more reason NOT to listen. While they scratch their heads wondering where the audience went to.
Congrats to Jon Miller on winning the Ford C. Frick Award and his upcoming induction into the Broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. It is very well deserved. As he gets ready for his 21st consecutive season calling the Sunday Night Baseball games for ESPN, you stop to realize that Miller might have the longest continuous run of calling national telecasts on the same network in modern MLB history. Yet, I also wonder if Jon will deliver his Hall of Fame speech imitating Vin Scully.
It was nice to see so many rememberances of Tom Brookshier, who passed away last week at the age of 78. His performance as both a player and broadcaster will not be forgotten. In another sense, he had an indirect impact on TV football telecasts. After he was let go by CBS following an off-color comment on the air in 1983, it set the stage of John Madden to join Pat Summerall and take even the boring Summerall with him to the top of the TV broadcast teams.
CHICAGO: How much will fans want to hear from an interim head coach? WSCR 670 The Score is looking for an answer to that question. DePaul University, again a distant last in Big East basketball this season, recently named Tracy Webster as Interim Head Coach for the remainder of this season. Yet, WSCR will have Webster in its studios each Monday night for the next few weeks (through the season) to talk DePaul basketball with host Laurence Holmes.
As much as I think coaches shows should be more prominent on sports radio, I'm not so sure that this show will set the ratings world on fire.
PITTSBURGH: WBGG Fox Sports 970 has gone local in the morning as of this week, naming Greg Linelli to host from 6 - 9 AM Monday through Friday.
Down the dial, ESPN 1250 has again dismissed Eddy Crow as one of the co-hosts of "The Drive". As of now, Scott Paulsen and Mike Logan remain on the show.
Both stations are preparing to battle against the new KDKA-FM "The Fan", which promises at least twice the number of local sports programming hours on weekdays than 1250 ESPN now offers.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs might be an influence as to how quickly the Pittsburgh market will support 3 sports stations. If the Penguins make another deep run into the Playoffs, it would probably make a difference for at least the month of May. If not, the Pirates are not likely to hold enough interest until fall when college football, the Steelers, and then the Penguins return and bring plenty to talk about locally.
66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666
HOU:
Calvin Murphy’s afternoon talk show on KFNC (97.5 FM) has been canceled, but he has been told he will remain with the Cumulus Media station in an unspecified role.
Cumulus employees were told in a memo that Murphy was “leaving … to focus on other things.” Murphy said he does have other interests and activities to pursue but that the decision to end the show rested with Cumulus.
“I have some other things I can do, so I’m not in a cramp,” he said. “I enjoyed it. It’s their decision. I always have something else ready to do. I’m going to be at the station and on special assignments, and I am pleased with that.”
Murphy, who hosted the show with KFNC program director Dave Tepper and Julie Takahashi, joined KFNC in July 2007. KFNC rarely polled above 1 percent of the listening audience for men 25-54 in afternoon drive and was generally in fourth place among the four Houston sports stations.
With Murphy’s departure, Fred Faour and Matt Dean now will host from 1 to 4 p.m. Carl Dukes will host solo from 4 to 5 p.m. and with Tepper and Takahashi from 5 to 7 p.m.
Ratings updates
Arbitron’s Christmas present for KILT (610 AM) was an upswing in what has become a consistent give-and-take pattern in the four-way competition for Houston’s sports radio audience.
KILT regained the lead in morning drive among men 25-54, the key demo for sports radio, over KGOW (1560 AM). KFNC (97.5 FM) remains third in morning drive, and KBME (790 AM) doubled its morning-drive audience share in its first partial book with new morning hosts Matt Jackson and Adam Wexler.
The four stations combined for a 9 percent share of the audience in morning drive for what Arbitron describes as the holiday ratings period, up from 7.8 percent in the December ratings book and, for comparison purposes, only 6 percent in January 2009. (Reality check: Spanish-language KLTN nearly exceeded that total on its own, and KODA’s Christmas music boosted its share to a point greater than the three stations other than KILT combined.)
KILT extended its lead at middays (10 a.m.-3 p.m.), even though all four stations were up from December, and in afternoon drive time, where it was the only one of the four stations that was up from the previous book. The CBS station also had a strong nighttime show, thanks, no doubt, to Rockets games, and its week-long numbers were larger than the other three stations combined.
KANSAS CITY: Chiefs football returns to KCFX-FM for the 21st season in the fall. However, WHB 810 has inked a deal for additional and official Chiefs programming starting for next season.
WHB will carry a 2nd hour of post-game programming, the Todd Haley Show, and a show with the starting QB, along with extensive interviews. The station is already planning to broadcast live from the Chiefs' training camp in August.
TULSA: KTBZ 1430 will once again carry the AA (baseball) Tulsa Drillers for the upcoming season, with Dennis Higgins back for his 2nd season as play-by-play voice. However, the station gives priority to Jim Rome's show on weekday afternoons, and will bump conflicting games to KAKC 1300.
WAUSAU WI: Fans who have complained about lack of signal from WXCO 1230 and its ESPN Radio finally got their wish. As of last week (Jan. 25), the sports station moved to 100.5 FM, expanding its coverage by as much as 50 miles. Word is that 1230 will continue to broadcast local high schoo games, but will likely change to a different format for the rest of its broadcast day.
Since I get a lot of requests for telecast schedules, here is the lineup for Fox-TV's MLB Game of the Week for the coming season, with the Fox NASCAR schedule below:
MLB on FOX REGULAR SEASON BROADCAST SCHEDULE (Schedule Subject to Change; All times 4:00 PM ET unless noted)
April 10 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers
April 17 New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers
April 24 New York Yankees at Anaheim Angels, Seattle Mariners at Chicago White Sox
May 1 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros at Atlanta Braves
May 8 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies
May 15 Philadelphia Phillies at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros at San Francisco Giants
May 22 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at New York Mets, Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs at Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers
May 29 St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
June 5 Florida Marlins at New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Anaheim Angels at Seattle Mariners
June 12 Philadelphia Phillies at Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs
June 19 Los Angeles Dodgers at Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins at Philadelphia Phillies
June 26 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox at San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox
July 3 Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays at Minnesota Twins, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
July 10 Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers
July 17 Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals
July 24 New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies at Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles
July 31 Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins
August 7 Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves
August 14 Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays
August 21 Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers at Baltimore Orioles
August 28 Philadelphia Phillies at San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
September 4 New York Mets at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Oakland A’s, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins
September 11 Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
September 18 Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers
Upcoming NASCAR on FOX 2010 Schedule
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500 Qualifying, 1:00 PM
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Budweiser Shootout, 8:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 14 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500, 12:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 21 - California Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fontana, 2:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 28 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Las Vegas, 2:00 PM
Sun. March 7 - Atlanta Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Atlanta, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 21 - Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Bristol, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 28 - Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Martinsville, 12:00 PM
Sat. April 10 - Phoenix Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Phoenix, 7:00 PM
Sun. April 18 - Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fort Worth, 2:00 PM
Sun. April 25 - Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR Racing from Talladega, 12:00 PM
Sat. May 1 - Richmond Int’l Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Richmond, 7:00 PM
Sat. May 8 - Darlington Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Darlington, 7:00 PM
Sun. May 16 - Dover Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Dover, 12:00 PM
Sun. May 30 - Lowe’s Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Charlotte, 5:00 PM
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Sports Media Report - Jan. 20th update
In recent years, this has been the week to start reducing time spent listening to and watching sports talk shows in order to limit hearing about the Super Bowl over and over and over again.
Not so this time around. It is getting to the point where even the sports stations are not reporting what is truly sports "news" when it comes to the Super Bowl. The sports outlets are making it a media event instead of a football game. I can understand if music stations and local TV newscasts take that angle, but it's getting out of hand.
All of a sudden sports stations, sports TV talk shows, and sports related web sites are bringing us "news stories" about how many commercials are sold, what singers will be performing, and which advertisers are spending big bucks for the game.
Am I the only one who resents seeing the "stadium name" story showing up in "Sports Headlines" all afternoon?
As a sports fan, I don't care how many millions CBS is getting for the commercials. I don't care who will be advertising. I don't care what stadium the game is being played in.
I never thought it would get to the point where I might actually welcome hearing from the row after row of sports anchors sitting at media headquarters for a week interviewing the same people over and over again. At least they focus on the game itself.
A player injury won't be as important as this week's name for the stadium hosting the game. If this doesn't stop, they might as well have a CBS "Festival of Commercials" and let two good NFL teams play a sudden death series of downs at halftime. What's next? Please remember this is about a football game. At least on the sports stations and outlets.
I'll admit that I rarely report or comment on NASCAR, but this is strange enough to catch my attention. The NASCAR web site now features an interview with a racing team owner who complains about certain commentators on the national TV coverage:
http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/headlines/cup/01/20/jack.rousch.television.coverage.fans/
He is certainly entitled to his opinion. Yet, it is the opinion of others, namely the "name brand" commentators that are a big part of the reason so many people are watching the telecasts in the first place. Somebody needs to tell him that times have changed. The "don't say anything bad about anybody" approach died in the 70's when Howard Cosell went prime time to "tell it like it is". He should be glad there is so much interest in the telecasts. If it works, don't fix it.
MIAMI: Ed Freeman and Jeff Fox have a new contract for the 1 to 3 PM spot on WAXY The Ticket 790. Yet, the station won't quite be all sports, as it has picked up a syndicated non-sports show to air from 1 to 4 AM.
TAMPA: WFLA 970 has hired Allyson Turner to be part of its morning show team starting next Monday (Jan. 25), working along with Jack Harris and Tedd Webb. While at Miami's WQAM, among her responsibilities was producing Hank Goldberg's show. She replaces Sharon Taylor, who was let go several weeks ago after nearly 10 years with the station.
PITTSBURGH: The Fan comes to Pittsburgh in the form of the city's first FM sports station which debuts on February 15th. Unless another FM station were to suddenly forge ahead, KDKA-FM 93.7 will become The Fan on the President's Day holiday. Until then, "B94" will continue to play the hits and cross promote the CBS owned Star 100.7 FM which figures to inherit its music audience.
CINCINNATI: The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Andy Furman, who hosted SportsTalk on WLW for more than 18 years, could return to the local airwaves as quickly as the first week in February. WQRT-AM, which airs syndicated non-sports programming, is reportedly looking at opening up the 5 to 7 PM weekday spot for its first local show.
BALTIMORE: Fox Sports 1370 AM is taking a chance on Baltimore fans being interested in the NHL Washington Capitals, especially in areas where the originating signal from D.C. does not come in. This past weekend, WVIE began with the first of nine Capitals broadcasts they will carry this season. Nothing further has been announced beyond the regular season.
DALLAS: For all of the accolades, and deservedly so, that Brad Sham has gained over the years for his calls of Cowboys football and other sports, his baseball counterpart is also making history. Rangers voice Eric Nadel has again been named "Texas Sportscaster of the Year". Eric certainly knows the drill by now. This marks the fifth time he was won the Award. Keep in mind this is a statewide award, not just for the Metroplex.
BANGOR: The Patriots, Red Sox, and Celtics may be "the" teams throughout Maine, but following them in the Bangor area just took on a new challenge. WAEI 97.1 and WABI 910 decided to pull the plug on carrying WEEI Boston sports programming, citing a contract dispute after 16 months of the arrangement.
Neither side is talking much, but it would appear that WEEI is not pleased with the decision. This is based on WEEI issuing a statement to "remind" Bangor area residents of the WEEI online stream.
WAEI and WABI immediately switched over to Fox Sports programming, which they had only been carrying overnight. Sounds like everybody loses on this one.
TAMPA: Despite the Buccaneers disappointing season, Sports Radio 1010 has brought back its weekly hour focused on the Bucs. Each Wednesday from 5 to 6 PM J. P. Peterson and Scott Reynolds host, with the show scheduled to air each week throughout the entire off season. That's plenty of time to do nothing but look ahead.
Meanwhile, sorry that we have two deaths to reflect on this week. Art Rust, who hosted sports talk on WABC Radio New York in the 80's, passed away last week. A lot of fans consider Rust's show to have laid the foundation for WFAN before the 80's were over.
From Hazard, KY comes word that Ernest Sparkman died at the age of 84 this past Friday (Jan. 15). Sparkman, who played college hoops at the University of Kentucky long ago, broadcast Kentucky Sweet 16 High School Basketball tournament games for 40 years. WSGS-FM, of which Sparkman was one of the owners for a long time, is the only station to broadcast every tournament game for the past 61 years.
NBC-TV has announced its Jan. 31st NHL Game of the Week. Detroit will be at Pittsburgh in an obvious choice since this is a Stanley Cup Finals rematch. The Penguins will also be feature this Sunday (1/24) with their game from Philadelphia. What is nice is how NBC is maintaining the 12:30 PM ET start for its Sunday telecasts. I contend that a consistent starting time is far more important than some of the networks realize. For example, ABC's Sunday NBA package, which hasn't started yet, tends to vary the start times when not doing a doubleheader.
NEWPORT NEWS VA: The "757 Club" with Johnny "D" DeCandido and Bartley Barefoot on WXTG 102.1 and 1490 AM has been moved to a later time, now airing weekdays from 5 to 7 PM. The Chris Myers Show from Fox Sports has moved into the 3 to 5 PM spot.
GREEN VALLEY WV: WAMN 1050 has changed ownership and has ended its affiliation with ESPN as of this week and now is a music station. WKEZ 1240, which will continue to carry Fox Sports, becomes the area's only full-time sports station.
Not so this time around. It is getting to the point where even the sports stations are not reporting what is truly sports "news" when it comes to the Super Bowl. The sports outlets are making it a media event instead of a football game. I can understand if music stations and local TV newscasts take that angle, but it's getting out of hand.
All of a sudden sports stations, sports TV talk shows, and sports related web sites are bringing us "news stories" about how many commercials are sold, what singers will be performing, and which advertisers are spending big bucks for the game.
Am I the only one who resents seeing the "stadium name" story showing up in "Sports Headlines" all afternoon?
As a sports fan, I don't care how many millions CBS is getting for the commercials. I don't care who will be advertising. I don't care what stadium the game is being played in.
I never thought it would get to the point where I might actually welcome hearing from the row after row of sports anchors sitting at media headquarters for a week interviewing the same people over and over again. At least they focus on the game itself.
A player injury won't be as important as this week's name for the stadium hosting the game. If this doesn't stop, they might as well have a CBS "Festival of Commercials" and let two good NFL teams play a sudden death series of downs at halftime. What's next? Please remember this is about a football game. At least on the sports stations and outlets.
I'll admit that I rarely report or comment on NASCAR, but this is strange enough to catch my attention. The NASCAR web site now features an interview with a racing team owner who complains about certain commentators on the national TV coverage:
http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/headlines/cup/01/20/jack.rousch.television.coverage.fans/
He is certainly entitled to his opinion. Yet, it is the opinion of others, namely the "name brand" commentators that are a big part of the reason so many people are watching the telecasts in the first place. Somebody needs to tell him that times have changed. The "don't say anything bad about anybody" approach died in the 70's when Howard Cosell went prime time to "tell it like it is". He should be glad there is so much interest in the telecasts. If it works, don't fix it.
MIAMI: Ed Freeman and Jeff Fox have a new contract for the 1 to 3 PM spot on WAXY The Ticket 790. Yet, the station won't quite be all sports, as it has picked up a syndicated non-sports show to air from 1 to 4 AM.
TAMPA: WFLA 970 has hired Allyson Turner to be part of its morning show team starting next Monday (Jan. 25), working along with Jack Harris and Tedd Webb. While at Miami's WQAM, among her responsibilities was producing Hank Goldberg's show. She replaces Sharon Taylor, who was let go several weeks ago after nearly 10 years with the station.
PITTSBURGH: The Fan comes to Pittsburgh in the form of the city's first FM sports station which debuts on February 15th. Unless another FM station were to suddenly forge ahead, KDKA-FM 93.7 will become The Fan on the President's Day holiday. Until then, "B94" will continue to play the hits and cross promote the CBS owned Star 100.7 FM which figures to inherit its music audience.
CINCINNATI: The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Andy Furman, who hosted SportsTalk on WLW for more than 18 years, could return to the local airwaves as quickly as the first week in February. WQRT-AM, which airs syndicated non-sports programming, is reportedly looking at opening up the 5 to 7 PM weekday spot for its first local show.
BALTIMORE: Fox Sports 1370 AM is taking a chance on Baltimore fans being interested in the NHL Washington Capitals, especially in areas where the originating signal from D.C. does not come in. This past weekend, WVIE began with the first of nine Capitals broadcasts they will carry this season. Nothing further has been announced beyond the regular season.
DALLAS: For all of the accolades, and deservedly so, that Brad Sham has gained over the years for his calls of Cowboys football and other sports, his baseball counterpart is also making history. Rangers voice Eric Nadel has again been named "Texas Sportscaster of the Year". Eric certainly knows the drill by now. This marks the fifth time he was won the Award. Keep in mind this is a statewide award, not just for the Metroplex.
BANGOR: The Patriots, Red Sox, and Celtics may be "the" teams throughout Maine, but following them in the Bangor area just took on a new challenge. WAEI 97.1 and WABI 910 decided to pull the plug on carrying WEEI Boston sports programming, citing a contract dispute after 16 months of the arrangement.
Neither side is talking much, but it would appear that WEEI is not pleased with the decision. This is based on WEEI issuing a statement to "remind" Bangor area residents of the WEEI online stream.
WAEI and WABI immediately switched over to Fox Sports programming, which they had only been carrying overnight. Sounds like everybody loses on this one.
TAMPA: Despite the Buccaneers disappointing season, Sports Radio 1010 has brought back its weekly hour focused on the Bucs. Each Wednesday from 5 to 6 PM J. P. Peterson and Scott Reynolds host, with the show scheduled to air each week throughout the entire off season. That's plenty of time to do nothing but look ahead.
Meanwhile, sorry that we have two deaths to reflect on this week. Art Rust, who hosted sports talk on WABC Radio New York in the 80's, passed away last week. A lot of fans consider Rust's show to have laid the foundation for WFAN before the 80's were over.
From Hazard, KY comes word that Ernest Sparkman died at the age of 84 this past Friday (Jan. 15). Sparkman, who played college hoops at the University of Kentucky long ago, broadcast Kentucky Sweet 16 High School Basketball tournament games for 40 years. WSGS-FM, of which Sparkman was one of the owners for a long time, is the only station to broadcast every tournament game for the past 61 years.
NBC-TV has announced its Jan. 31st NHL Game of the Week. Detroit will be at Pittsburgh in an obvious choice since this is a Stanley Cup Finals rematch. The Penguins will also be feature this Sunday (1/24) with their game from Philadelphia. What is nice is how NBC is maintaining the 12:30 PM ET start for its Sunday telecasts. I contend that a consistent starting time is far more important than some of the networks realize. For example, ABC's Sunday NBA package, which hasn't started yet, tends to vary the start times when not doing a doubleheader.
NEWPORT NEWS VA: The "757 Club" with Johnny "D" DeCandido and Bartley Barefoot on WXTG 102.1 and 1490 AM has been moved to a later time, now airing weekdays from 5 to 7 PM. The Chris Myers Show from Fox Sports has moved into the 3 to 5 PM spot.
GREEN VALLEY WV: WAMN 1050 has changed ownership and has ended its affiliation with ESPN as of this week and now is a music station. WKEZ 1240, which will continue to carry Fox Sports, becomes the area's only full-time sports station.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Sports Media Report - August 5th update
The past week brought us still another indication that the multi-millions of dollars spent for pro sports broadcast rights fees will be dropping at every opportunity.CBS-TV is already recognizing that its telecast of the Super Bowl in February is not as likely to command the usual amount of spots at more than $2,000,000 per. The network is reportedly offering packages to potential advertisers with additional factors determining the price of a Super Bowl participation which did not exist before. The more challenging it becomes to sell the spots, and the lower the revenue generated, the less likely the networks will fall all over each other with millions of dollars when the next package is negotiated.
What also makes this interesting is that one of the criteria for Super Bowl advertisers reportedly being considered is the placement within the telecast. This could lead to a form of an advertisers' fantasy league. Most of us could understand that an advertiser might have to pay more to be seen during the 4th quarter of a close game. But we never know.
The participating teams may or may not be from big markets. The game could become one sided by halftime. Or, it could be a huge draw and be close until the end. CBS and advertisers could wind up in a costly game of speculation as to the degree of success based on an advertiser's placement. I'll take the under.
The NBA schedule was released on Tuesday, and this year all at once. Within hours, we had telecasts announced by ESPN, TNT, and NBA-TV. This is actually something new from the NBA.
In the past, the league was good at milking the schedule announcements over the course of a week or two. I find this "everything at once" to be too much too soon.During this tough economy, the NBA needs to keep itself in the news to keep fan interest going. The schedule is, obviously, a story which creates anticipation for the key matchups and gets fans excited for the coming season. Way different from the big money contracts, player squabbles, rumors, and sometimes incidents which become news stories.
In the past, the league would announce some key matchups to start. Over the course of a few days, the teams would start announcing their schedules. Then, over the next couple of weeks, the networks such as TNT, ESPN, and ABC would announce some of their national telecasts.
These would serve as ways to build anticipation. But now, we got all of that within a few hours on the same day. Good to know, but in a way this takes some of the fun out of hearing about the best matchups over the next couple of weeks. Many draft choices and free agents have been signed. There are not expected to be very many major NBA stories over the next few weeks. Training camps don't open for 2 more months. Yet, the league seems to have overlooked the additional marketing exposure with the "all at once" announcements.
TNT announced 53 regular season NBA telecasts. The joke had been that TNT would save time and announce the Cavaliers' schedule. It is obvious that with Lebron James and Shaq on the same team, it won't be hard to see the Cavs on the tube. Sure enough, they are already scheduled for 10 appearances on TNT alone. The network promises 22 Thursday night doubleheaders for the coming season, including Thanksgiving. For the first time ever, TNT even plans a doubleheader on New Year's Eve. They also plan 3 telecasts on MLK Day.
ESPN coverage begins on opening night, Weds. Oct. 28th in the West, with New Orleans at San Antonio and then Utah at Denver. ESPN and ABC will combine for 16 telecasts with the Lakers and Celtics, with 15 Cavaliers telecasts already scheduled. (Yes - when combined with TNT, it means that 25 Cavs games (nearly one-third) are already scheduled for national TV, and that does not include NBA-TV.)
ABC and ESPN give us the Christmas present of 5 live games, including a Lakers vs. Cavs matchup. ABC plans 5 Sunday doubleheaders, and has 2 matchups of Cleveland vs. Orlando on its schedule.
PHOENIX: The competition for U. of Arizona football this season may be bigger among the TV people than the Pac-10 race. Wildcats games not chosen by a network will be shown in Phoenix on KGUN Channel 9 and KWBA 58 will carry the Spanish version on digital 58.2. This deal also includes a Prescott based station. This includes the season opener on Sept. 5 vs. Central Michigan, and at least one other game. ABC/ESPN already has 2 games selected for regional coverage, with the remainder to be seen via Fox Sports Arizona's Pac-10 package, as well as on Versus.
CINCINNATI: The surprising first half better than expected start of the Reds will pay big dividends for WLW 700. The long time Reds flagship station shot up from 5th to 1st at night during the recent spring ratings period, while the station finished a solid number one overall. Even as the Reds slump out of contention, the station just might keep up their strong numbers.
St. LOUIS: The sports talk race in St. Louis radio is already as interesting as the National League Central this season. Newcomer WXOS 101.1, which debuted as a sports talker on New Year's, is already ahead of KFNS 590 and KSLG 1380 in mornings, middays, and afternoons. KFNS, which broadcasts the Cardinals and features extensive related programming, has gained on KSLG compared to previous ratings books, which is not surprising given the Cardinals' great season thus far. Significantly, the combined audience ratings for the 3 sports stations show that the sports radio audience in the St. Louis market has more than doubled over the past year.
DALLAS: ESPN 103.3 has added Ian Fitzsimmons to its afternoon drive "Galloway & Company" show as of this week. Fitz will also host pre and post-game programming on Cowboys game days. As it goes in radio, this move happened rather quickly. Fact is that Fitzsimmons was still on the air at WJOX in Birmingham as recently as last Wednesday (7/29) and had to leave without saying farewell to his audience there.
BALTIMORE: WJZ-FM The Fan rose to third place in men 25-54 in the recent ratings period. The station, which started last fall, saw its afternoon show with Scott Garceau and Anita Marks finish first among 25-54 men. This while the other Baltimore sports talkers, WNST, WJZ-AM, and WVIE, all failed to crack the top 25 stations overall.
WASHINGTON D.C.: The NHL Capitals and WFED-AM have agreed to a multi-year deal, and Steve Kolbe continues as play-by-play voice. Over at WTEM 980, Tony Kornheiser returns to WTEM after several years. Starting the day after Labor Day (Sept. 8) Tony will handle a late morning shift, most likely leading into "The Sports Fix" with Thom Loverro and Kevin Sheehan.
JACKSONVILLE: Looks like tough sledding for XL Sports, which left the 105.3 FM frequency due to an expired contract on July 31st. The station continues on 1010 AM, on 1010XL.com, and for those in the northern part of the market and in the southeastern tip of Georgia on 92.5 FM. The "old" frequency replaced the sports talk with other talk programming.
NASHVILLE: Middle Tennessee State University has a new radio home just in time for the coming football season. WNSR 560 will be the flagship station for both football and basketball, including its simulcast to Bowling Green KY on WNTC 103.9. This after WNFN 106.7 dropped its ESPN programming in favor of music last week. In Murfreesboro, where the school is located, the games will be heard on WGNS 1450 AM along with 100.5 and 101.9 FM. Or, to keep it simple, if you are in Murphfreesboro during a MTSU football or basketball game, just turn on the radio.
What also makes this interesting is that one of the criteria for Super Bowl advertisers reportedly being considered is the placement within the telecast. This could lead to a form of an advertisers' fantasy league. Most of us could understand that an advertiser might have to pay more to be seen during the 4th quarter of a close game. But we never know.
The participating teams may or may not be from big markets. The game could become one sided by halftime. Or, it could be a huge draw and be close until the end. CBS and advertisers could wind up in a costly game of speculation as to the degree of success based on an advertiser's placement. I'll take the under.
The NBA schedule was released on Tuesday, and this year all at once. Within hours, we had telecasts announced by ESPN, TNT, and NBA-TV. This is actually something new from the NBA.
In the past, the league was good at milking the schedule announcements over the course of a week or two. I find this "everything at once" to be too much too soon.During this tough economy, the NBA needs to keep itself in the news to keep fan interest going. The schedule is, obviously, a story which creates anticipation for the key matchups and gets fans excited for the coming season. Way different from the big money contracts, player squabbles, rumors, and sometimes incidents which become news stories.
In the past, the league would announce some key matchups to start. Over the course of a few days, the teams would start announcing their schedules. Then, over the next couple of weeks, the networks such as TNT, ESPN, and ABC would announce some of their national telecasts.
These would serve as ways to build anticipation. But now, we got all of that within a few hours on the same day. Good to know, but in a way this takes some of the fun out of hearing about the best matchups over the next couple of weeks. Many draft choices and free agents have been signed. There are not expected to be very many major NBA stories over the next few weeks. Training camps don't open for 2 more months. Yet, the league seems to have overlooked the additional marketing exposure with the "all at once" announcements.
TNT announced 53 regular season NBA telecasts. The joke had been that TNT would save time and announce the Cavaliers' schedule. It is obvious that with Lebron James and Shaq on the same team, it won't be hard to see the Cavs on the tube. Sure enough, they are already scheduled for 10 appearances on TNT alone. The network promises 22 Thursday night doubleheaders for the coming season, including Thanksgiving. For the first time ever, TNT even plans a doubleheader on New Year's Eve. They also plan 3 telecasts on MLK Day.
ESPN coverage begins on opening night, Weds. Oct. 28th in the West, with New Orleans at San Antonio and then Utah at Denver. ESPN and ABC will combine for 16 telecasts with the Lakers and Celtics, with 15 Cavaliers telecasts already scheduled. (Yes - when combined with TNT, it means that 25 Cavs games (nearly one-third) are already scheduled for national TV, and that does not include NBA-TV.)
ABC and ESPN give us the Christmas present of 5 live games, including a Lakers vs. Cavs matchup. ABC plans 5 Sunday doubleheaders, and has 2 matchups of Cleveland vs. Orlando on its schedule.
PHOENIX: The competition for U. of Arizona football this season may be bigger among the TV people than the Pac-10 race. Wildcats games not chosen by a network will be shown in Phoenix on KGUN Channel 9 and KWBA 58 will carry the Spanish version on digital 58.2. This deal also includes a Prescott based station. This includes the season opener on Sept. 5 vs. Central Michigan, and at least one other game. ABC/ESPN already has 2 games selected for regional coverage, with the remainder to be seen via Fox Sports Arizona's Pac-10 package, as well as on Versus.
CINCINNATI: The surprising first half better than expected start of the Reds will pay big dividends for WLW 700. The long time Reds flagship station shot up from 5th to 1st at night during the recent spring ratings period, while the station finished a solid number one overall. Even as the Reds slump out of contention, the station just might keep up their strong numbers.
St. LOUIS: The sports talk race in St. Louis radio is already as interesting as the National League Central this season. Newcomer WXOS 101.1, which debuted as a sports talker on New Year's, is already ahead of KFNS 590 and KSLG 1380 in mornings, middays, and afternoons. KFNS, which broadcasts the Cardinals and features extensive related programming, has gained on KSLG compared to previous ratings books, which is not surprising given the Cardinals' great season thus far. Significantly, the combined audience ratings for the 3 sports stations show that the sports radio audience in the St. Louis market has more than doubled over the past year.
DALLAS: ESPN 103.3 has added Ian Fitzsimmons to its afternoon drive "Galloway & Company" show as of this week. Fitz will also host pre and post-game programming on Cowboys game days. As it goes in radio, this move happened rather quickly. Fact is that Fitzsimmons was still on the air at WJOX in Birmingham as recently as last Wednesday (7/29) and had to leave without saying farewell to his audience there.
BALTIMORE: WJZ-FM The Fan rose to third place in men 25-54 in the recent ratings period. The station, which started last fall, saw its afternoon show with Scott Garceau and Anita Marks finish first among 25-54 men. This while the other Baltimore sports talkers, WNST, WJZ-AM, and WVIE, all failed to crack the top 25 stations overall.
WASHINGTON D.C.: The NHL Capitals and WFED-AM have agreed to a multi-year deal, and Steve Kolbe continues as play-by-play voice. Over at WTEM 980, Tony Kornheiser returns to WTEM after several years. Starting the day after Labor Day (Sept. 8) Tony will handle a late morning shift, most likely leading into "The Sports Fix" with Thom Loverro and Kevin Sheehan.
JACKSONVILLE: Looks like tough sledding for XL Sports, which left the 105.3 FM frequency due to an expired contract on July 31st. The station continues on 1010 AM, on 1010XL.com, and for those in the northern part of the market and in the southeastern tip of Georgia on 92.5 FM. The "old" frequency replaced the sports talk with other talk programming.
NASHVILLE: Middle Tennessee State University has a new radio home just in time for the coming football season. WNSR 560 will be the flagship station for both football and basketball, including its simulcast to Bowling Green KY on WNTC 103.9. This after WNFN 106.7 dropped its ESPN programming in favor of music last week. In Murfreesboro, where the school is located, the games will be heard on WGNS 1450 AM along with 100.5 and 101.9 FM. Or, to keep it simple, if you are in Murphfreesboro during a MTSU football or basketball game, just turn on the radio.
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