It's so far so good with the multiple network coverage of the NCAA Tournament, now down to just CBS and TBS.
Gus Johnson and analysts Len Elmore and Reggie Miller will handle the Southeast Region on Thursday (3/24) with BYU/ Florida and Wisconsin / Butler at 8:57 p.m., both on TBS.
CBS on Thursday will air the West Region with Vern Lundquist and Bill Raftery calling San Diego State / Connecticut followed by Duke / Arizona.
On Friday, CBS has Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg doing the East with North Carolina vs. Marquette and Ohio State vs. Kentucky. While on TBS, Marv Albert and Steve Kerr get the Southwest Region in San Antonio, with Kansas vs. Richmond and VA Commonwealth vs. Florida State.
As MLB Network gets ready to open the regular season with another promise to show all 30 teams at least once with "30 Games In 30 Days", the Network has just been nominated for 8 Sports Emmy Awards.
ESPN is going to borrow from "College Game Day" and originate "Baseball Tonight" every Sunday from the site of its Sunday Night Baseball telecast. The first one will be from outside of Dodger Stadium on April 3rd. Hopefully the fans surrounding will not be anywhere near the nuisance they become on College GameDay.
NEW YORK: WCBS 880 now has Brad Heller handling the morning sports updates on an interim basis since the departure of Jared Max. Max left WCBS to move down the dial to WEPN ESPN 1050.
INDIANAPOLIS: Best wishes for a continued recovery by Bob "Slick" Leonard from his recent heart attack suffered on a Pacers road trip. The former Pacers coach and long time radio analyst is being replaced on the air by former Pacer Austin Croshere. Now at age 78, Leonard has more than 55 years in pro basketball.
ATLANTA: It was after The Broadcast Booth came out last week that the story broke of The Fan 680 reportedly firing sports update reporter Chadd Scott due to comments made on a social networking site. A comment that he had already deleted at the request of management, and was not made on the air. It merely referenced one of the station's big advertisers.
I thought that reporters and hosts on sports talk stations are encouraged to interact with fans on social media sites and online in general. Instead, The Fan 680 sends a "message" to their listeners that their employees can only express approved opinions.
And to think this guy loses his job less than 2 weeks after ESPN's Bobby Knight says the s-word on ESPN and left it for another reporter to apologize on the air. Knight is still employed by ESPN.
PITTSBURGH: The Steelers broadcasts will stay on WBGG 970 and WDVE 102.5 for next season (whenever that may be), for what will be the 14th season as the team's flagship station. No changes in the booth.
St. LOUIS: Former Rams standout tackle Orlando Pace will be making some appearances on KSLG 1380 and KFNS 590, which is good news for fans who enjoy his knowledge of the game and his new found broadcast ability. He'll remain on those stations, since Pace is now an approximately 15% owner of Grand Slam Sports (which owns the stations).
We all knew this was coming from WXOS 101.1. After earlier bringing in local legend Howard Balzer to help with the station web site, Balzer and his "Pro Football Sunday" show is back from 10 AM to Noon. Balzer is also already doing a series of NFL Draft previews airing at various times on the station. Can't help but think that within days after we know when the next NFL season will start will come an announcement that someone else will then handle the web site duties so that Balzer can do more on the air.
BALTIMORE: Members of the local media will come together for the purpose of talking Orioles baseball with fans on Friday April 8th. The Fan 105.7's Scott Garceau, WBAL 1090's Brett Hollander and Keith Mills, Rob Long of Fox Sports 1370, and MASN's Roch Kubatko and Jen Royle will each be among the panelists at a luncheon that day. It will take place at the Sports Legends Museum in Baltimore.
TULSA: Oklahoma University now has a new play-by-play voice for both football and basketball starting later this year. That is the first time that sentence can be used in 51 years, since the just retired Bob Barry called Sooners games for 50 years. Yet, Toby Rowland of Oklahoma City's KWTV Channel 9 and KREF 1400, is not new to OU fans.
Rowland has called baseball, women's basketball, and other sports for OU over the years. Here's hoping he stands on his own merits and not in the shadow of Barry over the next couple of seasons.
Showing posts with label tbs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tbs. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Broadcast Booth - March 15th Update......
This figures to be a wonderful week for college hoops fans with the NCAA Tournament starting with every game finally shown live. No more gripes to the local TV stations across the country about which game was chosen over that game. Granted, many will have a challenge finding Tru-TV which gets to carry a couple of unopposed games. However, the important fact that every game will also be streamed live and free should make up for that.
There are other benefits for the fans. All of the first week's games are scheduled to be completed by midnight ET (with the possible exception of the last games of the day going into overtime). This is better than past years when CBS would show games starting after the late local newscasts which sometimes wouldn't start until after 11:30 ET.
The more casual fan may not enjoy this as much, as there will not be the switching to the endings of games and a "primary" telecast as in past years. CBS, TBS, TNT, and Tru-TV do each plan on cross-promoting other telecasts and keeping viewers very much updated on other games being played at the same time. Have remote will travel!
Where is the reprimand for Bobby Knight due to his use of an obscenity on ESPN earlier this month? It was back on March 5th when Knight was on College Gameday and refered to a "chicken s--- defense". The only apology came moments later on the show, but from host Rece Davis. Thus, there was no apology from Knight himself, who is a member of the media and is employed by ESPN. Why was Davis the only one to apologize?
It is bad enough that some media members continue to bow down to Knight even after his childish antics ruined the success he had as a coach. The fact that Knight (to the best of my knowledge) was not reprimanded and did not apologize for his own serious error is, well, chicken s---.
This was different from the incident last week in Philadelphia. Sports radio personality Mike Missanelli was on Fox-TV during a 5:00 newscast, and supposedly "didn't realize" he was on the air when he let loose with the f-word among others while anchor Lauren Cohn continued with her segment.
AT&T U-Verse cable subscribers are finally getting MLB Network after more than 2 years on the air. Earlier this year, the regional Fox Sports Networks were quietly pulled (except for those viewers paying up to $10 per month additional for AT&T's sports package), yet AT&T failed to reduce the price for its sports package even with around half of the channels pulled.
It was good to have proof that ESPN did not air a "report" from another media source without checking first. It seems that sports radio host Bob McCown "reported" last Friday on The Fan 590 Toronto that he heard that Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins was considering retirement while looking to comeback from his current injury. ESPN got denials from both Troy Crosby (Sidney's father) and from Sidney Crosby's agent. Good to know that at least one major source of sports news is doing their follow up.
On the other hand, there was the attempted "joke" report from Jim Crandell on Sacramento's KTXL-TV 10:00 PM News last week. Basketball fans in the Sacramento area have been concerned about the rumored move of the NBA Kings to Anaheim, especially since the Kings are the only "big 4" pro sports team in the city.
Yet, Crandell ran a clip of NBA Commissioner David Stern from the 1985 announcement that the Kings were moving TO Sacramento and dubbed in a voice to make it appear, however jokingly, that the announcement was about a move from Sacramento to Anaheim. (Again, this was on the 10 PM news.) As if this wasn't bad enough, Crandell had promoted the "announcement for Kings fans" earlier in the evening on the station. How awful for the team, its fans, and I would think eventually on the station's ratings for their newscasts.
There is still more of this "reporting" insanity. Talk show host Scott Moore is gone from WZZN 97.7 The Zone. Moore supposedly had tapes with Auburn star Cam Newton reportedly knowing about the "pay-for-play" controversy. It took WAAY-TV's Cole Cubelic to ask Moore if Cam was actually heard on the tapes, to which Moore said "no". The tapes also never aired.
On a positive note, The Library of Congress has acquired The John Miley Collection of sports broadcasts made between 1920 and 1972. The collection now cosists of more than 6,000 TV and radio broadcasts, and the Library plans to eventually digitally preserve and make them available for listening or viewing at the Library of Congress. Included are Wilt Chamberlain's last college game at Kansas, Arnold Palmer winning his first pro golf tournament from 1955, Curt Gowdy calling Oklahoma University football games from the late 1940's while at KOMA, and SMU's "near upset" of Notre Dame in 1949.
ATLANTA: The Falcons finishing with the best record in the NFC last season didn't help in the post-season, but it did for radio rights. The Falcons are moving to WQXI 790 The Zone for the coming season, with plans to add Falcons related programming to its lineup. Wes Durham and Dave Archer will continue as the broadcast team, with the game broadcasts also simulcast on WSTR Star 94 FM.
CHICAGO: WLS-TV gains a new sports anchor starting next week (3/21), even if it is a partially familiar name. Rafer Weigel leaves Headline News' "Morning Express" to join the station's sports staff. Rafer's late father Tim Weigel was both a sports and news anchor for the station for 17 years.
The NBA Bulls' surge to the top of the Eastern Conference has also surged the TV ratings. Bulls regular season telecasts on Comcast SportsNet are now up more than 65% over last season (as of late last week). The team's Monday (3/7) win over New Orleans was Comcast SportsNet's highest rated Bulls telecast ever (regular or post-season), even higher than the 3-overtime game vs. the Celtics in the memorable 2009 opening round NBA Playoff series.
MINNEAPOLIS: How the mighty have fallen. WCCO 830 has now lost University of Minnesota football and basketball, leaving it with only the NHL Wild among its play-by-play schedule.
KFAN 1130 will carry Gophers football on Saturdays along with the NFL Vikings most Sundays, with Gophers broadcasts also airing on KTLK-FM 100.3. KSTP-AM 1500 will carry basketball and hockey broadcasts as part of this 3-year package deal.
WASHINGTON DC: MASN will add a baseball oriented show weekdays at 5 PM starting on March 31 (the day of the MLB season openers). The show expects to devote segments to the Nationals, Orioles, and baseball in general. On many weeknights it will lead into the pre-game show of Orioles or Nationals telecasts.
CINCINATTI: Congrats to Xavier University play-by-play voice Joe Sunderman on winning the 2011 Bob Vetrone Atlantic 10 Media Award as he wraps up his 30th season on the Xavier broadcast team. The former Xavier player (and a member of the school's Hall of Fame) began his broadcast career as the analyst before switching over to play-by-play.
HILTON HEAD: 1130 AM has dropped ESPN Radio and gone to a music format as WHHW.
MACON: WPLA-AM Sports 1670 is adding a local morning show as of March 28. Charles Olson and Daniel Shirley will air from 7 to 9 AM. Hopefully the "And don't call me Shirley" jokes will stop after the first show. The station is already local from 3 to 6 PM with Bill Shanks.
There are other benefits for the fans. All of the first week's games are scheduled to be completed by midnight ET (with the possible exception of the last games of the day going into overtime). This is better than past years when CBS would show games starting after the late local newscasts which sometimes wouldn't start until after 11:30 ET.
The more casual fan may not enjoy this as much, as there will not be the switching to the endings of games and a "primary" telecast as in past years. CBS, TBS, TNT, and Tru-TV do each plan on cross-promoting other telecasts and keeping viewers very much updated on other games being played at the same time. Have remote will travel!
Where is the reprimand for Bobby Knight due to his use of an obscenity on ESPN earlier this month? It was back on March 5th when Knight was on College Gameday and refered to a "chicken s--- defense". The only apology came moments later on the show, but from host Rece Davis. Thus, there was no apology from Knight himself, who is a member of the media and is employed by ESPN. Why was Davis the only one to apologize?
It is bad enough that some media members continue to bow down to Knight even after his childish antics ruined the success he had as a coach. The fact that Knight (to the best of my knowledge) was not reprimanded and did not apologize for his own serious error is, well, chicken s---.
This was different from the incident last week in Philadelphia. Sports radio personality Mike Missanelli was on Fox-TV during a 5:00 newscast, and supposedly "didn't realize" he was on the air when he let loose with the f-word among others while anchor Lauren Cohn continued with her segment.
AT&T U-Verse cable subscribers are finally getting MLB Network after more than 2 years on the air. Earlier this year, the regional Fox Sports Networks were quietly pulled (except for those viewers paying up to $10 per month additional for AT&T's sports package), yet AT&T failed to reduce the price for its sports package even with around half of the channels pulled.
It was good to have proof that ESPN did not air a "report" from another media source without checking first. It seems that sports radio host Bob McCown "reported" last Friday on The Fan 590 Toronto that he heard that Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins was considering retirement while looking to comeback from his current injury. ESPN got denials from both Troy Crosby (Sidney's father) and from Sidney Crosby's agent. Good to know that at least one major source of sports news is doing their follow up.
On the other hand, there was the attempted "joke" report from Jim Crandell on Sacramento's KTXL-TV 10:00 PM News last week. Basketball fans in the Sacramento area have been concerned about the rumored move of the NBA Kings to Anaheim, especially since the Kings are the only "big 4" pro sports team in the city.
Yet, Crandell ran a clip of NBA Commissioner David Stern from the 1985 announcement that the Kings were moving TO Sacramento and dubbed in a voice to make it appear, however jokingly, that the announcement was about a move from Sacramento to Anaheim. (Again, this was on the 10 PM news.) As if this wasn't bad enough, Crandell had promoted the "announcement for Kings fans" earlier in the evening on the station. How awful for the team, its fans, and I would think eventually on the station's ratings for their newscasts.
There is still more of this "reporting" insanity. Talk show host Scott Moore is gone from WZZN 97.7 The Zone. Moore supposedly had tapes with Auburn star Cam Newton reportedly knowing about the "pay-for-play" controversy. It took WAAY-TV's Cole Cubelic to ask Moore if Cam was actually heard on the tapes, to which Moore said "no". The tapes also never aired.
On a positive note, The Library of Congress has acquired The John Miley Collection of sports broadcasts made between 1920 and 1972. The collection now cosists of more than 6,000 TV and radio broadcasts, and the Library plans to eventually digitally preserve and make them available for listening or viewing at the Library of Congress. Included are Wilt Chamberlain's last college game at Kansas, Arnold Palmer winning his first pro golf tournament from 1955, Curt Gowdy calling Oklahoma University football games from the late 1940's while at KOMA, and SMU's "near upset" of Notre Dame in 1949.
ATLANTA: The Falcons finishing with the best record in the NFC last season didn't help in the post-season, but it did for radio rights. The Falcons are moving to WQXI 790 The Zone for the coming season, with plans to add Falcons related programming to its lineup. Wes Durham and Dave Archer will continue as the broadcast team, with the game broadcasts also simulcast on WSTR Star 94 FM.
CHICAGO: WLS-TV gains a new sports anchor starting next week (3/21), even if it is a partially familiar name. Rafer Weigel leaves Headline News' "Morning Express" to join the station's sports staff. Rafer's late father Tim Weigel was both a sports and news anchor for the station for 17 years.
The NBA Bulls' surge to the top of the Eastern Conference has also surged the TV ratings. Bulls regular season telecasts on Comcast SportsNet are now up more than 65% over last season (as of late last week). The team's Monday (3/7) win over New Orleans was Comcast SportsNet's highest rated Bulls telecast ever (regular or post-season), even higher than the 3-overtime game vs. the Celtics in the memorable 2009 opening round NBA Playoff series.
MINNEAPOLIS: How the mighty have fallen. WCCO 830 has now lost University of Minnesota football and basketball, leaving it with only the NHL Wild among its play-by-play schedule.
KFAN 1130 will carry Gophers football on Saturdays along with the NFL Vikings most Sundays, with Gophers broadcasts also airing on KTLK-FM 100.3. KSTP-AM 1500 will carry basketball and hockey broadcasts as part of this 3-year package deal.
WASHINGTON DC: MASN will add a baseball oriented show weekdays at 5 PM starting on March 31 (the day of the MLB season openers). The show expects to devote segments to the Nationals, Orioles, and baseball in general. On many weeknights it will lead into the pre-game show of Orioles or Nationals telecasts.
CINCINATTI: Congrats to Xavier University play-by-play voice Joe Sunderman on winning the 2011 Bob Vetrone Atlantic 10 Media Award as he wraps up his 30th season on the Xavier broadcast team. The former Xavier player (and a member of the school's Hall of Fame) began his broadcast career as the analyst before switching over to play-by-play.
HILTON HEAD: 1130 AM has dropped ESPN Radio and gone to a music format as WHHW.
MACON: WPLA-AM Sports 1670 is adding a local morning show as of March 28. Charles Olson and Daniel Shirley will air from 7 to 9 AM. Hopefully the "And don't call me Shirley" jokes will stop after the first show. The station is already local from 3 to 6 PM with Bill Shanks.
Monday, March 7, 2011
The Broadcast Booth - March 7th Update
Lakers analyst and sometimes radio sports talk host Mychal Thompson gave his KSPN 710 Los Angeles a radio show to remember this past Friday (3/4) morning, much to his credit. From here on out, Thompson should be recognized as a broadcaster first, and no longer as a former NBA player who joined the media ranks.
Thompson could have excused himself from the broadcast, and chances are no one would have questioned it. To his credit, the show must go on. He could have also chosen to avoid comment on one of the morning's biggest sports stories. Instead, he went on at 10 AM and spent nearly two hours discussing that story, even to the point of putting listeners on the air.
Just hours prior to Thompson's scheduled show, Klay Thompson, the junior guard for Washington State who (at the time) led the Pac-10 in scoring for the season, had been stopped by Pullman (WA) police and charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana. The incident occurred late Thursday night following WSU's win over USC. The significance is that Klay is Mychal's son.
Mychal Thompson reportedly found out about this incident around 7 AM, just 3 hours before he was to take to the air on KSPN and host sports talk from 10 AM until 2 PM. Yet, Thompson kept his air shift, and spent nearly 2 hours talking and reacting to what happened.
It was not his disappointment and anger toward his own son alone which made it such a noteworthy broadcast. It was the fact that he went on the air and thoroughly addressed the ordeal with his audience.
This 2 hours made for compelling sports radio. In addition to reacting as many fathers would in such a situation, Mychal also discussed the possibilities of punishment for Klay. Not a simple matter, since Pac-10 Conference tournament time is upon us, and there would be a major impact without the leading scorer participating.
As one who demands that sports radio bring more immediate reaction from the players and coaches involved to a big story, this went above and beyond. This was not a ratings ploy. There was little to no time to hype this broadcast. It happened, and the Los Angeles radio audience was instantly a part of it.
Speaking of expert reaction on a sports talk show, Dan LeBatard on SportsTalk 790 Miami did a great job in talking about last week's Detroit Pistons player revolt after several players deliberately failed to show up for a team practice. On his Miami-based show, he was able to secure a live interview with Orlando Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy, which included the quote "They (Pistons) have got the wrong guys in their locker room."
Thus, listeners heard one NBA coach defending a competing team's coaching staff (well, the Pistons and Magic do play in the same Conference) even though neither involved the local team. LeBatard deserves a lot of credit for getting the Orlando coach to come on live even without the biting quotes.
This is not the only example of sports radio doing a great job in handling an unfortunate sports related story. The death of high school basketball player Wes Leonard (following a game winning shot) prompted Holland MI's WHTC 1450 and WBBL 107.3 to air a special tribute on its 3-7 PM show hosted by Bill Simonson and Alan Babbitt. This broadcast on Monday (3/7) was to have been broadcast live from DeVos Fieldhouse, the site of the Class C Michigan tournament game for that night between Fennville and Lawrence. Leonard's previous coaches were scheduled to guest on the show, as well as Bo Kimble, the former Loyola Marymount teammate of Hank Gathers (who had passed away on the court due to a heart condition 21 years ago). A very classy move by a local station.
Meanwhile, broadcast sports lost one of its biggest innovators ever with the passing of Frank Chirkinian at the age of 84. It seems appropriate that he will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame this May. Don't feel bad if you don't recognize the name. In a different way, he was to televised golf what Eddie Einhorn was to televised college basketball (See last week's column).
He was producer of The Masters telecasts for more than 30 years, and was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2007.
Among Chirkinian's other innovations were telling viewers how many strokes under or over par the leaders are, bringing overhead and blimp camera shots to the telecasts, and bringing in "name" announcers from other sports such as Jim Nantz and Pat Summerall. While Summerall's delivery on football could cure insomnia, his soft and brief deliveries fit well with golf telecasts. At least Chirkinian passed away knowing of his having been elected to the Hall and how so many others recognized his contributions.
Looks as though TNT was determined to show Carmelo Anthony in action on Thursday (3/10) night. The network has made its first schedule change of the entire season by switching to televise the N.Y. Knicks vs. Dallas for its second game, starting at 9:40 ET. The start time for TNT's doubleheader has been moved up an hour to 7 PM ET for the highly anticipated Lakers vs. Heat rematch from Christmas. The kicker is that the originally scheduled late game was Denver vs. Phoenix, with Denver now being Anthony's former team.
TBS has finally announced its early season Sunday MLB telecast schedule, seemingly bringing New York and Boston games to the rest of the country. It seems that 6 of the first 9 telecasts have one or the other, while the other 3 have the Philadelphia or Chicago markets.
The start times from week to week are staggered, although within 75 minutes of each other thus far. This while the Fox Saturday telecasts are not as consistent as past seasons with early April telecasts in the 1 PM ET time slot and at least 3 Saturdays (up from 2 last season) of prime time telecasts instead.
All times ET:
Sunday, April 3 (2 p.m.): Boston at Texas
Sunday, April 10 (1:30 p.m.): Philadelphia at Atlanta
Sunday, April 17 (1:30 p.m.): Toronto at Boston
Sunday, April 24 (2:15 p.m.): L.A. Dodgers at Chicago Cubs
Sunday, May 1 (1 p.m.): Toronto at N.Y. Yankees
Sunday, May 8 (2 p.m.): N.Y. Yankees at Texas
Sunday, May 15 (TBD): Philadelphia at Atlanta
Sunday, May 22 (1 p.m.): N.Y. Mets at N.Y. Yankees
Sunday, May 29 (1 p.m.): Boston at Detroit
Comcast's bringing of NBC Sports and Versus under the same umbrella allows NBC to expand its Notre Dame football coverage. Versus will televise the Notre Dame spring football scrimmage on Saturday April 16th.
MILWAUKEE: WAUK 540 ESPN will have a new weekly contributor to its afternoon show with Steve "Homer" True for the next Packers and NFL season, and beyond. None other than Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has been signed by the station to handle a weekly segment.
BOSTON: Now that WEEI has begun its revamped lineup, The Sports Hub 98.5 decided to add to its afternoon lineup. Former Patriot Jermaine Wiggins joins the Felger & Massarotti Show in studio each Wednesday. Wiggins and the station are keeping the door open toward eventually adding more days.
LOS ANGELES: The Dodgers secured and quickly began a new affiliation for the team's Spanish broadcasts. On Friday (3/4), the team announced that KTNQ 1020 will air 8 (now 7 more as of press time) spring training games and then the entire 162 game season. On Saturday (3/5), KTNQ aired its first broadcast with the Dodgers playing Cincinnati, and with Jaime Jarrin in the Spanish radio booth for his 53rd season. Fernando Valenzuela and Pepe Yniguez also continue in the booth. KHJ Radio had previously aired the games.
OKLAHOMA CITY: Talk about the end of an era. 80 year old Bob Barry Sr. will call his last game, after 50 years, as soon as this Wednesday (3/9) when the University of Oklahoma takes on Baylor in a Big 12 Conference tournament opening round game in which Baylor is favored. Barry's second stint calling OU hoops began in 1991, while his first stint was from 1961 to 1972.
AUSTIN: A rare change in the radio booth for Texas Longhorns football broadcasts starts for the 2011 season. Roger Wallace, Sports Director at KXAN, will move from sideline reporter to the analyst position. He replaces Keith Moreland, who started this month in Chicago as analyst on Cubs radio on WGN. Former Longhorn Rod Babers, who is a host on KEVT 1300, will join the Longhorns broadcasts as sideline reporter.
DES MOINES: Steve Deace, former afternoon host on WHO, will become co-host, along with Jon D. Miller, on a morning sports show o Sports Byline Radio Network. However, the show cannot air on a Des Moines station until later in the year due to a non-compete clause.
Thompson could have excused himself from the broadcast, and chances are no one would have questioned it. To his credit, the show must go on. He could have also chosen to avoid comment on one of the morning's biggest sports stories. Instead, he went on at 10 AM and spent nearly two hours discussing that story, even to the point of putting listeners on the air.
Just hours prior to Thompson's scheduled show, Klay Thompson, the junior guard for Washington State who (at the time) led the Pac-10 in scoring for the season, had been stopped by Pullman (WA) police and charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana. The incident occurred late Thursday night following WSU's win over USC. The significance is that Klay is Mychal's son.
Mychal Thompson reportedly found out about this incident around 7 AM, just 3 hours before he was to take to the air on KSPN and host sports talk from 10 AM until 2 PM. Yet, Thompson kept his air shift, and spent nearly 2 hours talking and reacting to what happened.
It was not his disappointment and anger toward his own son alone which made it such a noteworthy broadcast. It was the fact that he went on the air and thoroughly addressed the ordeal with his audience.
This 2 hours made for compelling sports radio. In addition to reacting as many fathers would in such a situation, Mychal also discussed the possibilities of punishment for Klay. Not a simple matter, since Pac-10 Conference tournament time is upon us, and there would be a major impact without the leading scorer participating.
As one who demands that sports radio bring more immediate reaction from the players and coaches involved to a big story, this went above and beyond. This was not a ratings ploy. There was little to no time to hype this broadcast. It happened, and the Los Angeles radio audience was instantly a part of it.
Speaking of expert reaction on a sports talk show, Dan LeBatard on SportsTalk 790 Miami did a great job in talking about last week's Detroit Pistons player revolt after several players deliberately failed to show up for a team practice. On his Miami-based show, he was able to secure a live interview with Orlando Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy, which included the quote "They (Pistons) have got the wrong guys in their locker room."
Thus, listeners heard one NBA coach defending a competing team's coaching staff (well, the Pistons and Magic do play in the same Conference) even though neither involved the local team. LeBatard deserves a lot of credit for getting the Orlando coach to come on live even without the biting quotes.
This is not the only example of sports radio doing a great job in handling an unfortunate sports related story. The death of high school basketball player Wes Leonard (following a game winning shot) prompted Holland MI's WHTC 1450 and WBBL 107.3 to air a special tribute on its 3-7 PM show hosted by Bill Simonson and Alan Babbitt. This broadcast on Monday (3/7) was to have been broadcast live from DeVos Fieldhouse, the site of the Class C Michigan tournament game for that night between Fennville and Lawrence. Leonard's previous coaches were scheduled to guest on the show, as well as Bo Kimble, the former Loyola Marymount teammate of Hank Gathers (who had passed away on the court due to a heart condition 21 years ago). A very classy move by a local station.
Meanwhile, broadcast sports lost one of its biggest innovators ever with the passing of Frank Chirkinian at the age of 84. It seems appropriate that he will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame this May. Don't feel bad if you don't recognize the name. In a different way, he was to televised golf what Eddie Einhorn was to televised college basketball (See last week's column).
He was producer of The Masters telecasts for more than 30 years, and was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2007.
Among Chirkinian's other innovations were telling viewers how many strokes under or over par the leaders are, bringing overhead and blimp camera shots to the telecasts, and bringing in "name" announcers from other sports such as Jim Nantz and Pat Summerall. While Summerall's delivery on football could cure insomnia, his soft and brief deliveries fit well with golf telecasts. At least Chirkinian passed away knowing of his having been elected to the Hall and how so many others recognized his contributions.
Looks as though TNT was determined to show Carmelo Anthony in action on Thursday (3/10) night. The network has made its first schedule change of the entire season by switching to televise the N.Y. Knicks vs. Dallas for its second game, starting at 9:40 ET. The start time for TNT's doubleheader has been moved up an hour to 7 PM ET for the highly anticipated Lakers vs. Heat rematch from Christmas. The kicker is that the originally scheduled late game was Denver vs. Phoenix, with Denver now being Anthony's former team.
TBS has finally announced its early season Sunday MLB telecast schedule, seemingly bringing New York and Boston games to the rest of the country. It seems that 6 of the first 9 telecasts have one or the other, while the other 3 have the Philadelphia or Chicago markets.
The start times from week to week are staggered, although within 75 minutes of each other thus far. This while the Fox Saturday telecasts are not as consistent as past seasons with early April telecasts in the 1 PM ET time slot and at least 3 Saturdays (up from 2 last season) of prime time telecasts instead.
All times ET:
Sunday, April 3 (2 p.m.): Boston at Texas
Sunday, April 10 (1:30 p.m.): Philadelphia at Atlanta
Sunday, April 17 (1:30 p.m.): Toronto at Boston
Sunday, April 24 (2:15 p.m.): L.A. Dodgers at Chicago Cubs
Sunday, May 1 (1 p.m.): Toronto at N.Y. Yankees
Sunday, May 8 (2 p.m.): N.Y. Yankees at Texas
Sunday, May 15 (TBD): Philadelphia at Atlanta
Sunday, May 22 (1 p.m.): N.Y. Mets at N.Y. Yankees
Sunday, May 29 (1 p.m.): Boston at Detroit
Comcast's bringing of NBC Sports and Versus under the same umbrella allows NBC to expand its Notre Dame football coverage. Versus will televise the Notre Dame spring football scrimmage on Saturday April 16th.
MILWAUKEE: WAUK 540 ESPN will have a new weekly contributor to its afternoon show with Steve "Homer" True for the next Packers and NFL season, and beyond. None other than Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has been signed by the station to handle a weekly segment.
BOSTON: Now that WEEI has begun its revamped lineup, The Sports Hub 98.5 decided to add to its afternoon lineup. Former Patriot Jermaine Wiggins joins the Felger & Massarotti Show in studio each Wednesday. Wiggins and the station are keeping the door open toward eventually adding more days.
LOS ANGELES: The Dodgers secured and quickly began a new affiliation for the team's Spanish broadcasts. On Friday (3/4), the team announced that KTNQ 1020 will air 8 (now 7 more as of press time) spring training games and then the entire 162 game season. On Saturday (3/5), KTNQ aired its first broadcast with the Dodgers playing Cincinnati, and with Jaime Jarrin in the Spanish radio booth for his 53rd season. Fernando Valenzuela and Pepe Yniguez also continue in the booth. KHJ Radio had previously aired the games.
OKLAHOMA CITY: Talk about the end of an era. 80 year old Bob Barry Sr. will call his last game, after 50 years, as soon as this Wednesday (3/9) when the University of Oklahoma takes on Baylor in a Big 12 Conference tournament opening round game in which Baylor is favored. Barry's second stint calling OU hoops began in 1991, while his first stint was from 1961 to 1972.
AUSTIN: A rare change in the radio booth for Texas Longhorns football broadcasts starts for the 2011 season. Roger Wallace, Sports Director at KXAN, will move from sideline reporter to the analyst position. He replaces Keith Moreland, who started this month in Chicago as analyst on Cubs radio on WGN. Former Longhorn Rod Babers, who is a host on KEVT 1300, will join the Longhorns broadcasts as sideline reporter.
DES MOINES: Steve Deace, former afternoon host on WHO, will become co-host, along with Jon D. Miller, on a morning sports show o Sports Byline Radio Network. However, the show cannot air on a Des Moines station until later in the year due to a non-compete clause.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Sports Media Report - March 16th update.....
You wouldn't think it would take more than one announcer for TBS to replace Chip Caray, but I suppose TBS means well with their new plan to rotate announcers for the MLB coverage starting next month. Most likely depending upon their schedules, Ernie Johnson, Dick Stockton, and Brian Anderson will take turns calling the Sunday afternoon and post-season telecasts.
Ernie Johnson will also call about 25 Braves games for Peachtree TV, having gained his baseball play-by-play experience working Braves TV with his father in the mid-90's. Johnson is best known for his studio hosting on TNT's and NBA-TV coverage of NBA games, along with hosting British Open golf coverage on TNT.
Stockton brings more than 35 years of baseball play-by-play to the booth, having already handled post-season assignments for TBS over the past couple of years along with NBA play-by-play for TNT.
Brian Anderson is also the TV voice of the Milwaukee Brewers and will work a few TBS assignments as his schedule permits, most likely early in the season when the NBA takes priority for Johnson and Stockton.
Game and studio analysts will include John Smoltz (who will also work Braves games for Peachtree TV), Ron Darling, Buck Martinez, Dennis Eckersley, and David Wells.
TBS has also confirmed its April and May telecasts, with Eastern time:
Sunday, April 11 1:30 p.m. New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays
Sunday, April 18 1:30 p.m. Tampa Bay Rays @ Boston Red Sox
Sunday, April 25 2 p.m. Chicago Cubs @ Milwaukee Brewers
Sunday, May 2 1 p.m. Chicago White Sox @ New York Yankees
Sunday, May 9 1:30 p.m. Atlanta Braves @ Philadelphia Phillies
Sunday, May 16 1 p.m. Minnesota Twins @ New York Yankees
Sunday, May 23 1:30 p.m. Boston Red Sox @ Philadelphia Phillies
Sunday, May 30 2:15 p.m. St. Louis Cardinals @ Chicago Cubs
SAN DIEGO: After months of my pointing out how many sports radio stations "report" stories taken from other media (online, newspapers, TV, etc.) when they are supposed to be on top of the news, along comes XX Sports 1090 and its morning show.
Hosts Billy Ray Smith and Scott Kaplan are off the air as of this week. Both the station and the pair have different versions as to what is taking place at the moment regarding the contract status.
In a wild coincidence, both sides have taken to the web to get the word out. First, XX Sports 1090 posted their side on the station web site in a message from CEO John Lynch (shown in part):
"We are very sorry to inform you that Scott and BR will not be on the air until a dispute is resolved. BCA is currently in a contractual dispute with Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray Smith, as a result of Scott and BR's attempt to terminate their agreements prior to its scheduled expiration in 2012. BCA believes that its agreements with both Scott and BR remain in full force and effect, and that their attempted early termination is in violation of their agreements."
Kaplan and Smith responded, but on their web site, TheScottandBrShow.com (in part):
"We are involved in a bitter contract dispute with 1090, as a result, we will not be on the air live Monday. Truth is, not sure we will ever be on 1090 again. However, we are very confident we will be on the radio in SD within the next few weeks."
With all of this keeping up with the station online, I wonder if the sports news hungry fans will still have time to listen.
LOS ANGELES: It continues as the "Myers-Hartman" program on KLAC 570 from Noon to 4 PM weekdays even though Chris Meyers is reducing his station workload. Looks as though Meyers will be heard primarily doing on-location reports and interview segments. In addition to his Fox Network assignments, Meyers will also be host of a NASCAR show on Showtime.
DALLAS: KRLD 105.3 welcomes Gavin Dawson to afternoon drive on March 29th. The 34-year old Dawson comes to Dallas by way of KXTG Portland where he has done mornings for nearly 2 years. Prior, Dawson was on KFXX 1080 The Fan, also in Portland. In his abscence, it is likely that KXTG will save a few dollars and go with Dwight Jaynes and Chad Doing as co-hosts.
BOSTON: Great to have Jerry Remy back in the Red Sox TV booth last weekend and in much better health. Remy missed most of last season due to his fight against cancer. Remy is expected to work with Don Orsillo for the entire season, and here's hoping that happens.
Sorry to see Channel 4 let go of Alice Cook after a 25 year run in the station's Sports Department. The station continues with Steve Burton and Dan Roche. Word is the station might ask her (Cook) to return on an assignment basis for Patriots coverage next season, but it remains to be seen if she would accept, or if she would still be available to accept.
INDIANAPOLIS: WFNI 1070 The Fan is breaking up its afternoon drive show after just over 2 years. Columnist Bob Kravitz is gone, after his Monday (March 15) co-hosting stint on "Kravitz & Eddie". The Indy Star claims that Kravitz' contract was not renewed, and that Kravitz may remain with the show as a contributor.
Eddie White will continue on as primary host of the afternoon show which scored well in the sports talk ratings. Also, host Dan Dakich will move into the 10 AM to Noon slot starting next month.
DETROIT: Fox Sports Detroit has just added former Piston and Michigan State alum Mateen Cleaves as studio analyst for selected games over the final month of the regular season. Cleaves was a key factor for MSU in its 2000 National Championship season. Not sure whether even he can make a Pistons telecast worth watching at this point, but it will be interesting to see if this leads to more TV work for him down the road.
BUFFALO: Kudos for WGR SportsRadio 550. Not only does the station have an interview with Buffalo Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier at 5:30 PM before every Friday home game, but the interview is not your typical fluff piece for the team. Regier had just returned from the NHL General Managers meeting, when host Mike Schopp asked him about it. The GM went into detail about how the GM's are watching the NFL's handling of head injuries, along with addressing the lack of trades involving the team at the recent trade deadline.
Nice to see a scheduled guest appearance by a team official being made interesting and newsworthy.
KNOXVILLE: ESPN 1180 has begun a one-hour weekday show specific to the University of Tennessee sports scene. As of this past Monday (March 15), co-hosts James Bryant and Wes Rucker devote the 10 to 11 AM hour to the school's sports programs.
In a move designed to please UT's fan base not within proximity of Knoxville, the show will be included in the stream at ESPNRadioKnoxville.com. Tony Basilio moves to the 11 AM to 1 PM spot, and Double Coverage with Terry Fair and Fred White from 1 to 3 PM.
SPOKANE: Washington State Cougars play-by-play voice Bud Nameck is now the host of the KXLY 920 Morning News. He has broadcast WSU sports since 1981.
OKLAHOMA CITY: The baseball minor league Oklahoma City Redhawks will again be on KTOK 1000 this season for night games. The station will carry 110 broadcasts, with the other 34 games, mostly afternoon and early evening, to air on sister station KEBC 1340. Each broadcast includes a 20 minute pre-game show. Jim Byers returns to the mic for his 11th season with the team.
SCHEDULES:
NBC-TV has moved the N Y Rangers vs. Boston Bruins game to the national spotlight at 12:30 ET this Sunday (March 21). Although the network has not yet announced its March 28 telecast, Detroit vs. Philadelphia will be shown on April 4th. In another NHL schedule oddity, this will be the only regular season meeting between these teams, and it comes toward the end of the regular season.
Looking to the 2010 college football season, ESPN has announced 14 of its Big East Football telecasts, including four on Thursday nights.
Highlights include Pittsburgh vs. Miami on Sept. 23 (their first matchup since 2003), USF at West Virginia on Oct. 14, and West VA at Pittsburgh on Thanksgiving Friday. Also scheduled is Cincinnati at Louisville on Oct. 15 and against USF on Oct. 22.
The Big Ten Network is going full steam into showing Conference baseball games this season:
2010 Big Ten Network Baseball Schedule
April 9 - Purdue at Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., 7 PM - Big Ten Network
April 10 - Purdue at Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1 PM - Big Ten Network
April 11 - Purdue at Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., 12 PM - Big Ten Network
April 17 - Ohio State at Michigan State, East Lansing, 1 PM - Big Ten Network
April 23 - Indiana at Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., 7 PM - Big Ten Network
April 24 - Indiana at Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., 7 PM - Big Ten Network
April 25 - Indiana at Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., 2 PM - Big Ten Network
April 30 - Northwestern at Illinois, Champaign, Ill., 7 PM - Big Ten Network
May 1 - Northwestern at Illinois, Champaign, Ill., 4 PM - Big Ten Network
May 2 - Northwestern at Illinois, Champaign, Ill., 4 PM - Big Ten Network
May 4 - Louisville at Ohio State, Columbus, Ohio, 7 PM - Big Ten Network
May 7 - Iowa at Penn State, State College, Pa., 7 PM - Big Ten Network
May 8 - Iowa at Penn State, State College, Pa., 4 PM - Big Ten Network
May 9 - Iowa at Penn State, State College, Pa., 11 AM - Big Ten Network
May 14 - Indiana at Mich State, East Lansing, Mich., 2 PM - Big Ten Network
May 15 - Indiana at Mich State, East Lansing, Mich., 12 PM - Big Ten Network
May 15 - Purdue at Illinois, Champaign, Ill., 1 PM - Big Ten Network
May 16 - , Indiana at Michigan State, East Lansing, 1 PM - Big Ten Network
May 20 - Minnesota at Ohio State, Columbus, Ohio, 7 PM - Big Ten Network
May 21 - Minnesota at Ohio State, Columbus, Ohio, 7 PM - Big Ten Network
May 22 - Minnesota at Ohio State, Columbus, Ohio, 1 PM - Big Ten Network
Big Ten Baseball Tournament (Columbus, Ohio)
May 26 - Big Ten Tournament Game 1, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 26 - Big Ten Tournament Game 2, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 27 - Big Ten Tournament Game 3, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 27 - Big Ten Tournament Game 4, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 27 - Big Ten Tournament Game 5, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 28 - Big Ten Tournament Game 6, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 28 - Big Ten Tournament Game 7, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 28 - Big Ten Baseball Tournament Semifinals, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 29 - Big Ten Baseball Tournament Semifinals, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 29 - Big Ten Baseball Championship, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 30 - Big Ten Baseball Championship (if necessary), TBD - Big Ten Network
Ernie Johnson will also call about 25 Braves games for Peachtree TV, having gained his baseball play-by-play experience working Braves TV with his father in the mid-90's. Johnson is best known for his studio hosting on TNT's and NBA-TV coverage of NBA games, along with hosting British Open golf coverage on TNT.
Stockton brings more than 35 years of baseball play-by-play to the booth, having already handled post-season assignments for TBS over the past couple of years along with NBA play-by-play for TNT.
Brian Anderson is also the TV voice of the Milwaukee Brewers and will work a few TBS assignments as his schedule permits, most likely early in the season when the NBA takes priority for Johnson and Stockton.
Game and studio analysts will include John Smoltz (who will also work Braves games for Peachtree TV), Ron Darling, Buck Martinez, Dennis Eckersley, and David Wells.
TBS has also confirmed its April and May telecasts, with Eastern time:
Sunday, April 11 1:30 p.m. New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays
Sunday, April 18 1:30 p.m. Tampa Bay Rays @ Boston Red Sox
Sunday, April 25 2 p.m. Chicago Cubs @ Milwaukee Brewers
Sunday, May 2 1 p.m. Chicago White Sox @ New York Yankees
Sunday, May 9 1:30 p.m. Atlanta Braves @ Philadelphia Phillies
Sunday, May 16 1 p.m. Minnesota Twins @ New York Yankees
Sunday, May 23 1:30 p.m. Boston Red Sox @ Philadelphia Phillies
Sunday, May 30 2:15 p.m. St. Louis Cardinals @ Chicago Cubs
SAN DIEGO: After months of my pointing out how many sports radio stations "report" stories taken from other media (online, newspapers, TV, etc.) when they are supposed to be on top of the news, along comes XX Sports 1090 and its morning show.
Hosts Billy Ray Smith and Scott Kaplan are off the air as of this week. Both the station and the pair have different versions as to what is taking place at the moment regarding the contract status.
In a wild coincidence, both sides have taken to the web to get the word out. First, XX Sports 1090 posted their side on the station web site in a message from CEO John Lynch (shown in part):
"We are very sorry to inform you that Scott and BR will not be on the air until a dispute is resolved. BCA is currently in a contractual dispute with Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray Smith, as a result of Scott and BR's attempt to terminate their agreements prior to its scheduled expiration in 2012. BCA believes that its agreements with both Scott and BR remain in full force and effect, and that their attempted early termination is in violation of their agreements."
Kaplan and Smith responded, but on their web site, TheScottandBrShow.com (in part):
"We are involved in a bitter contract dispute with 1090, as a result, we will not be on the air live Monday. Truth is, not sure we will ever be on 1090 again. However, we are very confident we will be on the radio in SD within the next few weeks."
With all of this keeping up with the station online, I wonder if the sports news hungry fans will still have time to listen.
LOS ANGELES: It continues as the "Myers-Hartman" program on KLAC 570 from Noon to 4 PM weekdays even though Chris Meyers is reducing his station workload. Looks as though Meyers will be heard primarily doing on-location reports and interview segments. In addition to his Fox Network assignments, Meyers will also be host of a NASCAR show on Showtime.
DALLAS: KRLD 105.3 welcomes Gavin Dawson to afternoon drive on March 29th. The 34-year old Dawson comes to Dallas by way of KXTG Portland where he has done mornings for nearly 2 years. Prior, Dawson was on KFXX 1080 The Fan, also in Portland. In his abscence, it is likely that KXTG will save a few dollars and go with Dwight Jaynes and Chad Doing as co-hosts.
BOSTON: Great to have Jerry Remy back in the Red Sox TV booth last weekend and in much better health. Remy missed most of last season due to his fight against cancer. Remy is expected to work with Don Orsillo for the entire season, and here's hoping that happens.
Sorry to see Channel 4 let go of Alice Cook after a 25 year run in the station's Sports Department. The station continues with Steve Burton and Dan Roche. Word is the station might ask her (Cook) to return on an assignment basis for Patriots coverage next season, but it remains to be seen if she would accept, or if she would still be available to accept.
INDIANAPOLIS: WFNI 1070 The Fan is breaking up its afternoon drive show after just over 2 years. Columnist Bob Kravitz is gone, after his Monday (March 15) co-hosting stint on "Kravitz & Eddie". The Indy Star claims that Kravitz' contract was not renewed, and that Kravitz may remain with the show as a contributor.
Eddie White will continue on as primary host of the afternoon show which scored well in the sports talk ratings. Also, host Dan Dakich will move into the 10 AM to Noon slot starting next month.
DETROIT: Fox Sports Detroit has just added former Piston and Michigan State alum Mateen Cleaves as studio analyst for selected games over the final month of the regular season. Cleaves was a key factor for MSU in its 2000 National Championship season. Not sure whether even he can make a Pistons telecast worth watching at this point, but it will be interesting to see if this leads to more TV work for him down the road.
BUFFALO: Kudos for WGR SportsRadio 550. Not only does the station have an interview with Buffalo Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier at 5:30 PM before every Friday home game, but the interview is not your typical fluff piece for the team. Regier had just returned from the NHL General Managers meeting, when host Mike Schopp asked him about it. The GM went into detail about how the GM's are watching the NFL's handling of head injuries, along with addressing the lack of trades involving the team at the recent trade deadline.
Nice to see a scheduled guest appearance by a team official being made interesting and newsworthy.
KNOXVILLE: ESPN 1180 has begun a one-hour weekday show specific to the University of Tennessee sports scene. As of this past Monday (March 15), co-hosts James Bryant and Wes Rucker devote the 10 to 11 AM hour to the school's sports programs.
In a move designed to please UT's fan base not within proximity of Knoxville, the show will be included in the stream at ESPNRadioKnoxville.com. Tony Basilio moves to the 11 AM to 1 PM spot, and Double Coverage with Terry Fair and Fred White from 1 to 3 PM.
SPOKANE: Washington State Cougars play-by-play voice Bud Nameck is now the host of the KXLY 920 Morning News. He has broadcast WSU sports since 1981.
OKLAHOMA CITY: The baseball minor league Oklahoma City Redhawks will again be on KTOK 1000 this season for night games. The station will carry 110 broadcasts, with the other 34 games, mostly afternoon and early evening, to air on sister station KEBC 1340. Each broadcast includes a 20 minute pre-game show. Jim Byers returns to the mic for his 11th season with the team.
SCHEDULES:
NBC-TV has moved the N Y Rangers vs. Boston Bruins game to the national spotlight at 12:30 ET this Sunday (March 21). Although the network has not yet announced its March 28 telecast, Detroit vs. Philadelphia will be shown on April 4th. In another NHL schedule oddity, this will be the only regular season meeting between these teams, and it comes toward the end of the regular season.
Looking to the 2010 college football season, ESPN has announced 14 of its Big East Football telecasts, including four on Thursday nights.
Highlights include Pittsburgh vs. Miami on Sept. 23 (their first matchup since 2003), USF at West Virginia on Oct. 14, and West VA at Pittsburgh on Thanksgiving Friday. Also scheduled is Cincinnati at Louisville on Oct. 15 and against USF on Oct. 22.
The Big Ten Network is going full steam into showing Conference baseball games this season:
2010 Big Ten Network Baseball Schedule
April 9 - Purdue at Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., 7 PM - Big Ten Network
April 10 - Purdue at Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1 PM - Big Ten Network
April 11 - Purdue at Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., 12 PM - Big Ten Network
April 17 - Ohio State at Michigan State, East Lansing, 1 PM - Big Ten Network
April 23 - Indiana at Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., 7 PM - Big Ten Network
April 24 - Indiana at Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., 7 PM - Big Ten Network
April 25 - Indiana at Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., 2 PM - Big Ten Network
April 30 - Northwestern at Illinois, Champaign, Ill., 7 PM - Big Ten Network
May 1 - Northwestern at Illinois, Champaign, Ill., 4 PM - Big Ten Network
May 2 - Northwestern at Illinois, Champaign, Ill., 4 PM - Big Ten Network
May 4 - Louisville at Ohio State, Columbus, Ohio, 7 PM - Big Ten Network
May 7 - Iowa at Penn State, State College, Pa., 7 PM - Big Ten Network
May 8 - Iowa at Penn State, State College, Pa., 4 PM - Big Ten Network
May 9 - Iowa at Penn State, State College, Pa., 11 AM - Big Ten Network
May 14 - Indiana at Mich State, East Lansing, Mich., 2 PM - Big Ten Network
May 15 - Indiana at Mich State, East Lansing, Mich., 12 PM - Big Ten Network
May 15 - Purdue at Illinois, Champaign, Ill., 1 PM - Big Ten Network
May 16 - , Indiana at Michigan State, East Lansing, 1 PM - Big Ten Network
May 20 - Minnesota at Ohio State, Columbus, Ohio, 7 PM - Big Ten Network
May 21 - Minnesota at Ohio State, Columbus, Ohio, 7 PM - Big Ten Network
May 22 - Minnesota at Ohio State, Columbus, Ohio, 1 PM - Big Ten Network
Big Ten Baseball Tournament (Columbus, Ohio)
May 26 - Big Ten Tournament Game 1, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 26 - Big Ten Tournament Game 2, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 27 - Big Ten Tournament Game 3, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 27 - Big Ten Tournament Game 4, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 27 - Big Ten Tournament Game 5, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 28 - Big Ten Tournament Game 6, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 28 - Big Ten Tournament Game 7, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 28 - Big Ten Baseball Tournament Semifinals, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 29 - Big Ten Baseball Tournament Semifinals, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 29 - Big Ten Baseball Championship, TBD - Big Ten Network
May 30 - Big Ten Baseball Championship (if necessary), TBD - Big Ten Network
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sports Media Report - Oct. 27th update
Media impacts perception, especially for sports fans. The post-season baseball games have served to sour the feelings about the quality of umpiring. Cameras have shown us some extremely questionable calls, led by the fair ball called foul in the Yankees ALDS series against Minnesota which could have turned around the outcome. There was the "2 men near third base with only one called out" call in the ALCS, which also went in favor of the victorious (in the series) Yankees.
Understandably, cries go out for MLB to add replays more often than the current determination of where a batted ball lands.
However, questioned ball and strike calls are adding to this mix. Fox and TBS both have used numerous replays with their own technology to attack pitch calls by the umpires. These pitch calls are subjective. I don't know that a computer can determine the exact angle and strike zone, especially as some hitters make adjustments with their stance and/or positioning in the batter's box during an at-bat or from one plate appearance to the next.
I think MLB needs to step in and ask the networks, along with local telecasts, to stop using the on-screen chart of the strike zone when replaying a ball or strike call. The networks will argue this is a part of their thorough coverage. My argument to them is that balls vs. strikes are subjective, and should be handled differently than a fair ball or runner not at the base where there is a definitive call that needs to be made.
If the fans continue to believe that the officiating is not up to par, it could only lead to reduced interest on the part of the casual fan, which translates to lower ratings.
However, I do want to see MLB make an effort to improve the quality of safe vs. out and fair vs. foul calls, and not necessarily with replay involved. In football, basketball, and hockey, the officials on the field, court, and ice need to watch over the entire group of players. Not the case in baseball. Instead of a replay deciding, let the umpires have a quick huddle after a call is made.
For example, the batter hits a ball into the gap and is seen rounding 2nd and heading to 3rd. Once that batter/runner has already passed 1st base, why can't the first base umpire hustle over toward 3rd base and back up the 3rd base umpire's call? He may have a different angle on a close play.
If the TV cameras show the umpires working together and moving around to back up and have a call stand based on umpires' collective views from different angles, it would help maintain the integrity of the game. And probably some casual fans who translate into ratings.
Meanwhile, the NFL has ratings, ratings, and more ratings to boast about this fall. Sunday Night Football continues to rock NBC's world. SNF being the number one TV show on Sunday night when up against the Yankees' pennant clinching game on Fox is nothing short of amazing, considering it featured the New York Giants in the game. The show ranks in the top 3 TV shows for the current season and dominates in key demographics.
Makes it bad timing that this coming Sunday (Nov. 1) is the Sunday night without a game for this season. Especially since the time changes early Sunday morning and people would not be too tired to watch the 4th quarter.
The NBA takes over our TV sets as the new season begins this week with 4 nights in a row of national doubleheaders. This on the heels of NBA-TV working harder than the players in practice to expand distribution to 45 million homes as this season gets underway. This includes Comcast, Cox, and DirecTV. NBA-TV plans to air 96 games during the season, more than ESPN and TNT (separately). This means an average of 4 to 5 nights each week with nationally available NBA telecasts for those who don't want to pay for the league package.
As we get ready for the World Series to start, I like how both sets of sports stations in New York and Philly are teaming up to cover and discuss the Series. WFAN New York and WIP Philadelphia are combining (and streaming) their midday shows so that fans of both teams can share in the discussion and the coverage.
Even though this is not intended as a cooperative effort, by coincidence the ESPN Radio stations for both cities are doing the same idea, but in this instance it is with the 2 to 7 PM shows.
Normally I prefer the sports radio present player and coach interviews along with opinions and predictions from other current and former players and executives. But letting fans of both teams have an equal say could add some spice as well. That is way more entertaining than putting on fans who all root for the same team to make the same not-so-bold predictions hour after hour.
Only thing not right about this is that they are only planning to do this for the first game, at least as of press time. This should go on every day through the day after the World Series ends.
CHICAGO: The powers that be at ESPN Radio seem set on getting the most out of their radio contract for the World Series. WMVP 1000 which is ESPN Radio Chicago is airing every game live of the World Series entirely, even at the expense of their Chicago Bulls NBA broadcasts.
The Bulls' season opening game on Thursday vs. San Antonio, along with their 3rd game of the season from Miami on Sunday, are being moved to another AM station so that ESPN Radio can air World Series Game 2 and 4 broadcasts. If the Series goes to a 7th game, or if weather forces postponements and there is a Game on Thursday Nov. 5th, it would impact a third Bulls broadcast.
I'm sure the Bulls are not pleased about this, as a station carrying an out-of-town broadcast ahead of a local team is rare. The fans in Chicago are not exactly gushing over an East Coast matchup in the World Series, but they want to know if Derrick Rose is going to be healthy enough to play a lot of minutes early in the season. This does not look like a local decision, especially with WMVP and rival WSCR 670 "The Score" both with increased ratings and doing close battle for listeners.
St. LOUIS: Speaking of sports station battles, congrats are in order for WXOS 101.FM which has another ratings success story. It finished in the top 10 for the market in men 25-54, while neither KFNS 590 or KSLG 1380 cracked the top 15 in that category. WXOS just began as a sports station at the first of this year, while KFNS broadcast the Cardinals games during their highly successful regular season (which was in progress during the ratings period discussed). Now that's impressive!
HOUSTON: Still no announcement yet about a morning drive co-host for KBME 790 although a series of co-hosts continue. On Tuesday (Oct. 27), the host was former Cincinnati radio talker Andy Furman.
College hoops fans in the Houston area, especially those who follow SEC teams, have reason for concern. The Conference's regional 62-game basketball package has yet to be picked up by any of the Houston stations. Channel 55 has been airing the football package, but those games are all on Saturdays.
PHOENIX: While the NHL Coyotes struggle with ownership this week, Fox Sports Arizona has stepped up and increased its TV coverage by adding eight more telecasts to bring its schedule to 57 games. However, as it stands now, these eight telecasts will probably be on tape delay due to scheduling conflicts.
Elsewhere, the sports media lost a pair of long time voices within the past few days, both with life-long local followings.
New York Rangers fans who go back a few years all remember Bill Chadwick from his 14 seasons doing commentary. The "Big Whistle", who officiated in 13 Stanley Cup clinching games years earlier, passed away at the age of 94. Chadwick worked with Marv Albert for five seasons on Rangers radio (yes - 'the' Marv Albert) and then teamed with Jim Gordon for nine seasons on the telecasts.
Southern and eastern Kentucky natives lost a "friend" when Jay Lasslo passed on at the age of 84 late last week. The World War II veteran did play-by-play of high school and local sports events going back to WSGS Hazard in 1956. He called his last high school hoops game at the state championships in 1996 and retired a few months later.
College football TV viewers have become spoiled in the past 15 years. Before then, it was front page news if your team's game was going to be one of the two or three games that might be available on a Saturday. Period.
Yet, this coming Saturday (Halloween), some fans are upset because they won't be able to see the Texas A & M vs. Iowa State game. It wasn't picked up by any of the TV networks or stations. While I understand the frustration, the other side of the coin shows that five of the six Big 12 games will be televised on at least a regional basis.
Nebraska vs. Baylor airs at 12:30 ET on Versus. Fox Sports (regional) has Missouri vs. Colorado at 12:30 CT and then Kansas State vs. Oklahoma at 6 p.m. CT. ABC has Kansas-Texas Tech at 2:30 CT as a regional game and Texas-Oklahoma State will air in prime time on ABC or ESPN2.
The regional/national tentative College Football schedule, ET:
Thursday, Oct. 29
7:30: North Carolina at Virginia Tech, ESPN
Friday, Oct. 30
8:00: West Virginia at South Florida, ESPN2
Saturday, Oct. 31
12:00: New Mexico St. at Ohio St., BTN
12:00: Indiana at Iowa, ESPN
12:00: Purdue at Wisconsin, ESPN2
12:00: Cincinnati at Syracuse, ESPNU
12:30: Nebraska at Baylor, Versus
3:30: Michigan at Illinois, ABC
3:30: Florida at Georgia, CBS
3:30: Temple at Navy, CBS College
3:30: Miami (Fla.) at Wake Forest, ESPN2
3:30: Central Michigan at Boston College, ESPNU
4:00: Nevada-Las Vegas at Texas Christian, Versus
4:30: Penn St. at Northwestern, ESPN
7:00: Eastern Michigan at Arkansas, ESPNU
7:30: New Mexico at San Diego St., CBS College
7:30: Washington State vs. Notre Dame (at San Antonio), NBC
7:45: South Carolina at Tennessee, ESPN
8:00: Southern Cal at Oregon, ABC or ESPN2
8:00: Michigan St. at Minnesota, BTN
8:00: Texas at Oklahoma St., ESPN2 or ABC
Sunday Nov 1
8:15: Marshall at Central Florida, ESPN
Understandably, cries go out for MLB to add replays more often than the current determination of where a batted ball lands.
However, questioned ball and strike calls are adding to this mix. Fox and TBS both have used numerous replays with their own technology to attack pitch calls by the umpires. These pitch calls are subjective. I don't know that a computer can determine the exact angle and strike zone, especially as some hitters make adjustments with their stance and/or positioning in the batter's box during an at-bat or from one plate appearance to the next.
I think MLB needs to step in and ask the networks, along with local telecasts, to stop using the on-screen chart of the strike zone when replaying a ball or strike call. The networks will argue this is a part of their thorough coverage. My argument to them is that balls vs. strikes are subjective, and should be handled differently than a fair ball or runner not at the base where there is a definitive call that needs to be made.
If the fans continue to believe that the officiating is not up to par, it could only lead to reduced interest on the part of the casual fan, which translates to lower ratings.
However, I do want to see MLB make an effort to improve the quality of safe vs. out and fair vs. foul calls, and not necessarily with replay involved. In football, basketball, and hockey, the officials on the field, court, and ice need to watch over the entire group of players. Not the case in baseball. Instead of a replay deciding, let the umpires have a quick huddle after a call is made.
For example, the batter hits a ball into the gap and is seen rounding 2nd and heading to 3rd. Once that batter/runner has already passed 1st base, why can't the first base umpire hustle over toward 3rd base and back up the 3rd base umpire's call? He may have a different angle on a close play.
If the TV cameras show the umpires working together and moving around to back up and have a call stand based on umpires' collective views from different angles, it would help maintain the integrity of the game. And probably some casual fans who translate into ratings.
Meanwhile, the NFL has ratings, ratings, and more ratings to boast about this fall. Sunday Night Football continues to rock NBC's world. SNF being the number one TV show on Sunday night when up against the Yankees' pennant clinching game on Fox is nothing short of amazing, considering it featured the New York Giants in the game. The show ranks in the top 3 TV shows for the current season and dominates in key demographics.
Makes it bad timing that this coming Sunday (Nov. 1) is the Sunday night without a game for this season. Especially since the time changes early Sunday morning and people would not be too tired to watch the 4th quarter.
The NBA takes over our TV sets as the new season begins this week with 4 nights in a row of national doubleheaders. This on the heels of NBA-TV working harder than the players in practice to expand distribution to 45 million homes as this season gets underway. This includes Comcast, Cox, and DirecTV. NBA-TV plans to air 96 games during the season, more than ESPN and TNT (separately). This means an average of 4 to 5 nights each week with nationally available NBA telecasts for those who don't want to pay for the league package.
As we get ready for the World Series to start, I like how both sets of sports stations in New York and Philly are teaming up to cover and discuss the Series. WFAN New York and WIP Philadelphia are combining (and streaming) their midday shows so that fans of both teams can share in the discussion and the coverage.
Even though this is not intended as a cooperative effort, by coincidence the ESPN Radio stations for both cities are doing the same idea, but in this instance it is with the 2 to 7 PM shows.
Normally I prefer the sports radio present player and coach interviews along with opinions and predictions from other current and former players and executives. But letting fans of both teams have an equal say could add some spice as well. That is way more entertaining than putting on fans who all root for the same team to make the same not-so-bold predictions hour after hour.
Only thing not right about this is that they are only planning to do this for the first game, at least as of press time. This should go on every day through the day after the World Series ends.
CHICAGO: The powers that be at ESPN Radio seem set on getting the most out of their radio contract for the World Series. WMVP 1000 which is ESPN Radio Chicago is airing every game live of the World Series entirely, even at the expense of their Chicago Bulls NBA broadcasts.
The Bulls' season opening game on Thursday vs. San Antonio, along with their 3rd game of the season from Miami on Sunday, are being moved to another AM station so that ESPN Radio can air World Series Game 2 and 4 broadcasts. If the Series goes to a 7th game, or if weather forces postponements and there is a Game on Thursday Nov. 5th, it would impact a third Bulls broadcast.
I'm sure the Bulls are not pleased about this, as a station carrying an out-of-town broadcast ahead of a local team is rare. The fans in Chicago are not exactly gushing over an East Coast matchup in the World Series, but they want to know if Derrick Rose is going to be healthy enough to play a lot of minutes early in the season. This does not look like a local decision, especially with WMVP and rival WSCR 670 "The Score" both with increased ratings and doing close battle for listeners.
St. LOUIS: Speaking of sports station battles, congrats are in order for WXOS 101.FM which has another ratings success story. It finished in the top 10 for the market in men 25-54, while neither KFNS 590 or KSLG 1380 cracked the top 15 in that category. WXOS just began as a sports station at the first of this year, while KFNS broadcast the Cardinals games during their highly successful regular season (which was in progress during the ratings period discussed). Now that's impressive!
HOUSTON: Still no announcement yet about a morning drive co-host for KBME 790 although a series of co-hosts continue. On Tuesday (Oct. 27), the host was former Cincinnati radio talker Andy Furman.
College hoops fans in the Houston area, especially those who follow SEC teams, have reason for concern. The Conference's regional 62-game basketball package has yet to be picked up by any of the Houston stations. Channel 55 has been airing the football package, but those games are all on Saturdays.
PHOENIX: While the NHL Coyotes struggle with ownership this week, Fox Sports Arizona has stepped up and increased its TV coverage by adding eight more telecasts to bring its schedule to 57 games. However, as it stands now, these eight telecasts will probably be on tape delay due to scheduling conflicts.
Elsewhere, the sports media lost a pair of long time voices within the past few days, both with life-long local followings.
New York Rangers fans who go back a few years all remember Bill Chadwick from his 14 seasons doing commentary. The "Big Whistle", who officiated in 13 Stanley Cup clinching games years earlier, passed away at the age of 94. Chadwick worked with Marv Albert for five seasons on Rangers radio (yes - 'the' Marv Albert) and then teamed with Jim Gordon for nine seasons on the telecasts.
Southern and eastern Kentucky natives lost a "friend" when Jay Lasslo passed on at the age of 84 late last week. The World War II veteran did play-by-play of high school and local sports events going back to WSGS Hazard in 1956. He called his last high school hoops game at the state championships in 1996 and retired a few months later.
College football TV viewers have become spoiled in the past 15 years. Before then, it was front page news if your team's game was going to be one of the two or three games that might be available on a Saturday. Period.
Yet, this coming Saturday (Halloween), some fans are upset because they won't be able to see the Texas A & M vs. Iowa State game. It wasn't picked up by any of the TV networks or stations. While I understand the frustration, the other side of the coin shows that five of the six Big 12 games will be televised on at least a regional basis.
Nebraska vs. Baylor airs at 12:30 ET on Versus. Fox Sports (regional) has Missouri vs. Colorado at 12:30 CT and then Kansas State vs. Oklahoma at 6 p.m. CT. ABC has Kansas-Texas Tech at 2:30 CT as a regional game and Texas-Oklahoma State will air in prime time on ABC or ESPN2.
The regional/national tentative College Football schedule, ET:
Thursday, Oct. 29
7:30: North Carolina at Virginia Tech, ESPN
Friday, Oct. 30
8:00: West Virginia at South Florida, ESPN2
Saturday, Oct. 31
12:00: New Mexico St. at Ohio St., BTN
12:00: Indiana at Iowa, ESPN
12:00: Purdue at Wisconsin, ESPN2
12:00: Cincinnati at Syracuse, ESPNU
12:30: Nebraska at Baylor, Versus
3:30: Michigan at Illinois, ABC
3:30: Florida at Georgia, CBS
3:30: Temple at Navy, CBS College
3:30: Miami (Fla.) at Wake Forest, ESPN2
3:30: Central Michigan at Boston College, ESPNU
4:00: Nevada-Las Vegas at Texas Christian, Versus
4:30: Penn St. at Northwestern, ESPN
7:00: Eastern Michigan at Arkansas, ESPNU
7:30: New Mexico at San Diego St., CBS College
7:30: Washington State vs. Notre Dame (at San Antonio), NBC
7:45: South Carolina at Tennessee, ESPN
8:00: Southern Cal at Oregon, ABC or ESPN2
8:00: Michigan St. at Minnesota, BTN
8:00: Texas at Oklahoma St., ESPN2 or ABC
Sunday Nov 1
8:15: Marshall at Central Florida, ESPN
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sports Media Report - Oct. 12th Update
It has been a very challenging week for the St. Louis Cardinals, their fans, and even for radio stations they helped to shape. From a media standpoint, it is more than recovering from the disappointing sweep by the L. A. Dodgers in the first round of the playoffs.
The huge news that for the first time in more than 35 years KMOX Radio is not the top rated station in St. Louis certainly has its place in this column. Yes, I know that for the past 2 seasons, the Cardinals games have been broadcast on a different station.
My point is that the Cardinals radio situation has resulted in defeat for all parties involved, separate from the team losing to the Dodgers.
This past regular season was the best for the team on the field since 2006 when the Cardinals went all the way to a World Series championship. And KMOX Radio aired every moment along the way.
Ever since the Cardinals bought into KTRS 550 and moved the broadcasts there, many fans have complained about signal and reception problems. Thousands of baseball-loving fans outside of the immediate St. Louis area not served by a Cardinals Radio Network station could no longer pick up the broadcasts at night.
While I understand that the Cardinals went revenue "now" from their broadcasts, they overlooked the future consequences when they no longer have avid fans between 50 and 200 miles from St. Louis who cannot easily receive the broadcasts anymore, and they become far less likely to attend games in St. Louis at least once per summer.
KMOX reportedly did all it could to keep the Cardinals broadcasts. And now, the ratings for the period of time leading into the Cardinals clinching their first Central Division title in 3 years show listeners are going away from KMOX.
Put those stories together, and it spells a bad decision all around. There is no way anyone can convince me that KMOX would lose its top ranking after 35+ years during a Cardinals clinching month if it still had the broadcasts.
If only the Cardinals had stuck to baseball and not plunged into the radio business. Ironically, this is an instance where a CBS Radio station lost audience because of something not their fault. Let's just say that a certain Cardinals outfielder wasn't the only one who "dropped the ball" in a crucial situation lately.
Speaking of dropping the ball, TBS made still another strange decision regarding its baseball coverage this past weekend. TBS was stuck with a nearly 3 hour window between games on Sunday (Oct. 11th) due to the Dodgers' sweep of the Cardinals. After the Angeles eliminated the Red Sox early Sunday afternoon, the network did a short post-game show with only a couple of on field interviews. Host Ernie Johnson was in the studio, as he would be later on the for the night doubleheader of telecasts from Minneapolis and Denver.
Yet, Johnson was alone for the afternoon session. How does this happen? What we wound up with was the night telecasts with, count 'em, three analysts in the studio bucking for air time. As a result, fans had no studio analyst for a clinching game. They can't use the excuse that Dennis Eckersley couldn't analyze the Red Sox, given that he did some Red Sox TV filling in (and quite well) for Jerry Remy throughout the season. After all, Red Sox TV voice Joe Orsillo called the series for TBS. You can't tell me they needed all 3 analysts to wrap up the Phillies-Rockies telecast of Sunday night which ran until after 2 AM ET on a Sunday night, and could not have been a series clinching game.
At least this move took away from Chip Caray's phantom play-by-play calls.
Then there was ESPN Radio putting Chris Berman on as play-by-play voice for its national broadcast of the Phillies and Rockies series opener. It is understandable that after 30 years of almost all TV work, Berman constantly forgot that listeners can't see what is happening when he talks. As a result, thousands of listeners, during a weekday afternoon when radio broadcasts have a bigger reach, had little to no idea of what just happened. This time, I don't blame Chris Berman. You can't tell me that ESPN Radio couldn't have gotten someone with years of radio play-by-play experience to take that plum assignment instead.
The time to blame Berman was, for example, in his Game 1 telecast play-by-play of the 2005 Division Series opener between the Red Sox and White Sox. When a ground ball went between the legs of the Boston 2nd baseman for a crucial error, Berman's call consisted of "OH.......NOOOOOO !!" on a national telecast with fans of both teams watching. But on the Phillies vs. Rockies radio broadcast, it wasn't his fault he was there.
Meanwhile, it is one thing when sports reporters bring facts together in order to speculate about a possible story. But it is another when callers to a sports station start doing the same. Have we gotten to that point?
The Zone 1280 in Salt Lake City had a very interesting group of callers last week just after the story broke that Dave Checketts (along with Rush Limbaugh) was teaming up to bid on the NFL St. Louis Rams. Checketts has ties to Utah. Among callers to the radio station was a man claiming to have seen a plan involving land supposedly set aside for an NFL stadium. Other callers pointed out how St. Louis lost the (NFL) Cardinals to Arizona in the late 80's and that the Rams moved there from Los Angeles. Interesting theory. It may or may not happen, and it might not even come to fruition, but that isn't the point. What got my attention was learning that callers to a radio station are tapping into a potential story.
On the TV side, the numbers continue to look good for the NFL. The Denver vs. New England overtime thriller on CBS this past Sunday will certain help. (Numbers not available at press time.)
But the great numbers for football across the board are already making an impact. CBS now reports that about 80% of its inventory is already sold for its February 7th Super Bowl telecast - reportedly at $2.5 million or more for a 30-second spot.
NEW YORK: Yankees telecast ratings on YES increased by nearly 10% over the course of the regular season, pushing it ahead of NESN as the most watched regional sports network in the country.
Even though fans couldn't actually see the studio, they might notice a different sound or feel to 660 WFAN as of this week. The Fan has now moved into the Manhattan studios of its CBS Radio sister stations, following 20+ years of broadcasting from Kaufman Studios in Queens.
PHILADELPHIA: ESPN Radio continues to try and rival WIP 610 for the sports audience. WPEN 950 AM is now being simulcast on 97.5 FM, and will continue to be split between local and ESPN national programming. Both stations are airing the baseball playoff broadcasts. This announcement comes just days after the latest ratings show that WIP has increased its overall audience by about one-third this year.
LOS ANGELES: While it is way too early to pass judgement, the latest ratings show KFWB 980 slipping into 34th place for the period which ended during September. Granted, the ratings period ended less than one month into the revised format (from News to News/Talk), but this time period included the Angels' run toward clinching the American League West Division title. It's not like beginning its NBA Clippers contract this month will make a splash. We'll see just how compatible Dr. Laura and the Clippers are on the same radio station.
BOSTON: WBZ-FM 98.5 The Sports Hub had an outstanding debut in its first month of ratings. From nowhere, WBZ-FM showed up in 11th place in 25-54 men, while scoring higher than the station "average" in this demographic for morning drive. These showings represent more than 1/2 of WEEI 850's audience in the same categories. Yet, both stations have reasons to be pleased. The WEEI 850 morning show with John Dennis and Gerry Callahan came in #1 in that demographic, while Glen Ordway in the afternoon did the same.
This is primarily a reflection of one of the strongest sports periods in Boston history. Even though the Red Sox were just eliminated, the Patriots continue a solid run, while the Bruins and Celtics begin seasons in which both are expected to make a solid playoff run.
CHICAGO: Sports radio in Chicago is seeing solid numbers from competitors WSCR The Score and WMVP ESPN Radio based on the most recent ratings. This is becoming quite the battle between the two. Overall, WMVP ranked 13th in the market, with WSCR right behind at 14th. In morning drive, WSCR ranks #7 with WMVP at #8. WMVP has the edge in afternoons, finishing 9th while WSCR ranked #15. In the 25-54 male category, WMVP finished #3 overall, with WSCR right behind at #4. To some, the demographic showing becomes even more impressive when you realize that a Spanish station is one of the 2 stations that finished higher.
The Score has made one improvment, although it is probably short-lived. Even though the station continues to air Dan Patrick's midday show on a significant delay late night, they knew to edit out segments about upcoming baseball post-season games which had already been completed by the time the show aired. Even though they did not change anything during the entire season of regular season games having been completed before airing the show.
DETROIT: "The Ticket" WXYT-FM is the ticket in the latest Motor City radio ratgings, showing an audience increase of more than 20%. And to think the ratings period concluded before the Lions actually won a game.
WASHINGTON D.C.: I'm sure the "Sports Hub" in Boston has this info plastered across every bulletin board in the station. The fan 106.7, which signed on just this past July, has already become the most popular sports station in D.C. in the 25-54 male demographic. Its audience increased by 38% in the 12+ age category, thus overtaking WTEM ESPN 980. In addition to U. of Maryland football and NFL broadcasts, The Fan begins NBA Wizards broadcasts this month.
HOUSTON: The KILT 610 morning show with Marc Vandermeer actually devoted portions of its morning show this past Thursday (Oct. 8) to the AHL's Houston Aeros. Vandermeer, the voice of the Texans, and John Lopez aired live from the Toyota Center Arena on the Aeros' Media Day and interviewed team officials and players. Even though Houston does not have an NHL team, it is unusual for a station of that size to devote morning drive time to hockey, let alone a minor league team.
TENTATIVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL ON TV for this week (subject to change, times Eastern):
Wednesday, Oct. 14
8:00: Boise St. at Tulsa, ESPN
Thursday, Oct. 15
7:30: Cincinnati at South Florida, ESPN
7:30: Howard at Morgan St., ESPNU
8:00: Virginia Union at Virginia St. (D-II), CBS College
Friday, Oct. 16
8:00: Pittsburgh at Rutgers, ESPN
Saturday, Oct. 17
12:00: Oklahoma vs. Texas, ABC
12:00: Ohio State at Purdue, BTN
12:00: Delaware St. at Michigan, BTN
12:00: Iowa at Wisconsin, ESPN
12:00: Northwestern at Michigan St., ESPN2
12:30: Mississippi State at Middle Tennessee, ESPNU
12:30: Princeton at Brown, Versus
3:30: Minnesota at Penn State, ABC
3:30: Arkansas at Florida, CBS
3:30: Houston at Tulane, CBS College
3:30: N.C. State at Boston College, ESPN
3:30: Southern Cal at Notre Dame, NBC
4:00: Virginia at Maryland, ESPNU
4:00: Colorado St. at Texas Christian, Versus
6:00: Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech, ESPN2
7:00: Illinois at Indiana, BTN
7:30: Miami (Fla.) at Central Florida, CBS College
7:30: Kentucky at Auburn, ESPNU
7:30: Stanford at Arizona, Versus
7:45: South Carolina at Alabama, ESPN
9:15: Missouri at Oklahoma St., ESPN2
The huge news that for the first time in more than 35 years KMOX Radio is not the top rated station in St. Louis certainly has its place in this column. Yes, I know that for the past 2 seasons, the Cardinals games have been broadcast on a different station.
My point is that the Cardinals radio situation has resulted in defeat for all parties involved, separate from the team losing to the Dodgers.
This past regular season was the best for the team on the field since 2006 when the Cardinals went all the way to a World Series championship. And KMOX Radio aired every moment along the way.
Ever since the Cardinals bought into KTRS 550 and moved the broadcasts there, many fans have complained about signal and reception problems. Thousands of baseball-loving fans outside of the immediate St. Louis area not served by a Cardinals Radio Network station could no longer pick up the broadcasts at night.
While I understand that the Cardinals went revenue "now" from their broadcasts, they overlooked the future consequences when they no longer have avid fans between 50 and 200 miles from St. Louis who cannot easily receive the broadcasts anymore, and they become far less likely to attend games in St. Louis at least once per summer.
KMOX reportedly did all it could to keep the Cardinals broadcasts. And now, the ratings for the period of time leading into the Cardinals clinching their first Central Division title in 3 years show listeners are going away from KMOX.
Put those stories together, and it spells a bad decision all around. There is no way anyone can convince me that KMOX would lose its top ranking after 35+ years during a Cardinals clinching month if it still had the broadcasts.
If only the Cardinals had stuck to baseball and not plunged into the radio business. Ironically, this is an instance where a CBS Radio station lost audience because of something not their fault. Let's just say that a certain Cardinals outfielder wasn't the only one who "dropped the ball" in a crucial situation lately.
Speaking of dropping the ball, TBS made still another strange decision regarding its baseball coverage this past weekend. TBS was stuck with a nearly 3 hour window between games on Sunday (Oct. 11th) due to the Dodgers' sweep of the Cardinals. After the Angeles eliminated the Red Sox early Sunday afternoon, the network did a short post-game show with only a couple of on field interviews. Host Ernie Johnson was in the studio, as he would be later on the for the night doubleheader of telecasts from Minneapolis and Denver.
Yet, Johnson was alone for the afternoon session. How does this happen? What we wound up with was the night telecasts with, count 'em, three analysts in the studio bucking for air time. As a result, fans had no studio analyst for a clinching game. They can't use the excuse that Dennis Eckersley couldn't analyze the Red Sox, given that he did some Red Sox TV filling in (and quite well) for Jerry Remy throughout the season. After all, Red Sox TV voice Joe Orsillo called the series for TBS. You can't tell me they needed all 3 analysts to wrap up the Phillies-Rockies telecast of Sunday night which ran until after 2 AM ET on a Sunday night, and could not have been a series clinching game.
At least this move took away from Chip Caray's phantom play-by-play calls.
Then there was ESPN Radio putting Chris Berman on as play-by-play voice for its national broadcast of the Phillies and Rockies series opener. It is understandable that after 30 years of almost all TV work, Berman constantly forgot that listeners can't see what is happening when he talks. As a result, thousands of listeners, during a weekday afternoon when radio broadcasts have a bigger reach, had little to no idea of what just happened. This time, I don't blame Chris Berman. You can't tell me that ESPN Radio couldn't have gotten someone with years of radio play-by-play experience to take that plum assignment instead.
The time to blame Berman was, for example, in his Game 1 telecast play-by-play of the 2005 Division Series opener between the Red Sox and White Sox. When a ground ball went between the legs of the Boston 2nd baseman for a crucial error, Berman's call consisted of "OH.......NOOOOOO !!" on a national telecast with fans of both teams watching. But on the Phillies vs. Rockies radio broadcast, it wasn't his fault he was there.
Meanwhile, it is one thing when sports reporters bring facts together in order to speculate about a possible story. But it is another when callers to a sports station start doing the same. Have we gotten to that point?
The Zone 1280 in Salt Lake City had a very interesting group of callers last week just after the story broke that Dave Checketts (along with Rush Limbaugh) was teaming up to bid on the NFL St. Louis Rams. Checketts has ties to Utah. Among callers to the radio station was a man claiming to have seen a plan involving land supposedly set aside for an NFL stadium. Other callers pointed out how St. Louis lost the (NFL) Cardinals to Arizona in the late 80's and that the Rams moved there from Los Angeles. Interesting theory. It may or may not happen, and it might not even come to fruition, but that isn't the point. What got my attention was learning that callers to a radio station are tapping into a potential story.
On the TV side, the numbers continue to look good for the NFL. The Denver vs. New England overtime thriller on CBS this past Sunday will certain help. (Numbers not available at press time.)
But the great numbers for football across the board are already making an impact. CBS now reports that about 80% of its inventory is already sold for its February 7th Super Bowl telecast - reportedly at $2.5 million or more for a 30-second spot.
NEW YORK: Yankees telecast ratings on YES increased by nearly 10% over the course of the regular season, pushing it ahead of NESN as the most watched regional sports network in the country.
Even though fans couldn't actually see the studio, they might notice a different sound or feel to 660 WFAN as of this week. The Fan has now moved into the Manhattan studios of its CBS Radio sister stations, following 20+ years of broadcasting from Kaufman Studios in Queens.
PHILADELPHIA: ESPN Radio continues to try and rival WIP 610 for the sports audience. WPEN 950 AM is now being simulcast on 97.5 FM, and will continue to be split between local and ESPN national programming. Both stations are airing the baseball playoff broadcasts. This announcement comes just days after the latest ratings show that WIP has increased its overall audience by about one-third this year.
LOS ANGELES: While it is way too early to pass judgement, the latest ratings show KFWB 980 slipping into 34th place for the period which ended during September. Granted, the ratings period ended less than one month into the revised format (from News to News/Talk), but this time period included the Angels' run toward clinching the American League West Division title. It's not like beginning its NBA Clippers contract this month will make a splash. We'll see just how compatible Dr. Laura and the Clippers are on the same radio station.
BOSTON: WBZ-FM 98.5 The Sports Hub had an outstanding debut in its first month of ratings. From nowhere, WBZ-FM showed up in 11th place in 25-54 men, while scoring higher than the station "average" in this demographic for morning drive. These showings represent more than 1/2 of WEEI 850's audience in the same categories. Yet, both stations have reasons to be pleased. The WEEI 850 morning show with John Dennis and Gerry Callahan came in #1 in that demographic, while Glen Ordway in the afternoon did the same.
This is primarily a reflection of one of the strongest sports periods in Boston history. Even though the Red Sox were just eliminated, the Patriots continue a solid run, while the Bruins and Celtics begin seasons in which both are expected to make a solid playoff run.
CHICAGO: Sports radio in Chicago is seeing solid numbers from competitors WSCR The Score and WMVP ESPN Radio based on the most recent ratings. This is becoming quite the battle between the two. Overall, WMVP ranked 13th in the market, with WSCR right behind at 14th. In morning drive, WSCR ranks #7 with WMVP at #8. WMVP has the edge in afternoons, finishing 9th while WSCR ranked #15. In the 25-54 male category, WMVP finished #3 overall, with WSCR right behind at #4. To some, the demographic showing becomes even more impressive when you realize that a Spanish station is one of the 2 stations that finished higher.
The Score has made one improvment, although it is probably short-lived. Even though the station continues to air Dan Patrick's midday show on a significant delay late night, they knew to edit out segments about upcoming baseball post-season games which had already been completed by the time the show aired. Even though they did not change anything during the entire season of regular season games having been completed before airing the show.
DETROIT: "The Ticket" WXYT-FM is the ticket in the latest Motor City radio ratgings, showing an audience increase of more than 20%. And to think the ratings period concluded before the Lions actually won a game.
WASHINGTON D.C.: I'm sure the "Sports Hub" in Boston has this info plastered across every bulletin board in the station. The fan 106.7, which signed on just this past July, has already become the most popular sports station in D.C. in the 25-54 male demographic. Its audience increased by 38% in the 12+ age category, thus overtaking WTEM ESPN 980. In addition to U. of Maryland football and NFL broadcasts, The Fan begins NBA Wizards broadcasts this month.
HOUSTON: The KILT 610 morning show with Marc Vandermeer actually devoted portions of its morning show this past Thursday (Oct. 8) to the AHL's Houston Aeros. Vandermeer, the voice of the Texans, and John Lopez aired live from the Toyota Center Arena on the Aeros' Media Day and interviewed team officials and players. Even though Houston does not have an NHL team, it is unusual for a station of that size to devote morning drive time to hockey, let alone a minor league team.
TENTATIVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL ON TV for this week (subject to change, times Eastern):
Wednesday, Oct. 14
8:00: Boise St. at Tulsa, ESPN
Thursday, Oct. 15
7:30: Cincinnati at South Florida, ESPN
7:30: Howard at Morgan St., ESPNU
8:00: Virginia Union at Virginia St. (D-II), CBS College
Friday, Oct. 16
8:00: Pittsburgh at Rutgers, ESPN
Saturday, Oct. 17
12:00: Oklahoma vs. Texas, ABC
12:00: Ohio State at Purdue, BTN
12:00: Delaware St. at Michigan, BTN
12:00: Iowa at Wisconsin, ESPN
12:00: Northwestern at Michigan St., ESPN2
12:30: Mississippi State at Middle Tennessee, ESPNU
12:30: Princeton at Brown, Versus
3:30: Minnesota at Penn State, ABC
3:30: Arkansas at Florida, CBS
3:30: Houston at Tulane, CBS College
3:30: N.C. State at Boston College, ESPN
3:30: Southern Cal at Notre Dame, NBC
4:00: Virginia at Maryland, ESPNU
4:00: Colorado St. at Texas Christian, Versus
6:00: Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech, ESPN2
7:00: Illinois at Indiana, BTN
7:30: Miami (Fla.) at Central Florida, CBS College
7:30: Kentucky at Auburn, ESPNU
7:30: Stanford at Arizona, Versus
7:45: South Carolina at Alabama, ESPN
9:15: Missouri at Oklahoma St., ESPN2
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Sports Media Update - October 22
This past Sunday night (Oct. 19) was a history making night for sports broadcasting, especially from a Tampa perspective. To the best of my knowledge (even after some precautionary research), it was the first time that two sports events from the Tampa area were up against each other on national TV. While the Rays were playing their clinching Game 7 of the ALCS against Boston in St. Pete on TBS, across the bay NBC-TV was showing the Buccaneers football game against Seattle.
Having two local teams on national TV happens in places such as NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit, among others from time to time. But not before in the Tampa area. NBC-TV probably wishes it didn't happen. Their Sunday Night Football telecast finished among the lowest rated ever for a prime time telecast, while TBS set cable viewing records on the baseball side.
NEW YORK - As expected, WFAN 660 will continue as the flagship station of Mets broadcasts. It is curious that financial terms were not disclosed, leaving us to guess that this will be some sort of revenue share for the team and the station.
As part of this new deal, which brings WFAN's Mets coverage into its 23rd season, WFAN will produce additional Mets related programming including daily highlights (in season), and also have these programs available via wfan.com along with the HD3 channel at 92.3 FM. The HD channel is a wonderful addition, and something I have been pushing for from sports stations for months. Extensive coverage of one team and its games is the type of niche programming which could actually make HD Radio worthwhile.
Further down the dial, congrats to Yankees TV voice Michael Kay on his three year contract extension continuing his afternoon show on WEPN 1050. Kay has handled afternoons since 2005 and has been with WEPN since 2001.
ATLANTA - It feels like the Atlanta Braves have moved to Atlanta and become the Braves. The days of Ted Turner, most games on TBS, Fulton County Stadium, and the same broadcasters year after year are now officially long gone.
Pete Van Wieren has retired after 33 seasons of Braves play-by-play on both TV and radio. Although his laid back style was not a hit with younger fans used to the pumped up style of many of today's announcers, he was consistent and accurate. With the possible exception of Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett with the Dodgers, I can't recall a pair of announcers with one team longer than Van Wieren and Skip Caray, whose passing earlier this year also signals this overhaul of the Braves we used to know.
Like with Skip Caray, Van Wieren also reported for CNN and handled football play-by-play, including the days of TBS covering Big Ten games, along with Falcons pre-season games.
Now we go into the 2009 season following the retirements of two 30+ year play-by-play voices with the same team, as this announcement follows the retirement announcement of Lanny Frattare from the Pirates radio booth made just a couple of weeks ago.
Meanwhile, on the incoming side, Fox SportSouth has hired former Hawk Mike Glenn as its pre and post-game analyst staring next week for the network's scheduled 75 Hawks telecasts. Dominique Wilkins moves from the post-game show role into his new role as game analyst.
SAN FRANCISCO - Think of it as scheduled sportscasts on FM. With classic hits KFRC 106.9 FM again going into oblivion and all-news KCBS-AM being simulcast on 106.9 (as of this week), it means that the KCBS sports updates and sports related programming will also be heard on the FM dial.
Comcast SportsNet Bay Area has hired Scott Reiss away from ESPN after eight years. Reiss is already being utilized on the pre and post-game shows of the Warriors and the Sharks.
DALLAS - The latest radio ratings battle of sports stations again goes to The Ticket, which finished second in men aged 25-54 for the summer, more than 40% ahead of ESPN 103.3. Although 103.3 FM had its best summer ratings to date, it finished in 20th place in overall listeners, compared with a 12th place overall finish for The Ticket.
The Metroplex seems to have a definite lack of interest in post-season baseball this month. Through the first five games of the ALCS, reports show that Dallas-Ft. Worth finished dead last in major market ratings. Portland, Charlotte, Nashville, Salt Lake City, and Albuquerque were among the markets with better ratings. And none of those markets has a Major League team.
The National League series on Fox for the Dallas area did not rank in the top 50 national markets either. Ouch.
PHOENIX - While Dallas hasn't been watching post-season baseball, Phoenix, which does have a National League team, will be challenged to hear the ESPN Radio broadcasts of the World Series. KTAR 620 has commitments during the first three games, including their weekly Cardinals show instead of Game 1. A Suns pre-season broadcast pre-empts Game 2, and the Arizona State - Oregon football game will air on Saturday instead of Game 3. As a result, those games, along with possible games 6 and 7 broadcasts will air on KDUS 1060 AM. A Suns pre-season game?
SEATTLE - While I don't know how the October baseball ratings have fared for the Seattle market, I did see the impact of the Mariners losing 100 games this past season. The team's TV ratings on FSN dropped approximately 48% for the yeaer. Let's see what a change of radio stations does for next season's ratings.
PITTSBURGH - Mark Madden is now into his second week back on the air at WXDX 105.9 in the 3 - 6 PM slot. This marks his return since being taken off 1250 ESPN this past May. This show, however, is not completely sports, as pop culture and music have been added to the mix. From what little I have heard and what I have been told, I should say "mixed up" instead. The show does run later on the nights WXDX has a Penguins broadcast starting at or prior to 7:30.
INDIANAPOLIS - WFNI 1070, the former WIBC-AM, tied for 17th place overall in the market's summer ratings period. It is easy to comment that those are nowhere near the old WIBC numbers. Then we realize that the station just went through its first summer, and it is too early to tell. This fall ratings period will be a better indication of WFNI's future, as we have Colts and Indiana University football underway and Pacers season starting next week. Rival WNDE finished 19th overall, and WXLW 950 didn't register.
SAN DIEGO - Dennis Green, the former Vikings and Cardinals NFL coach and Stanford plus Northwestern University coach who handles color for select Westwood One football broadcasts, has a new gig. One he should be proud of. Green now teaches Sports Business Management in San Diego State University's MBA Program, focused on sports management.
LAFAYETTE - If you want to watch Purdue hosting Minnesota in the Big Ten game on October 25th, you need to find it on ESPN Classic instead of the Big Ten Network.
HELENA - Sporting News Radio has suffered over the past year. Now comes word that it has been dropped by KCAP Radio. And not for a format change or even to go with local programming after 3:00 PM and on weekends. KCAP has switched the same time slots over to Fox Radio Sports.
Having two local teams on national TV happens in places such as NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit, among others from time to time. But not before in the Tampa area. NBC-TV probably wishes it didn't happen. Their Sunday Night Football telecast finished among the lowest rated ever for a prime time telecast, while TBS set cable viewing records on the baseball side.
NEW YORK - As expected, WFAN 660 will continue as the flagship station of Mets broadcasts. It is curious that financial terms were not disclosed, leaving us to guess that this will be some sort of revenue share for the team and the station.
As part of this new deal, which brings WFAN's Mets coverage into its 23rd season, WFAN will produce additional Mets related programming including daily highlights (in season), and also have these programs available via wfan.com along with the HD3 channel at 92.3 FM. The HD channel is a wonderful addition, and something I have been pushing for from sports stations for months. Extensive coverage of one team and its games is the type of niche programming which could actually make HD Radio worthwhile.
Further down the dial, congrats to Yankees TV voice Michael Kay on his three year contract extension continuing his afternoon show on WEPN 1050. Kay has handled afternoons since 2005 and has been with WEPN since 2001.
ATLANTA - It feels like the Atlanta Braves have moved to Atlanta and become the Braves. The days of Ted Turner, most games on TBS, Fulton County Stadium, and the same broadcasters year after year are now officially long gone.
Pete Van Wieren has retired after 33 seasons of Braves play-by-play on both TV and radio. Although his laid back style was not a hit with younger fans used to the pumped up style of many of today's announcers, he was consistent and accurate. With the possible exception of Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett with the Dodgers, I can't recall a pair of announcers with one team longer than Van Wieren and Skip Caray, whose passing earlier this year also signals this overhaul of the Braves we used to know.
Like with Skip Caray, Van Wieren also reported for CNN and handled football play-by-play, including the days of TBS covering Big Ten games, along with Falcons pre-season games.
Now we go into the 2009 season following the retirements of two 30+ year play-by-play voices with the same team, as this announcement follows the retirement announcement of Lanny Frattare from the Pirates radio booth made just a couple of weeks ago.
Meanwhile, on the incoming side, Fox SportSouth has hired former Hawk Mike Glenn as its pre and post-game analyst staring next week for the network's scheduled 75 Hawks telecasts. Dominique Wilkins moves from the post-game show role into his new role as game analyst.
SAN FRANCISCO - Think of it as scheduled sportscasts on FM. With classic hits KFRC 106.9 FM again going into oblivion and all-news KCBS-AM being simulcast on 106.9 (as of this week), it means that the KCBS sports updates and sports related programming will also be heard on the FM dial.
Comcast SportsNet Bay Area has hired Scott Reiss away from ESPN after eight years. Reiss is already being utilized on the pre and post-game shows of the Warriors and the Sharks.
DALLAS - The latest radio ratings battle of sports stations again goes to The Ticket, which finished second in men aged 25-54 for the summer, more than 40% ahead of ESPN 103.3. Although 103.3 FM had its best summer ratings to date, it finished in 20th place in overall listeners, compared with a 12th place overall finish for The Ticket.
The Metroplex seems to have a definite lack of interest in post-season baseball this month. Through the first five games of the ALCS, reports show that Dallas-Ft. Worth finished dead last in major market ratings. Portland, Charlotte, Nashville, Salt Lake City, and Albuquerque were among the markets with better ratings. And none of those markets has a Major League team.
The National League series on Fox for the Dallas area did not rank in the top 50 national markets either. Ouch.
PHOENIX - While Dallas hasn't been watching post-season baseball, Phoenix, which does have a National League team, will be challenged to hear the ESPN Radio broadcasts of the World Series. KTAR 620 has commitments during the first three games, including their weekly Cardinals show instead of Game 1. A Suns pre-season broadcast pre-empts Game 2, and the Arizona State - Oregon football game will air on Saturday instead of Game 3. As a result, those games, along with possible games 6 and 7 broadcasts will air on KDUS 1060 AM. A Suns pre-season game?
SEATTLE - While I don't know how the October baseball ratings have fared for the Seattle market, I did see the impact of the Mariners losing 100 games this past season. The team's TV ratings on FSN dropped approximately 48% for the yeaer. Let's see what a change of radio stations does for next season's ratings.
PITTSBURGH - Mark Madden is now into his second week back on the air at WXDX 105.9 in the 3 - 6 PM slot. This marks his return since being taken off 1250 ESPN this past May. This show, however, is not completely sports, as pop culture and music have been added to the mix. From what little I have heard and what I have been told, I should say "mixed up" instead. The show does run later on the nights WXDX has a Penguins broadcast starting at or prior to 7:30.
INDIANAPOLIS - WFNI 1070, the former WIBC-AM, tied for 17th place overall in the market's summer ratings period. It is easy to comment that those are nowhere near the old WIBC numbers. Then we realize that the station just went through its first summer, and it is too early to tell. This fall ratings period will be a better indication of WFNI's future, as we have Colts and Indiana University football underway and Pacers season starting next week. Rival WNDE finished 19th overall, and WXLW 950 didn't register.
SAN DIEGO - Dennis Green, the former Vikings and Cardinals NFL coach and Stanford plus Northwestern University coach who handles color for select Westwood One football broadcasts, has a new gig. One he should be proud of. Green now teaches Sports Business Management in San Diego State University's MBA Program, focused on sports management.
LAFAYETTE - If you want to watch Purdue hosting Minnesota in the Big Ten game on October 25th, you need to find it on ESPN Classic instead of the Big Ten Network.
HELENA - Sporting News Radio has suffered over the past year. Now comes word that it has been dropped by KCAP Radio. And not for a format change or even to go with local programming after 3:00 PM and on weekends. KCAP has switched the same time slots over to Fox Radio Sports.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Sports Media Update - October 8th
TBS did a much better job on their Division Series baseball coverage than its ratings reflect. I found the analysis from Harold Reynolds during the Tampa-Chicago series to be excellent, and am glad to see that Harold will be a part of the upcoming MLB-TV Network to debut the first of the year.
Expectations were high at TBS, especially with both Chicago and Los Angeles teams involved at the time, along with the huge markets Boston and Philadelphia bring to the table.
Some theories blame the late starting time for the games from Los Angeles, while others blame the V.P. debates on the prime viewing Thursday night. While some of that might be true, I find another reason for the reported 20.2% decline in TBS' first round coverage when compared with last year.
The "tradition" of TBS isn't there. TBS blew it again all season this year by not having a consistent start time for all of their Sunday telecasts. True, they do not have the ability to move the starting time of the game they feature, and that hurts. But those fans that even knew TBS had a game on Sunday could tune in at the exact same time each week and not always see a game in progress. Instead they see a movie or comedy with no idea that sports is coming up. I think this carried over the post-season. I'm here to tell you that people tuned into the ESPN and their regional cable channel (such as Fox or Comcast) and when they didn't see baseball, they didn't realize the games were on TBS. When TBS lost the Braves and the Hawks telecasts, they lost their image as a place to go for live sports.
I received several inquiries from friends asking where they could find the games. I'll be curious to see how much Fox dominates TBS in the upcoming League Championship Series ratings. So you don't have to ask, the telecast schedule is among those shown below.
While baseball's teams won't be announcing any personnel matters until after the World Series, some broadcast booths are already in the news. The end of an era in Pittsburgh, again. Not the following that Bob Prince had years ago, but after 33 seasons, Lanny Frattare has decided to retire. His tenure was longer than that of Prince. He reportedly considered reducing to home games only but surprised the Pirates with his decision, coming after more than 5,000 broadcasts. Frattare had been the number one radio voice since Milo Hamilton left Pittsburgh, and that was following the 1979 season.
The late Joe Nuxhall is again on the ballot for the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award for baseball broadcasting excellence. The old left hander received the most fan votes last year, which was immediately following his death, and now joins Lanny Frattare, Tom Cheek (Expos + Blue Jays) and former Reds and Red Sox voice Ken Coleman among others on the list. Nux is certain to get support from Marty Brennaman, his former broadcast partner, who is among those doing the voting.
While the Baltimore Orioles need to improve on the field, their broadcast team remains solid with the announcement that Gary Thorne returns for TV play-by-play on MASN, while Joe Angel continues on radio. Fans around the country know of Thorne for his excellence on hockey telecasts, along with a few years calling baseball for ESPN.
Speaking of MLB-TV, and many baseball fans still don't realize what a plus this will be, the N Y Times reports that the one game each week they will pick up is no longer limited to Saturday nights, as first reported. Just as the network now is looking at 6 hours each night of studio coverage, they might show some games on Thursday nights instead of Saturdays during certain weeks.
On the college hoops scene, ESPN has signed a new and expanded five year agreement to cover Big West Conference basketball, with a minimum of 12 national telecasts to be scheduled. These include the Thanksgiving tournament in Anaheim next month which will have at least three of the games shown on ESPN.
NEW YORK - While we wait to find out how Mike performs in the ratings without the Mad Dog, we see that WFAN's morning show with Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton is leading in the 25 to 54 age group in the latest reports.
On the New Jersey side, glad to see Jody McDonald returning to the 9 AM to 1 PM shift on ESPN 950. Jody returns after undergoing quadruple bypass surgery just six weeks ago. He will now be joined by Harry Mayes as co-host, moving up from having co-hosted the 7 to 11 PM shift with Dan Schwartzman. The station isn't saying whether or not this is a permanent thing or to ensure continuity in the event of health concerns about McDonald, but I think it is the latter.
HOUSTON - While the Rockets radio broadcasts will soon begin featuring Craig Ackerman as the new radio voice, his previous role as studio host for the broadcasts has been given to Adam Wexler. The Rockets are one of very few NBA teams with a Spanish broadcast, with Adrian Chavarria returning to call the games on KEYH 850 this season.
St. LOUIS - The "Movin'" WMVN 101.1 FM which moves to sports talk at the first of the year, has announced its afternoon drive host. Randy Karraker will bring more than 20 years in the market to this position, having talked sports at KMOX back in 1987. The station is also expected to bring in a co-host to work along with Randy. He will continue with high school sports play-by-play on Charter Cable in addition.
TEXAS - The local Baylor football fans will not be able to see their Oct. 18th game against Oklahoma State, as the game will not be televised on either a local or network basis. Those fans outside of the immediate area will be able to follow the game, as the school announced that this game will air on Sirius Satellite and on BaylorBears.com. John Morris, J.J. Joe, and Ricky Thompson, will have the call.
Texas Christian University has announced a wonderful innovation. The school's KTCU 88.7 FM has added a high school football game of the week to air between 7 and 10 PM each Friday, with students producing the on-air content. Everybody wins, from the high schools having games featured on radio to the fans that get to hear them to the students getting the learning experience of a lifetime. I taught sportscasting at Columbia College Chicago for 7 semesters and can tell you first hand how wonderful the experience is for a student to get play-by-play training on the job. TCU alum Trey Fallon is among those who have already made this career move. Fallon produces pre and post-game shows for Cowboys and Mavericks broadcasts on 103.3 ESPN Radio.
KANSAS CITY - Congrats to Chiefs' voice Mitch Holthus, now in his 15th season as the voice of the Chiefs. He will be inducted on Sunday into the Kansas Assn. of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
MILWAUKEE - Now that the Brewers are done for the season, the Sunday TV and radio competition goes completely back to football. In Milwaukee, that seems to now mean the Packers and Brett Favre's Jets games.
This past Sunday (Oct. 5), the Packers telecast whipped the Brewers being eliminated by the Phillies on Milwaukee TV by better than a 2-to-1 margin. And for this, WTMJ Radio chose the Brewers broadcast ahead of the Packers. This after the Saturday Game 3 Brewers telecast finished as the ratings leader in Milwaukee, easily whipping the Ohio State football game.
Back to Favre this coming Sunday (Oct. 12), as WDJT-TV carries the Jets vs. Cincinnati, and has also scheduled the Jets vs. Kansas City on Oct. 26th.
HAMPTON - John Castleberry is out as afternoon host on The Game 1490 and also on Virginia Beach's 102.1 FM as of last Friday Oct. 3rd. He was able to finish his final show after breaking the news early in what turned out to be his final show, which included his putting callers on the air to voice their displeasure. Co-host Nick Halda was also released.
SANDUSKY - We can say that management of WLEC Sports 1450 was literally in a Fogg about morning drive. Almost two weeks ago, they let Sports Director Mark Fogg go in a cost-cutting move. After 33 years with the station. As of next Monday (Oct. 13), the morning show returns, with Fogg hired back as host. No word as to whether or not the "re-hiring" is for the same money. Ouch. The Bob Dylan line "20 years of schooling and they put you on the day shift" seems to come into play here.
For those who like to have these, and I'm one of those people myself, here are the schedules for the MLB Championship Series, national telecasts for the NBA regular season which starts in 3 weeks (other than NBA-TV) through the month of November, and the Atlantic 10 Conference national college hoops schedule:
National League Championship Series (All Games on Fox)Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Philadelphia PhilliesGame 1/LA at Philadelphia - Thursday, October 9, 8:22 p.m.
Game 2/LA at Philadelphia - Friday, October 10, 4:35 p.m.
Game 3/Philadelphia at LA - Sunday, October 12, 8:22 p.m.
Game 4/Philadelphia at LA - Monday, October 13, 8:22 p.m.
Game 5/Philadelphia at LA - Wednesday, October, 15, 8:22 p.m. (if necessary)
Game 6/LA at Philadelphia - Friday, October 17, 8:22 p.m. (if necessary)
Game 7/LA at Philadelphia - Saturday, October, 18, 8:22 p.m. (if necessary)
MLB on Fox Studio - Jeanne Zelasko/Kevin Kennedy/Eric KarrosFox - Joe Buck/Tim McCarver/Ken RosenthalESPN Radio - Dan Shulman/Dave Campbell
American League Championship Series (All Games on TBS)Boston Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay
RaysGame 1/Red Sox at Tampa Bay - Friday, October 10, 8:37 p.m.
Game 2/Red Sox at Tampa Bay - Saturday, October 11, 8:07 p.m.
Game 3/Tampa Bay at Red Sox - Monday, October 13, 4:37 p.m.
Game 4/Tampa Bay at Red Sox - Tuesday, October 14, 8:07 p.m.
Game 5/Tampa Bay at Red Sox - Thursday, October 16, 8;07 p.m. (if necessary)
Game 6/Red Sox at Tampa Bay - Saturday, October 18, 4:37 p.m. (if necessary)
Game 7/Red Sox at Tampa Bay - Sunday, October 18, 8:07 p.m. (if necessary)
MLB on Deck - Ernie Johnson, Jr., Dennis Eckersley, Harold Reynolds, Cal Ripken, Jr.TBS - Chip Caray/Buck Martinez/Ron Darling/Craig SagerESPN Radio - Jon Miller/Joe Morgan
NBA regular season national telecasts - not including NBA-TV, through November:
TUESDAY, OCT. 28 8:00: Cleveland at Boston TNT10:30: Portland at L.A. Lakers TNT
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 29 8:00: Phoenix at San Antonio ESN10:30: L.A. Lakers at L.A. Clippers ESN
THURSDAY, OCT. 30 8:00: Houston at Dallas TNT10:30: New Orleans at Phoenix TNT
FRIDAY, OCT. 31 8:00: Chicago at Boston ESN10:30: San Antonio at Portland ESN
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 5 8:00: Chicago at Cleveland ESN10:30: Denver at Golden State ESN
THURSDAY, NOV. 6 8:00: Philadelphia at Orlando TNT10:30: Houston at Portland TNT
FRIDAY, NOV. 7 8:00: Miami at San Antonio ESN10:30: Dallas at Denver ESN
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 12 8:00: Utah at Washington ESN10:30: Houston at Phoenix ESN
THURSDAY, NOV. 13 7:00: Denver at Cleveland TNT9:30: Dallas at Chicago TNT
FRIDAY, NOV. 14 8:00: Denver at Boston ESN10:30: Detroit at L.A. Lakers ESN
SATURDAY, NOV. 15 8:30: Indiana at Chicago WGN
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 19 8:00: Dallas at Houston ESN10:30: Chicago at Portland ESN
THURSDAY, NOV. 20 8:00: Detroit at Boston TNT10:30: L.A. Lakers at Phoenix TNT
FRIDAY, NOV. 21 7:00: Houston at Washington ESN9:30: New Orleans at Oklahoma City ESN
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 26 7:30: Orlando at Philadelphia ESN10:00:
THURSDAY, NOV. 27 8:00: Orlando at Washington TNT10:30: New Orleans at Denver TNT
FRIDAY, NOV. 28 8:00: Miami at Phoenix ESN10:30: Dallas at L.A. Lakers ESN
Atlantic 10 Conference Men's Hoops:
ESPN Tue. - Nov. 18 - Massachusetts at Memphis (12:00)
Tue. - Nov. 18 - Richmond at Syracuse (6:00)
Tue. - Nov. 25 - Saint Joseph's vs. Indiana/Notre Dame* (TBA)
Wed. - Nov. 26 - Saint Joseph's at Maui Invitational# (TBA)
Fri. - Nov. 28 - Duquesne at Duke (3:00)
Sat. - Dec. 13 - Tennessee at Temple (12:00) Sat. - Dec. 13 - Massachusetts at Kansas (2:00)
*May be aired on ESPNU depending on outcome of previous game #May be aired on ESPN2 or ESPNU depending on outcome of previous game
ESPN/ESPN2
Thu. - Feb. 5 - Temple at Xavier (7:00)
Thu. - Feb. 12 - Temple at Saint Joseph's (7:00)
Thu. - Feb. 19 - Xavier at Charlotte (7:00)
Thu. - Feb. 26 - Xavier at Saint Joseph's (7:00)
Thu. - Mar. 5 - Dayton at Xavier (9:00)
Network designation to be determined at a later date
ESPN2
Fri. - Nov. 21 - Xavier vs. Fairfield/Virginia Tech* (TBA)
Sun. - Nov. 23 - Xavier at Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic* (TBA)
Mon. - Nov. 24 - Saint Joseph's vs. Texas (3:00)
Fri. - Nov. 28 - Charlotte vs. Baylor/ Providence* (TBA)
Sun. - Nov. 30 - Charlotte at Anaheim Classic* (TBA)
Thu. - Dec. 11 - Saint Joseph's at Villanova (8:00)
Sat. - Dec. 13 - Xavier at Cincinnati (8:00)
Sat. - Dec. 20 - Temple at Kansas (2:30)
Sat. - Jan. 17 - Temple at Massachusetts (7:00) Sat. -
Jan. 24 - Xavier at Louisiana State (8:00)
Wed. - Feb. 11 - Xavier at Dayton (7:00) Sat. -
Mar. 14 - Atlantic 10 Championship Final (6:00)
*May be aired on ESPNU depending on outcome of previous game
ESPNU Sun. - Nov. 16 - Rhode Island at Duke (4:30) Thu. - Nov. 20 - Xavier vs. Missouri (1:00) Fri. - Nov. 21 - Xavier vs. Fairfield/Virginia Tech* (TBA) Thu. - Nov. 27 - Charlotte vs. Arizona State (9:00) Sat. - Dec. 13 - Virginia Commonwealth at Richmond (2:00) Sun. - Dec. 14 - Villanova at La Salle (7:00) Fri. - Dec. 19 - Wake Forest at Richmond (7:00) Tue. - Dec. 23 - Butler at Xavier (7:00) Sat. - Jan. 24 - Charlotte at Temple (6:00) Mon. - Dec. 29 - Temple at Villanova (7:00) Sat. - Jan. 31 - Massachusetts at Xavier (12:00)
*May be aired on espn360.com depending on outcome of previous game
CBS Sat. - Dec. 20 - Xavier vs. Duke (2:00)
CBS College Sports Network Wed. - Dec. 3 - Auburn at Xavier (8:00) Sat. - Dec. 6 - Boston College at Massachusetts (8:30) Sat. - Jan. 3 - Vanderbilt at Massachusetts (5:00) Thu. - Jan. 8 - Saint Louis at Xavier (8:00) Thu. - Jan. 15 - Xavier at Rhode Island (8:00) Sun. - Jan. 18 - Charlotte at Saint Joseph's (4:00) Thu. - Jan. 22 - Saint Louis at Temple (8:00) Thu. - Jan. 29 - Saint Louis at Dayton (8:00) Sun. - Feb. 8 - Saint Joseph's at Massachusetts (3:00) Wed. - Feb. 18 - Saint Joseph's at Saint Louis (10:00) Thu. - Mar. 5 - Saint Joseph's at Temple (7:00)
Expectations were high at TBS, especially with both Chicago and Los Angeles teams involved at the time, along with the huge markets Boston and Philadelphia bring to the table.
Some theories blame the late starting time for the games from Los Angeles, while others blame the V.P. debates on the prime viewing Thursday night. While some of that might be true, I find another reason for the reported 20.2% decline in TBS' first round coverage when compared with last year.
The "tradition" of TBS isn't there. TBS blew it again all season this year by not having a consistent start time for all of their Sunday telecasts. True, they do not have the ability to move the starting time of the game they feature, and that hurts. But those fans that even knew TBS had a game on Sunday could tune in at the exact same time each week and not always see a game in progress. Instead they see a movie or comedy with no idea that sports is coming up. I think this carried over the post-season. I'm here to tell you that people tuned into the ESPN and their regional cable channel (such as Fox or Comcast) and when they didn't see baseball, they didn't realize the games were on TBS. When TBS lost the Braves and the Hawks telecasts, they lost their image as a place to go for live sports.
I received several inquiries from friends asking where they could find the games. I'll be curious to see how much Fox dominates TBS in the upcoming League Championship Series ratings. So you don't have to ask, the telecast schedule is among those shown below.
While baseball's teams won't be announcing any personnel matters until after the World Series, some broadcast booths are already in the news. The end of an era in Pittsburgh, again. Not the following that Bob Prince had years ago, but after 33 seasons, Lanny Frattare has decided to retire. His tenure was longer than that of Prince. He reportedly considered reducing to home games only but surprised the Pirates with his decision, coming after more than 5,000 broadcasts. Frattare had been the number one radio voice since Milo Hamilton left Pittsburgh, and that was following the 1979 season.
The late Joe Nuxhall is again on the ballot for the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award for baseball broadcasting excellence. The old left hander received the most fan votes last year, which was immediately following his death, and now joins Lanny Frattare, Tom Cheek (Expos + Blue Jays) and former Reds and Red Sox voice Ken Coleman among others on the list. Nux is certain to get support from Marty Brennaman, his former broadcast partner, who is among those doing the voting.
While the Baltimore Orioles need to improve on the field, their broadcast team remains solid with the announcement that Gary Thorne returns for TV play-by-play on MASN, while Joe Angel continues on radio. Fans around the country know of Thorne for his excellence on hockey telecasts, along with a few years calling baseball for ESPN.
Speaking of MLB-TV, and many baseball fans still don't realize what a plus this will be, the N Y Times reports that the one game each week they will pick up is no longer limited to Saturday nights, as first reported. Just as the network now is looking at 6 hours each night of studio coverage, they might show some games on Thursday nights instead of Saturdays during certain weeks.
On the college hoops scene, ESPN has signed a new and expanded five year agreement to cover Big West Conference basketball, with a minimum of 12 national telecasts to be scheduled. These include the Thanksgiving tournament in Anaheim next month which will have at least three of the games shown on ESPN.
NEW YORK - While we wait to find out how Mike performs in the ratings without the Mad Dog, we see that WFAN's morning show with Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton is leading in the 25 to 54 age group in the latest reports.
On the New Jersey side, glad to see Jody McDonald returning to the 9 AM to 1 PM shift on ESPN 950. Jody returns after undergoing quadruple bypass surgery just six weeks ago. He will now be joined by Harry Mayes as co-host, moving up from having co-hosted the 7 to 11 PM shift with Dan Schwartzman. The station isn't saying whether or not this is a permanent thing or to ensure continuity in the event of health concerns about McDonald, but I think it is the latter.
HOUSTON - While the Rockets radio broadcasts will soon begin featuring Craig Ackerman as the new radio voice, his previous role as studio host for the broadcasts has been given to Adam Wexler. The Rockets are one of very few NBA teams with a Spanish broadcast, with Adrian Chavarria returning to call the games on KEYH 850 this season.
St. LOUIS - The "Movin'" WMVN 101.1 FM which moves to sports talk at the first of the year, has announced its afternoon drive host. Randy Karraker will bring more than 20 years in the market to this position, having talked sports at KMOX back in 1987. The station is also expected to bring in a co-host to work along with Randy. He will continue with high school sports play-by-play on Charter Cable in addition.
TEXAS - The local Baylor football fans will not be able to see their Oct. 18th game against Oklahoma State, as the game will not be televised on either a local or network basis. Those fans outside of the immediate area will be able to follow the game, as the school announced that this game will air on Sirius Satellite and on BaylorBears.com. John Morris, J.J. Joe, and Ricky Thompson, will have the call.
Texas Christian University has announced a wonderful innovation. The school's KTCU 88.7 FM has added a high school football game of the week to air between 7 and 10 PM each Friday, with students producing the on-air content. Everybody wins, from the high schools having games featured on radio to the fans that get to hear them to the students getting the learning experience of a lifetime. I taught sportscasting at Columbia College Chicago for 7 semesters and can tell you first hand how wonderful the experience is for a student to get play-by-play training on the job. TCU alum Trey Fallon is among those who have already made this career move. Fallon produces pre and post-game shows for Cowboys and Mavericks broadcasts on 103.3 ESPN Radio.
KANSAS CITY - Congrats to Chiefs' voice Mitch Holthus, now in his 15th season as the voice of the Chiefs. He will be inducted on Sunday into the Kansas Assn. of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
MILWAUKEE - Now that the Brewers are done for the season, the Sunday TV and radio competition goes completely back to football. In Milwaukee, that seems to now mean the Packers and Brett Favre's Jets games.
This past Sunday (Oct. 5), the Packers telecast whipped the Brewers being eliminated by the Phillies on Milwaukee TV by better than a 2-to-1 margin. And for this, WTMJ Radio chose the Brewers broadcast ahead of the Packers. This after the Saturday Game 3 Brewers telecast finished as the ratings leader in Milwaukee, easily whipping the Ohio State football game.
Back to Favre this coming Sunday (Oct. 12), as WDJT-TV carries the Jets vs. Cincinnati, and has also scheduled the Jets vs. Kansas City on Oct. 26th.
HAMPTON - John Castleberry is out as afternoon host on The Game 1490 and also on Virginia Beach's 102.1 FM as of last Friday Oct. 3rd. He was able to finish his final show after breaking the news early in what turned out to be his final show, which included his putting callers on the air to voice their displeasure. Co-host Nick Halda was also released.
SANDUSKY - We can say that management of WLEC Sports 1450 was literally in a Fogg about morning drive. Almost two weeks ago, they let Sports Director Mark Fogg go in a cost-cutting move. After 33 years with the station. As of next Monday (Oct. 13), the morning show returns, with Fogg hired back as host. No word as to whether or not the "re-hiring" is for the same money. Ouch. The Bob Dylan line "20 years of schooling and they put you on the day shift" seems to come into play here.
For those who like to have these, and I'm one of those people myself, here are the schedules for the MLB Championship Series, national telecasts for the NBA regular season which starts in 3 weeks (other than NBA-TV) through the month of November, and the Atlantic 10 Conference national college hoops schedule:
National League Championship Series (All Games on Fox)Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Philadelphia PhilliesGame 1/LA at Philadelphia - Thursday, October 9, 8:22 p.m.
Game 2/LA at Philadelphia - Friday, October 10, 4:35 p.m.
Game 3/Philadelphia at LA - Sunday, October 12, 8:22 p.m.
Game 4/Philadelphia at LA - Monday, October 13, 8:22 p.m.
Game 5/Philadelphia at LA - Wednesday, October, 15, 8:22 p.m. (if necessary)
Game 6/LA at Philadelphia - Friday, October 17, 8:22 p.m. (if necessary)
Game 7/LA at Philadelphia - Saturday, October, 18, 8:22 p.m. (if necessary)
MLB on Fox Studio - Jeanne Zelasko/Kevin Kennedy/Eric KarrosFox - Joe Buck/Tim McCarver/Ken RosenthalESPN Radio - Dan Shulman/Dave Campbell
American League Championship Series (All Games on TBS)Boston Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay
RaysGame 1/Red Sox at Tampa Bay - Friday, October 10, 8:37 p.m.
Game 2/Red Sox at Tampa Bay - Saturday, October 11, 8:07 p.m.
Game 3/Tampa Bay at Red Sox - Monday, October 13, 4:37 p.m.
Game 4/Tampa Bay at Red Sox - Tuesday, October 14, 8:07 p.m.
Game 5/Tampa Bay at Red Sox - Thursday, October 16, 8;07 p.m. (if necessary)
Game 6/Red Sox at Tampa Bay - Saturday, October 18, 4:37 p.m. (if necessary)
Game 7/Red Sox at Tampa Bay - Sunday, October 18, 8:07 p.m. (if necessary)
MLB on Deck - Ernie Johnson, Jr., Dennis Eckersley, Harold Reynolds, Cal Ripken, Jr.TBS - Chip Caray/Buck Martinez/Ron Darling/Craig SagerESPN Radio - Jon Miller/Joe Morgan
NBA regular season national telecasts - not including NBA-TV, through November:
TUESDAY, OCT. 28 8:00: Cleveland at Boston TNT10:30: Portland at L.A. Lakers TNT
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 29 8:00: Phoenix at San Antonio ESN10:30: L.A. Lakers at L.A. Clippers ESN
THURSDAY, OCT. 30 8:00: Houston at Dallas TNT10:30: New Orleans at Phoenix TNT
FRIDAY, OCT. 31 8:00: Chicago at Boston ESN10:30: San Antonio at Portland ESN
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 5 8:00: Chicago at Cleveland ESN10:30: Denver at Golden State ESN
THURSDAY, NOV. 6 8:00: Philadelphia at Orlando TNT10:30: Houston at Portland TNT
FRIDAY, NOV. 7 8:00: Miami at San Antonio ESN10:30: Dallas at Denver ESN
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 12 8:00: Utah at Washington ESN10:30: Houston at Phoenix ESN
THURSDAY, NOV. 13 7:00: Denver at Cleveland TNT9:30: Dallas at Chicago TNT
FRIDAY, NOV. 14 8:00: Denver at Boston ESN10:30: Detroit at L.A. Lakers ESN
SATURDAY, NOV. 15 8:30: Indiana at Chicago WGN
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 19 8:00: Dallas at Houston ESN10:30: Chicago at Portland ESN
THURSDAY, NOV. 20 8:00: Detroit at Boston TNT10:30: L.A. Lakers at Phoenix TNT
FRIDAY, NOV. 21 7:00: Houston at Washington ESN9:30: New Orleans at Oklahoma City ESN
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 26 7:30: Orlando at Philadelphia ESN10:00:
THURSDAY, NOV. 27 8:00: Orlando at Washington TNT10:30: New Orleans at Denver TNT
FRIDAY, NOV. 28 8:00: Miami at Phoenix ESN10:30: Dallas at L.A. Lakers ESN
Atlantic 10 Conference Men's Hoops:
ESPN Tue. - Nov. 18 - Massachusetts at Memphis (12:00)
Tue. - Nov. 18 - Richmond at Syracuse (6:00)
Tue. - Nov. 25 - Saint Joseph's vs. Indiana/Notre Dame* (TBA)
Wed. - Nov. 26 - Saint Joseph's at Maui Invitational# (TBA)
Fri. - Nov. 28 - Duquesne at Duke (3:00)
Sat. - Dec. 13 - Tennessee at Temple (12:00) Sat. - Dec. 13 - Massachusetts at Kansas (2:00)
*May be aired on ESPNU depending on outcome of previous game #May be aired on ESPN2 or ESPNU depending on outcome of previous game
ESPN/ESPN2
Thu. - Feb. 5 - Temple at Xavier (7:00)
Thu. - Feb. 12 - Temple at Saint Joseph's (7:00)
Thu. - Feb. 19 - Xavier at Charlotte (7:00)
Thu. - Feb. 26 - Xavier at Saint Joseph's (7:00)
Thu. - Mar. 5 - Dayton at Xavier (9:00)
Network designation to be determined at a later date
ESPN2
Fri. - Nov. 21 - Xavier vs. Fairfield/Virginia Tech* (TBA)
Sun. - Nov. 23 - Xavier at Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic* (TBA)
Mon. - Nov. 24 - Saint Joseph's vs. Texas (3:00)
Fri. - Nov. 28 - Charlotte vs. Baylor/ Providence* (TBA)
Sun. - Nov. 30 - Charlotte at Anaheim Classic* (TBA)
Thu. - Dec. 11 - Saint Joseph's at Villanova (8:00)
Sat. - Dec. 13 - Xavier at Cincinnati (8:00)
Sat. - Dec. 20 - Temple at Kansas (2:30)
Sat. - Jan. 17 - Temple at Massachusetts (7:00) Sat. -
Jan. 24 - Xavier at Louisiana State (8:00)
Wed. - Feb. 11 - Xavier at Dayton (7:00) Sat. -
Mar. 14 - Atlantic 10 Championship Final (6:00)
*May be aired on ESPNU depending on outcome of previous game
ESPNU Sun. - Nov. 16 - Rhode Island at Duke (4:30) Thu. - Nov. 20 - Xavier vs. Missouri (1:00) Fri. - Nov. 21 - Xavier vs. Fairfield/Virginia Tech* (TBA) Thu. - Nov. 27 - Charlotte vs. Arizona State (9:00) Sat. - Dec. 13 - Virginia Commonwealth at Richmond (2:00) Sun. - Dec. 14 - Villanova at La Salle (7:00) Fri. - Dec. 19 - Wake Forest at Richmond (7:00) Tue. - Dec. 23 - Butler at Xavier (7:00) Sat. - Jan. 24 - Charlotte at Temple (6:00) Mon. - Dec. 29 - Temple at Villanova (7:00) Sat. - Jan. 31 - Massachusetts at Xavier (12:00)
*May be aired on espn360.com depending on outcome of previous game
CBS Sat. - Dec. 20 - Xavier vs. Duke (2:00)
CBS College Sports Network Wed. - Dec. 3 - Auburn at Xavier (8:00) Sat. - Dec. 6 - Boston College at Massachusetts (8:30) Sat. - Jan. 3 - Vanderbilt at Massachusetts (5:00) Thu. - Jan. 8 - Saint Louis at Xavier (8:00) Thu. - Jan. 15 - Xavier at Rhode Island (8:00) Sun. - Jan. 18 - Charlotte at Saint Joseph's (4:00) Thu. - Jan. 22 - Saint Louis at Temple (8:00) Thu. - Jan. 29 - Saint Louis at Dayton (8:00) Sun. - Feb. 8 - Saint Joseph's at Massachusetts (3:00) Wed. - Feb. 18 - Saint Joseph's at Saint Louis (10:00) Thu. - Mar. 5 - Saint Joseph's at Temple (7:00)
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Sports Media Report - Sept. 30 update
If TBS wants to better brand their baseball coverage in year 2 of their post-season package, they have overlooked one aspect of their coverage. With playoff pairings not determined until the last minute, the first concern of many baseball fans on the Monday morning before the post-season starts is the schedule of the games. Fans want to know what days and times for whichever Division Series games they are most interested in.
Yet, through Monday and into Tuesday afternoon, there doesn't seem to be any schedule on the TBS site. Not even an easy-to-find link to the info about their coverage. While it is true they have a "MLB page" with news and features, they don't have their schedule of telecasts. I had to go elsewhere to get it. Not everybody has the patience I do. As of now not one pitch has been thrown in any of the Division Series, and I see absolutely no reason to return to the TBS.com web site.
Let that be a note to sports radio stations. Have the scheduling information available on your web site as soon as possible. It's a reason to keep fans coming back.
For those still struggling with the TBS schedule, they will have all of the Division Series games. Chip Caray and Buck Martinez handle the Red Sox vs. Angels; Dick Stockton, Ron Darling, and Tony Gwynn will call the Dodgers vs. Cubs; Milwaukee vs. Philadelphia get the Brewers' announcer Brian Anderson along with Joe Simpson plus John Smoltz; while the Tampa series will be called by Don Orsillo and Harold Reynolds. Orsillo is one of the Red Sox TV voices during the season. Go figure. Philadelphia gets the Brewers' announcer while the Red Sox announcer does a different series.
NEW YORK: This off-season will be interesting for the Mets. Not only because of their failure to make the playoffs at the last minute again. Because this past Sunday's finale may have been the team's final broadcast on 66 WFAN. No new deal has been announced. Could be the station and the team calling each other's bluff. WFAN awaits the results of Mike without the Mad Dog during the fall ratings. The Mets would either face a lesser signal (such as ESPN 1050 and its reduced signal at night) or being on a station without a sports identity to support the broadcasts.
If that is the case, my thinking is the Mets could be the ones that lose this gamble. They should not overlook that the Yankees broadcasts are now carried on WCBS 880, which is a sister station to WFAN. CBS Radio in Chicago switched its Chicago Bears NFL broadcasts a few years back to WBBM 780 AM. If the Yankees radio contract with WCBS includes the option for another station upon approval, this could be a move to replace the Mets with the Yankees on WFAN. Stay tuned.
SAN FRANCISCO - A well deserved honor this Wednesday (Oct. 1) for Don Klein, the sports voice of KCBS for nearly 30 years. The 84 year young Klein is among those being inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame. NFL fans remember Klein's radio call of "The Catch" by Dwight Clark during his six seasons of 49ers play-by-play. Don also called Stanford football for 25 seasons.
Also honored will be Bob Fouts, also a former voice of the 49ers. If only his last name is familiar, you will be interested to know that he is the father of Hall of Fame QB Dan Fouts.
The third of the major honorees is being inducted years too late. Russ Hodges, who passed away more than 30 years ago, will be honored for his play-by-play of the San Francisco Giants from 1958 through 1970. Long time baseball fans know of Hodges, if not by name. The 1951 playoff call "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" was Hodges while calling the N.Y. Giants. Another honoree is Roy Storey, who pioneered hockey broadcasts in the Bay Area calling Charlie Finley's NHL Oakland Seals once upon a time.
SAN DIEGO - While the Padres are likely to make some on the field changes for 2009, the team has already announced their radio broadcast team will remain as is. Ageless Jerry Coleman will again be joined by Ted Leitner for the 30th year, with Leitner signing a two year deal with a club option for a third. Andy Masur will remain on board for his third season with the crew.
OKLAHOMA CITY - The new NBA Thunder have a TV deal in place just as training camp opens. Fox Sports Net Oklahoma has been formed and will air 65 Thunder games this season to begin a multi-year contract. The Network also plans live pre and post-game shows along with a weekly magazine style program. However, nothing yet about an over-the-air TV deal, although only a few games would be available for this season.
From a marketing point of view, this is a high risk. The Thunder appear to be banking (literally) on how quickly their season tickets sold out and the high demand for single game tickets, figuring they don't need the additional marketing that over-the-air TV brings. If the team disappoints and the novelty wears off after a couple of seasons, the team will not have done all it could to develop an additional fan base.
In the past, much of Oklahoma was getting Dallas Mavericks local telecasts. Those will continue to be available in Oklahoma beyond a 75 mile radius of Oklahoma City when there are no Thunder telecasts.
SALT LAKE - Speaking of future NBA marketing concerns, the Utah Jazz will only show 14 regular season telecasts on over-the-air TV (plus any regional or national games carried on ABC-TV). What makes this so odd is that KJZZ Channel 14 is also owned by Larry Miller, and this same TV station showed, count 'em, 40 games last season. FSN Utah has increased to 60 telecasts for the coming season.
RALEIGH - WDNC 620 The Bull adds Bomani Jones weekdays from 10 AM to 1 PM after being a part-time host for two years. Jones is known primarily for his writing skills, such as for ESPN.com and the Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel. This will be a test to see if he can adapt to live radio.
CHEYENNE - He will forever be the "Voice of the Wyoming Cowboys" even after his passing last Saturday (Sept. 27). Larry Birleffi called Wyoming games for more than 50 years, including football and basketball. He was seen nationally on several occasions years ago on segments for ABC-TV Wide World of Sports. Locally, he was part owner of KFBC Radio Cheyenne and wrote a column for the Wyoming Tribune for 37 of those years. His passing comes months after his 90th birthday.
Yet, through Monday and into Tuesday afternoon, there doesn't seem to be any schedule on the TBS site. Not even an easy-to-find link to the info about their coverage. While it is true they have a "MLB page" with news and features, they don't have their schedule of telecasts. I had to go elsewhere to get it. Not everybody has the patience I do. As of now not one pitch has been thrown in any of the Division Series, and I see absolutely no reason to return to the TBS.com web site.
Let that be a note to sports radio stations. Have the scheduling information available on your web site as soon as possible. It's a reason to keep fans coming back.
For those still struggling with the TBS schedule, they will have all of the Division Series games. Chip Caray and Buck Martinez handle the Red Sox vs. Angels; Dick Stockton, Ron Darling, and Tony Gwynn will call the Dodgers vs. Cubs; Milwaukee vs. Philadelphia get the Brewers' announcer Brian Anderson along with Joe Simpson plus John Smoltz; while the Tampa series will be called by Don Orsillo and Harold Reynolds. Orsillo is one of the Red Sox TV voices during the season. Go figure. Philadelphia gets the Brewers' announcer while the Red Sox announcer does a different series.
NEW YORK: This off-season will be interesting for the Mets. Not only because of their failure to make the playoffs at the last minute again. Because this past Sunday's finale may have been the team's final broadcast on 66 WFAN. No new deal has been announced. Could be the station and the team calling each other's bluff. WFAN awaits the results of Mike without the Mad Dog during the fall ratings. The Mets would either face a lesser signal (such as ESPN 1050 and its reduced signal at night) or being on a station without a sports identity to support the broadcasts.
If that is the case, my thinking is the Mets could be the ones that lose this gamble. They should not overlook that the Yankees broadcasts are now carried on WCBS 880, which is a sister station to WFAN. CBS Radio in Chicago switched its Chicago Bears NFL broadcasts a few years back to WBBM 780 AM. If the Yankees radio contract with WCBS includes the option for another station upon approval, this could be a move to replace the Mets with the Yankees on WFAN. Stay tuned.
SAN FRANCISCO - A well deserved honor this Wednesday (Oct. 1) for Don Klein, the sports voice of KCBS for nearly 30 years. The 84 year young Klein is among those being inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame. NFL fans remember Klein's radio call of "The Catch" by Dwight Clark during his six seasons of 49ers play-by-play. Don also called Stanford football for 25 seasons.
Also honored will be Bob Fouts, also a former voice of the 49ers. If only his last name is familiar, you will be interested to know that he is the father of Hall of Fame QB Dan Fouts.
The third of the major honorees is being inducted years too late. Russ Hodges, who passed away more than 30 years ago, will be honored for his play-by-play of the San Francisco Giants from 1958 through 1970. Long time baseball fans know of Hodges, if not by name. The 1951 playoff call "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" was Hodges while calling the N.Y. Giants. Another honoree is Roy Storey, who pioneered hockey broadcasts in the Bay Area calling Charlie Finley's NHL Oakland Seals once upon a time.
SAN DIEGO - While the Padres are likely to make some on the field changes for 2009, the team has already announced their radio broadcast team will remain as is. Ageless Jerry Coleman will again be joined by Ted Leitner for the 30th year, with Leitner signing a two year deal with a club option for a third. Andy Masur will remain on board for his third season with the crew.
OKLAHOMA CITY - The new NBA Thunder have a TV deal in place just as training camp opens. Fox Sports Net Oklahoma has been formed and will air 65 Thunder games this season to begin a multi-year contract. The Network also plans live pre and post-game shows along with a weekly magazine style program. However, nothing yet about an over-the-air TV deal, although only a few games would be available for this season.
From a marketing point of view, this is a high risk. The Thunder appear to be banking (literally) on how quickly their season tickets sold out and the high demand for single game tickets, figuring they don't need the additional marketing that over-the-air TV brings. If the team disappoints and the novelty wears off after a couple of seasons, the team will not have done all it could to develop an additional fan base.
In the past, much of Oklahoma was getting Dallas Mavericks local telecasts. Those will continue to be available in Oklahoma beyond a 75 mile radius of Oklahoma City when there are no Thunder telecasts.
SALT LAKE - Speaking of future NBA marketing concerns, the Utah Jazz will only show 14 regular season telecasts on over-the-air TV (plus any regional or national games carried on ABC-TV). What makes this so odd is that KJZZ Channel 14 is also owned by Larry Miller, and this same TV station showed, count 'em, 40 games last season. FSN Utah has increased to 60 telecasts for the coming season.
RALEIGH - WDNC 620 The Bull adds Bomani Jones weekdays from 10 AM to 1 PM after being a part-time host for two years. Jones is known primarily for his writing skills, such as for ESPN.com and the Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel. This will be a test to see if he can adapt to live radio.
CHEYENNE - He will forever be the "Voice of the Wyoming Cowboys" even after his passing last Saturday (Sept. 27). Larry Birleffi called Wyoming games for more than 50 years, including football and basketball. He was seen nationally on several occasions years ago on segments for ABC-TV Wide World of Sports. Locally, he was part owner of KFBC Radio Cheyenne and wrote a column for the Wyoming Tribune for 37 of those years. His passing comes months after his 90th birthday.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Sports Media Update - September 25th
Unfortunately, we start off with a sad note. Former New York Giants radio analyst Dick Lynch passed away at age 72 on Wednesday following treatment for Leukemia. Lynch was a star at cornerback for the Giants during the early 60's and also played for the Washington Redskins prior. He began radio commentary for the Giants 40 seasons ago. He will be missed, but at least he goes 'up there' with his Giants as defending champs.
Meanwhile, TBS is gearing up for its post-season baseball coverage which begins next week. Their executives have to be the happiest TV people on earth, considering the possibility (at press time) of having 2 Los Angeles and 2 Chicago teams featured in the first round, along with the New York Mets and Boston. For that matter, we'd have to include Tampa Bay in the mix. Even if attendance at Rays home games is embarassing, Rays' TV ratings have increased as much as 95% during the course of the now concluding regular season.
TBS is expected to unveil their plans for additional on-site reporters on Thursday (Sept. 25th) along with expanded pre-game and online coverage with live blogging from baseball experts. The network will show all four first round series followed by the ALCS.
The arrival of October also means the start of TV scheduling for college basketball. ESPN is going to pull an all-nighter for the students (and many an alum!) who want it all when the regular season tips off. The network has planned to follow its Monday Night Football NFL telecast on Nov. 17th (technically Nov. 18 at 12:05 AM) with none other than Memphis hosting U-Mass in their season opener, as shown live.
But it doesn't stop there. At 2 AM ET they will televise the midnight PT start of St. Mary's hosting Fresno State, with Hawaii hosting Idaho State at 4 AM ET. Yes, these will all be live. Tuesday Nov. 18th will then feature live games starting again at 10 AM ET and leading into the Kentucky vs. North Carolina telecast in prime time at 9 PM. Seriously.
The college football primary telecasts have been selected for Saturday Oct. 4th. CBS has selected Kentucky-Alabama as its SEC national telecast. ESPN will show the Auburn vs. Vanderbilt game later that same day, with Nebraska vs. Missouri as its prime-time choice. The Florida-Arkansas game early that afternoon will be shown on Raycom.
NEW YORK - I'm glad to see that the closing ceremonies at Yankee Stadium and the game itself were well received and drew solid ratings in the NYC area. ESPN did a tremendous job with the event, making it special even for those who are not Yankees fans. They captured it as a special moment for all of baseball, which it was. Thanks!
LOS ANGELES - Best wishes to radio sports veteran Joe McDonnell, now with 570 KLAC. Big Joe is recovering nicely from a dislocated shoulder. Speaking of radio veterans, Rich Marotta celebrates 17 years with KFI 640. Both have been a part of the L.A. radio and media scene for more than 20 years. I first met Marotta when he was Sports Director of then oldies KRLA and worked with the legendary Bill King on L.A. Raiders football broadcasts.
ATHENS - Let's make this a positive. Congratulations to 86 year old Georgia play-by-play legend Larry Munson. He decided to retire earlier this week and will not call the Georgia-Alabama game this Saturday after all. Munson had been calling the home games for the past couple years after 40+ years of tremendous service. Scott Howard, who had been calling the road games, will now handle all play-by-play, with former Georgia QB Eric Zeier on commentary. Howard also takes over the Monday night coaches show on the University of Georgia radio network. Definitely the end of an era, and my only disappointment is that this story did not receive more play in the media.
St. LOUIS - WMVN will be "movin" from music to all-sports as of the first of the year. The station is expected to switch to holiday music in November and begin ESPN sports programming on its 100,000 watt signal on or after New Year's Day.
AKRON - Tony Bruno's upcoming syndicated show will be carried live at 10 PM on WARF SportsRadio 1350. Normally not a big deal. But it is deja vu for Bruno in a big way. This station has already carried Bruno's show when he was ESPN Radio, then when he with on Fox Sports Radio, and most recently brought him back again via Sporting News Radio. He will start on WARF on October 6th. The station also carries Dan Patrick live middays via the same syndicator.
MILWAUKEE - Brett Favre TV might not last as long as thought in the Milwaukee market. Thus far all 3 Jets games have been shown in Milwaukee, including this past Monday (Sept. 22) night vs. San Diego. The Monday night telecast showed a 42% drop from the average ratings from the first 2 Sunday telecasts, even though the Monday game was unopposed by other football. In fact, the previous Monday's Philadelpha-Dallas game had a higher rating in Milwaukee.
We'll have to wait for the next chance, as the Jets will not be shown in Milwaukee for the first time this season this coming Sunday (Sept. 28). This is due to Fox having their telecast, but it conflicts with the Packers vs. Tampa game.
PHILLY - Time flies when you are having fun. Would you believe it? WIP Sports Radio celebrates its 20th anniversary. Congrats!
ALBANY - WFOX 980 will be making a change in their 3 to 6 PM show starting October 6th, as they replace Fox Sports' Chris Myers afternoon show. No problem there. Until you learn that it is to replace it with Dan Patrick's syndicated show. Obviously, still no local programming in afternoon drive. To make matters worse, Patrick's show will be on a 6 hour tape delay. And they start this during the MLB Division Series, airing at a time when there could be one or two weekday afternoon games the first three days of that very week. Games that Patrick would be previewing. Sure wish I had a client station in the Albany market going after men 18-54 in afternoon drive.
Meanwhile, TBS is gearing up for its post-season baseball coverage which begins next week. Their executives have to be the happiest TV people on earth, considering the possibility (at press time) of having 2 Los Angeles and 2 Chicago teams featured in the first round, along with the New York Mets and Boston. For that matter, we'd have to include Tampa Bay in the mix. Even if attendance at Rays home games is embarassing, Rays' TV ratings have increased as much as 95% during the course of the now concluding regular season.
TBS is expected to unveil their plans for additional on-site reporters on Thursday (Sept. 25th) along with expanded pre-game and online coverage with live blogging from baseball experts. The network will show all four first round series followed by the ALCS.
The arrival of October also means the start of TV scheduling for college basketball. ESPN is going to pull an all-nighter for the students (and many an alum!) who want it all when the regular season tips off. The network has planned to follow its Monday Night Football NFL telecast on Nov. 17th (technically Nov. 18 at 12:05 AM) with none other than Memphis hosting U-Mass in their season opener, as shown live.
But it doesn't stop there. At 2 AM ET they will televise the midnight PT start of St. Mary's hosting Fresno State, with Hawaii hosting Idaho State at 4 AM ET. Yes, these will all be live. Tuesday Nov. 18th will then feature live games starting again at 10 AM ET and leading into the Kentucky vs. North Carolina telecast in prime time at 9 PM. Seriously.
The college football primary telecasts have been selected for Saturday Oct. 4th. CBS has selected Kentucky-Alabama as its SEC national telecast. ESPN will show the Auburn vs. Vanderbilt game later that same day, with Nebraska vs. Missouri as its prime-time choice. The Florida-Arkansas game early that afternoon will be shown on Raycom.
NEW YORK - I'm glad to see that the closing ceremonies at Yankee Stadium and the game itself were well received and drew solid ratings in the NYC area. ESPN did a tremendous job with the event, making it special even for those who are not Yankees fans. They captured it as a special moment for all of baseball, which it was. Thanks!
LOS ANGELES - Best wishes to radio sports veteran Joe McDonnell, now with 570 KLAC. Big Joe is recovering nicely from a dislocated shoulder. Speaking of radio veterans, Rich Marotta celebrates 17 years with KFI 640. Both have been a part of the L.A. radio and media scene for more than 20 years. I first met Marotta when he was Sports Director of then oldies KRLA and worked with the legendary Bill King on L.A. Raiders football broadcasts.
ATHENS - Let's make this a positive. Congratulations to 86 year old Georgia play-by-play legend Larry Munson. He decided to retire earlier this week and will not call the Georgia-Alabama game this Saturday after all. Munson had been calling the home games for the past couple years after 40+ years of tremendous service. Scott Howard, who had been calling the road games, will now handle all play-by-play, with former Georgia QB Eric Zeier on commentary. Howard also takes over the Monday night coaches show on the University of Georgia radio network. Definitely the end of an era, and my only disappointment is that this story did not receive more play in the media.
St. LOUIS - WMVN will be "movin" from music to all-sports as of the first of the year. The station is expected to switch to holiday music in November and begin ESPN sports programming on its 100,000 watt signal on or after New Year's Day.
AKRON - Tony Bruno's upcoming syndicated show will be carried live at 10 PM on WARF SportsRadio 1350. Normally not a big deal. But it is deja vu for Bruno in a big way. This station has already carried Bruno's show when he was ESPN Radio, then when he with on Fox Sports Radio, and most recently brought him back again via Sporting News Radio. He will start on WARF on October 6th. The station also carries Dan Patrick live middays via the same syndicator.
MILWAUKEE - Brett Favre TV might not last as long as thought in the Milwaukee market. Thus far all 3 Jets games have been shown in Milwaukee, including this past Monday (Sept. 22) night vs. San Diego. The Monday night telecast showed a 42% drop from the average ratings from the first 2 Sunday telecasts, even though the Monday game was unopposed by other football. In fact, the previous Monday's Philadelpha-Dallas game had a higher rating in Milwaukee.
We'll have to wait for the next chance, as the Jets will not be shown in Milwaukee for the first time this season this coming Sunday (Sept. 28). This is due to Fox having their telecast, but it conflicts with the Packers vs. Tampa game.
PHILLY - Time flies when you are having fun. Would you believe it? WIP Sports Radio celebrates its 20th anniversary. Congrats!
ALBANY - WFOX 980 will be making a change in their 3 to 6 PM show starting October 6th, as they replace Fox Sports' Chris Myers afternoon show. No problem there. Until you learn that it is to replace it with Dan Patrick's syndicated show. Obviously, still no local programming in afternoon drive. To make matters worse, Patrick's show will be on a 6 hour tape delay. And they start this during the MLB Division Series, airing at a time when there could be one or two weekday afternoon games the first three days of that very week. Games that Patrick would be previewing. Sure wish I had a client station in the Albany market going after men 18-54 in afternoon drive.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Sports Media Update - September 19th
Every baseball fan either loves or dislikes the Yankees. Yet, either way, there will be a touch of sadness this Sunday when the final game is played at the "real" Yankee Stadium.
One good thing about it is how much ESPN is stepping up to the plate with extensive national coverage, above and beyond televising the game itself on Sunday Night Baseball. ESPN promises more than 7 hours of content, including specials such as ESPN2 televising the extended pre-game ceremonies live at 7 PM ET on Sunday, one hour before the game telecast on ESPN.
Then, Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra are among the special guests in the broadcast booth. (I will try and restrain from going ballistic over ESPN announcing that Billy Crystal will also be among the guests, since in all honesty Crystal had nothing to do with true Yankees or baseball history.) ESPNews will televise the post-game ceremonies as well. Great move.
Meanwhile, TBS announced its broadcaster roster for its Division Series and ALCS coverage. The play-by-play voices will be Chip Caray (who has handled the TBS American League East - oooops, I mean Sunday Baseball telecasts all season), Dick Stockton, Red Sox play-by-play man Don Orsillo and Brewers announcer Brian Anderson. Analysts will include Ron Darling and Buck Martinez who have shared the Sunday duties this season, along with Tony Gwynn and Joe Simpson. Harold Reynolds will also participate in the TBS telecasts, along with Cal Ripken and Dennis Eckersley. Current Tigers outfielder Curtis Granderson has also been hired as a studio contributor.
Again this season, in the event of a game running over into the start of the next game, the playoff game which is starting will start on TNT and switch over to TBS when its then current game is completed.
As much as I oppose pay-per-view of sports events, especially college games, I'm sure I'll be complaining about it for years to come if Nebraska fans continue their collective pace. The University of Nebraska Athletic Department reports an estimated 50,000 pay-per-view buys just for the Huskers' opener against Western Michigan. At $29.95 a pop. The Department makes approximately $300,000 from that telecast alone. The school could literally generate more revenue when they do pay-per-view than when one of the networks picks up their games, which is more likely as the season progresses.
Personally, I am not against these games being televised. As a consumer paying an exhorbitant amount to a cable company each month for channels I don't want, I think I should be provided with these games at little or no additional cost.
While Nebraska fans are forking up the big bucks, Missouri fans caught a financial break last Saturday (Sept. 13). They didn't have to pay their $29.95 to watch the Missouri vs. Nevada game after all. FSN Midwest added this game to their regular schedule while maintaining the scheduled 11:35 AM kickoff. Wish there was a better reason, as it was due to Hurricane Ike and the originally scheduled Baylor vs. Washington State game having been moved up.
The week before, an unknown number of fans reportedly got a blank screen until late first quarter after paying Charter Communications their $29.95 to watch the Missouri vs. Southeast Missouri State telecast. The game was all but decided by the time they got the feed. Gee, thanks.
CHICAGO - Congrats to Steve Stone, who will move from the White Sox radio booth this season over to the TV booth starting next spring on a multi-year contract. At least Stone has already been quoted as saying he will not get involved with the annoying "Put it on the board - yes" homerun call of Ken Harrelson, which Darrin Jackson has been doing.
Despite the White Sox having their best season since 2005, White Sox TV ratings have been down again this year. One needs only to listen to one to figure out why. It will be interesting to see if people with put up with Harrelson to hear the excellent analysis by Stone.
OKLAHOMA CITY - Congrats to former Chicagoan and Northwestern University grad Brian Davis on being named as the TV play-by-play voice of the NBA Oklahoma City Thunder. Davis was FSN Northwest studio host of Seattle SuperSonics telecasts last season, and will be joined by analyst Grant Long. The relocated franchise plans to televise every regular season game it can (all except national TV or blackout restrictions). That is provided the Thunder completes negotiation for its TV arrangements. Still no local station yet, although the word is that FSN Southwest will handle the cable telecasts.
KYAL 97.1 FM and its 100,000 watt signal will air the games on radio. As of now radio voice Matt Pinto, who came with the team from Seattle, is slated to call the games solo. Could be another instance where a team's telecasts have several people on the air while radio has one person, even though the audience can see what is happening on the TV but gets only one viewpoint over the radio. Go figure.
WASHINGTON D.C. - Speaking of NBA play-by-play, the new Baltimore-Washington Fox Sports 1370 AM has officially acquired the play-by-play of the Wizards.
INDIANAPOLIS - WFNI 1070 "The Fan" will soon be able to offer its listeners an insight into Indiana Hoosiers basketball that no other station can offer. And expand their local programming middays. Dan Dakich, who served as the interim coach of the Hoosiers replacing Kelvin Sampson last season and was not rehired, begins as host of the 10 AM to 1 PM slot on October 6th. Dakich had a successful trial run on the station with Pacers voice Mark Boyle and then agreed to become the midday host. The station will drop ESPN's Colin Cowherd.
TRENTON - Sports Talk WBUD 1260 is out at home. The station was sold to Domestic Church Media Foundation, which began an all religious format this week (on Sept. 15th).
ALBANY - WMRZ 98.1 FM now has a weekly show focused on athletics at Albany State University. The "ASU Coaches' Corner" is hoted by Fred Suttles. This is a nice idea. So what's wrong with this picture? The time. This show airs on Thursdays. At 12:50 PM. I must have missed the data showing that students, fans, and alumni are available to listen once a week during lunch hour.
BOISE - Boise State basketball broadcasts have added Abe Jackson as analyst starting for the coming season. The games will air in Boise on KIDO, as well as on 580kido.com.
Meanwhile, 30+ year sportscaster Tony Bruno offers up a new syndicated late night sports show starting on Sept. 29th. The show is scheduled to air from 10 PM to 1 AM ET and will originate from a west coast location as offered via Content Factory. This could work well if the sports station that air tape delayed programming late night pick up Bruno to have fresh and live discussion and recaps of the night's games.
One good thing about it is how much ESPN is stepping up to the plate with extensive national coverage, above and beyond televising the game itself on Sunday Night Baseball. ESPN promises more than 7 hours of content, including specials such as ESPN2 televising the extended pre-game ceremonies live at 7 PM ET on Sunday, one hour before the game telecast on ESPN.
Then, Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra are among the special guests in the broadcast booth. (I will try and restrain from going ballistic over ESPN announcing that Billy Crystal will also be among the guests, since in all honesty Crystal had nothing to do with true Yankees or baseball history.) ESPNews will televise the post-game ceremonies as well. Great move.
Meanwhile, TBS announced its broadcaster roster for its Division Series and ALCS coverage. The play-by-play voices will be Chip Caray (who has handled the TBS American League East - oooops, I mean Sunday Baseball telecasts all season), Dick Stockton, Red Sox play-by-play man Don Orsillo and Brewers announcer Brian Anderson. Analysts will include Ron Darling and Buck Martinez who have shared the Sunday duties this season, along with Tony Gwynn and Joe Simpson. Harold Reynolds will also participate in the TBS telecasts, along with Cal Ripken and Dennis Eckersley. Current Tigers outfielder Curtis Granderson has also been hired as a studio contributor.
Again this season, in the event of a game running over into the start of the next game, the playoff game which is starting will start on TNT and switch over to TBS when its then current game is completed.
As much as I oppose pay-per-view of sports events, especially college games, I'm sure I'll be complaining about it for years to come if Nebraska fans continue their collective pace. The University of Nebraska Athletic Department reports an estimated 50,000 pay-per-view buys just for the Huskers' opener against Western Michigan. At $29.95 a pop. The Department makes approximately $300,000 from that telecast alone. The school could literally generate more revenue when they do pay-per-view than when one of the networks picks up their games, which is more likely as the season progresses.
Personally, I am not against these games being televised. As a consumer paying an exhorbitant amount to a cable company each month for channels I don't want, I think I should be provided with these games at little or no additional cost.
While Nebraska fans are forking up the big bucks, Missouri fans caught a financial break last Saturday (Sept. 13). They didn't have to pay their $29.95 to watch the Missouri vs. Nevada game after all. FSN Midwest added this game to their regular schedule while maintaining the scheduled 11:35 AM kickoff. Wish there was a better reason, as it was due to Hurricane Ike and the originally scheduled Baylor vs. Washington State game having been moved up.
The week before, an unknown number of fans reportedly got a blank screen until late first quarter after paying Charter Communications their $29.95 to watch the Missouri vs. Southeast Missouri State telecast. The game was all but decided by the time they got the feed. Gee, thanks.
CHICAGO - Congrats to Steve Stone, who will move from the White Sox radio booth this season over to the TV booth starting next spring on a multi-year contract. At least Stone has already been quoted as saying he will not get involved with the annoying "Put it on the board - yes" homerun call of Ken Harrelson, which Darrin Jackson has been doing.
Despite the White Sox having their best season since 2005, White Sox TV ratings have been down again this year. One needs only to listen to one to figure out why. It will be interesting to see if people with put up with Harrelson to hear the excellent analysis by Stone.
OKLAHOMA CITY - Congrats to former Chicagoan and Northwestern University grad Brian Davis on being named as the TV play-by-play voice of the NBA Oklahoma City Thunder. Davis was FSN Northwest studio host of Seattle SuperSonics telecasts last season, and will be joined by analyst Grant Long. The relocated franchise plans to televise every regular season game it can (all except national TV or blackout restrictions). That is provided the Thunder completes negotiation for its TV arrangements. Still no local station yet, although the word is that FSN Southwest will handle the cable telecasts.
KYAL 97.1 FM and its 100,000 watt signal will air the games on radio. As of now radio voice Matt Pinto, who came with the team from Seattle, is slated to call the games solo. Could be another instance where a team's telecasts have several people on the air while radio has one person, even though the audience can see what is happening on the TV but gets only one viewpoint over the radio. Go figure.
WASHINGTON D.C. - Speaking of NBA play-by-play, the new Baltimore-Washington Fox Sports 1370 AM has officially acquired the play-by-play of the Wizards.
INDIANAPOLIS - WFNI 1070 "The Fan" will soon be able to offer its listeners an insight into Indiana Hoosiers basketball that no other station can offer. And expand their local programming middays. Dan Dakich, who served as the interim coach of the Hoosiers replacing Kelvin Sampson last season and was not rehired, begins as host of the 10 AM to 1 PM slot on October 6th. Dakich had a successful trial run on the station with Pacers voice Mark Boyle and then agreed to become the midday host. The station will drop ESPN's Colin Cowherd.
TRENTON - Sports Talk WBUD 1260 is out at home. The station was sold to Domestic Church Media Foundation, which began an all religious format this week (on Sept. 15th).
ALBANY - WMRZ 98.1 FM now has a weekly show focused on athletics at Albany State University. The "ASU Coaches' Corner" is hoted by Fred Suttles. This is a nice idea. So what's wrong with this picture? The time. This show airs on Thursdays. At 12:50 PM. I must have missed the data showing that students, fans, and alumni are available to listen once a week during lunch hour.
BOISE - Boise State basketball broadcasts have added Abe Jackson as analyst starting for the coming season. The games will air in Boise on KIDO, as well as on 580kido.com.
Meanwhile, 30+ year sportscaster Tony Bruno offers up a new syndicated late night sports show starting on Sept. 29th. The show is scheduled to air from 10 PM to 1 AM ET and will originate from a west coast location as offered via Content Factory. This could work well if the sports station that air tape delayed programming late night pick up Bruno to have fresh and live discussion and recaps of the night's games.
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