We still have no idea how much the shut down of sports will impact the media over the months and years to come. So much to think about, but plenty of time to do so.
It is pure speculation about how this will impact the sports media in the long run. All we know is that there is likely to be a major impact.
As of press time, it appears it could be months, rather than weeks, before sports as we know it is able to fully resume. Since teams are not able to practice together, it is likely that players will return with a huge variation in their physical condition. It is quite possible that players not typically counted upon will be in better condition and perform better than some all stars normally would.
Consequently, a lot of fans may not take resumptions of the NBA and NHL seasons (if that happens) seriously. That could negatively alter the ratings for the post-season. Fans might not be as eager to watch knowing that the outcome of the current seasons would be tainted in comparison with previous seasons.
In addition, the delayed start for MLB and the possible "regular" start for the NFL could see skyrocketing ratings in comparison. However, all of the sports, also including golf, auto racing, and soccer, could combine for an overload of live sports after nothing new for weeks.
This will be a concern for advertisers, who may opt to cut back on expenses in order to cover lost sales and employee revenue, forcing the networks (national, regional, and local) which televise the games to take a financial hit.
There is more to consider. Pro sports teams are currently making big money as a result of TV rights. Before all of this happened, reports had Comcast and Charter losing approximately 250,000 subscribers during just the 4th quarter of 2019. Economics are likely to dictate more consumers reducing or eliminating cable/satellite fees in order to better handle the economic crisis.
Another important factor is that ESPN reportedly is required (again - required) to provide a minimum amount of "premium" sports content to justify its higher fees to cable/satellite providers and subscribers. As a result, ESPN faces a financial hit if and as the shutdown of sports continues for months.
If fans can't afford to attend the games or subscribe to cable/satellite to watch them, advertisers need to reduce their spending in order to recover, and businesses and corporations can't afford season tickets and luxury suites, teams will lose significant revenue.
Meanwhile, sports radio will suffer over the next couple of ratings periods. Markets such as Boston, where two sports stations consistently appear in the top 10, and Milwaukee with four competing sports stations, are among the many that will see an impact in ratings, and likely advertising revenue to go along with it.
I had planned to write about how the networks such as MLB Network, NHL Network, and NBA Network are making the best of the situation with replays of past games. It's not easy for them to face the challenges of suddenly having no programming when they had hours of live coverage and analysis already in place.
However, the bigger concern is how close things will get to "normal" over the next few years for the sports media, the sports fans, and for all of us around the world.
Hopefully we'll be back with The Broadcast Booth very soon.
Friday, March 20, 2020
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Oakland Listeners Take It Up The A's
How disappointing that the Oakland A's are so frustrated with their radio broadcast situation that they couldn't even create their own deal with a radio station for the new season. The A's have struggled to be on the air on several occasions over the years, including starting one season on a college station.
The team was "unable to come to terms" with KTRB 860 which carried A's broadcasts last season. We don't know whether the station no longer wanted the broadcasts since they did not fit the format, or if the A's were not willing to make the investment to purchase the time. That doesn't really matter.
Instead, the team has announced that in the Oakland area, the only way (as of now) to hear the broadcasts will be to stream them. A's officials were quoted as saying they think this is the way to go by streaming instead of over the air. It may be the way to go to help the bank account instead.
As one who grew up before cable and internet and depended on radio for hundreds of hours of live baseball every year, this is especially disturbing. That doesn't even count my years as a radio sportscaster when radio was king of sports coverage and how much this news hurts.
Although the team claims streaming is the way to go, Bay Area listeners will continue to have the Spanish broadcasts on KIOI 1010. It would be interesting to get an explanation as to why Spanish listeners still get radio broadcasts but those that do not speak Spanish do not.
The lack of an English broadcast is only in the Oakland area. The 10 stations on the A's radio network, including KHTK Sacramento, KFPT 790 Fresno, and KESP 970 in Modesto, will continue to carry the regular broadcasts. Of course, baseball fans that subscribe to At Bat will be able to hear Ken Korach and Vince Cotroneo on play-by-play as usual.
Only fans in the immediate Oakland area would need to stream the primary English broadcast.
One more irony to the situation is that KGMZ-FM The Game, which aired the A's from 2011 to 2018, is finally enjoying respectable ratings after struggling against KNBR 680 for so many years.
The fear is that other teams hurting for radio deals would start going only to streaming, and consequently provide radio listeners with still ANOTHER reason that they no longer need to listen.
Meanwhile, TV ratings for the current NBA season continue to be cause for concern. Ratings for the first half of the season show the local RSN's down roughly 13%, while national telecast ratings have dipped about 12% overall. Although the San Antonio Spurs have the highest local ratings this season, those figures are down approximately 20% from last season.
Another pain point for the NBA ratings is that the N Y Knicks and Brooklyn Nets are two of the seven lowest rated telecasts this season. The Atlanta Hawks ratings have actually increased by more than 48% this season. However, the Hawks' ratings are also in the bottom seven. (Memphis, Utah, and Toronto market ratings were not available for this research.)
NBCSN has decided to observe International Women's Day on March 8th with an all female crew calling the St. Louis at Chicago NHL telecast. Kate Scott will handle play-by-play with Kendall Coyne-Schofield and A.J. Mleczko (both Olympic Gold Medalists) as analysts. Kathryn Tappen will anchor the studio coverage.
CHICAGO: The Marquee Network signed on the air on Saturday (2/22) as the Chicago Cubs network, airing the team's spring training opener, and with limited availability. So far, subscribers of AT&T, DirecTV, and other providers offering the service, have not seen an increase in monthly fees, but they are mostly under existing contracts.
WGN-TV, which does not currently have any baseball on its schedule for the first time in more than 70 years, is returning to live local sports. The station signed to air 24 Chicago Fire soccer telecasts starting in March. This is all that is available to them, since the Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Sox are all exclusive to NBC Sports Chicago after last season, depriving WGN-TV of its year round sports packages.
PHILADELPHIA: Nothing official as of press time but the word is that former Phillies GM Ruben Amaro is being signed as a studio analyst for Phillies telecasts on NBC Sports Philadelphia in time for the regular season. Adding to the speculation of Amaro becoming a member of the local media was Amaro's recent appearance on Angelo Cataldi's morning show on WIP-FM. The sports station is part of the recently announced shared content plan.
KANSAS CITY: Fox Sports Kansas City has reportedly extended its deal for Royals telecasts for at least 10 years after its deal with the team had expired last fall. This figured to happen, given the local situation. The Royals need a TV partner to provide millions in revenue and exposure of all of their games, while Fox Sports needs the content for its spring and summer programming.
The network will continue to provide live fall and winter content airing selected Oklahoma City Thunder and St. Louis Blues telecasts.
ATLANTA: Fox Sports South and Southeast has brought in Kelly Crull as sideline reporter for its Braves telecasts. Crull comes over from NBC Sports Chicago and similar duties on Chicago Cubs telecasts.
The team was "unable to come to terms" with KTRB 860 which carried A's broadcasts last season. We don't know whether the station no longer wanted the broadcasts since they did not fit the format, or if the A's were not willing to make the investment to purchase the time. That doesn't really matter.
Instead, the team has announced that in the Oakland area, the only way (as of now) to hear the broadcasts will be to stream them. A's officials were quoted as saying they think this is the way to go by streaming instead of over the air. It may be the way to go to help the bank account instead.
As one who grew up before cable and internet and depended on radio for hundreds of hours of live baseball every year, this is especially disturbing. That doesn't even count my years as a radio sportscaster when radio was king of sports coverage and how much this news hurts.
Although the team claims streaming is the way to go, Bay Area listeners will continue to have the Spanish broadcasts on KIOI 1010. It would be interesting to get an explanation as to why Spanish listeners still get radio broadcasts but those that do not speak Spanish do not.
The lack of an English broadcast is only in the Oakland area. The 10 stations on the A's radio network, including KHTK Sacramento, KFPT 790 Fresno, and KESP 970 in Modesto, will continue to carry the regular broadcasts. Of course, baseball fans that subscribe to At Bat will be able to hear Ken Korach and Vince Cotroneo on play-by-play as usual.
Only fans in the immediate Oakland area would need to stream the primary English broadcast.
One more irony to the situation is that KGMZ-FM The Game, which aired the A's from 2011 to 2018, is finally enjoying respectable ratings after struggling against KNBR 680 for so many years.
The fear is that other teams hurting for radio deals would start going only to streaming, and consequently provide radio listeners with still ANOTHER reason that they no longer need to listen.
Meanwhile, TV ratings for the current NBA season continue to be cause for concern. Ratings for the first half of the season show the local RSN's down roughly 13%, while national telecast ratings have dipped about 12% overall. Although the San Antonio Spurs have the highest local ratings this season, those figures are down approximately 20% from last season.
Another pain point for the NBA ratings is that the N Y Knicks and Brooklyn Nets are two of the seven lowest rated telecasts this season. The Atlanta Hawks ratings have actually increased by more than 48% this season. However, the Hawks' ratings are also in the bottom seven. (Memphis, Utah, and Toronto market ratings were not available for this research.)
NBCSN has decided to observe International Women's Day on March 8th with an all female crew calling the St. Louis at Chicago NHL telecast. Kate Scott will handle play-by-play with Kendall Coyne-Schofield and A.J. Mleczko (both Olympic Gold Medalists) as analysts. Kathryn Tappen will anchor the studio coverage.
CHICAGO: The Marquee Network signed on the air on Saturday (2/22) as the Chicago Cubs network, airing the team's spring training opener, and with limited availability. So far, subscribers of AT&T, DirecTV, and other providers offering the service, have not seen an increase in monthly fees, but they are mostly under existing contracts.
WGN-TV, which does not currently have any baseball on its schedule for the first time in more than 70 years, is returning to live local sports. The station signed to air 24 Chicago Fire soccer telecasts starting in March. This is all that is available to them, since the Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Sox are all exclusive to NBC Sports Chicago after last season, depriving WGN-TV of its year round sports packages.
PHILADELPHIA: Nothing official as of press time but the word is that former Phillies GM Ruben Amaro is being signed as a studio analyst for Phillies telecasts on NBC Sports Philadelphia in time for the regular season. Adding to the speculation of Amaro becoming a member of the local media was Amaro's recent appearance on Angelo Cataldi's morning show on WIP-FM. The sports station is part of the recently announced shared content plan.
KANSAS CITY: Fox Sports Kansas City has reportedly extended its deal for Royals telecasts for at least 10 years after its deal with the team had expired last fall. This figured to happen, given the local situation. The Royals need a TV partner to provide millions in revenue and exposure of all of their games, while Fox Sports needs the content for its spring and summer programming.
The network will continue to provide live fall and winter content airing selected Oklahoma City Thunder and St. Louis Blues telecasts.
ATLANTA: Fox Sports South and Southeast has brought in Kelly Crull as sideline reporter for its Braves telecasts. Crull comes over from NBC Sports Chicago and similar duties on Chicago Cubs telecasts.
Friday, February 14, 2020
One, Two, Three And Out For Dallas Afternoons
More comings and goings than usual in the sports media this week. And an important "staying" to start.
Marc Kestecher has a multi-year contract extension to remain as the lead play-by-play voice of ESPN Radio. This includes the NBA Finals and "lead" playoff broadcasts, along with NFL and NCAA basketball and football year round.
NEW YORK: WQBU 92.7 will now air the Mets Spanish language broadcasts, which will be produced by flagship station WCBS 880. Max Perez Jiminez, Nestor Rosario, and Juan Alicea will continue. This move of to a different station is a result of the discontinuance of ESPN Deportes on 1050 AM, which had previously aired the games.
DALLAS: Afternoons are quite the story for Dallas sports radio!
103.5 The Fan has added Bryan Broaddus to its 2 to 7 PM show starting on Monday (2/17). Broaddus has been hosting the station's Cowboys pre and post-game coverage. As a result, Mike Bacsik will move to the midday show, K&C Masterpiece.
The Ticket KTCK-AM and Sportsradio 96.7 are also making an addition to their afternoon show, which airs from 3:00 to 7 PM. Bob Sturm takes over as co-host with Corby Davidson. The opening was created by the January retirement of long time host Mike Rhyner. As a result, Jake Kemp, who had been a producer, replaces Sturm on the Noon to 3 PM show and will co-host with Dan McDowell.
Over at KEGL-FM 97.1, Ben Rogers and Jeff 'Skin' Wade just began their afternoon show within the past week. The pair had left KRLD-FM back in October.
PHILADELPHIA: WCAU-TV Channel 10 and Telemundo Channel 62 have a new content partnership which includes sports. This partnership includes KWY 1060, which no longer partners with Channel 3. WIP-FM 94.1 is included within the partnership, with the specifics still to come (as of press time).
CHICAGO: What is 'coming' is the Marquee Network on Feb. 22nd, but as of press time it is still "discussions" with larger carriers such as Comcast. It is still AT&T, DirecTV, and smaller systems which have signed on. The network has added Mark Grace as another of its part-time analysts, along with reporter Elise Menaker, who will continue her work at Big Ten Network, also based in the Chicago area.
Meanwhile, Luke Stuckmeyer, formerly of NBC Sports Chicago, has joined WBBM-TV Channel 2 as a sports anchor and reporter. Stuckmeyer had been with NBC Sports Chicago (formerly Comcast SportsNet) since its inception in 2004.
NASHVILLE: Still no official word, as of press time, on the morning show for 102.5 The Game to replace Braden Gall and (former Titan) Derrick Mason. The pair are no longer with the station for reasons not yet known. They posted on social media that they are no longer hosting the morning show while the station simultaneously removed references to them from its web site.
NORFOLK: WTAR 850/96.5 has dropped its local morning show and added Rich Eisen's Fox Sports Show instead. Odd timing given Eisen's emphasis on the NFL and the season just ending. However, this appears to be due to Bob Matthews wanting out as host. Matthews is a producer at WNIS 790 and has reportedly been given an additional workload during this election year. As a result, the Nick Cattles show on ESPN 94.1 from 3 to 6 PM is now the only locally produced weekday sports radio show in the market.
PIERRE SD: Best wishes to Rod Fisher, who has announced his retirement at the end of May. Fisher finishes his incredible 44 year run as a sportscaster, going back to joining KCCR Radio in the late 70's. He was Sports Director of the Dakota Radio Group for 29 years, along with doing countless high school play-by-play broadcasts.
Marc Kestecher has a multi-year contract extension to remain as the lead play-by-play voice of ESPN Radio. This includes the NBA Finals and "lead" playoff broadcasts, along with NFL and NCAA basketball and football year round.
NEW YORK: WQBU 92.7 will now air the Mets Spanish language broadcasts, which will be produced by flagship station WCBS 880. Max Perez Jiminez, Nestor Rosario, and Juan Alicea will continue. This move of to a different station is a result of the discontinuance of ESPN Deportes on 1050 AM, which had previously aired the games.
DALLAS: Afternoons are quite the story for Dallas sports radio!
103.5 The Fan has added Bryan Broaddus to its 2 to 7 PM show starting on Monday (2/17). Broaddus has been hosting the station's Cowboys pre and post-game coverage. As a result, Mike Bacsik will move to the midday show, K&C Masterpiece.
The Ticket KTCK-AM and Sportsradio 96.7 are also making an addition to their afternoon show, which airs from 3:00 to 7 PM. Bob Sturm takes over as co-host with Corby Davidson. The opening was created by the January retirement of long time host Mike Rhyner. As a result, Jake Kemp, who had been a producer, replaces Sturm on the Noon to 3 PM show and will co-host with Dan McDowell.
Over at KEGL-FM 97.1, Ben Rogers and Jeff 'Skin' Wade just began their afternoon show within the past week. The pair had left KRLD-FM back in October.
PHILADELPHIA: WCAU-TV Channel 10 and Telemundo Channel 62 have a new content partnership which includes sports. This partnership includes KWY 1060, which no longer partners with Channel 3. WIP-FM 94.1 is included within the partnership, with the specifics still to come (as of press time).
CHICAGO: What is 'coming' is the Marquee Network on Feb. 22nd, but as of press time it is still "discussions" with larger carriers such as Comcast. It is still AT&T, DirecTV, and smaller systems which have signed on. The network has added Mark Grace as another of its part-time analysts, along with reporter Elise Menaker, who will continue her work at Big Ten Network, also based in the Chicago area.
Meanwhile, Luke Stuckmeyer, formerly of NBC Sports Chicago, has joined WBBM-TV Channel 2 as a sports anchor and reporter. Stuckmeyer had been with NBC Sports Chicago (formerly Comcast SportsNet) since its inception in 2004.
NASHVILLE: Still no official word, as of press time, on the morning show for 102.5 The Game to replace Braden Gall and (former Titan) Derrick Mason. The pair are no longer with the station for reasons not yet known. They posted on social media that they are no longer hosting the morning show while the station simultaneously removed references to them from its web site.
NORFOLK: WTAR 850/96.5 has dropped its local morning show and added Rich Eisen's Fox Sports Show instead. Odd timing given Eisen's emphasis on the NFL and the season just ending. However, this appears to be due to Bob Matthews wanting out as host. Matthews is a producer at WNIS 790 and has reportedly been given an additional workload during this election year. As a result, the Nick Cattles show on ESPN 94.1 from 3 to 6 PM is now the only locally produced weekday sports radio show in the market.
PIERRE SD: Best wishes to Rod Fisher, who has announced his retirement at the end of May. Fisher finishes his incredible 44 year run as a sportscaster, going back to joining KCCR Radio in the late 70's. He was Sports Director of the Dakota Radio Group for 29 years, along with doing countless high school play-by-play broadcasts.
Friday, February 7, 2020
Sunday and Monday Night Booth Changes?
Still another job impacted by the Astros cheating scandal, except that this time it involves a member of the sports media. Jessica Mendoza, known much more for her role on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball in recent years than for her employment as a "special advisor" to the Mets, has made changes.
In addition to resigning from her role with the Mets, the NY Post reports that Mendoza is officially out of the Sunday Night Baseball booth. This comes after Mendoza guested on three separate ESPN shows to repeat specific opinions about the Astros scandal including pointing a finger at pitcher Mike Fiers.
While Mendoza received a contract extension from ESPN and is expected to continue her analyst role, such as making appearances on SportsCenter and the rarely produced "Baseball Tonight". There had already been rumblings of ESPN making changes in the Sunday Night Baseball booth again.
Although Alex Rodriguez will be back, it is still not certain if Matt Vasgersian will return to handle play-by-play or not. Unfortunately, Vasgersian has not been able to maintain a natural flow as the Sunday Night voice, often coming up far below his excellent play-by-play skills demonstrated elsewhere over the years. The recent threesome spent more time trying to be clever and blend together than focusing on the game at hand.
With spring training telecasts only a couple of weeks away, an announcement should be coming soon. Possibilities include Karl Ravich or Jason Sciambi moving over.
On the NFL side, reports continue that ESPN is considering a much needed change in its Monday Night Football crew. While rumors of the network making a play for Tony Romo to come over as lead game analyst, reports have former QB Jay Cutler having meetings with ESPN. Cutler was going to join Fox in 2017 when he was signed by the Dolphins for one last season as a player.
NBC has announced that three of its Notre Dame football telecasts later this year have been moved to prime time. The first one will be on Saturday October 3rd with Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin. What makes this special is that the telecast will come from Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Many fans forget that Curly Lambeau played his college football at Notre Dame.
The other two prime time games announced will be Oct. 10th vs. Stanford and Nov. 7th vs. Clemson, both from South Bend.
SAN FRANCISCO: The Giants' TV plans have been announced, with Mike Krukow calling 103 telecasts this season along with Duane Kuiper. This includes all home games, plus 22 road games against N.L. West opponents. However, Krukow, wishing to cut back his travel (he and Kuiper have worked together for more than 25 years), will be in the TV studio calling the road games while Kuiper will be at the stadium.
By doing so, Krukow will be able to call almost as many games (six fewer) than he did last year.
Meanwhile, KSFN-AM 1150 is turning to Spanish language sports radio this month. In addition to full-time sports programming, the station will air play-by-play of English Premier League soccer.
CHICAGO: The retirement of Kyle Long from the NFL's Chicago Bears just might lead to following his father's (Howie) footsteps once again. Long auditioned as a co-host on WMVP ESPN 1000 this week on its late morning local show with David Kaplan and did an excellent job.
Former WSCR The Score 670 morning co-host Brian Hanley has joined WMVP ESPN 1000 in a part-time role. Hanley has been off the air in Chicago since being forced out of WSCR's morning show in July 2018 after 26 years with that station. He starts this weekend (Feb. 8th) as a co-host of the station's hockey show, focusing on the Blackhawks, airing at 9 AM each Saturday.
In addition to resigning from her role with the Mets, the NY Post reports that Mendoza is officially out of the Sunday Night Baseball booth. This comes after Mendoza guested on three separate ESPN shows to repeat specific opinions about the Astros scandal including pointing a finger at pitcher Mike Fiers.
While Mendoza received a contract extension from ESPN and is expected to continue her analyst role, such as making appearances on SportsCenter and the rarely produced "Baseball Tonight". There had already been rumblings of ESPN making changes in the Sunday Night Baseball booth again.
Although Alex Rodriguez will be back, it is still not certain if Matt Vasgersian will return to handle play-by-play or not. Unfortunately, Vasgersian has not been able to maintain a natural flow as the Sunday Night voice, often coming up far below his excellent play-by-play skills demonstrated elsewhere over the years. The recent threesome spent more time trying to be clever and blend together than focusing on the game at hand.
With spring training telecasts only a couple of weeks away, an announcement should be coming soon. Possibilities include Karl Ravich or Jason Sciambi moving over.
On the NFL side, reports continue that ESPN is considering a much needed change in its Monday Night Football crew. While rumors of the network making a play for Tony Romo to come over as lead game analyst, reports have former QB Jay Cutler having meetings with ESPN. Cutler was going to join Fox in 2017 when he was signed by the Dolphins for one last season as a player.
NBC has announced that three of its Notre Dame football telecasts later this year have been moved to prime time. The first one will be on Saturday October 3rd with Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin. What makes this special is that the telecast will come from Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Many fans forget that Curly Lambeau played his college football at Notre Dame.
The other two prime time games announced will be Oct. 10th vs. Stanford and Nov. 7th vs. Clemson, both from South Bend.
SAN FRANCISCO: The Giants' TV plans have been announced, with Mike Krukow calling 103 telecasts this season along with Duane Kuiper. This includes all home games, plus 22 road games against N.L. West opponents. However, Krukow, wishing to cut back his travel (he and Kuiper have worked together for more than 25 years), will be in the TV studio calling the road games while Kuiper will be at the stadium.
By doing so, Krukow will be able to call almost as many games (six fewer) than he did last year.
Meanwhile, KSFN-AM 1150 is turning to Spanish language sports radio this month. In addition to full-time sports programming, the station will air play-by-play of English Premier League soccer.
CHICAGO: The retirement of Kyle Long from the NFL's Chicago Bears just might lead to following his father's (Howie) footsteps once again. Long auditioned as a co-host on WMVP ESPN 1000 this week on its late morning local show with David Kaplan and did an excellent job.
Former WSCR The Score 670 morning co-host Brian Hanley has joined WMVP ESPN 1000 in a part-time role. Hanley has been off the air in Chicago since being forced out of WSCR's morning show in July 2018 after 26 years with that station. He starts this weekend (Feb. 8th) as a co-host of the station's hockey show, focusing on the Blackhawks, airing at 9 AM each Saturday.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
The Marquee Battle Just Beginning
The December into the first weekend of the New Year radio ratings are not among the most important, but did show a couple of interesting trends. Atlanta's WZGC 92.9 The Game continues its impressive rise, having added more than 40% to its overall ratings since June.
We also saw the expected impact in some NFL markets, especially Minneapolis/St. Paul. Vikings flagship KFXN finished #1 in the market, which made it the only all sports radio station in the country to achieve that distinction. The Ravens' great regular season finish spurred Baltimore's WJZ-FM to rise by more than one-half of a ratings point for the month. Philadelphia's WIP-FM also increased overall for a top three market position.
CHICAGO: It's now officially less than one month before Marquee, the new Chicago Cubs TV Network, makes its scheduled debut on Feb. 22nd. The Network has added some nationally known analysts as contributors as well, including Rick Sutcliffe, Doug Glanville, Dan Plesac, Ryan Dempter, Mark DeRosa, and Carlos Pena (all former Cubs players). In addition, Lou Pinella will appear occasionally as an analyst.
However, as of press time, the AT&T family of providers and several smaller cable providers such as RCN are the only ones to sign up to carry the Network. With Comcast Xfinity not signed up, this means that roughly 40% of the Chicago market would be able to get Marquee. The significant difference from the Los Angeles Dodgers TV situation is that fans are able to subscribe to an AT&T outlet from the majority of locations. Comcast could very well be waiting to gauge the number of subscribers it loses to AT&T before making a decision, but continues to own a large part of NBC Sports Chicago, which shows all White Sox games available to it.
Faced with no over-the-air pro sports for the first time in more than 70 years, WGN-TV is taking an interesting approach toward serving the baseball fans without cable or satellite, along with its local audience. Starting on Monday (1/28), WGN-TV will present a live half hour sports recap Monday through Friday nights at 10:30 PM, following its local news. Many stations in Chicago and around the country do this on Sunday nights to feature NFL highlights. It will be interesting to see how the ratings go for this weeknight attempt.
Shea Peppler is out after almost two years as sports reporter and weekend anchor at WFLD-TV, along with contributions on WMVP ESPN 1000. Peppler is moving east to join her husband, who is ESPN anchor Jordan Cornette.
PHILADELPHIA: In addition to wonderful ratings just released, a nice honor for WIP-FM's long time morning man Angelo Cataldi. He celebrated his 30th Anniversary with the station by earning the Bill Campbell Broadcast Award for excellence in broadcasting.
CLEVELAND: Congrats to Matt Fishman on being named Director of Content at WKNR ESPN. Fishman has served as Sports Director at WSCR The Score in Chicago and Program Director at KCSP Kansas City.
We also saw the expected impact in some NFL markets, especially Minneapolis/St. Paul. Vikings flagship KFXN finished #1 in the market, which made it the only all sports radio station in the country to achieve that distinction. The Ravens' great regular season finish spurred Baltimore's WJZ-FM to rise by more than one-half of a ratings point for the month. Philadelphia's WIP-FM also increased overall for a top three market position.
CHICAGO: It's now officially less than one month before Marquee, the new Chicago Cubs TV Network, makes its scheduled debut on Feb. 22nd. The Network has added some nationally known analysts as contributors as well, including Rick Sutcliffe, Doug Glanville, Dan Plesac, Ryan Dempter, Mark DeRosa, and Carlos Pena (all former Cubs players). In addition, Lou Pinella will appear occasionally as an analyst.
However, as of press time, the AT&T family of providers and several smaller cable providers such as RCN are the only ones to sign up to carry the Network. With Comcast Xfinity not signed up, this means that roughly 40% of the Chicago market would be able to get Marquee. The significant difference from the Los Angeles Dodgers TV situation is that fans are able to subscribe to an AT&T outlet from the majority of locations. Comcast could very well be waiting to gauge the number of subscribers it loses to AT&T before making a decision, but continues to own a large part of NBC Sports Chicago, which shows all White Sox games available to it.
Faced with no over-the-air pro sports for the first time in more than 70 years, WGN-TV is taking an interesting approach toward serving the baseball fans without cable or satellite, along with its local audience. Starting on Monday (1/28), WGN-TV will present a live half hour sports recap Monday through Friday nights at 10:30 PM, following its local news. Many stations in Chicago and around the country do this on Sunday nights to feature NFL highlights. It will be interesting to see how the ratings go for this weeknight attempt.
Shea Peppler is out after almost two years as sports reporter and weekend anchor at WFLD-TV, along with contributions on WMVP ESPN 1000. Peppler is moving east to join her husband, who is ESPN anchor Jordan Cornette.
PHILADELPHIA: In addition to wonderful ratings just released, a nice honor for WIP-FM's long time morning man Angelo Cataldi. He celebrated his 30th Anniversary with the station by earning the Bill Campbell Broadcast Award for excellence in broadcasting.
CLEVELAND: Congrats to Matt Fishman on being named Director of Content at WKNR ESPN. Fishman has served as Sports Director at WSCR The Score in Chicago and Program Director at KCSP Kansas City.
Saturday, January 18, 2020
A "Sign" Of Radio Things To Come
The past week might be best remembered for the number of major shocking stories and how the sports media was a part of them.
Several major sports radio shows were lost (with at least one brought back as of press time) due to corporate decisions instead of ratings or on-air controversy. The major cutbacks by iHeart Radio will negatively impact a lot for the over the air radio audience, which could prove devastating in the long run. Their stations in many key markets were forced to cut back, hurting their chances to try to regain audiences who have already taken to alternative sources as it is.
Sports fans in Louisville were hit hard with the sudden and immediate cancellation of Paul Rogers from the WHAS 820 morning show. Rogers had been a part of the morning show for most of his 47 years with the station. He does, however, continue as play-by-play voice for the University of Louisville. In fact, Rogers was out of town to call a game when he got the news. Also hard it in Louisville was WKRD 790, which airs the U. of Louisville games along with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Des Moines listeners raised enough of a protest after the announced firing of The Sports Fanatics with Ross Peterson and Chris Williams that the station brought them back within the week. The pair will return on Tuesday (1/21) to KXNO. This was based on what management termed "thousands of listeners expressing their support". In addition, although it is really to cut back programming costs for a sister station, KXNO-AM will now be simulcast on the more powerful 106.3 FM.
With these major cutbacks, much more than sports programming was effected around the country. Thus, even more FM and AM stations continue to provide listeners with even more reasons to listen less and less to conventional radio stations as we knew them.
Meanwhile, the aftermath of the Astros and the sign stealing penalties also took their toll in the media. Few fans knew before this past week that ESPN's Jessica Mendoza also worked for the N.Y. Mets. It became quite obvious when Mendoza appeared on three different ESPN TV and radio shows on the same day to try and defend Carlos Beltran before he and the Mets parted ways.
Mendoza is, understandably, receiving heavy criticism for her stand, leading to speculation that ESPN could or should remove her from her Sunday Night Baseball role. Perhaps ESPN deserves the criticism instead, for having her make the same comments on three different shows. Obviously trying to stir the pot, which may have backfired for all concerned.
Rich Eisen of the NFL Network may be changing affiliation for his separate weekday radio show. This is due to The Audience Network on DirecTV being removed (in favor of a different channel), which would also end the current simulcast on Fox Sports Radio Network. At the same time of this announcement, Eisen claims that he is lining up a different broadcast partner with plans to continue his weekday show.
BOSTON: The Red Sox radio broadcast team on WEEI-FM will continue its rotation of broadcasters for the coming season like it did last season. Joe Castiglione returns as the primary play-by-play voice for his 38th season. In addition, Will Fleming, the play-by-play voice of the Pawtucket Red Sox, will call some games again in 2020.
In addition, Sean McDonough will call some games for the 2nd season, while Lou Merloni, co-host of WEEI-FM's afternoon drive talk show, will also be in the booth on occasion. Just to add more to the mix, Jon "Boog" Sciambi and Dave O'Brien will also take the call for what is termed "select" games.
Several major sports radio shows were lost (with at least one brought back as of press time) due to corporate decisions instead of ratings or on-air controversy. The major cutbacks by iHeart Radio will negatively impact a lot for the over the air radio audience, which could prove devastating in the long run. Their stations in many key markets were forced to cut back, hurting their chances to try to regain audiences who have already taken to alternative sources as it is.
Sports fans in Louisville were hit hard with the sudden and immediate cancellation of Paul Rogers from the WHAS 820 morning show. Rogers had been a part of the morning show for most of his 47 years with the station. He does, however, continue as play-by-play voice for the University of Louisville. In fact, Rogers was out of town to call a game when he got the news. Also hard it in Louisville was WKRD 790, which airs the U. of Louisville games along with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Des Moines listeners raised enough of a protest after the announced firing of The Sports Fanatics with Ross Peterson and Chris Williams that the station brought them back within the week. The pair will return on Tuesday (1/21) to KXNO. This was based on what management termed "thousands of listeners expressing their support". In addition, although it is really to cut back programming costs for a sister station, KXNO-AM will now be simulcast on the more powerful 106.3 FM.
With these major cutbacks, much more than sports programming was effected around the country. Thus, even more FM and AM stations continue to provide listeners with even more reasons to listen less and less to conventional radio stations as we knew them.
Meanwhile, the aftermath of the Astros and the sign stealing penalties also took their toll in the media. Few fans knew before this past week that ESPN's Jessica Mendoza also worked for the N.Y. Mets. It became quite obvious when Mendoza appeared on three different ESPN TV and radio shows on the same day to try and defend Carlos Beltran before he and the Mets parted ways.
Mendoza is, understandably, receiving heavy criticism for her stand, leading to speculation that ESPN could or should remove her from her Sunday Night Baseball role. Perhaps ESPN deserves the criticism instead, for having her make the same comments on three different shows. Obviously trying to stir the pot, which may have backfired for all concerned.
Rich Eisen of the NFL Network may be changing affiliation for his separate weekday radio show. This is due to The Audience Network on DirecTV being removed (in favor of a different channel), which would also end the current simulcast on Fox Sports Radio Network. At the same time of this announcement, Eisen claims that he is lining up a different broadcast partner with plans to continue his weekday show.
BOSTON: The Red Sox radio broadcast team on WEEI-FM will continue its rotation of broadcasters for the coming season like it did last season. Joe Castiglione returns as the primary play-by-play voice for his 38th season. In addition, Will Fleming, the play-by-play voice of the Pawtucket Red Sox, will call some games again in 2020.
In addition, Sean McDonough will call some games for the 2nd season, while Lou Merloni, co-host of WEEI-FM's afternoon drive talk show, will also be in the booth on occasion. Just to add more to the mix, Jon "Boog" Sciambi and Dave O'Brien will also take the call for what is termed "select" games.
Monday, January 6, 2020
NFL Playoffs Benefit From Social Media
The amazing NFL Playoff game on Saturday (1/4) between Houston and Buffalo finished with strong ratings as a larger than expected audience watched the exciting conclusion. This telecast proved to be the highest rated Wild Card game ever on ESPN/ABC, and was up 14% over last year when the Texans played Indianapolis, another small market team.
As impressive as this is, the feeling is that these ratings would not have happened if the same game was 20 years ago. This all shows the power of social media. It was the ratings during the late 4th quarter and overtime which were the strongest during the time period. That shows that more fans tuned in for the outcome.
How did they know? Without social media, as well as group texts, many of the fans who tuned in would not have been alerted 20 years ago. Those watching would not have been able to individually call numerous friends and family members to ask them to tune in. Now, with social media posts and group texts, the opportunity is there to instantly increase an audience.
One other interesting find from these ratings. On the individual markets list, the highest market rating for this game for a market without a local NFL team was Norfolk. While we can understand this Virginia market scoring high ratings for the Redskins (and division rival Cowboys) telecasts, two distant AFC teams would not figure to attract major interest.
Afternoon drive competition is heating up the winter for the major east coast market sports stations as we begin the new year.
In Philadelphia, WPEN 97.5 Sports Fanatic's afternoon show, led by Mike Missanelli (along with Tyrone Johnson and Natalie Egenolf) has just taken the lead over WIP-FM's Marks & Reese. The significance is that WIP-FM is ahead of Sports Fanatic during the other times of the day and night. This December ratings boost comes after WIP-FM led in this time slot for the earlier three quarters of 2019.
Both afternoon shows actually increased their overall ratings by at least 20% over 2018. Missanelli and crew have another advantage, since their show is simulcast over NBC Sports Philadelphia. Those viewership ratings do not count toward the Sports Fanatic audience.
Mornings are a different story in Philly. WIP-FM's Angelo Cataldi, Rhea Hughes, and Al Morganti remain solidly ahead of Marc Farzetta and Tra Thomas on WPEN.
The NYC afternoon battle will be more interesting for the first part of 2020. We begin the year with WEPN's Michael Kay Show leading the way in afternoons, while WFAN begins its revised weekday lineup. Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts officially begin this week as the afternoon team (2 to 6 PM), moving from the midday slot.
They replace Mike Francesa, who remains with WFAN only for his new 6:00 to 6:30 PM show. The first quarter of 2020 will be critical to the afternoon drive battle going into baseball season. While WFAN is the flagship for the Yankees games, Michael Kay, as the play-by-play voice for most Yankees telecasts, has significant access to Yankees content for his show as well.
By the way, WFAN has confirmed that John Sterling will return for Yankees radio play-by-play this year at the age of 81. For the 16th season, he will be joined by Suzyn Waldman on the broadcasts.
In Boston, both WBZ-FM Sports Hub and WEEI-FM dropped overall during the final ratings period of 2019, with Sports Hub holding a one-half ratings point overall lead. Both stations showed higher audiences since September, yet both dropped from the previous ratings period.
With the Patriots losing on Saturday (1/4), and opinions across the board on the future of Tom Brady, look for an increase in audience for both stations. It will be interesting to see if the Sports Hub gains more as the flagship station of the Patriots and its expanded coverage.
CHICAGO: Normally being just over six weeks from the start of MLB Spring Training games is not big news, but the new year continues a most curious scenario for Chicago area baseball viewers. The Cubs are scheduled to begin their new RSN, Marquee "sometime" during February. As of press time, only AT&T and its subsidiaries are the only providers to be signed up to air Marquee. Yet, there has been no indication as to cost to viewers, or if this channel will be "forced" to all appropriate subscribers or become an additional fee option.
Comcast is the largest provider serving the Chicago area, and has not signed up to carry this network. NBC Sports Chicago, which aired the majority of Cubs telecasts through last season, and is now planning to air every available White Sox telecast, is owned in part by Comcast, while the White Sox maintain a partial ownership interest.
It is no coincidence that NBC Sports Chicago programming has been flooded with Comcast's "anti-AT&T" commercials over the past few weeks. Across town, the White Sox have made several major personnel moves to improve the team, while the Cubs have done little with their roster in comparison.
One crucial difference from the Dodgers' TV situation in Los Angeles is that AT&T's service does not have geographic restrictions. In L.A., only about 30% of area residents can get Dodgers telecasts on their channel. If things stay as they are in the Chicago area, the majority of residents would be able to switch or add AT&T (or a subsidiary) to be able to watch the Cubs.
Of course, if the White Sox show improvement, and their telecasts are far more easily accessed, NBC Sports Chicago would do well with advertisers and possibly be lax to add Marquee. The battle for subscribers early in the season could go a long way toward determining an outcome of the upstart network.
Finally, we go back to December 29th when Kevin Harlan was calling the conclusion of the Chiefs' win during Week 17 with the #2 seed in the AFC playoff race at stake. With New England losing during their game's final few minutes, fans watching the Chiefs telecast were more interested in the Patriots result than their own (at the time, since the Chiefs were well ahead).
To his credit, Harlan had the Patriots game on his monitor and was literally calling the play-by-play of the "other" game to viewers while the Chiefs game remained on the screen. Some people were critical of Harlan, thinking he should "stick to the game he is there to call". The Broadcast Booth could not disagree more. What Harlan did was nothing short of brilliant broadcasting.
Harlan was, as a play-by-play professional is supposed to do, telling the fans exactly what they wanted to know at the time. Thanks to him, fans were able to stay up to the second on the Patriots game, while being able to see the Chiefs game at the same time. The crew didn't have to wait and do the "Let's go back to New York" bit after the facts.
Handling two games at the same time is a difficult task. Harlan handled it with ease and did the viewers a great service. We need more like him.
As impressive as this is, the feeling is that these ratings would not have happened if the same game was 20 years ago. This all shows the power of social media. It was the ratings during the late 4th quarter and overtime which were the strongest during the time period. That shows that more fans tuned in for the outcome.
How did they know? Without social media, as well as group texts, many of the fans who tuned in would not have been alerted 20 years ago. Those watching would not have been able to individually call numerous friends and family members to ask them to tune in. Now, with social media posts and group texts, the opportunity is there to instantly increase an audience.
One other interesting find from these ratings. On the individual markets list, the highest market rating for this game for a market without a local NFL team was Norfolk. While we can understand this Virginia market scoring high ratings for the Redskins (and division rival Cowboys) telecasts, two distant AFC teams would not figure to attract major interest.
Afternoon drive competition is heating up the winter for the major east coast market sports stations as we begin the new year.
In Philadelphia, WPEN 97.5 Sports Fanatic's afternoon show, led by Mike Missanelli (along with Tyrone Johnson and Natalie Egenolf) has just taken the lead over WIP-FM's Marks & Reese. The significance is that WIP-FM is ahead of Sports Fanatic during the other times of the day and night. This December ratings boost comes after WIP-FM led in this time slot for the earlier three quarters of 2019.
Both afternoon shows actually increased their overall ratings by at least 20% over 2018. Missanelli and crew have another advantage, since their show is simulcast over NBC Sports Philadelphia. Those viewership ratings do not count toward the Sports Fanatic audience.
Mornings are a different story in Philly. WIP-FM's Angelo Cataldi, Rhea Hughes, and Al Morganti remain solidly ahead of Marc Farzetta and Tra Thomas on WPEN.
The NYC afternoon battle will be more interesting for the first part of 2020. We begin the year with WEPN's Michael Kay Show leading the way in afternoons, while WFAN begins its revised weekday lineup. Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts officially begin this week as the afternoon team (2 to 6 PM), moving from the midday slot.
They replace Mike Francesa, who remains with WFAN only for his new 6:00 to 6:30 PM show. The first quarter of 2020 will be critical to the afternoon drive battle going into baseball season. While WFAN is the flagship for the Yankees games, Michael Kay, as the play-by-play voice for most Yankees telecasts, has significant access to Yankees content for his show as well.
By the way, WFAN has confirmed that John Sterling will return for Yankees radio play-by-play this year at the age of 81. For the 16th season, he will be joined by Suzyn Waldman on the broadcasts.
In Boston, both WBZ-FM Sports Hub and WEEI-FM dropped overall during the final ratings period of 2019, with Sports Hub holding a one-half ratings point overall lead. Both stations showed higher audiences since September, yet both dropped from the previous ratings period.
With the Patriots losing on Saturday (1/4), and opinions across the board on the future of Tom Brady, look for an increase in audience for both stations. It will be interesting to see if the Sports Hub gains more as the flagship station of the Patriots and its expanded coverage.
CHICAGO: Normally being just over six weeks from the start of MLB Spring Training games is not big news, but the new year continues a most curious scenario for Chicago area baseball viewers. The Cubs are scheduled to begin their new RSN, Marquee "sometime" during February. As of press time, only AT&T and its subsidiaries are the only providers to be signed up to air Marquee. Yet, there has been no indication as to cost to viewers, or if this channel will be "forced" to all appropriate subscribers or become an additional fee option.
Comcast is the largest provider serving the Chicago area, and has not signed up to carry this network. NBC Sports Chicago, which aired the majority of Cubs telecasts through last season, and is now planning to air every available White Sox telecast, is owned in part by Comcast, while the White Sox maintain a partial ownership interest.
It is no coincidence that NBC Sports Chicago programming has been flooded with Comcast's "anti-AT&T" commercials over the past few weeks. Across town, the White Sox have made several major personnel moves to improve the team, while the Cubs have done little with their roster in comparison.
One crucial difference from the Dodgers' TV situation in Los Angeles is that AT&T's service does not have geographic restrictions. In L.A., only about 30% of area residents can get Dodgers telecasts on their channel. If things stay as they are in the Chicago area, the majority of residents would be able to switch or add AT&T (or a subsidiary) to be able to watch the Cubs.
Of course, if the White Sox show improvement, and their telecasts are far more easily accessed, NBC Sports Chicago would do well with advertisers and possibly be lax to add Marquee. The battle for subscribers early in the season could go a long way toward determining an outcome of the upstart network.
Finally, we go back to December 29th when Kevin Harlan was calling the conclusion of the Chiefs' win during Week 17 with the #2 seed in the AFC playoff race at stake. With New England losing during their game's final few minutes, fans watching the Chiefs telecast were more interested in the Patriots result than their own (at the time, since the Chiefs were well ahead).
To his credit, Harlan had the Patriots game on his monitor and was literally calling the play-by-play of the "other" game to viewers while the Chiefs game remained on the screen. Some people were critical of Harlan, thinking he should "stick to the game he is there to call". The Broadcast Booth could not disagree more. What Harlan did was nothing short of brilliant broadcasting.
Harlan was, as a play-by-play professional is supposed to do, telling the fans exactly what they wanted to know at the time. Thanks to him, fans were able to stay up to the second on the Patriots game, while being able to see the Chiefs game at the same time. The crew didn't have to wait and do the "Let's go back to New York" bit after the facts.
Handling two games at the same time is a difficult task. Harlan handled it with ease and did the viewers a great service. We need more like him.
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