Some major sports media related announcements over the past week show how many broadcast executives think that the huge ratings for live sports coverage in the past couple years automatically translate into demand for a dramatic increase in sports "coverage" on radio and to some extent television. That remains to be seen (or not seen).
Rather than debate whether or not it is a coincidence that both CBS Radio and NBC Radio announced starting sports networks by the first of the coming year, it is better to examine the degree of oversaturation it could bring to our AM/FM radio dials, and how much above the true demand it is.
At present, listeners already have ESPN Radio, Fox Radio Sports, and Yahoo Sports Radio as national sports networks available in most markets and as competition in some. As regularly discussed here in The Broadcast Booth, some markets across the country are strong in sports radio listenership, such as Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, and Nashville. Others such as Los Angeles and Houston have competing sports stations which fail to combine to make a ratings dent.
Currently, many sports stations, especially in medium and smaller markets, suffer from a lack of local programming, airing upwards of 20 hours per day of network or syndicated sports programming. The moves just announced by CBS and NBC Radio could add to the "outside" programming factor on many of these stations.
This is not "If you build it, they will come", as certain radio executives seem to think. Here's hoping serious consideration will be given to how they build it. If either of these "sports networks" are ever going to thrive, they need to be tenacious about using their resources and providing immediate coverage of breaking stories.
In the past few years, sports fans appear to be far more consumed with actual game or event coverage than with hearing fans give their opinions about their favorite teams or schools. Fans deserve better than a CBS Sports station telling us that "ESPN Sports reports that (name of player) will be traded......." instead of using their own resources to confirm or deny the same story.
A Buffalo station airing a live show from WFAN in NYC won't automatically attract additional listeners for the Buffalo station, and so it goes around the country. Yet, for markets airing sports on both FM and AM, these resources, if done well, give sports fans more choices, if they want them.
Baltimore will be one example, as the initial plan is to have WJZ-AM 1300 air the CBS Sports "national" feed while WJZ-FM 105.7 continues with its local personalities. My point is better illustrated by the "news" that Houston will have the CBS Sports national feed come January on KIKK-AM 650, which is a daytime only station, and would make it FIVE sports stations in that market. As mentioned last week, KGOW-AM, the flagship station for Yahoo Sports literally had no rating for the most recently released market ratings.
In Tampa, WSJT 98.7, which is scheduled to go all-sports in August, is a CBS station, and replaces the reduced night-time signal of WQYK 1010 AM. However, WQYK currently trails WHBO ESPN 1040, while it is even further behind WDAE 620, which airs the Rays and Buccaneers games.
The reality is that CBS really wants this sports network to be able to reduce programming costs for some of its stations, and in some instances to get its affiliates to drop ESPN or Fox Sports Radio affiliations to promote CBS. A group of Cumulus Broadcasting stations (which currently has a direct deal to syndicate ESPN Radio) are expected to move over to CBS Sports Radio in this deal.
As a business person, I understand the CBS and NBC reasons for doing this and beefing up the competition. As a sports fan, I'm waiting to see if CBS and/or NBC Sports can actually develop solid coverage of the sports world and truly use the resources they have. If they fail, they will give still more sports fans reasons to not listen to radio for sports news and coverage.
In addition to CBS and NBC Sports, the NFL Network is beefing up its TV attack on weekday mornings, also going hard after the "sports" audience to start the day. Starting on July 30th, just as training camps are in full swing, "NFL AM" will be a full morning TV show dedicated to NFL coverage every weekday. I'm here to tell you that this announcement is potentially more significant than the new sports radio networks. Based on the reputation NFL Network has for its Sunday pre-game show, its unparalleled coverage of pre-season games, and training camp reports, this new morning show could take a chunk out of the radio morning show audience, whether local or syndicated.
Now we'll also see where the TV sports fans go on Labor Day morning when the NFL season is about to start and The Dan Patrick Show is showing and broadcasting a rerun up against it.
Speaking of ESPN, the start of their Wimledon coverage this year has them ready to do an impressive job. They can provide hour after hour of live coverage with a family of networks and resources to provide every match live throughout. The promise of up to 140 hours of live coverage, including simultaneous coverage of multiple matches (including online streaming from all courts) is extremely impressive.
Speaking of CBS Radio, WFAN 660 New York celebrates its 25-year run as an all sports station on Sunday (July 1st) with a special schedule of shows. On the schedule for the day are Steve Somers and Russ Salzberg (The Schmoozer and the Sweater), Dave Sims and Ed Coleman (now the Mets beat reporter), Chris Carlin and Kim Jones, and Howie Rose. New York radio fixtures such as Spencer Ross (who does sportscasts for sister station WINS 1010) and Len Berman will also host hour long segments during the afternoon. At 7 PM ET on Sunday, WFAN will air "The Top New York Sports Moments of the Past 25 Years" prior to its Mets vs. Dodgers broadcast an hour later. As far as we know (at press time), WFAN will also be streaming on Sunday.
NEW YORK: The minor league Brookly Cyclones now have a radio deal, as WSOU 89.5 will air 38 games, with David Rind, Vince Coughlin, and Chris Paizis calling the games. What is odd about this is that 37 of the broadcasts are road games. Thus, the broadcasters are not able to promote the next day/night's home games.
SAN FRANCISCO: Ralph Barbieri, fired by KNBR 680 after more than 15 years as a host, announced he is filing a lawsuit against KNBR claiming wrongful termination. Barbieri announced the lawsuit, of all places, on 95.7 KGMZ The Game, which (as discussed here last week) lags way behind KNBR for the sports radio audience.
SAN DIEGO: The story here is not as much the struggling sports stations as it is the cable TV situation for fans who simply want to be able to see all of the games. There is still nothing about Time Warner Cable's new regional TV network (based in L.A.) specifically entering the San Diego market, and the word is that nothing is imminent about that.
The demise of the Mountain West Network, and San Diego State University moving to the Big East Conference for football in 2013, mean that fans will need a pencil and scorecard to watch the SDSU football games for the upcoming season. As of now, CBS Sports Network has three games already scheduled, NBC Sports Network has two others, and the Sept. 1 season opener at Washington will air on the Pac-12 Network. The remaining games are held by CBS Sports Network, which reportedly is negotiating with Channel 4, while an SDSU spokesperson assures fans that those games will also be televised.
MONTREAL: The radio station which airs the Canadiens games is getting ready for the pre-season to start as much as the team is. The station has been authorized to switch frequencies by the CRTC (the Canadian Radio-TV Commission) and will move from 990 AM to become TSN 690. This huge technical project is not yet complete, and station management "hopes" the change will take place between Sept. 1st and Sept. 15th, around the time the pre-season games are currently scheduled to start.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
NBC Comes Back To Radio
On one hand, I'll give credit to NBC Sports for extending its resources as it unveils a new sports radio network to provide hourly updates to begin in September. With the NBC Sports family having extended over the past couple of years to include several regional Comcast SportsNet networks, along with NBC Sports Network, there are more actual sports reporters along with play-by-play voices and analysts around the country to call upon. The timing is set to begin these updates as football season begins, baseball is into its final month of the regular season, and the NHL season (which is dominant on NBC Sports Network) is about to begin.
On the other hand, NBC Radio had been gone for years, having failed to establish themselves to sports fans when they were a player on the network radio scene. Back in the 70's and 80's, when radio was a primary source for sports news and scores, CBS Radio offered up daily sports shows from the likes of Brent Musburger, Phil Rizzuto, Andy Musser, and others, along with weekend scoreboard updates such as those anchored by the late Win Ellliot. ABC Radio offered up weekend updates from Lou Boda and others hour after hour. Other than the couple years of NBC Radio's "NIS News & Information Service" which was carried by a handful of stations and offered sports updates every half hour within the format, NBC was not a factor for sports fans.
Now that radio has, unfortunately, lost its status as "go to" for sports scores to the internet, mobile updates, and social media, it will be interesting to see how long NBC sticks with this. This new effort is most likely an attempt to promote its NBC Sports Network and the regional networks around the country. My feeling is that if (and when) the NBC Sports Network ratings fail to show overall improvement by the end of the first quarter of 2013 that the NBC Sports Radio updates will quietly fade away.
Those who dislike talker Jim Rome gained even more ammunition on Wednesday (6/13). NBA Commissioner David Stern was nice enough to guest on Rome's show when things became heated. Rome wanted to bring up about how the New Orleans Hornets, which is owned by the NBA at this time, secured the top draft pick later this month in the NBA Draft when it won the recent draft lottery. As only Rome would do, he asked the question by saying "Was the fix in for the lottery?". This clearly upset David Stern, which is understandable. As much as I would like to give Rome some credit for raising the topic, I'm not going to. The professional way to handle a delicate situation would have been to ask Stern, "What do you say to those fans who find it suspicious that New Orleans won the lottery?" and not ask it in such a clearly demeaning way. It will be interesting to hear if Rome gets any quality guests on his show from the NBA going forward. Well, interesting for those who wish to endure Rome's childish antics on the air, that is.
Speaking of ESPN, while the ABC/ESPN coverage of the NBA Finals continues to be very strong, there doesn't appear to be much hope for the studio segments being hosted by a true broadcast professional. For some reason (there must be one somewhere), the network seems far too content with Michael Wilbon being put into the closest role to being a host. Although Wilbon is a knowledgeable and interesting writer, the show continues to hurt without a broadcast professional to keep things in order. As was the case again with TNT's coverage, there are too many analysts in the studio every time, not to mention some game telecasts with an additional analyst in place. There are only so many valid opinions and angles, no matter how important the games become in June. There is no reason why Mike Torico shouldn't be hosting the ABC studio coverage after having done NBA play-by-play all season. Wilbon could be kept on as an analyst when called upon to comment.
One example is when Fox Sports tried to pull off not having a true host on its NFL studio programming a few years back. After the likes of Terry Bradshaw attempting to run the show, they knew something had to be done and put Curt Menefee in as host, even though he maintains a low profile and is not considered the "star" of the program. Whether Torico or one of the many capable ESPN anchors, here's hoping ABC corrects this for next season, if not by the clinching game of the Finals.
Speaking of ESPN analysts, Curt Schilling has taken what is termed a "leave of abscence" from ESPN just days after his video game company reportedly filed for bankruptcy.
On the radio side, the ratings for the month of May are being released. This month, let us focus on just four of the markets we have been watching most closely.
In San Francisco, the Giants' good start and renewed rivalry with the Dodgers (not that it ever went away, but the Dodgers are playing their best baseball in years) has helped to keep KNBR 680 as the market's top rated station overall with still another increase. The significance is that KNBR has its highest ratings in a year, which is after the departure of host Ralph Barbieri. Yet, 95.7 The Game, which airs the A's games, lost some of its audience this season, and it has yet to so much as challenge KNBR since it went on the air.
In Houston, KILT continues to be the leader among the all sports stations even though its overall audience has dipped since March and the station is now only at #20 overall in the market. KBME 790 is more than 1/2 of a ratings point behind, while KGOW 1560, the Yahoo Sports flagship station, showed up with a .1 rating over all. That is POINT one, the lowest possible rating to show up with.
And in Milwaukee, it continues to be "play-by-play or bust" for sports listeners. WTMJ, which is the Brewers' flagship station, has shown nearly a 50% overall increase from March through May, remains a solid #1 overall as a news/talk station otherwise. However, the 2 local sports talk stations now combine for less than a 1.0 rating overall. Thus, these sports stations now combine for literally 10% of the audience size that WTMJ currently has.
In Los Angeles, KLAC 570 showed a slight increase, but to only a 1.0 overall rating, even with the Dodgers broadcasts having started this season and the team's sizzling start.
SAN DIEGO: In what figures to be a positive move, 1360 XTRA has moved the Higgins and Ello Show to its 6 to 9 AM spot as of this week. This gives XX 1090's Dave Palet and Jeff Dotseth much needed local competition in the morning. Ben Higgins and Chris Ello has been airing from Noon to 3 PM. To its credit, XTRA moved The Dan Patrick Show from morning drive into that Noon to 3 PM spot, citing its "inconsistent ratings".
SACRAMENTO: Has it really come to this? Former KHTK 1140 host Carmichael Dave wants to talk Sacramento sports so much that he and former co-host Sean Thomas have just started a nightly internet only show to stream at 7 PM on weeknights. In addition, Dave will also stream a midday show, on which he will be joined by former ESPN analyst (and NFL QB) Sean Salisbury. As if people are going online to stream a talk show at night when the actual games are in progress. The kicker is that these shows are the only shows available on his web site, which promotes "from 7 PM to whenever" and promises weekends with "Repeats and whatever we feel like".
SCHEDULES: CBS-TV has announced the three SEC football telecasts it has scheduled in advance for the coming season. In addition to Alabama vs. LSU in prime-time on Nov. 3 (and it's tempting to say, in "still another" meeting), CBS has Georgia vs. Florida on Oct. 27th and LSU vs. Arkansas on Nov. 23rd (day after Thanksgiving). Its other national telecasts will be announced during the prior week.
On the other hand, NBC Radio had been gone for years, having failed to establish themselves to sports fans when they were a player on the network radio scene. Back in the 70's and 80's, when radio was a primary source for sports news and scores, CBS Radio offered up daily sports shows from the likes of Brent Musburger, Phil Rizzuto, Andy Musser, and others, along with weekend scoreboard updates such as those anchored by the late Win Ellliot. ABC Radio offered up weekend updates from Lou Boda and others hour after hour. Other than the couple years of NBC Radio's "NIS News & Information Service" which was carried by a handful of stations and offered sports updates every half hour within the format, NBC was not a factor for sports fans.
Now that radio has, unfortunately, lost its status as "go to" for sports scores to the internet, mobile updates, and social media, it will be interesting to see how long NBC sticks with this. This new effort is most likely an attempt to promote its NBC Sports Network and the regional networks around the country. My feeling is that if (and when) the NBC Sports Network ratings fail to show overall improvement by the end of the first quarter of 2013 that the NBC Sports Radio updates will quietly fade away.
Those who dislike talker Jim Rome gained even more ammunition on Wednesday (6/13). NBA Commissioner David Stern was nice enough to guest on Rome's show when things became heated. Rome wanted to bring up about how the New Orleans Hornets, which is owned by the NBA at this time, secured the top draft pick later this month in the NBA Draft when it won the recent draft lottery. As only Rome would do, he asked the question by saying "Was the fix in for the lottery?". This clearly upset David Stern, which is understandable. As much as I would like to give Rome some credit for raising the topic, I'm not going to. The professional way to handle a delicate situation would have been to ask Stern, "What do you say to those fans who find it suspicious that New Orleans won the lottery?" and not ask it in such a clearly demeaning way. It will be interesting to hear if Rome gets any quality guests on his show from the NBA going forward. Well, interesting for those who wish to endure Rome's childish antics on the air, that is.
Speaking of ESPN, while the ABC/ESPN coverage of the NBA Finals continues to be very strong, there doesn't appear to be much hope for the studio segments being hosted by a true broadcast professional. For some reason (there must be one somewhere), the network seems far too content with Michael Wilbon being put into the closest role to being a host. Although Wilbon is a knowledgeable and interesting writer, the show continues to hurt without a broadcast professional to keep things in order. As was the case again with TNT's coverage, there are too many analysts in the studio every time, not to mention some game telecasts with an additional analyst in place. There are only so many valid opinions and angles, no matter how important the games become in June. There is no reason why Mike Torico shouldn't be hosting the ABC studio coverage after having done NBA play-by-play all season. Wilbon could be kept on as an analyst when called upon to comment.
One example is when Fox Sports tried to pull off not having a true host on its NFL studio programming a few years back. After the likes of Terry Bradshaw attempting to run the show, they knew something had to be done and put Curt Menefee in as host, even though he maintains a low profile and is not considered the "star" of the program. Whether Torico or one of the many capable ESPN anchors, here's hoping ABC corrects this for next season, if not by the clinching game of the Finals.
Speaking of ESPN analysts, Curt Schilling has taken what is termed a "leave of abscence" from ESPN just days after his video game company reportedly filed for bankruptcy.
On the radio side, the ratings for the month of May are being released. This month, let us focus on just four of the markets we have been watching most closely.
In San Francisco, the Giants' good start and renewed rivalry with the Dodgers (not that it ever went away, but the Dodgers are playing their best baseball in years) has helped to keep KNBR 680 as the market's top rated station overall with still another increase. The significance is that KNBR has its highest ratings in a year, which is after the departure of host Ralph Barbieri. Yet, 95.7 The Game, which airs the A's games, lost some of its audience this season, and it has yet to so much as challenge KNBR since it went on the air.
In Houston, KILT continues to be the leader among the all sports stations even though its overall audience has dipped since March and the station is now only at #20 overall in the market. KBME 790 is more than 1/2 of a ratings point behind, while KGOW 1560, the Yahoo Sports flagship station, showed up with a .1 rating over all. That is POINT one, the lowest possible rating to show up with.
And in Milwaukee, it continues to be "play-by-play or bust" for sports listeners. WTMJ, which is the Brewers' flagship station, has shown nearly a 50% overall increase from March through May, remains a solid #1 overall as a news/talk station otherwise. However, the 2 local sports talk stations now combine for less than a 1.0 rating overall. Thus, these sports stations now combine for literally 10% of the audience size that WTMJ currently has.
In Los Angeles, KLAC 570 showed a slight increase, but to only a 1.0 overall rating, even with the Dodgers broadcasts having started this season and the team's sizzling start.
SAN DIEGO: In what figures to be a positive move, 1360 XTRA has moved the Higgins and Ello Show to its 6 to 9 AM spot as of this week. This gives XX 1090's Dave Palet and Jeff Dotseth much needed local competition in the morning. Ben Higgins and Chris Ello has been airing from Noon to 3 PM. To its credit, XTRA moved The Dan Patrick Show from morning drive into that Noon to 3 PM spot, citing its "inconsistent ratings".
SACRAMENTO: Has it really come to this? Former KHTK 1140 host Carmichael Dave wants to talk Sacramento sports so much that he and former co-host Sean Thomas have just started a nightly internet only show to stream at 7 PM on weeknights. In addition, Dave will also stream a midday show, on which he will be joined by former ESPN analyst (and NFL QB) Sean Salisbury. As if people are going online to stream a talk show at night when the actual games are in progress. The kicker is that these shows are the only shows available on his web site, which promotes "from 7 PM to whenever" and promises weekends with "Repeats and whatever we feel like".
SCHEDULES: CBS-TV has announced the three SEC football telecasts it has scheduled in advance for the coming season. In addition to Alabama vs. LSU in prime-time on Nov. 3 (and it's tempting to say, in "still another" meeting), CBS has Georgia vs. Florida on Oct. 27th and LSU vs. Arkansas on Nov. 23rd (day after Thanksgiving). Its other national telecasts will be announced during the prior week.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Kings' Success Crowns TV Deal
Los Angeles teams continue to make media news, even after the news and talk about the sale of the Dodgers settles down. The NHL's Kings, in addition to their Stanley Cup Finals battle (still in progress at press time), have already capitalized (literally) on their successful season with a new long term deal to be televised on Fox Sports West, which has been televising the Kings since 1985. Although financial terms have not yet been disclosed, estimates are as high as $250 million. Kings fans are delighted with the news that Bob Miller and Jim Fox return to the booth. Next season will mark the 40th season that Hall of Fame broadcaster Miller calls the games, while Fox returns for his 24th season as analyst.
The Lakers have just announced an extension of their radio deal to keep the games on 710 ESPN in what is believed to also be a multi-year deal. John Ireland remains on play-by-play while Mychal Thompson will return for his 10th season as analyst.
NEW YORK: Whether it is social media, word of mouth, or a combination of both, the excitement spread on Friday (6/1) as Johan Santana was in the process of pitching the first no-hitter in Mets franchise history. SNY proudly announced that its telecast of the milestone was the most watched TV show in New York, cable or broadcast. To its credit, SNY re-aired the telecast on Monday (6/4), which was an open day for the Mets.
The highest rated quarter hour, of course, was the 9:45 to 10:00 PM spot, which included the final outs in the 9th inning. Obviously, this telecast would not have drawn such a large audience were it not the for history being made. In the old days, fans watching the game would call friends who are baseball fans to alert them to tune in. There was probably some of that in place. But now, I'm sure a ton of people were alerted by posts on Twitter and Facebook, and were able to make it a point to get to a TV in time. This is why it is becoming more important for media outlets to use social media to alert their following. As a sports fan, this is a great service, after years of "I wish I knew. I would have loved to have seen that live!" conversations.
SOUTH BEND: WAOR 95.7 began as an all-sports station this week, although the morning drive is the only true locally originated show. "Ragz and the Bartender", co-hosted by Program Director Mike "Rags" Ragozino. Other than bringing in some of the afternoon drive show from nearby Ft. Wayne (the Brian & Stiller BS Show), it will be syndicated sports talk on weekdays and most weeknights. The station has added play-by-play, including Friday high school football, selected weekend Chicago White Sox games, and Chicago Bears football. The station had been an album rock station going back to 1975 until this past Monday (6/4).
OMAHA: 1180 AM has become all sports and is now known as "The Zone 2". However, as of now, it is all syndicated talk shows. On a positive note, the station will be heavy on play-by-play, airing Creighton University basketball and baseball, Omaha Storm Chasers baseball, and regional or national NCAA football and NFL football games in season.
MINNEAPOLIS: Another loss for the sports media, as George Chapple has passed away at the age of 66. His real name, however, is not nearly as well known as his air name, Dark Star. He most recently worked on KFAN, but is best remembered (besides the goofy on-air name) for his 25 year run on WCCO's Sports Show, often co-hosting with longtime local columnist Sid Hartman.
SCHEDULE: TBS Sunday Baseball continues its New York to New England coverage (ooops, I mean national games) these next two Sundays as usual. This week (6/10) Steve Physioc will call the game between the Mets and Yankees, while Brian Anderson will call the game the following Sunday (6/17) when the Yankees travel to Washington to take on the Nationals.
The Lakers have just announced an extension of their radio deal to keep the games on 710 ESPN in what is believed to also be a multi-year deal. John Ireland remains on play-by-play while Mychal Thompson will return for his 10th season as analyst.
NEW YORK: Whether it is social media, word of mouth, or a combination of both, the excitement spread on Friday (6/1) as Johan Santana was in the process of pitching the first no-hitter in Mets franchise history. SNY proudly announced that its telecast of the milestone was the most watched TV show in New York, cable or broadcast. To its credit, SNY re-aired the telecast on Monday (6/4), which was an open day for the Mets.
The highest rated quarter hour, of course, was the 9:45 to 10:00 PM spot, which included the final outs in the 9th inning. Obviously, this telecast would not have drawn such a large audience were it not the for history being made. In the old days, fans watching the game would call friends who are baseball fans to alert them to tune in. There was probably some of that in place. But now, I'm sure a ton of people were alerted by posts on Twitter and Facebook, and were able to make it a point to get to a TV in time. This is why it is becoming more important for media outlets to use social media to alert their following. As a sports fan, this is a great service, after years of "I wish I knew. I would have loved to have seen that live!" conversations.
SOUTH BEND: WAOR 95.7 began as an all-sports station this week, although the morning drive is the only true locally originated show. "Ragz and the Bartender", co-hosted by Program Director Mike "Rags" Ragozino. Other than bringing in some of the afternoon drive show from nearby Ft. Wayne (the Brian & Stiller BS Show), it will be syndicated sports talk on weekdays and most weeknights. The station has added play-by-play, including Friday high school football, selected weekend Chicago White Sox games, and Chicago Bears football. The station had been an album rock station going back to 1975 until this past Monday (6/4).
OMAHA: 1180 AM has become all sports and is now known as "The Zone 2". However, as of now, it is all syndicated talk shows. On a positive note, the station will be heavy on play-by-play, airing Creighton University basketball and baseball, Omaha Storm Chasers baseball, and regional or national NCAA football and NFL football games in season.
MINNEAPOLIS: Another loss for the sports media, as George Chapple has passed away at the age of 66. His real name, however, is not nearly as well known as his air name, Dark Star. He most recently worked on KFAN, but is best remembered (besides the goofy on-air name) for his 25 year run on WCCO's Sports Show, often co-hosting with longtime local columnist Sid Hartman.
SCHEDULE: TBS Sunday Baseball continues its New York to New England coverage (ooops, I mean national games) these next two Sundays as usual. This week (6/10) Steve Physioc will call the game between the Mets and Yankees, while Brian Anderson will call the game the following Sunday (6/17) when the Yankees travel to Washington to take on the Nationals.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Not Much Stock in Stockton Anymore
Several readers who watched the Fox regional telecast of last Saturday's (5/25) Rays at Red Sox telecast were complaining about the increasing number of mistakes that Dick Stockton made during the telecast. Interesting that Stockton was in the unique position of calling the game for Fox on Saturday (to about 25% of the country) and then for TBS on Sunday afternoon. Rare that the same announcer works for competing networks within 24 hours on the same event when there is no partnership. As much I have respected Stockton's work over the past 40 years on national telecasts, it seems it may be time for the networks to move on. To give you an idea of how long Stockton has been on, it was his call on Carlton Fisk's 1975 World Series homerun, "If it's fair...".
Sunday's Indy 500 was, as always, broadcast nationally on radio. Chicago is roughly 3 hours away from Indianapolis and unofficially a "second market" for the race. Yet, this year, not one Chicago station aired the race live, leaving it only to a couple of suburban stations. Those signals did not even cover the entire city and nearest suburbs. One of the sports stations, WSCR The Score, could not because of its White Sox baseball commitment. The other, WMVP ESPN, did not. Perhaps because it is an ESPN owned station, and the race was carried by an independent network. Yet, even the country music station WUSN-FM, which has regularly aired NASCAR events over the years, passed on it.
Now some other readers are taking notice. Again on Monday (Memorial Day), The Dan Patrick Show was a rerun. When this happens, it sticks sports radio stations and some high profile regional sports TV networks in the embarassing position of airing outdated content on a busy sports day. Here is the sports world on the morning after its biggest auto race of the year, on the brink of the Stanley Cup finals, the NBA Conference Finals, and at the one-third mark of an exicting baseball season.
Yet, radio and TV stations disappoint their audiences by not airing current content for up to three hours. This leaves those fans with the option of turning the tuner over to ESPN TV or radio for live and current content. As I keep saying, Dan Patrick is entitled to the time off. Just hire somebody to take over on those days and keep the show with live content. It shouldn't be too much to ask. And ask again.
Then on Wednesday (5/30), the sports media talk was on White Sox TV voice Ken Harrelson for an on-air rant against the umpire who ejected White Sox pitcher Jose Quintana and then manager Robin Ventura. Maybe there is a time and place for ESPN and MLB Network (and others) to give viewers a chuckle at this sort of inane babbling, but taking up sports "reporting" time is not one of them. Granted, I don't like Harrelson anyway (and I'm a White Sox fan - so it's not the incessant homering), but there is no need to provide encouragement to a broadcaster who makes himself bigger than any event as it is.
Warren Sapp, who it is confirmed will not return to Showtime's "Inside the NFL", will return to NFL Network for the coming season, which again includes the Sunday morning pre-game show.
On the Canadian side of the border, Rogers Media Sportsnet has expanded its NFL coverage into Canadian markets. A 5-year extension will add 16 Thursday telecasts from NFL Network (and others) to their continuing Sunday afternoon "late game" package. Sportsnet will also show the 13 NFL Network Thursday night telecasts, as well as all three Thanksgiving telecasts, which will consist of one each by way of Fox, CBS, and NBC.
NEW YORK: Angels baseball on WFAN? Well, sometimes. Even with the long-standing ESPN Radio deal with Major League Baseball to air selected games and Sunday nights, Compass Media Networks are beginning a syndication of about 25 L.A. Angels broadcasts this season. Oddly enough, WFAN 660 is one of the affiliates, and plans to air those broadcasts on nights they do not conflict with Mets games. Its first broadcast will be on June 11th when the Angels play the Dodgers. Yet, there may be more to this. A check of the Mets schedule against the Angels' syndicated games shows that two of about 5 or 6 games WFAN can carry happen to be against the Red Sox, and probably of interest to Yankees fans. This, while the speculation continues that ESPN Radio New York will be an aggressive bidder for both the Mets and Yankees radio contracts over the next 15 months.
Smaller stations, such as WALL 1340 Middletown and WEOK 1390 Poughkeepsie are planning to air the majority of the Angels broadcasts, except for a couple scheduled vs. the Yankees.
MIAMI: It looks as though Sid Rosenberg will return to airwaves after all, most likely on WMEN 640, according to a Miami Herald report. Even though WQAM dismissed Rosenberg due to a recent DUI arrest, it seems his no-compete clause stands until early August at the latest.
CHICAGO: From the "It's about time" department, one team is doing a ticket giveaway during its telecasts. Since a big part of the idea of televising games is to encourage fans to come out and see the team, the WGN-TV new contest to give away White Sox tickets during every inning of its telecasts seems a perfect idea. The station plans to give out 4 tickets to fans during each inning of its 18 remaining telecasts (as of press time) of White Sox games up until Labor Day. Viewers responding to a code word given each inning will be eligible. This is something that more teams should use, since it also serves as a gauge of viewer response and interet in the team, to some extent. It's an added bonus for White Sox fans that the keywords will be on the screen. Thus, the fans who have muted the sound to avoid Ken Harrelson will be able to easily participate.
HOUSTON: The owners of KGOW 1560 Yahoo Sports Radio are now about to purchase KFNC 97.5 ESPN. Early indications are that KFNC would continue with ESPN Radio going forward. Too soon to tell if this could be a factor in these stations pursuing the Rockets games, given that KILT has yet to re-sign the team now that its Rockets contract has expired.
WASHINGTON D.C.: Comcast SportsNet has added local newspaper writer Tarik El-Bashir to its on-air staff, where he is expected to be on the network's thorough coverage of the Redskins starting in a few weeks.
ALBUQUERQUE: Not a very "Memorial Day" on Monday (5/28) for ESPN 101.7. The station was knocked off the air for more than 12 hours after vandals literally cut the transmitter wires and used a vehicle to dislodge them from the transmitter. As of press time, the station was back on the air with signal limitations and by generator.
By the way - thanks to all of you for your comments each week, whether positive or not, especially to Jeff in Tacoma. While I enjoy receiving them directly, I'm going to ask you to comment via this blog so that newcomers can join in. Keep 'em coming!
Sunday's Indy 500 was, as always, broadcast nationally on radio. Chicago is roughly 3 hours away from Indianapolis and unofficially a "second market" for the race. Yet, this year, not one Chicago station aired the race live, leaving it only to a couple of suburban stations. Those signals did not even cover the entire city and nearest suburbs. One of the sports stations, WSCR The Score, could not because of its White Sox baseball commitment. The other, WMVP ESPN, did not. Perhaps because it is an ESPN owned station, and the race was carried by an independent network. Yet, even the country music station WUSN-FM, which has regularly aired NASCAR events over the years, passed on it.
Now some other readers are taking notice. Again on Monday (Memorial Day), The Dan Patrick Show was a rerun. When this happens, it sticks sports radio stations and some high profile regional sports TV networks in the embarassing position of airing outdated content on a busy sports day. Here is the sports world on the morning after its biggest auto race of the year, on the brink of the Stanley Cup finals, the NBA Conference Finals, and at the one-third mark of an exicting baseball season.
Yet, radio and TV stations disappoint their audiences by not airing current content for up to three hours. This leaves those fans with the option of turning the tuner over to ESPN TV or radio for live and current content. As I keep saying, Dan Patrick is entitled to the time off. Just hire somebody to take over on those days and keep the show with live content. It shouldn't be too much to ask. And ask again.
Then on Wednesday (5/30), the sports media talk was on White Sox TV voice Ken Harrelson for an on-air rant against the umpire who ejected White Sox pitcher Jose Quintana and then manager Robin Ventura. Maybe there is a time and place for ESPN and MLB Network (and others) to give viewers a chuckle at this sort of inane babbling, but taking up sports "reporting" time is not one of them. Granted, I don't like Harrelson anyway (and I'm a White Sox fan - so it's not the incessant homering), but there is no need to provide encouragement to a broadcaster who makes himself bigger than any event as it is.
Warren Sapp, who it is confirmed will not return to Showtime's "Inside the NFL", will return to NFL Network for the coming season, which again includes the Sunday morning pre-game show.
On the Canadian side of the border, Rogers Media Sportsnet has expanded its NFL coverage into Canadian markets. A 5-year extension will add 16 Thursday telecasts from NFL Network (and others) to their continuing Sunday afternoon "late game" package. Sportsnet will also show the 13 NFL Network Thursday night telecasts, as well as all three Thanksgiving telecasts, which will consist of one each by way of Fox, CBS, and NBC.
NEW YORK: Angels baseball on WFAN? Well, sometimes. Even with the long-standing ESPN Radio deal with Major League Baseball to air selected games and Sunday nights, Compass Media Networks are beginning a syndication of about 25 L.A. Angels broadcasts this season. Oddly enough, WFAN 660 is one of the affiliates, and plans to air those broadcasts on nights they do not conflict with Mets games. Its first broadcast will be on June 11th when the Angels play the Dodgers. Yet, there may be more to this. A check of the Mets schedule against the Angels' syndicated games shows that two of about 5 or 6 games WFAN can carry happen to be against the Red Sox, and probably of interest to Yankees fans. This, while the speculation continues that ESPN Radio New York will be an aggressive bidder for both the Mets and Yankees radio contracts over the next 15 months.
Smaller stations, such as WALL 1340 Middletown and WEOK 1390 Poughkeepsie are planning to air the majority of the Angels broadcasts, except for a couple scheduled vs. the Yankees.
MIAMI: It looks as though Sid Rosenberg will return to airwaves after all, most likely on WMEN 640, according to a Miami Herald report. Even though WQAM dismissed Rosenberg due to a recent DUI arrest, it seems his no-compete clause stands until early August at the latest.
CHICAGO: From the "It's about time" department, one team is doing a ticket giveaway during its telecasts. Since a big part of the idea of televising games is to encourage fans to come out and see the team, the WGN-TV new contest to give away White Sox tickets during every inning of its telecasts seems a perfect idea. The station plans to give out 4 tickets to fans during each inning of its 18 remaining telecasts (as of press time) of White Sox games up until Labor Day. Viewers responding to a code word given each inning will be eligible. This is something that more teams should use, since it also serves as a gauge of viewer response and interet in the team, to some extent. It's an added bonus for White Sox fans that the keywords will be on the screen. Thus, the fans who have muted the sound to avoid Ken Harrelson will be able to easily participate.
HOUSTON: The owners of KGOW 1560 Yahoo Sports Radio are now about to purchase KFNC 97.5 ESPN. Early indications are that KFNC would continue with ESPN Radio going forward. Too soon to tell if this could be a factor in these stations pursuing the Rockets games, given that KILT has yet to re-sign the team now that its Rockets contract has expired.
WASHINGTON D.C.: Comcast SportsNet has added local newspaper writer Tarik El-Bashir to its on-air staff, where he is expected to be on the network's thorough coverage of the Redskins starting in a few weeks.
ALBUQUERQUE: Not a very "Memorial Day" on Monday (5/28) for ESPN 101.7. The station was knocked off the air for more than 12 hours after vandals literally cut the transmitter wires and used a vehicle to dislodge them from the transmitter. As of press time, the station was back on the air with signal limitations and by generator.
By the way - thanks to all of you for your comments each week, whether positive or not, especially to Jeff in Tacoma. While I enjoy receiving them directly, I'm going to ask you to comment via this blog so that newcomers can join in. Keep 'em coming!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
A Crowning Blow For Kings Coverage
Sports fans around the country are well aware that the Los Angeles Kings are looking to eliminate the Phoenix Coyotes and advance in the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs this week, and that's fine. Yet, it seems that the local television stations whose job it is to report on the Kings don't seem to have a clue. And this is a third round playoff series, following a full-length regular season.
During just this series, KNBC-TV in Los Angeles showed the "Kings" logo in the background while reporting on the team, but with one problem. That logo was that of the NBA Sacramento Kings, and not the local L.A. Kings of the NHL. KCBS-TV later decided to be cautious and not show the Kings' logo. So they showed the "Kings" mascot instead. Not going to make THAT mistake, right?
The Kings mascot that KCBS-TV showed was the mascot for, you guessed it, the Sacramento Kings, named Slamson. Granted, these glaring errors were not made by the sportscasters, but these do reflect on the stations and their sports departments nonetheless. It makes you wonder how many other errors are being made that viewers don't know enough about to catch. And it doesn't stop there.
And then there was KTTV-TV, which, I'm happy to say did not screw up the logos or the results involving the Kings. Anchor Liz Habib took over and on one of her reports (so far) referred to the puck as "the ball". Whether it was Habib or a writer in the newsroom, that was a blunder even the most casual of sports fans would have caught. After all, the lesser fan wouldn't know that on that same report, Habib flubbed the names of Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty of the Kings while showing highlights.
Let's get back to KTTV-TV. It is true they did not screw up the Kings logo. Why is that worthy of mention? Because they used an "old" NHL Logo instead of the current one.
These all happened in the second largest media market in the country, and after the L.A. Kings have been playing constantly since October. This would have been bad enough during the pre-season or early on in the regular season, but there are no excuses for this. The next time I hear or read about local TV stations cutting back on their local sports coverage "because of all of the sports networks",
I'm going to immediately send this column to the source of that information.
Meanwhile, Fox Sports Midwest had a challenging night on Monday (5/21) when serious technical difficulties caused a complete loss of the Cardinals' telecast of their home game vs. the San Diego Padres. To FSM's credit, they had a solution. They were able to replace it with the Padres' feed, since Fox Sports also handles that. As a result, Cardinals fans got to hear the legendary Dick Enberg call most of the game along with Mark Grant. Fox Sports Midwest aired most of the game without commercials (due to the technical glitch) and was able to get Cardinals analyst Rick Horton into the Padres booth for a short time. Great recovery!
Elsewhere, let's give credit to ABC/ESPN for a new enhancement to the Indy 500 coverage planned for Sunday (5/18). While ABC airs the race for the 48th consecutive time (although not live in the earlier years), ESPN3.com plans a multi-camera stream from several "onboard" cameras. This is an incredible use of technology to truly supplement a telecast, giving viewers a solid reason to also be online rather than adding a distraction to the telecast.
Brent Musburger will again host the coverage, with Marty Reid on the call and Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever as analysts.
However, more evidence of ESPN harnessing too much power over the sports media has surfaced with the report of CBSSports securing a package of ACC, Big 12, and Pac-12 basketball games starting with the coming season. It seems that this was not negotiated with the respective conferences, but results from a deal directly with rights holder ESPN.
The problem is that while it provides CBSSports channel with a more diversified offering of college hoops, I'd bet the ranch that these extra costs will be passed along to, you guessed it, subscribers. If ESPN had held on to these games, there wouldn't yet be another reason to jack up consumer costs.
At NBC Sports Network, Erik Kuselias comes over from The Golf Channel (also owned by NBC) to serve as a host on NBC SportsTalk which airs from 6 to 7 PM ET most weeknights.
MINNEAPOLIS: Congrats to Anthony LaPanta on being named as TV play-by-play voice of the Minnesota Wild for Fox Sports North. LaPanta has hosted pre and post-game shows on FSN for the Wild and has also filled in (and will continue to on occasion) on Twins telecasts. Mike Greenlay, coming back for his 11th season, will continue as analyst for the Wild telecasts. LaPanta replaces
Dan Terhaar, who had handled the call of the Wild for the previous seven seasons. The Wild's radio team of Bob Kurtz and Tom Reid will return.
HOUSTON: Rice University football will have a new voice beginning with the upcoming season, with an announcement expected within the next 30 days. David Saltzman will not return to the role he has held for the past five season, reportedly because of other commitments. Saltzman is expected to continue occasional fill-in at KILT 610 and Comcast Sports Southwest.
TAMPA: Tuesday (5/22) marked the debut of WDAE 620's new morning team. Tom Jones and Rick Stroud, both also with the Tampa Bay Times, now co-host from 6 to 9 AM. Previous host Dan Sileo was let go under previously addressed circumstances, although he now hosts a show on WQAM Miami.
TACOMA: Mariners fans in the Tacoma area were forced to scramble to find the team's games last week when KALE 960 made a sudden change to a country music format from having been all sports. With no previous announcement. The games are now heard on 1340 ESPN, along with University of Washington football and basketball and Gonzaga basketball in season. What makes this even more interesting is that 1340 is also simulcasting the daytime sports programming from Seattle's KIRO 710, including Brock & Salk in the morning and Kevin Colabro from 3 to 6 PM. At night and on weekends, the station will carry ESPN programming when not airing the local play-by-play.
CHATTANOOGA: 105.1 ESPN has named Jim Gumm as its afternoon drive host as of this week. Gumm began about 20 years ago at WJOC when it was the city's first all sports station.
BANGOR: WAEI 910's local afternoon show hosted by Rich Kimball will also be carried on WFAU 1280 in Gardiner, WIGY 97.5 Madison, and WRKD 1450 Rockland beginning on June 25th. These Fox Sports Maine stations will share the show which has only been on in Bangor since this past September.
During just this series, KNBC-TV in Los Angeles showed the "Kings" logo in the background while reporting on the team, but with one problem. That logo was that of the NBA Sacramento Kings, and not the local L.A. Kings of the NHL. KCBS-TV later decided to be cautious and not show the Kings' logo. So they showed the "Kings" mascot instead. Not going to make THAT mistake, right?
The Kings mascot that KCBS-TV showed was the mascot for, you guessed it, the Sacramento Kings, named Slamson. Granted, these glaring errors were not made by the sportscasters, but these do reflect on the stations and their sports departments nonetheless. It makes you wonder how many other errors are being made that viewers don't know enough about to catch. And it doesn't stop there.
And then there was KTTV-TV, which, I'm happy to say did not screw up the logos or the results involving the Kings. Anchor Liz Habib took over and on one of her reports (so far) referred to the puck as "the ball". Whether it was Habib or a writer in the newsroom, that was a blunder even the most casual of sports fans would have caught. After all, the lesser fan wouldn't know that on that same report, Habib flubbed the names of Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty of the Kings while showing highlights.
Let's get back to KTTV-TV. It is true they did not screw up the Kings logo. Why is that worthy of mention? Because they used an "old" NHL Logo instead of the current one.
These all happened in the second largest media market in the country, and after the L.A. Kings have been playing constantly since October. This would have been bad enough during the pre-season or early on in the regular season, but there are no excuses for this. The next time I hear or read about local TV stations cutting back on their local sports coverage "because of all of the sports networks",
I'm going to immediately send this column to the source of that information.
Meanwhile, Fox Sports Midwest had a challenging night on Monday (5/21) when serious technical difficulties caused a complete loss of the Cardinals' telecast of their home game vs. the San Diego Padres. To FSM's credit, they had a solution. They were able to replace it with the Padres' feed, since Fox Sports also handles that. As a result, Cardinals fans got to hear the legendary Dick Enberg call most of the game along with Mark Grant. Fox Sports Midwest aired most of the game without commercials (due to the technical glitch) and was able to get Cardinals analyst Rick Horton into the Padres booth for a short time. Great recovery!
Elsewhere, let's give credit to ABC/ESPN for a new enhancement to the Indy 500 coverage planned for Sunday (5/18). While ABC airs the race for the 48th consecutive time (although not live in the earlier years), ESPN3.com plans a multi-camera stream from several "onboard" cameras. This is an incredible use of technology to truly supplement a telecast, giving viewers a solid reason to also be online rather than adding a distraction to the telecast.
Brent Musburger will again host the coverage, with Marty Reid on the call and Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever as analysts.
However, more evidence of ESPN harnessing too much power over the sports media has surfaced with the report of CBSSports securing a package of ACC, Big 12, and Pac-12 basketball games starting with the coming season. It seems that this was not negotiated with the respective conferences, but results from a deal directly with rights holder ESPN.
The problem is that while it provides CBSSports channel with a more diversified offering of college hoops, I'd bet the ranch that these extra costs will be passed along to, you guessed it, subscribers. If ESPN had held on to these games, there wouldn't yet be another reason to jack up consumer costs.
At NBC Sports Network, Erik Kuselias comes over from The Golf Channel (also owned by NBC) to serve as a host on NBC SportsTalk which airs from 6 to 7 PM ET most weeknights.
MINNEAPOLIS: Congrats to Anthony LaPanta on being named as TV play-by-play voice of the Minnesota Wild for Fox Sports North. LaPanta has hosted pre and post-game shows on FSN for the Wild and has also filled in (and will continue to on occasion) on Twins telecasts. Mike Greenlay, coming back for his 11th season, will continue as analyst for the Wild telecasts. LaPanta replaces
Dan Terhaar, who had handled the call of the Wild for the previous seven seasons. The Wild's radio team of Bob Kurtz and Tom Reid will return.
HOUSTON: Rice University football will have a new voice beginning with the upcoming season, with an announcement expected within the next 30 days. David Saltzman will not return to the role he has held for the past five season, reportedly because of other commitments. Saltzman is expected to continue occasional fill-in at KILT 610 and Comcast Sports Southwest.
TAMPA: Tuesday (5/22) marked the debut of WDAE 620's new morning team. Tom Jones and Rick Stroud, both also with the Tampa Bay Times, now co-host from 6 to 9 AM. Previous host Dan Sileo was let go under previously addressed circumstances, although he now hosts a show on WQAM Miami.
TACOMA: Mariners fans in the Tacoma area were forced to scramble to find the team's games last week when KALE 960 made a sudden change to a country music format from having been all sports. With no previous announcement. The games are now heard on 1340 ESPN, along with University of Washington football and basketball and Gonzaga basketball in season. What makes this even more interesting is that 1340 is also simulcasting the daytime sports programming from Seattle's KIRO 710, including Brock & Salk in the morning and Kevin Colabro from 3 to 6 PM. At night and on weekends, the station will carry ESPN programming when not airing the local play-by-play.
CHATTANOOGA: 105.1 ESPN has named Jim Gumm as its afternoon drive host as of this week. Gumm began about 20 years ago at WJOC when it was the city's first all sports station.
BANGOR: WAEI 910's local afternoon show hosted by Rich Kimball will also be carried on WFAU 1280 in Gardiner, WIGY 97.5 Madison, and WRKD 1450 Rockland beginning on June 25th. These Fox Sports Maine stations will share the show which has only been on in Bangor since this past September.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Baseball Scores On Radio
The just released radio ratings for the month of April show that the start of the current baseball season had a positive impact in several large markets.
In Detroit, WXYT-FM The Ticket shot up more than 2 full ratings points to finish as the #1 overall rated station, thanks in large part to the Tigers being projected as a serious contender for this season.
In San Francisco, KNBR 680, the Giants' flagship station, jumped back to #3 overall at a strong 4.8 rating. What makes this even more significant is that KGMZ 95.7 The Game, which is the A's flagship station again this season, held steady with only a .7 overall rating in comparison. Even the loss of Ralph "Razor" Barbieri during this ratings period didn't seem to have an impact either way, while the level of enthusiasm for the A's isn't near what it is for the Giants.
Baseball was also good for Philadelphia, where WIP-FM, which now simulcasts all Phillies broadcasts, rose .6 to a 3.4 overall, good for 13th place. WPEN-AM/FM actually dropped to a 1.4 as a further illustration of baseball's impact.
Stations which are not full-time sports talkers but carry baseball and some additional related programming finished strong in St. Louis and Cincinnati, as expected. KMOX 1120 St. Louis shot up from a 5.9 to an 8.3 rating for #1 overall in just one month. Yet, WXOS 101.1 dropped to a 3.4 (though still respectable) and #14 overall, while KFNS-AM and KSLG both came in near the bottom of the barrel. Cincinnati's WLW, as usual, scored strong April ratings due mainly to the Reds broadcasts. The team's opening day telecast drew its best ratings since the 2000 season opener as well.
Boston's hotly contested sports radio race showed an increase for both stations, although WEEI (with the Red Sox) had the bigger increase. WEEI went up more than a full ratings point to a 4.6, good for #8 overall, while Sports Hub WBZ-FM went up .5 and came in at #10, giving Boston two sports stations in the top 10. In Chicago, WSCR The Score 670 went up .3 to coincide with the White Sox season starting, although it finished only at #18 overall. WMVP ESPN 1000 dropped .3 despite being the flagship station for the Bulls as they finished with the NBA best record and began their playoff run. (Derrick Rose didn't get injured until after this ratings period.) WGN Radio increased due to the NHL Blackhawks playoff run and the Cubs season opening, while not a full-time sports station.
In New York, WFAN went up .4 as its Mets season broadcasts started, while WEPN (prior to its adding the FM simulcast) dipped .3 from February through April.
However, sports talk stations continue to suffer in Los Angeles and Atlanta. In Los Angeles, KSPN ESPN 710 finished 27th overall, while KLAC hangs at 34th, up only .2 from the month before. What makes the KLAC 570 such as disaster is that April was the station's first month of regular season Dodgers baseball and the team getting off to its best start in several seasons.
The Dodgers are, frankly, fortunate that their upcoming cable deal and the positive media based on Magic Johnson's group acquiring the team is keeping the team on the local sports radar. Going with KLAC for its radio broadcasts continues to be a disaster of a decision for the team when there was barely any audience carry over.
In Houston, KILT had been showing a bit of growth, but dropped .2 for the month of April. KBME is now at only a .9 rating overall while KGOW blips in at .2. None of these stations made the top 20 most listened to stations in the market. In fact, the combined ratings of the three stations would put them at #18 overall. Granted, the Astros are not expected to have a good season, and the Rockets are long gone from the NBA season.
Atlanta continues to be a sports station disaster, as 790 (WQXI) dropped to only a .8 overall, and WCNN is nowhere to be found, despite a solid start by the Braves.
Meanwhile, the sad death of football great Junior Seau last week actually generated a sad sports media moment. For some reason, many TV stations and sports networks chose to show video of Seau's mother speaking with the media shortly after learning of the apparent suicide death of her son.
Those of you who saw this video know that her reaction was what you would expect it to be under such terrible and trying circumstances. I, for one, cannot believe that stations actually aired this. There was no "news" element to her reaction. It was nothing but sensationalizing a sad story, and that is a sad story as well. If Seau's mom were accusing someone of killing him or disputing the presumed suicide element, then (and only then) would this have truly been a "news" story. Airing his mom breaking down, understandably, on camera was not newsworthy, but it was insensitive.
LOS ANGELES: While the city's two NBA teams fight to get past tough 2nd round playoff foes, both are making media news. What was, in effect, a breakthrough season for the Clippers as they achieved a rare degree of respectability was recognized by KFWB 980. The station announced a multi-year extension to continue to be the Clippers' radio home. Brian Sieman will continue as play-by-play voice for the majority of games, with Ralph Lawler expected to continue to call those games which are not televised by the Clippers. KFWB has aired the Clippers for the past 2 seasons.
It was the end of an era for KCAL-TV 9 when it televised its final Lakers game after 35 seasons last week. This past Sunday (5/13) the station aired a tribute featuring highlights of the "showtime" Lakers and plenty of video with the late Chick Hearn on the call. It was during that era that KCAL-TV (and KHJ-TV previously) televised every Lakers road game other than those shown on the national networks whether live or on delay for select east coast weeknight games. Yet, Fox Sports West had already packed it in since knowing it would lose the Lakers to the new Time Warner venture, going as far as to give some Angels baseball telecasts priority.
CHICAGO: Last week it was the L.A. Angels' TV crew with a "That Was Weak" salute from The Broadcast Booth when the announcers failed to mention Jered Weaver's no-hitter directly so as not to "jinx" him. This time, WSCR The Score gets a "That Was Weak" salute. The sports station is the flagship station of the White Sox. For whatever reason(s), the station does not seem to monitor itself during White Sox broadcasts like it should.
This past Friday (5/11), the White Sox management held a press conference about an hour before the game regarding pitcher Chris Sale. It seems Sale had been moved to the bullpen the week prior, and rookie Eric Stultz had been scheduled to start the White Sox game against Seattle the following day (Sat. 5/12). This press conference was to announce that Sale was not injured as had been thought and that he (Sale) would make the start the next night. The change was announced on various local sportscasts and shown on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, which was televising the upcoming Friday night game.
One would think that WSCR would make note of a pitcher change for the next day, especially when it is a sports station AND airs the games. Yet, throughout the White Sox broadcast, announcers Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson continued to say that Stultz would pitch the next night!
If WSCR The Score was a music station (or not a sports station), I could possibly understand not getting this corrected. But it is a sports station. Already this season, there have been a couple of instances where the talk show delay was not lifted and their White Sox broadcast was on delay compared with the live TV picture - for the entire game. This indicates that the station does not seem to monitor their games. "That Was Weak" to allow a sports station (team controlled broadcast or not) to not air updated news about the next day's pitcher. How do they expect White Sox fans to monitor that station for "breaking" team news?
HOUSTON: KILT 610 has chosen a new morning show host to replace Marc Vandermeer when Marc leaves to join the Texans full-time. Nick Wright joins the station from KCSP Kansas City where he hosted a talk show which was not always sports focused. Wright, only 27 years of age, is expected to work with local columnist John Lopez and take over the 6 to 10 AM show on or about June 4th.
St. LOUIS: The miniscule ratings of KFNS 590 are already being reflected by the station trimming its midday show by 1 hour and having Frank Cusumano (of KSKD-TV 5 sports) host solo from 10 AM to Noon as of this week. Martin Kilcoyne (of KTVI-TV 2 sports), who had been co-hosting 3 hours each day with Cusumano, moves over to KTRS 550 to co-host a general talk show from Noon to 3 PM on weekdays. KTRS is continuing its weeknight sports show, but is moving it up to 6 to 9 PM instead of 9 to midnight.
Despite NBC's ratings success for showing every Stanley Cup playoff game nationally this post-season, St. Louis fans were not a factor despite the Blues getting into the 2nd round against the L.A. Kings. Having 4 of the team's playoff games spread across the different NBC networks (NBC, NBC Sports Network, CNBC) resulted in the 2nd round having ratings more than 2 full ratings points lower than the team's locally televised first round series against San Jose.
MIAMI: WQAM continues its play-by-play of University of Miami football and basketball through the 2016-17 season with an extension announced earlier this week. The station has aired the games since the 1999-2000 season.
HAMPTON VA: ESPN 94.1 is ending an era next week. The station is dropping Tony Mercurio following his May 24th show with no reason given as of press time. Mercurio's show is believed to be the first local sports talk show in Virginia, having begun back in the fall of 1986. Worse yet, the station has not, as of press time, announced if a local show will replace or if this is to go with the ESPN national programming during that time slot.
In Detroit, WXYT-FM The Ticket shot up more than 2 full ratings points to finish as the #1 overall rated station, thanks in large part to the Tigers being projected as a serious contender for this season.
In San Francisco, KNBR 680, the Giants' flagship station, jumped back to #3 overall at a strong 4.8 rating. What makes this even more significant is that KGMZ 95.7 The Game, which is the A's flagship station again this season, held steady with only a .7 overall rating in comparison. Even the loss of Ralph "Razor" Barbieri during this ratings period didn't seem to have an impact either way, while the level of enthusiasm for the A's isn't near what it is for the Giants.
Baseball was also good for Philadelphia, where WIP-FM, which now simulcasts all Phillies broadcasts, rose .6 to a 3.4 overall, good for 13th place. WPEN-AM/FM actually dropped to a 1.4 as a further illustration of baseball's impact.
Stations which are not full-time sports talkers but carry baseball and some additional related programming finished strong in St. Louis and Cincinnati, as expected. KMOX 1120 St. Louis shot up from a 5.9 to an 8.3 rating for #1 overall in just one month. Yet, WXOS 101.1 dropped to a 3.4 (though still respectable) and #14 overall, while KFNS-AM and KSLG both came in near the bottom of the barrel. Cincinnati's WLW, as usual, scored strong April ratings due mainly to the Reds broadcasts. The team's opening day telecast drew its best ratings since the 2000 season opener as well.
Boston's hotly contested sports radio race showed an increase for both stations, although WEEI (with the Red Sox) had the bigger increase. WEEI went up more than a full ratings point to a 4.6, good for #8 overall, while Sports Hub WBZ-FM went up .5 and came in at #10, giving Boston two sports stations in the top 10. In Chicago, WSCR The Score 670 went up .3 to coincide with the White Sox season starting, although it finished only at #18 overall. WMVP ESPN 1000 dropped .3 despite being the flagship station for the Bulls as they finished with the NBA best record and began their playoff run. (Derrick Rose didn't get injured until after this ratings period.) WGN Radio increased due to the NHL Blackhawks playoff run and the Cubs season opening, while not a full-time sports station.
In New York, WFAN went up .4 as its Mets season broadcasts started, while WEPN (prior to its adding the FM simulcast) dipped .3 from February through April.
However, sports talk stations continue to suffer in Los Angeles and Atlanta. In Los Angeles, KSPN ESPN 710 finished 27th overall, while KLAC hangs at 34th, up only .2 from the month before. What makes the KLAC 570 such as disaster is that April was the station's first month of regular season Dodgers baseball and the team getting off to its best start in several seasons.
The Dodgers are, frankly, fortunate that their upcoming cable deal and the positive media based on Magic Johnson's group acquiring the team is keeping the team on the local sports radar. Going with KLAC for its radio broadcasts continues to be a disaster of a decision for the team when there was barely any audience carry over.
In Houston, KILT had been showing a bit of growth, but dropped .2 for the month of April. KBME is now at only a .9 rating overall while KGOW blips in at .2. None of these stations made the top 20 most listened to stations in the market. In fact, the combined ratings of the three stations would put them at #18 overall. Granted, the Astros are not expected to have a good season, and the Rockets are long gone from the NBA season.
Atlanta continues to be a sports station disaster, as 790 (WQXI) dropped to only a .8 overall, and WCNN is nowhere to be found, despite a solid start by the Braves.
Meanwhile, the sad death of football great Junior Seau last week actually generated a sad sports media moment. For some reason, many TV stations and sports networks chose to show video of Seau's mother speaking with the media shortly after learning of the apparent suicide death of her son.
Those of you who saw this video know that her reaction was what you would expect it to be under such terrible and trying circumstances. I, for one, cannot believe that stations actually aired this. There was no "news" element to her reaction. It was nothing but sensationalizing a sad story, and that is a sad story as well. If Seau's mom were accusing someone of killing him or disputing the presumed suicide element, then (and only then) would this have truly been a "news" story. Airing his mom breaking down, understandably, on camera was not newsworthy, but it was insensitive.
LOS ANGELES: While the city's two NBA teams fight to get past tough 2nd round playoff foes, both are making media news. What was, in effect, a breakthrough season for the Clippers as they achieved a rare degree of respectability was recognized by KFWB 980. The station announced a multi-year extension to continue to be the Clippers' radio home. Brian Sieman will continue as play-by-play voice for the majority of games, with Ralph Lawler expected to continue to call those games which are not televised by the Clippers. KFWB has aired the Clippers for the past 2 seasons.
It was the end of an era for KCAL-TV 9 when it televised its final Lakers game after 35 seasons last week. This past Sunday (5/13) the station aired a tribute featuring highlights of the "showtime" Lakers and plenty of video with the late Chick Hearn on the call. It was during that era that KCAL-TV (and KHJ-TV previously) televised every Lakers road game other than those shown on the national networks whether live or on delay for select east coast weeknight games. Yet, Fox Sports West had already packed it in since knowing it would lose the Lakers to the new Time Warner venture, going as far as to give some Angels baseball telecasts priority.
CHICAGO: Last week it was the L.A. Angels' TV crew with a "That Was Weak" salute from The Broadcast Booth when the announcers failed to mention Jered Weaver's no-hitter directly so as not to "jinx" him. This time, WSCR The Score gets a "That Was Weak" salute. The sports station is the flagship station of the White Sox. For whatever reason(s), the station does not seem to monitor itself during White Sox broadcasts like it should.
This past Friday (5/11), the White Sox management held a press conference about an hour before the game regarding pitcher Chris Sale. It seems Sale had been moved to the bullpen the week prior, and rookie Eric Stultz had been scheduled to start the White Sox game against Seattle the following day (Sat. 5/12). This press conference was to announce that Sale was not injured as had been thought and that he (Sale) would make the start the next night. The change was announced on various local sportscasts and shown on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, which was televising the upcoming Friday night game.
One would think that WSCR would make note of a pitcher change for the next day, especially when it is a sports station AND airs the games. Yet, throughout the White Sox broadcast, announcers Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson continued to say that Stultz would pitch the next night!
If WSCR The Score was a music station (or not a sports station), I could possibly understand not getting this corrected. But it is a sports station. Already this season, there have been a couple of instances where the talk show delay was not lifted and their White Sox broadcast was on delay compared with the live TV picture - for the entire game. This indicates that the station does not seem to monitor their games. "That Was Weak" to allow a sports station (team controlled broadcast or not) to not air updated news about the next day's pitcher. How do they expect White Sox fans to monitor that station for "breaking" team news?
HOUSTON: KILT 610 has chosen a new morning show host to replace Marc Vandermeer when Marc leaves to join the Texans full-time. Nick Wright joins the station from KCSP Kansas City where he hosted a talk show which was not always sports focused. Wright, only 27 years of age, is expected to work with local columnist John Lopez and take over the 6 to 10 AM show on or about June 4th.
St. LOUIS: The miniscule ratings of KFNS 590 are already being reflected by the station trimming its midday show by 1 hour and having Frank Cusumano (of KSKD-TV 5 sports) host solo from 10 AM to Noon as of this week. Martin Kilcoyne (of KTVI-TV 2 sports), who had been co-hosting 3 hours each day with Cusumano, moves over to KTRS 550 to co-host a general talk show from Noon to 3 PM on weekdays. KTRS is continuing its weeknight sports show, but is moving it up to 6 to 9 PM instead of 9 to midnight.
Despite NBC's ratings success for showing every Stanley Cup playoff game nationally this post-season, St. Louis fans were not a factor despite the Blues getting into the 2nd round against the L.A. Kings. Having 4 of the team's playoff games spread across the different NBC networks (NBC, NBC Sports Network, CNBC) resulted in the 2nd round having ratings more than 2 full ratings points lower than the team's locally televised first round series against San Jose.
MIAMI: WQAM continues its play-by-play of University of Miami football and basketball through the 2016-17 season with an extension announced earlier this week. The station has aired the games since the 1999-2000 season.
HAMPTON VA: ESPN 94.1 is ending an era next week. The station is dropping Tony Mercurio following his May 24th show with no reason given as of press time. Mercurio's show is believed to be the first local sports talk show in Virginia, having begun back in the fall of 1986. Worse yet, the station has not, as of press time, announced if a local show will replace or if this is to go with the ESPN national programming during that time slot.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
No Victor For This No-Hitter
I'm not sure if it was big moon or what it was, but it's a week of bizarre stories, and the strange decisions that go along with them, dominating the sports media news.
Last Wednesday (5/2), while the Angels' Jared Weaver was pitching a no-hitter, viewers tuning into Victor Rojas and Mark Gubicza on the Angels' telecast had no idea of what was taking place unless they saw the graphics at the end of a half inning. There were no audio difficulties. Viewers were not told because (and get this) of the superstition about "not talking" about a no-hitter in progress. Funny, but I thought the announcers were on the scene to "report" the game.
The very least they could have done was to do as I have heard some announcers do, which is to make constant references to the totals and/or indirect references that clue in even the casual fan. A simple "Mauer, like his teammates, is still looking for his first hit of the night", or "and no hits again in the 7th, same as the first 6 innings", would have done the job. That Rojas and Gubicza could have cost themselves some viewers over their dumb superstition means nothing to me as a baseball fan. It's the fact that many baseball fans would stick around and probably notify friends and family members who are fans to tune in to hopefully witness history but weren't given that chance that stinks.
Although I have thought over the years that Rojas does an excellent job, and was disappointed that he left MLB Network to take on the Angels' TV position, he's going to have to do something to make up for lost ground. Then again, the Angels' broadcast teams have a bit of a history on being weak when it comes to no-hitters.
I flash back to September 19, 1986 when Joe Cowley of the White Sox no-hit the Angels in Anaheim. Even though they were the home team radio call and the game was not televised locally, then Angels voices Al Conin and Ken Brett did not get Cowley on their post-game show. That was understandable to some degree, since the White Sox broadcast wanted "their" pitcher on the air right after.
So, I tuned in specifically for the Angels' pre-game show the next day prior to the interview segment. And what do the fans hear? Nothing but Al Conin "explaining" how Cowley was still being mobbed by the media about the no-hitter and how they were not able to get him for their pre-game show. They only had HOURS before the game and were, for pete's sake, a Los Angeles radio station at the stadium the no-hitter took place. An unexcusable and weak broadcasting moment back then, too.
For those who think that social media played a role in the Weaver no-hitter, look again. Rojas tweeted things such as the number of strikeouts Weaver had and to "tune in", and still did not indicate a no-hitter in progress. What a way to let down some of the fans who had been following him.
Then we forward ahead to Sunday (5/6) when a segment of Orioles fans were denied the opportunity to see the live conclusion of their epic 17 inning game vs. Boston that made baseball history. (The first time a designated hitter was also the winning pitcher.) WJZ-TV management made a programming decision to dump the telecast during the 15th inning in order to show "60 Minutes" at its scheduled time.
WJZ-TV has the excuse that the game was being shown on MASN at the same time, and did advise viewers where to tune for the conclusion of the game. However, many viewing on WJZ do so because they do not have cable or satellite access to the games on MASN. What makes this more infuriating is that "60 Minutes" is NOT a live event. The show would have had exactly 100% of the same content an hour later.
Ironically, this blunder comes as the Orioles are finally playing decent ball and starting to attract some better ratings. Now chances are that some of the casual fans will be less trusting of the games on WJZ. Station officials reportedly cited the "60 Minutes" segment with Olympian Michael Phelps, who is from the Baltimore area, as the reason for making the (note here) pre-recorded segment such a priority. The station could just as easily have given the viewers the thrilling 17 inning game until its conclusion AND had been promoting the Phelps segment coming up, and kept everybody happy. Or did they forget that the Orioles are "from the area" too?
Earlier this week, SNY, the Comcast SportsNet for the New York City region, announced that it has added the University of Connecticut women's basketball games to its roster of games, which already includes UConn football and selected men's basketball games. Even though UConn has one of the most successful women's hoops programs anywhere, this announcement normally would not attract much attention.
What is worthy of note is learning that the UConn women's games had previously been shown on Connecticut Public Television. Just as I started to think that UConn fans who choose not to pay for SNY are now screwed out of those telecasts and that cable subscribers paying for SNY are now financially supporting UConn whether they intend to, want to, or not, this story got even more interesting.
It seems that Connecticut Public Television had been, according to published reports, paying UConn $900,000 per year for the telecast rights. Say what? This means that the people of Connecticut have endured "pledge night" interrupting the few quality shows Public TV has all year and been shown pitches to donate and contribute money - only to have 90% of one million dollars of those funds paid to a single university? At least that has now been stopped due to the SNY contract. Or is it worse that SNY is paying over a million dollars to show "at least" 17 women's games per year?
NBC Sports is touting their Kentucky Derby ratings from last Saturday (5/5), putting these ratings among its three highest since 1989. The initial showing of a 6% increase over last year is impressive.
While I'm not knocking the audience NBC got, it appears and a big percentage of their viewers came from "non-baseball" markets, considering that Fox had its MLB telecast up against NBC's Debry telecast. A review of the top 22 metered markets for the hour in which the Kentucky Derby was on against Fox's MLB telecasts reveals that only seven of those markets were "major league" markets. And one of those was Cincinnati, which is barely 100 miles from Louisville, where the Derby takes place (on a day when the Reds were not playing on Fox during that time). Cinci was the only one of the "top 8" metered markets which even has a MLB team locally.
Earlier this week, NBC Sports Network announced a 2-yeaer contract to televise Ivy League football and basketball. NBCSN will show "6 to 10" football and a like number of basketball games per season. With all due respect to Harvard, Yale, and the other Ivy League schools, this contract does not shape up as a sure thing ratings bonanza. It's more like "filler" material that at the very least counts a live sports instead of infomercials for workout kits.
On the bright side, NBC Sports continues to generate huge ratings for its thorough and innovative NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage, and is being justifiably rewarded for finally having every post-season game shown nationally.
Yahoo Sports Radio has added a new show to begin next week on Thursday May 17th from 8 to 10 PM ET. Columnists Pat Forde (college sports reporter) and Dan Wetzel will co-host the show. Hopefully this show will become a college football weekend preview show over the next few weeks, as it seems odd at a once-per-week show would only air on Thursday nights on a national network for any other reason.
Now that the moon seems to be returning to regulation size, the sports media news is returning closer to normal.
MLB Network begins another season showing select minor league contests live, starting this Thursday (5/10) with the Lehigh Valley at Indianapolis AAA game airing at 11:00 AM ET. These will be the minor league feeds from one of the teams, with the positive being that MLB Network will show the games without blackouts in the local markets.
• May 10, 11:05 AM ET, Lehigh Valley IronPigs at Indianapolis Indians
• May 14, 12:05 PM ET, Rochester Red Wings at Syracuse Chiefs
• May 22, 11:05 AM ET, Gwinnett Braves at Rochester Red Wings
• May 31, 10:35 AM ET, Columbus Clippers at Buffalo Bisons
• June 12, 12:05 PM ET, Toledo Mud Hens at Durham Bulls
• June 25, 12:05 PM ET, Buffalo Bisons at Durham Bulls
Former outfielder Jose Cruz Jr. has joined ESPN to report on baseball in a dual capacity. Cruz will appear on Baseball Tonight, beginning on May 16th, and also do his analysis in Spanish for ESPN Deportes.
Here's hoping the moon remains at regulation size, at least for the sports media.
Last Wednesday (5/2), while the Angels' Jared Weaver was pitching a no-hitter, viewers tuning into Victor Rojas and Mark Gubicza on the Angels' telecast had no idea of what was taking place unless they saw the graphics at the end of a half inning. There were no audio difficulties. Viewers were not told because (and get this) of the superstition about "not talking" about a no-hitter in progress. Funny, but I thought the announcers were on the scene to "report" the game.
The very least they could have done was to do as I have heard some announcers do, which is to make constant references to the totals and/or indirect references that clue in even the casual fan. A simple "Mauer, like his teammates, is still looking for his first hit of the night", or "and no hits again in the 7th, same as the first 6 innings", would have done the job. That Rojas and Gubicza could have cost themselves some viewers over their dumb superstition means nothing to me as a baseball fan. It's the fact that many baseball fans would stick around and probably notify friends and family members who are fans to tune in to hopefully witness history but weren't given that chance that stinks.
Although I have thought over the years that Rojas does an excellent job, and was disappointed that he left MLB Network to take on the Angels' TV position, he's going to have to do something to make up for lost ground. Then again, the Angels' broadcast teams have a bit of a history on being weak when it comes to no-hitters.
I flash back to September 19, 1986 when Joe Cowley of the White Sox no-hit the Angels in Anaheim. Even though they were the home team radio call and the game was not televised locally, then Angels voices Al Conin and Ken Brett did not get Cowley on their post-game show. That was understandable to some degree, since the White Sox broadcast wanted "their" pitcher on the air right after.
So, I tuned in specifically for the Angels' pre-game show the next day prior to the interview segment. And what do the fans hear? Nothing but Al Conin "explaining" how Cowley was still being mobbed by the media about the no-hitter and how they were not able to get him for their pre-game show. They only had HOURS before the game and were, for pete's sake, a Los Angeles radio station at the stadium the no-hitter took place. An unexcusable and weak broadcasting moment back then, too.
For those who think that social media played a role in the Weaver no-hitter, look again. Rojas tweeted things such as the number of strikeouts Weaver had and to "tune in", and still did not indicate a no-hitter in progress. What a way to let down some of the fans who had been following him.
Then we forward ahead to Sunday (5/6) when a segment of Orioles fans were denied the opportunity to see the live conclusion of their epic 17 inning game vs. Boston that made baseball history. (The first time a designated hitter was also the winning pitcher.) WJZ-TV management made a programming decision to dump the telecast during the 15th inning in order to show "60 Minutes" at its scheduled time.
WJZ-TV has the excuse that the game was being shown on MASN at the same time, and did advise viewers where to tune for the conclusion of the game. However, many viewing on WJZ do so because they do not have cable or satellite access to the games on MASN. What makes this more infuriating is that "60 Minutes" is NOT a live event. The show would have had exactly 100% of the same content an hour later.
Ironically, this blunder comes as the Orioles are finally playing decent ball and starting to attract some better ratings. Now chances are that some of the casual fans will be less trusting of the games on WJZ. Station officials reportedly cited the "60 Minutes" segment with Olympian Michael Phelps, who is from the Baltimore area, as the reason for making the (note here) pre-recorded segment such a priority. The station could just as easily have given the viewers the thrilling 17 inning game until its conclusion AND had been promoting the Phelps segment coming up, and kept everybody happy. Or did they forget that the Orioles are "from the area" too?
Earlier this week, SNY, the Comcast SportsNet for the New York City region, announced that it has added the University of Connecticut women's basketball games to its roster of games, which already includes UConn football and selected men's basketball games. Even though UConn has one of the most successful women's hoops programs anywhere, this announcement normally would not attract much attention.
What is worthy of note is learning that the UConn women's games had previously been shown on Connecticut Public Television. Just as I started to think that UConn fans who choose not to pay for SNY are now screwed out of those telecasts and that cable subscribers paying for SNY are now financially supporting UConn whether they intend to, want to, or not, this story got even more interesting.
It seems that Connecticut Public Television had been, according to published reports, paying UConn $900,000 per year for the telecast rights. Say what? This means that the people of Connecticut have endured "pledge night" interrupting the few quality shows Public TV has all year and been shown pitches to donate and contribute money - only to have 90% of one million dollars of those funds paid to a single university? At least that has now been stopped due to the SNY contract. Or is it worse that SNY is paying over a million dollars to show "at least" 17 women's games per year?
NBC Sports is touting their Kentucky Derby ratings from last Saturday (5/5), putting these ratings among its three highest since 1989. The initial showing of a 6% increase over last year is impressive.
While I'm not knocking the audience NBC got, it appears and a big percentage of their viewers came from "non-baseball" markets, considering that Fox had its MLB telecast up against NBC's Debry telecast. A review of the top 22 metered markets for the hour in which the Kentucky Derby was on against Fox's MLB telecasts reveals that only seven of those markets were "major league" markets. And one of those was Cincinnati, which is barely 100 miles from Louisville, where the Derby takes place (on a day when the Reds were not playing on Fox during that time). Cinci was the only one of the "top 8" metered markets which even has a MLB team locally.
Earlier this week, NBC Sports Network announced a 2-yeaer contract to televise Ivy League football and basketball. NBCSN will show "6 to 10" football and a like number of basketball games per season. With all due respect to Harvard, Yale, and the other Ivy League schools, this contract does not shape up as a sure thing ratings bonanza. It's more like "filler" material that at the very least counts a live sports instead of infomercials for workout kits.
On the bright side, NBC Sports continues to generate huge ratings for its thorough and innovative NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage, and is being justifiably rewarded for finally having every post-season game shown nationally.
Yahoo Sports Radio has added a new show to begin next week on Thursday May 17th from 8 to 10 PM ET. Columnists Pat Forde (college sports reporter) and Dan Wetzel will co-host the show. Hopefully this show will become a college football weekend preview show over the next few weeks, as it seems odd at a once-per-week show would only air on Thursday nights on a national network for any other reason.
Now that the moon seems to be returning to regulation size, the sports media news is returning closer to normal.
MLB Network begins another season showing select minor league contests live, starting this Thursday (5/10) with the Lehigh Valley at Indianapolis AAA game airing at 11:00 AM ET. These will be the minor league feeds from one of the teams, with the positive being that MLB Network will show the games without blackouts in the local markets.
• May 10, 11:05 AM ET, Lehigh Valley IronPigs at Indianapolis Indians
• May 14, 12:05 PM ET, Rochester Red Wings at Syracuse Chiefs
• May 22, 11:05 AM ET, Gwinnett Braves at Rochester Red Wings
• May 31, 10:35 AM ET, Columbus Clippers at Buffalo Bisons
• June 12, 12:05 PM ET, Toledo Mud Hens at Durham Bulls
• June 25, 12:05 PM ET, Buffalo Bisons at Durham Bulls
Former outfielder Jose Cruz Jr. has joined ESPN to report on baseball in a dual capacity. Cruz will appear on Baseball Tonight, beginning on May 16th, and also do his analysis in Spanish for ESPN Deportes.
Here's hoping the moon remains at regulation size, at least for the sports media.
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