Sports talk radio stations are finally on the rise in some of the larger markets based on the just released January ratings. Some of this, such as New York and Boston, were due to the Giants and Patriots reaching the Super Bowl during the ratings period.
Perhaps the biggest news is that Houston sports stations are trending up again, now registering more than the blip on the radar they have been for the past couple of years. Although KILT has only risen to #19 overall, KBME-AM and KFNC-FM also went up. This is significant for a number of reasons. The total sports audience rise means that one station's rise was not due to another station losing some of its audience, since they each gained.
In addition, this is not exactly a sports bonanza time for Houston's pro teams. The Texans' season ended in early in January even though it included a playoff appearance. The Rockets are not among the NBA's contenders this season, while the Astros' upcoming season does not look promising. This market bears watching over the next few months. Maybe I did write it off too soon.
San Francisco also showed growth, but it remains to be seen how much of that was due to the 49ers playoff run. KNBR went up to #7 overall, while The Game WGMZ-FM also went up, even if only to #26 overall in the market.
Chicago also saw its rival sports stations both on the rise for the January ratings period, with The Score WSCR finishing at #16 overall while WMVP ESPN showed an even larger audience increase despite finishing only 21st overall.
Dallas and Philadelphia, two of the traditionally strong sports radio markets over the years, each showed alarming decreases again, however. In Dallas, the 3 sports stations are now grouped together. KTCK-AM The Ticket is only #22 overall, with KRLD-FM now just .1 behind at #23. KESN-FM ESPN has now lost half of the overall audience it had as recently as the November ratings, and has sunk to #26 overall. Since I was unable to find out for sure prior to press time, I'll only speculate that it is the first time in many ratings periods that Dallas didn't have at least one of its sports stations in the Top 20.
In Philly, WPEN-FM held steady but came in at #18 overall, while the WIP 610 continues its downward spiral, now at a .7 for a #28 market rank. The FM partial simulcast has yet to make a dent either. The argument that the Phillies' broadcasts will be simulcast on WIP-FM may or may not make a difference. What happens in other cities does not always carry over, but Chicago's WBBM Newsradio had actually dropped a full ratings point since November, even with having added a full FM simulcast in the fall.
Los Angeles continues to be a sports talk disaster. KSPN 710 had dropped again and now ranks #28 overall in the market. KLAC has dipped to #34 overall. Combined, these stations don't make the top 20. We shall see whether or not baseball fans discover these stations over the next couple of ratings periods. The Dodgers enter the season with ownership uncertainty while fans have little to no idea about the station now airing their games (in English). The Angels begin their season with Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson being added, and with a lot of promise to contend.
Boston and New York will likely ride the Super Bowl train for at least another ratings book, as baseball season should keep their stations buzzing as well. For the January ratings, WFAN went up to #9 overall while WEPN (even at #23) also went up. In Boston, both The Sports Hub WBZ-FM and WEEI went through the roof, with both stations up and finishing in the top 8 overall.
Meanwhile, back to Houston and the likely disaster of a season ahead for the Astros. One reason to listen to the broadcasts will be because it will be the final season for Milo Hamilton to call the games on radio. That makes it worthwhile right there. Let's hope that Milo is also saluted as he makes his final trips to the road ballparks this season.
We won't know for sure whether or not ESPN removing Ron Jaworski from Monday Night Football was really for the intent of getting him off those telecasts or if it is to reduce to a 2-man booth. My feeling is that it is a combination of both. On the surface, ESPN seems to really want Jaworski since they gave him a 5-year contract and will include him in much more of their NFL related programming.
While I grant you that not everyone likes Jon Gruden, I find it more significant that Monday Night Football will have 2 men in the booth for the first time ever. It's about time. ESPN has been making the gradual transition to turning MNF into a true football telecast instead of the booth circus that ABC used all those years. With NFL telecast ratings on the rise over the past couple of years, ESPN recognizes that fans are tuning in for the games and not to see what the announcers will do next. It is finally play-by-play and real analysis, compared with Frank Gifford's endless conversations about everything but for all those years on ABC, some of which lacked defined roles over who called the plays and who analyzed them. My hope is that this will become a trend.
For all sports, we are becoming saddled with so many analysts in the studio and at the game that there is not enough time for the "good" ones to expand on their thoughts. Getting back to the basics and focusing on the game itself is a great start.
Although it's not polite to highlight an embarassing story, the way the situation was handled by James Bates of CBS Sports Network deserves mention. Bates and Steve Wolf were on camera for the Network doing the opening of the Dayton at Xavier telecast on Saturday (2/18). During the opening, with both announcers seated on the court, the stool that Bates was sitting on broke and collapsed and Bates tumbled to the floor, all live on camera. Bates was shown getting up from the floor while Wolf stood up, but Bates kept talking, kept his cool, and began to joke about the fall. That was extremely professional and he made it seem like fun. If you haven't seen it yet, I'll bet you can still find the video of it.
Do NFL fans truly want to see prospects working out? The NFL Network thinks so. This week (Thursday through Saturday) the Network plans about 50 hours of coverage from the NFL Scouting Combine from Indianapolis. Complete with Rich Eisen anchoring the coverage and primary analysts including Mike Mayock, Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders, and Kurt Warner. This is not for any game action. This for guys working out and demonstrating skills individually for consideration among NFL teams. Unless I missed something, such as Vegas having a line on which guys will work out the best or some sort of rookie projection fantasy league, I'm not sure this "event' warrants such extensive coverage. Granted, there's not much else to talk about for NFL Network until much closer to draft time, and I'm all for live "original" programming, but this seems extreme.
The TV networks covering baseball are putting out their initial telecast schedules for the coming season. While we have already mentioned several of the early season ESPN telecasts, and MLB Network waits until other schedules are finalized before announcing which games they will carry, Fox and TBS have unveiled some or most of their planned telecasts.
Fox Sports is finally back to doing telecasts every Saturday (instead of waiting a couple of weeks into the season), and is expanding to eight Saturday night telecasts for this season. However, there will be a couple of Saturdays when Fox will move ahead of their "traditional" 4 PM ET spot and televise at 1 PM ET instead. This will be when Fox has a NASCAR telecast scheduled for prime time, and to make certain that their baseball telecasts are concluded. While that is admirable, this, combined with the added prime telecasts, means that more than 1/3 of their Saturday telecasts will not be airing at their "traditional" time.
Of course, Fox already has the Yankees and Red Sox scheduled for the maximum of 9 appearances, with the Mets, Braves, and Angels scheduled for 8 times. (The Mets???)
TBS has announced its Sunday afternoon telecast schedule for all of April and May. Guess what. Of their first 8 telecasts, 6 of those include either New York or Boston. However, TBS continues to have varied times for the start of its games, although no west coast or mountain time telecasts are scheduled yet. With varied starting times between 1 and 2 PM ET, at least fans know they can tune in at 2 PM ET and see a game start or in the early innings.
Here are those TV schedules:
FOX Saturday Baseball:
April 7 (3:30 PM ET) Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks, Kansas City Royals at Anaheim Angels
April 14 (12:30 PM ET) Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, Anaheim Angels at New York Yankees, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins
April 21 (3:30 PM ET) New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox at Seattle Mariners
April 28 (12:30 PM ET) Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Anaheim Angels at Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins
May 5 (3:30 PM ET) Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers Arizona Diamondbacks at New York Mets Milwaukee Brewers at San Francisco Giants
May 12 (12:30 PM ET) Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee Brewers Anaheim Angels at Texas Rangers New York Mets at Miami Marlins
May 19 (7:00 PM ET) Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs Texas Rangers at Houston Astros Baltimore Orioles at Washington Nationals Arizona Diamondbacks at Kansas City Royals
May 26 (7:00 PM ET) Philadelphia Phillies at St. Louis Cardinals Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates Colorado Rockies at Cincinnati Reds Anaheim Angels at Seattle Mariners
June 2 (7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at Detroit Tigers Chicago Cubs at San Francisco Giants Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Indians Arizona Diamondbacks at San Diego Padres Cincinnati Reds at Houston Astros
June 9 (7:00 PM ET) New York Mets at New York Yankees Cleveland Indians at St. Louis Cardinals Los Angeles Dodgers at Seattle Mariners Tampa Bay Rays at Miami Marlins Kansas City Royals at Pittsburgh Pirates
June 16 (7:00 PM ET) Boston Red Sox at Chicago Cubs Cincinnati Reds at New York Mets Miami Marlins at Tampa Bay Rays Baltimore Orioles at Atlanta Braves Houston Astros at Texas Rangers
June 23 (7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at New York Mets Atlanta Braves at Boston Red Sox Washington Nationals at Baltimore Orioles Los Angeles Dodgers at Anaheim Angels San Francisco Giants at Oakland Athletics Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago White Sox
June 30 (7:00 PM ET) New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers Arizona Diamondbacks at Milwaukee Brewers Detroit Tigers at Tampa Bay Rays Oakland Athletics at Texas Rangers San Diego Padres at Colorado Rockies Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins
July 7 (7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies Minnesota Twins at Texas Rangers
July 14 (3:30 PM ET) New York Mets at Atlanta Braves Arizona Diamondbacks at Chicago Cubs Philadelphia Phillies at Colorado Rockies
July 21 (3:30 PM ET) San Francisco Giants at Philadelphia Phillies Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals Texas Rangers at Anaheim Angels
July 28 (3:30 PM ET) Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves
August 18 (3:30 PM ET) Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres
August 25 (3:30 PM ET) St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds Atlanta Braves at San Francisco Giants Minnesota Twins at Texas Rangers
September 1 (3:30 PM ET) Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves San Francisco Giants at Chicago Cubs Anaheim Angels at Seattle Mariners
September 8 (3:30 PM ET) Atlanta Braves at New York Mets Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants Kansas City Royals at Chicago White Sox
September 15 (3:30 PM ET) Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Indians Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres
September 22 + Sept. 29 - To be determined
SUNDAY TBS SCHEDULE
April 8 1:30 p.m. New York Yankees at Tampa Bay
April 15 1:30 p.m. Tampa Bay Rays at Boston
April 22 1 p.m. Texas Rangers at Detroit
April 29 1 p.m. Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees
May 6- 2 p.m. New York Yankees at Kansas City
May 13 2 p.m. Atlanta Braves at St. Louis
May 20 1:30 p.m. Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia
May 27 1:30 p.m. Tampa Bay Rays at Boston
Showing posts with label sports talk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sports talk. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sports Media Report - March 8th update........
Hopefully it's not 'too little too late' for HD Radio, but WJFK 106.7 The Fan in Washington DC is making the effort to make HD Radio appeal to area sports fans. As I suggested months ago, the station has added 2 out-of-area sports stations to its HD mix, along with nearby WJZ-FM from Baltimore. The Fan's HD3 channel now broadcasts WFAN from New York and its HD4 carries WIP from Philadelphia.
Sports fans in the DC area come out winners, at least those few that actually have HD radios. They add at least two more choices for sports talk and information at any given time, while WJFK helps to keep listeners from going to WTEM if they are not enjoying the currently airing topic or program.
Moves such as this, and a couple of pro teams going to HD channels specific to a team, such as the HD radio channel in Pittsburgh devoted to the Penguins, are excellent uses of the HD radio concept which allows for more targeted and niche programming.
Yet, I still contend that sports stations can increase their HD Radio presence with more local flavor. An HD channel programmed locally seems the perfect place to air local high school sports, with the ability to replay games the next day. Let the family of the guy that makes the game-winning shot and his entire family hear the description a couple of times more the next day! In addition, stations could use an HD channel to replay their local pro and college broadcasts. I have to believe that an overnight worker might enjoy hearing the entire broadcast of an hours old game without knowing the score ahead of time to help him or her get through an overnight shift.
This DC addition is a start. I would like to believe that CBS stations elsewhere around the country will also start picking up sports stations from around the country as well to provide more options. Maybe this is the idea that could jump start HD Radio sales and participation.
On another matter, this began as a private e-mail based on a previous commentary, but now deserves to be brought up for discussion. More and more I am hearing sports stations across the country promoting "additional" parts to stories they are covering and discussing on their station web sites.
I can certainly understand the sports stations wanting to increase traffic to the station web site. Depending on who you talk to, the purpose ranges from keeping the audience involved (and from tuning to a competitor) to driving potential customers to more revenue opportunities for the station.
Personally, I'm finding this new practice to be in the early stages of becoming another aggravation. Sorry, but shouldn't "have to" go to the station's web site to hear more about a story or more of an interview. This tells me that the station I have chosen isn't willing to provide me with as complete of coverage as they can.
My feeling is there is a huge difference between "If you missed any of this interview, you can hear it again at www....." and "for more on this story visit www.......".
If a station's web site gives me its coverage and "extra" from the radio station itself, then I now have more reason to ONLY visit the web site when I am online to get the "complete" coverage of those stories I want. It means I don't have to listen to 'partial' coverage of stories I'm interested in and full coverage of stories I am not interested in by taking the time to tune to the sports station in the first place.
Pardon me, but I still would like to think that radio stations are in business to attract listeners, and not to drive them to another media form which does not count toward their primary audience measurement source.
I have long wondered why radio stations which play music often promote how you can purchase what they play from the station's web site. While the station looks at it as another needed revenue source, I look at it as the station giving you fewer reasons to listen to their station. If I can buy just the songs I like and listen to them at my convenience, then I have fewer reasons to listen to that station. Same theory with the sports reports.
Unless the radio exec who disagreed with me via private e-mail is planning to work for a music web site sometime soon, I think he will soon find a declining audience for his station.
Meanwhile, it is a loss for the great MLB Network, but a gain for the L. A. Angels with the hiring of Victor Rojas to become their TV play-by-play voice effective immediately. The opening came about due to the sudden and untimely death of Rory Markas earlier this year. Rojas will work with Mark Gubicza on both FS West and Channel 13 telecasts. Ironically, the outside hiring of Rojas comes after the Angels' decision to reduce to one TV team after a couple years of more than one broadcast team just for television.
Rojas has previously done play-by-play for the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks, having left the Texas job last year to come to MLB Network. Angels radio continues with Terry Smith and Jose Mota on the call.
ESPN Radio is adjusting its daytime lineup as of baseball opening day. Starting on April 5th Scott Van Pelt expands to 3 hours from 1 to 4 PM ET, with Colin Cowherd moving back to its original 10 AM to 1 PM spot.
NASSAU: The Bahamas are about to get their first ever sports talk station, which will begin by the end of this year. Matt Sampsell, most recently with KRIV-TV Houston as a sports reporter until late 2008, has been named Program Director and is expected to hire local talent. The station could also debut in Nassau as the only full-time talk station there.
On the TV side, Versus is preparing to debut "The Daily Line" on April 5th. The nightly one-hour show is scheduled for 6 PM ET and will preview each night's upcoming sports action. What the network hopes will set this show apart is that they plan to include fan participation via phone calls, e-mails, and text messages. In many markets, this show will be on prior to the local or regional 30 minute sports reports which preview the local teams.
Before you dismiss this as Versus doing something to fill the time with sports during the NHL off-season, keep in mind that Comcast owns a stake in Versus. If Comcast allows Versus' "The Daily Line" to make use of the various regional Comcast SportsNet operations (such as SNY in New York and Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia and Chicago, for example), this actually could become a valuable commodity for early evening sports viewers. Liam McHugh, Jenn Sterger, Reese Waters and Rob DeAngelis will be the hosts.
LOS ANGELES: KSPN 710, the ESPN station, is also making a lineup change on April 5th. "In The Zone" with Brian Long and A. Martinez will broadcast from the ESPN studios at LA Live most weeknights from 6 to 9 PM, and will follow the local "Mason & Ireland" which airs from 2 to 6 PM. To its credit, the station plans to continue to air Mike & Mike live from 3 to 7 AM local time.
SAN DIEGO: Since Dick Enberg's college basketball commitments continue with CBS, Mark Neely will call most of the televised Padres exhibition games this month, with the first one being this coming Sunday (Mar. 14). Neely, who was the Padres' TV voice last season, will then replace Steve Quis on the TV pre and post-game shows when Enberg takes over.
On the radio side, the end of the Padres broadcast tradition may be coming after this season. Not only is Jerry Coleman now working a reduced number of games, but Ted Leitner is back for his 31st and possibly final season in the Padres' booth. For that matter, Andy Masur's contract is also up at the end of this season.
OAKLAND: The Oakland A's not only have a stronger signal this season with KTRB 860 now handling the broadcasts, but will have increased adjacent coverage. Chris Townsend, known for hosting "Sports Overnight America" on the Sports Byline Network, has been brought in to host a one-hour "A's Talk" post-game show. Ken Korach, Ray Fosse, and Vince Cotroneo continue to call the games. Townsend replaces Marty Lurie who recently went across the Bay to join the Giants broadcast team at KNBR.
HOUSTON: David Dalati joined KFNC 97.5 as sports update reporter during afternoon drive, and will provide a daily feature on the Carl Dukes Show. Dalati is well known among sports fans with his having been with KILT and KBME during his 25+ years in the Houston market.
Sports fans in the DC area come out winners, at least those few that actually have HD radios. They add at least two more choices for sports talk and information at any given time, while WJFK helps to keep listeners from going to WTEM if they are not enjoying the currently airing topic or program.
Moves such as this, and a couple of pro teams going to HD channels specific to a team, such as the HD radio channel in Pittsburgh devoted to the Penguins, are excellent uses of the HD radio concept which allows for more targeted and niche programming.
Yet, I still contend that sports stations can increase their HD Radio presence with more local flavor. An HD channel programmed locally seems the perfect place to air local high school sports, with the ability to replay games the next day. Let the family of the guy that makes the game-winning shot and his entire family hear the description a couple of times more the next day! In addition, stations could use an HD channel to replay their local pro and college broadcasts. I have to believe that an overnight worker might enjoy hearing the entire broadcast of an hours old game without knowing the score ahead of time to help him or her get through an overnight shift.
This DC addition is a start. I would like to believe that CBS stations elsewhere around the country will also start picking up sports stations from around the country as well to provide more options. Maybe this is the idea that could jump start HD Radio sales and participation.
On another matter, this began as a private e-mail based on a previous commentary, but now deserves to be brought up for discussion. More and more I am hearing sports stations across the country promoting "additional" parts to stories they are covering and discussing on their station web sites.
I can certainly understand the sports stations wanting to increase traffic to the station web site. Depending on who you talk to, the purpose ranges from keeping the audience involved (and from tuning to a competitor) to driving potential customers to more revenue opportunities for the station.
Personally, I'm finding this new practice to be in the early stages of becoming another aggravation. Sorry, but shouldn't "have to" go to the station's web site to hear more about a story or more of an interview. This tells me that the station I have chosen isn't willing to provide me with as complete of coverage as they can.
My feeling is there is a huge difference between "If you missed any of this interview, you can hear it again at www....." and "for more on this story visit www.......".
If a station's web site gives me its coverage and "extra" from the radio station itself, then I now have more reason to ONLY visit the web site when I am online to get the "complete" coverage of those stories I want. It means I don't have to listen to 'partial' coverage of stories I'm interested in and full coverage of stories I am not interested in by taking the time to tune to the sports station in the first place.
Pardon me, but I still would like to think that radio stations are in business to attract listeners, and not to drive them to another media form which does not count toward their primary audience measurement source.
I have long wondered why radio stations which play music often promote how you can purchase what they play from the station's web site. While the station looks at it as another needed revenue source, I look at it as the station giving you fewer reasons to listen to their station. If I can buy just the songs I like and listen to them at my convenience, then I have fewer reasons to listen to that station. Same theory with the sports reports.
Unless the radio exec who disagreed with me via private e-mail is planning to work for a music web site sometime soon, I think he will soon find a declining audience for his station.
Meanwhile, it is a loss for the great MLB Network, but a gain for the L. A. Angels with the hiring of Victor Rojas to become their TV play-by-play voice effective immediately. The opening came about due to the sudden and untimely death of Rory Markas earlier this year. Rojas will work with Mark Gubicza on both FS West and Channel 13 telecasts. Ironically, the outside hiring of Rojas comes after the Angels' decision to reduce to one TV team after a couple years of more than one broadcast team just for television.
Rojas has previously done play-by-play for the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks, having left the Texas job last year to come to MLB Network. Angels radio continues with Terry Smith and Jose Mota on the call.
ESPN Radio is adjusting its daytime lineup as of baseball opening day. Starting on April 5th Scott Van Pelt expands to 3 hours from 1 to 4 PM ET, with Colin Cowherd moving back to its original 10 AM to 1 PM spot.
NASSAU: The Bahamas are about to get their first ever sports talk station, which will begin by the end of this year. Matt Sampsell, most recently with KRIV-TV Houston as a sports reporter until late 2008, has been named Program Director and is expected to hire local talent. The station could also debut in Nassau as the only full-time talk station there.
On the TV side, Versus is preparing to debut "The Daily Line" on April 5th. The nightly one-hour show is scheduled for 6 PM ET and will preview each night's upcoming sports action. What the network hopes will set this show apart is that they plan to include fan participation via phone calls, e-mails, and text messages. In many markets, this show will be on prior to the local or regional 30 minute sports reports which preview the local teams.
Before you dismiss this as Versus doing something to fill the time with sports during the NHL off-season, keep in mind that Comcast owns a stake in Versus. If Comcast allows Versus' "The Daily Line" to make use of the various regional Comcast SportsNet operations (such as SNY in New York and Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia and Chicago, for example), this actually could become a valuable commodity for early evening sports viewers. Liam McHugh, Jenn Sterger, Reese Waters and Rob DeAngelis will be the hosts.
LOS ANGELES: KSPN 710, the ESPN station, is also making a lineup change on April 5th. "In The Zone" with Brian Long and A. Martinez will broadcast from the ESPN studios at LA Live most weeknights from 6 to 9 PM, and will follow the local "Mason & Ireland" which airs from 2 to 6 PM. To its credit, the station plans to continue to air Mike & Mike live from 3 to 7 AM local time.
SAN DIEGO: Since Dick Enberg's college basketball commitments continue with CBS, Mark Neely will call most of the televised Padres exhibition games this month, with the first one being this coming Sunday (Mar. 14). Neely, who was the Padres' TV voice last season, will then replace Steve Quis on the TV pre and post-game shows when Enberg takes over.
On the radio side, the end of the Padres broadcast tradition may be coming after this season. Not only is Jerry Coleman now working a reduced number of games, but Ted Leitner is back for his 31st and possibly final season in the Padres' booth. For that matter, Andy Masur's contract is also up at the end of this season.
OAKLAND: The Oakland A's not only have a stronger signal this season with KTRB 860 now handling the broadcasts, but will have increased adjacent coverage. Chris Townsend, known for hosting "Sports Overnight America" on the Sports Byline Network, has been brought in to host a one-hour "A's Talk" post-game show. Ken Korach, Ray Fosse, and Vince Cotroneo continue to call the games. Townsend replaces Marty Lurie who recently went across the Bay to join the Giants broadcast team at KNBR.
HOUSTON: David Dalati joined KFNC 97.5 as sports update reporter during afternoon drive, and will provide a daily feature on the Carl Dukes Show. Dalati is well known among sports fans with his having been with KILT and KBME during his 25+ years in the Houston market.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sports Media Report - July 28th update
Maybe I put too much of a sports element on all phases of radio, TV, and overall electronic media coverage of sports. Or, maybe some members of the electronic media put too little of a sports and competition element into their jobs. Whichever it is, I find myself shocked and dismayed after reading an article in Broadcasting & Cable about how TV stations are reacting to ESPN adding more local web sites in the near future.
The local site for Chicago and the local ESPN Radio station there has attracted a large following within a short period of time, leading to the network planning similar local sites for New York, L.A. and Dallas. That is called competition for the sports audience, and in a sense, competition is what ESPN is all about. If there wasn’t enough interest in the competition that pro and college sports bring us, we wouldn’t have ESPN or anything like it today.
My reaction is because the story actually goes on to quote a Dallas TV executive about how much of a challenge this will be for local TV sports because ESPN is doing this. Say what? This is not a rant against the person quoted, but if this is how management and sales are representing themselves these days, is it any wonder that “local” TV and radio are in so much trouble?
Quotes like the ones in that article are an insult to those who came before on local TV and radio stations. Why not carry it a step further and tell advertisers to place their buys online with ESPN? This is like the coach telling his team that the other team is going to win today’s game, so why bother to get out there and play the game. The article also includes information about the local ESPN sites knowing to hit local high school coverage.
Personally, I don’t care about high school sports and that was the case even when I was a high school student. But I know that many others do, and it deserves some level of coverage by the sports media. Yet now many local TV stations are cutting back on sports coverage during their local news, and this trend keeps getting worse. Same on the radio side, where the gradual elimination of local programming is also carrying over to sports, especially on the high school side.
This all serves to remind me of a personal experience which remains one of the ideas I am most proud of more than 30 years later. In the late 70’s I was handling play-by-play of high school (and some college) football and basketball games in Lexington KY. Late in a high school basketball season, a situation was coming up where 2 of the city’s “big” high schools were battling for first place, and each had a game in town against local schools, scheduled for the same night at the same time but across town. At a station meeting the week before, the other play-by-play voice said we should do one particular game. I responded that “We have 2 sets of remote broadcast gear and phone lines in both schools, and we should do BOTH games, with one of us at each game.” At the time, others in the room looked at me like I was nuts. (Not the first time, and probably not the last time that will happen.)
Finally, after days of practically arguing with colleagues, they agreed to send us each to one of the games. I immediately called the coach at the school I was going to and explained that we were going to cover both games, asking if he could delay the start of his game about 10 minutes. He agreed.
Along came game night, and the station publicized that both games would be covered. We shared the pre-game show, and the other game started as scheduled. We all monitored off the air. I sat at my game keeping score and statistics, and every few minutes the other guy threw it over to me for an update and a minute or so of play-by-play. His game got to half time, and he threw it to me for the remaining few minutes of “my” first half. It ended and it was back to him with the 2nd half underway. Then we went back and forth. His game ended, and he threw it to me for the conclusion of my game. From my listening to the other game off the air, I was feeding the school’s P A announcer score updates from the other game, and he was plugging the station every time.
The combined broadcast was a total success. People called the station the next day to thank us. Two of the local TV stations, which only had 1 camera crew to cover both games, thanked us for providing them with accounts of both games before their newscasts so that they could match up the results with their highlights. There was the example of a local radio station serving its community to the max.
Now, 30+ years later, I read in a major publication quotes from executives expressing concern about a media company out-doing them. What did they think was going to happen?
I have been saying it for months. The local TV stations cutting back or eliminating local sports coverage are going to suffer for it. There are plenty of “casual” sports fans, especially at the high school and college level, who prefer a 3 minute recap over the half hour or hour SportsCenter type of shows that air most every night. But if those fans now are “forced” to tune to ESPN, Fox Sports, Comcast, or whatever regional sports network for expanded coverage, they may not come back to the local TV stations for the rest of the news.
In addition, I have pointed out how the HD channels could be used for broadcasts and re-broadcasts of high school and local college games. Family members of the players will keep tuning in to hear their son, nephew, cousin, etc., score the key basket or the big touchdown run for replay after replay. And local sponsors will pay a few bucks to be heard during those games.
While the actual station carries on with regular programming. This could be an outlet for additional community service, sports coverage, and local ad dollars.
Instead, the executives who make the decisions for radio and TV stations regarding this sort of local sports coverage continue to cut back, eliminate, and/or not move forward in this direction.
Even worse, they are rolling over when a form of competition threatens to do what they won’t.
Just one TV station being afraid of a web site should be cause for alarm. The problem is, the station is punting.
It is just like with radio stations and music programming. If the radio stations had kept doing what they did 10, 20, 30 years ago and maintained their playlists while adding in new releases, avoided non-local programming, and not clustered an overload of commercials, millions of consumers might not have moved on to MP3 players, satellite radio, online music channels, and all of the other "distractions" - many of which cost more than turning on the FM Radio every month.
Now, when it comes to sports coverage, it doesn't stop at reduced coverage of the local on the field competition. The stations are afraid to compete with the media themselves.
Meanwhile, Westwood One Radio has revealed its announcing teams for its NFL Radio packages for the coming season. Monday Night Football will again be called by Marv Albert with WFAN New York morning man Boomer Esiason. Dave Sims and James Lofton will call Sunday Night broadcasts, while Ian Eagle and Randy Cross will handle the Thursday night games. Sunday afternoon games will be called by the first team of Howard David and Dan Reeves, while Kevin Kugler and Mark Malone will handle whichever afternoon game David does not call. Overflow (such as the opening Monday night doubleheader) and "extra" playoff games will be handled by Kevin Harlan and Warren Moon.
The NFL on radio continues to grow in Mexico for the upcoming season. Mexico City's XHM 88.9 will air Spanish language broadcasts of all Pittsburgh Steelers games. Not exactly within the Steelers' marketing territory, but it will be done. Actually, this is not a first. Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals broadcasts are also heard in Mexico.
Major League Baseball Network, which is coming off an excellent job of covering its first Hall of Fame Induction this past Sunday, continues to beef up the quality of its live telecasts over the next two weeks. This Thursday (7/30) it will be the Yankees at White Sox, in a MLB Network originated telecast with Bob Costas, while on Saturday (8/1) they will carry Houston at St. Louis. Next Thursday (8/6)it will be the Yankees vs. the Red Sox (also with Bob Costas) and on Saturday (8/8) it will be the Chicago Cubs at Colorado. As of this writing, each of these games is important for both teams involved. The only disappointment is that the Thursday originated telecasts are blacked out in the local team markets. I continue to feel that there should be an outcry over this, since we (the fans) pay a lot of money for cable or satellite TV and should have every available choice. If the local telecasts are good enough, most would watch them anyway. Let us decide.
ATLANTA: My contention that TV and radio rights will soon reduce to more realistic price points continues with the Braves losing their multi-million dollar deal with WGST, where estimates are the station lost millions from their 5-year deal which finishes up at the end of the current Braves season.
A new 5-year deal has been announced, for considerably less money, bringing the Braves games to WCNN 680 The Fan along with WNNX-FM 100.5. The Fan is gearing up for extended Braves related programming throughout its broadcast day in season, along with pre and post-game programming.
The Braves Radio Network of nearly 150 stations throughout the region will remain in tact.
HOUSTON: Sean Pendergast has signed a new 2-year agreement to remain on KGOW 1560. The station is also planning to add Tim Brando's syndicated show to begin the week of August 17th.
On the TV side, KTBU-TV has picked up the SEC Network football package through ESPN for the upcoming season. Dave Neal and Andre Ware are expected to be the announcing team for the 11 AM local time telecasts.
BOSTON: Lou Merloni is staying with with WEEI as a part of The Big Show with Glen Ordway. What makes this news is that new rival WBZ-FM reportedly made a significant offer in an attempt to pry Merloni away. Look for him to see an increase in his role with the station and WEEI.com. He is also expected to continue his TV work for Comcast SportsNet.
SAN DIEGO: The baseball season is as much a disaster for sports radio as it has been for the Padres. XX Sports had its lowest ratings ever during the baseball season for the month of June. Yet, it did not lose out to the sports radio competition, beating XTRA 1360 and ESPN 800 by at least a full ratings point for the month. Ouch.
WASHINGTON D.C.: WTEM 980 began its newest show this past Monday (7/27) when Kevin Sheehan and Washington Times columnist Thom Loverro began "Sports Fix" during the Noon to 2 PM weekday slot.
LUBBOCK: Double T 104.3 is changing call letters to KTTU and has indeed gone to all sports with an emphasis on Texas Tech University sports. The sports station became official this past Monday (7/27). In an interesting twist to debut, the station borrowed a chapter from stations which have converted to a different music format and played hundreds or even thousands of songs in a row to introduce the format.
KTTU came on the air with a "guarantee" of a 15 game undefeated "season" for Texas Tech by replaying broadcasts of the "top 15 Texas Tech games of the decade, each of which ended in victory. To its credit, the station plans to add local programming in morning and afternoon drive plus 11 AM to 1 PM, with ESPN Radio shows occupying the remaining available time. In addition to TT sports, the station carries Rangers baseball and will also air Cowboys football broadcasts in addition to non-conflicting ESPN Radio game broadcasts.
This is good to see on all counts. An emphasis on local programming throughout the day, a ton of local, regional, and national play-by-play, and a unique feature of local interest to debut the station.
The local site for Chicago and the local ESPN Radio station there has attracted a large following within a short period of time, leading to the network planning similar local sites for New York, L.A. and Dallas. That is called competition for the sports audience, and in a sense, competition is what ESPN is all about. If there wasn’t enough interest in the competition that pro and college sports bring us, we wouldn’t have ESPN or anything like it today.
My reaction is because the story actually goes on to quote a Dallas TV executive about how much of a challenge this will be for local TV sports because ESPN is doing this. Say what? This is not a rant against the person quoted, but if this is how management and sales are representing themselves these days, is it any wonder that “local” TV and radio are in so much trouble?
Quotes like the ones in that article are an insult to those who came before on local TV and radio stations. Why not carry it a step further and tell advertisers to place their buys online with ESPN? This is like the coach telling his team that the other team is going to win today’s game, so why bother to get out there and play the game. The article also includes information about the local ESPN sites knowing to hit local high school coverage.
Personally, I don’t care about high school sports and that was the case even when I was a high school student. But I know that many others do, and it deserves some level of coverage by the sports media. Yet now many local TV stations are cutting back on sports coverage during their local news, and this trend keeps getting worse. Same on the radio side, where the gradual elimination of local programming is also carrying over to sports, especially on the high school side.
This all serves to remind me of a personal experience which remains one of the ideas I am most proud of more than 30 years later. In the late 70’s I was handling play-by-play of high school (and some college) football and basketball games in Lexington KY. Late in a high school basketball season, a situation was coming up where 2 of the city’s “big” high schools were battling for first place, and each had a game in town against local schools, scheduled for the same night at the same time but across town. At a station meeting the week before, the other play-by-play voice said we should do one particular game. I responded that “We have 2 sets of remote broadcast gear and phone lines in both schools, and we should do BOTH games, with one of us at each game.” At the time, others in the room looked at me like I was nuts. (Not the first time, and probably not the last time that will happen.)
Finally, after days of practically arguing with colleagues, they agreed to send us each to one of the games. I immediately called the coach at the school I was going to and explained that we were going to cover both games, asking if he could delay the start of his game about 10 minutes. He agreed.
Along came game night, and the station publicized that both games would be covered. We shared the pre-game show, and the other game started as scheduled. We all monitored off the air. I sat at my game keeping score and statistics, and every few minutes the other guy threw it over to me for an update and a minute or so of play-by-play. His game got to half time, and he threw it to me for the remaining few minutes of “my” first half. It ended and it was back to him with the 2nd half underway. Then we went back and forth. His game ended, and he threw it to me for the conclusion of my game. From my listening to the other game off the air, I was feeding the school’s P A announcer score updates from the other game, and he was plugging the station every time.
The combined broadcast was a total success. People called the station the next day to thank us. Two of the local TV stations, which only had 1 camera crew to cover both games, thanked us for providing them with accounts of both games before their newscasts so that they could match up the results with their highlights. There was the example of a local radio station serving its community to the max.
Now, 30+ years later, I read in a major publication quotes from executives expressing concern about a media company out-doing them. What did they think was going to happen?
I have been saying it for months. The local TV stations cutting back or eliminating local sports coverage are going to suffer for it. There are plenty of “casual” sports fans, especially at the high school and college level, who prefer a 3 minute recap over the half hour or hour SportsCenter type of shows that air most every night. But if those fans now are “forced” to tune to ESPN, Fox Sports, Comcast, or whatever regional sports network for expanded coverage, they may not come back to the local TV stations for the rest of the news.
In addition, I have pointed out how the HD channels could be used for broadcasts and re-broadcasts of high school and local college games. Family members of the players will keep tuning in to hear their son, nephew, cousin, etc., score the key basket or the big touchdown run for replay after replay. And local sponsors will pay a few bucks to be heard during those games.
While the actual station carries on with regular programming. This could be an outlet for additional community service, sports coverage, and local ad dollars.
Instead, the executives who make the decisions for radio and TV stations regarding this sort of local sports coverage continue to cut back, eliminate, and/or not move forward in this direction.
Even worse, they are rolling over when a form of competition threatens to do what they won’t.
Just one TV station being afraid of a web site should be cause for alarm. The problem is, the station is punting.
It is just like with radio stations and music programming. If the radio stations had kept doing what they did 10, 20, 30 years ago and maintained their playlists while adding in new releases, avoided non-local programming, and not clustered an overload of commercials, millions of consumers might not have moved on to MP3 players, satellite radio, online music channels, and all of the other "distractions" - many of which cost more than turning on the FM Radio every month.
Now, when it comes to sports coverage, it doesn't stop at reduced coverage of the local on the field competition. The stations are afraid to compete with the media themselves.
Meanwhile, Westwood One Radio has revealed its announcing teams for its NFL Radio packages for the coming season. Monday Night Football will again be called by Marv Albert with WFAN New York morning man Boomer Esiason. Dave Sims and James Lofton will call Sunday Night broadcasts, while Ian Eagle and Randy Cross will handle the Thursday night games. Sunday afternoon games will be called by the first team of Howard David and Dan Reeves, while Kevin Kugler and Mark Malone will handle whichever afternoon game David does not call. Overflow (such as the opening Monday night doubleheader) and "extra" playoff games will be handled by Kevin Harlan and Warren Moon.
The NFL on radio continues to grow in Mexico for the upcoming season. Mexico City's XHM 88.9 will air Spanish language broadcasts of all Pittsburgh Steelers games. Not exactly within the Steelers' marketing territory, but it will be done. Actually, this is not a first. Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals broadcasts are also heard in Mexico.
Major League Baseball Network, which is coming off an excellent job of covering its first Hall of Fame Induction this past Sunday, continues to beef up the quality of its live telecasts over the next two weeks. This Thursday (7/30) it will be the Yankees at White Sox, in a MLB Network originated telecast with Bob Costas, while on Saturday (8/1) they will carry Houston at St. Louis. Next Thursday (8/6)it will be the Yankees vs. the Red Sox (also with Bob Costas) and on Saturday (8/8) it will be the Chicago Cubs at Colorado. As of this writing, each of these games is important for both teams involved. The only disappointment is that the Thursday originated telecasts are blacked out in the local team markets. I continue to feel that there should be an outcry over this, since we (the fans) pay a lot of money for cable or satellite TV and should have every available choice. If the local telecasts are good enough, most would watch them anyway. Let us decide.
ATLANTA: My contention that TV and radio rights will soon reduce to more realistic price points continues with the Braves losing their multi-million dollar deal with WGST, where estimates are the station lost millions from their 5-year deal which finishes up at the end of the current Braves season.
A new 5-year deal has been announced, for considerably less money, bringing the Braves games to WCNN 680 The Fan along with WNNX-FM 100.5. The Fan is gearing up for extended Braves related programming throughout its broadcast day in season, along with pre and post-game programming.
The Braves Radio Network of nearly 150 stations throughout the region will remain in tact.
HOUSTON: Sean Pendergast has signed a new 2-year agreement to remain on KGOW 1560. The station is also planning to add Tim Brando's syndicated show to begin the week of August 17th.
On the TV side, KTBU-TV has picked up the SEC Network football package through ESPN for the upcoming season. Dave Neal and Andre Ware are expected to be the announcing team for the 11 AM local time telecasts.
BOSTON: Lou Merloni is staying with with WEEI as a part of The Big Show with Glen Ordway. What makes this news is that new rival WBZ-FM reportedly made a significant offer in an attempt to pry Merloni away. Look for him to see an increase in his role with the station and WEEI.com. He is also expected to continue his TV work for Comcast SportsNet.
SAN DIEGO: The baseball season is as much a disaster for sports radio as it has been for the Padres. XX Sports had its lowest ratings ever during the baseball season for the month of June. Yet, it did not lose out to the sports radio competition, beating XTRA 1360 and ESPN 800 by at least a full ratings point for the month. Ouch.
WASHINGTON D.C.: WTEM 980 began its newest show this past Monday (7/27) when Kevin Sheehan and Washington Times columnist Thom Loverro began "Sports Fix" during the Noon to 2 PM weekday slot.
LUBBOCK: Double T 104.3 is changing call letters to KTTU and has indeed gone to all sports with an emphasis on Texas Tech University sports. The sports station became official this past Monday (7/27). In an interesting twist to debut, the station borrowed a chapter from stations which have converted to a different music format and played hundreds or even thousands of songs in a row to introduce the format.
KTTU came on the air with a "guarantee" of a 15 game undefeated "season" for Texas Tech by replaying broadcasts of the "top 15 Texas Tech games of the decade, each of which ended in victory. To its credit, the station plans to add local programming in morning and afternoon drive plus 11 AM to 1 PM, with ESPN Radio shows occupying the remaining available time. In addition to TT sports, the station carries Rangers baseball and will also air Cowboys football broadcasts in addition to non-conflicting ESPN Radio game broadcasts.
This is good to see on all counts. An emphasis on local programming throughout the day, a ton of local, regional, and national play-by-play, and a unique feature of local interest to debut the station.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Sports Media Report - January 21st Update
The actions by Clearance Channel on Tuesday most certainly have an immediate impact on sports radio as well as the entire industry. My phone hardly stopped ringing all afternoon. After all, it is far from coincidence that on the same day that CC's man George Bush is no longer leading the nation, that they slash hundreds of lives while the attention of the nation is focused on change. But that's for another column.
In San Diego, most of the local air staff of KLSD 1360 is gone, including Mike Costa, Jeff Dotseth, Chris Ello and Craig Elsten. And this comes after the newest ratings for the market show XX sports down more than a half point in the ratings (without much room to roam as it was), and ESPN 800 not even showing up in the top 30 stations. Then again, XTRA 1360 also had another poor showing.
In Cincinnati, Scott Springer is out as morning sports anchor on powerhouse WLW. Detroit's WDFN is now without a local sports staff, and that may be even more disappointing than the Lions' recent season. In Minneapolis, KFAN 1130 co-host Chad Hartman is now out after more than 18 years with the station, along with his afternoon show producer.
In Jacksonville, WFXJ 930's long time morning sports show co-hosts David Lamm and Joe Cowart were dismissed. Lamm had been on 930 AM since it began with sports talk in December of 1991. Thus far, the station is adding more Fox Sports (national) programming, although it has three more years on its contract to carry Florida Gators football and basketball broadcasts. I suppose if Clearance Channel has any more input, they'll probably only air the first three quarters of the games and then return to national call-ins to continue their theme of cutting back.
Even in their "home city" of San Antonio, word from the San Antonio Express is that WOAI Sports Director Walter Pacacrita is among those let go. In Syracuse, among the sports radio casualties was WHEN 620 Program Director Jim Lerch, co-cost of the "Bud & The Manchild Show" in afternoon drive.
Meanwhile.........
The MLB-TV Network will go live from the diamond earlier than initially thought. They announce that they will televise the Caribbean World Series during the week of Feb. 2 to 6. A nice warm-up, in more ways than one, for the start of spring training. I am reserving judgement on MLB-TV, and doing so with great optimism, since right now it is tough to fill a one-hour news show six nights a week when there is about two minutes a day of actual news.
NEW YORK - WEPN 1050 has been able to re-structure its deal into more of a revenue share, and will continue with both Knicks and Rangers broadcasts that started on the ESPN station in 2004. This pact runs through the 2010-11 seasons. Look for more cross promotion, as WEPN is expected to get signage and promotion at Madison Square Garden, and many events at MSG (beyond the Knicks and Rangers) will be promoted on the air.
CHICAGO - WMVP 1000, the ESPN station, has dismissed afternoon co-host Dan McNeil after not renewing his contract. Rotating host Carmen DeFalco takes over, whether temporary or permanent. Carmen has filled in numerous times for McNeil in the past. McNeil had been hosting on WMVP for nearly nine years after coming over from (continuing) rival WSCR 670. Since Mike North was not renewed for mornings at WSCR last summer, McNeil was believed to have been the highest paid sports talker in Chicago.
LOS ANGELES - It looks like the recent "merger" of Fox Sports and KLAC 570 means a major reduction of local content. The station's "Loose Cannons" show is replacing Lakers analyst Mychal Thompson with Fox host Chris Myers, while their "Petros and Money Show" is going national. Now, there is some doubt about KLAC remaining as the flagship station for Tony Bruno's late night show. On Tuesday (Jan. 20), the station ran a "Best of Petros & Money" show.
Ouch.
DALLAS - It's a Ticket for the Stars. Not an awards show, but a change of radio venue, starting next season, for the NHL Stars braodcasts, ending their 15 years on powerhouse WBAP 820. KTCK 1310 The Ticket has a new five season agreement including new pre and post-game programming. For additional coverage, the Stars games will also be carried on 104.1 FM and 1700 AM.
WASHINGTON D.C. - The media and coverage woes continue for the Washington Nationals. WDCW-TV 50 will show just 20 Nationals games over the air for the upcoming season. The games will consist of most or all Sunday telecasts. This means that many to most of their telecasts will be directly against the TBS national game on Sunday afternoons. Thus, the one time a week (at most) that the Nationals are over-the-air, baseball fans will likely have a game involving two contenders to choose from. Not to mention Orioles games in most areas, with many telecasts featuring the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays.
St. LOUIS - Sorry to report the passing of sportscaster Joe May, who died of a heart attack this past Saturday (Jan. 17) at the age of 67. May was Sports Director of WIBV Belleville (a St. Louis suburb in Illinois) and also called some St. Louis University football during his 40 year career. Most recently, May was broadcasting high school games over an internet site.
MILWAUKEE - WSSP 1250 will soon have another Program Director, but in this instance it is for good reason. Ryan Maguire leaves to take over as P.D. at Kansas City's KCSP. Both stations are under the same ownership, and KCSP remains the flagship station for the Royals broadcasts. WSSP has named Steve Fifer as Interim Program Director but reportedly is seeking a replacement.
ATLANTA - 790 The Zone has a new voice on its "Mayhem in the A. M." morning show. Known as The Sports Babe, Cayci Johnson joined the show last week.
SACRAMENTO - Contracts to Jim Kozimor, who continues as pre and post-game host on Kings telecasts. Kozimor has been hired by the Universal Sports Channel, the cable channel co-owned by NBC, where he will call some olympics related sports events. The schedule is such that he is not expected to miss any of his Kings or occasional fill-in assignments on KHTK.
MADISON - Longtime Wisconsin Badgers voice Matt Lepay is off to a good start as morning drive co-host on WTSO 1070 after the station reduced the air time of Mike & Mike earlier this month. His co-host is his broadcast partner Mike Lucas. Hopefully, the station will consider letting this duo go for longer than the current 2-hour daily stint from 6:00 until 8:00 A.M.
In San Diego, most of the local air staff of KLSD 1360 is gone, including Mike Costa, Jeff Dotseth, Chris Ello and Craig Elsten. And this comes after the newest ratings for the market show XX sports down more than a half point in the ratings (without much room to roam as it was), and ESPN 800 not even showing up in the top 30 stations. Then again, XTRA 1360 also had another poor showing.
In Cincinnati, Scott Springer is out as morning sports anchor on powerhouse WLW. Detroit's WDFN is now without a local sports staff, and that may be even more disappointing than the Lions' recent season. In Minneapolis, KFAN 1130 co-host Chad Hartman is now out after more than 18 years with the station, along with his afternoon show producer.
In Jacksonville, WFXJ 930's long time morning sports show co-hosts David Lamm and Joe Cowart were dismissed. Lamm had been on 930 AM since it began with sports talk in December of 1991. Thus far, the station is adding more Fox Sports (national) programming, although it has three more years on its contract to carry Florida Gators football and basketball broadcasts. I suppose if Clearance Channel has any more input, they'll probably only air the first three quarters of the games and then return to national call-ins to continue their theme of cutting back.
Even in their "home city" of San Antonio, word from the San Antonio Express is that WOAI Sports Director Walter Pacacrita is among those let go. In Syracuse, among the sports radio casualties was WHEN 620 Program Director Jim Lerch, co-cost of the "Bud & The Manchild Show" in afternoon drive.
Meanwhile.........
The MLB-TV Network will go live from the diamond earlier than initially thought. They announce that they will televise the Caribbean World Series during the week of Feb. 2 to 6. A nice warm-up, in more ways than one, for the start of spring training. I am reserving judgement on MLB-TV, and doing so with great optimism, since right now it is tough to fill a one-hour news show six nights a week when there is about two minutes a day of actual news.
NEW YORK - WEPN 1050 has been able to re-structure its deal into more of a revenue share, and will continue with both Knicks and Rangers broadcasts that started on the ESPN station in 2004. This pact runs through the 2010-11 seasons. Look for more cross promotion, as WEPN is expected to get signage and promotion at Madison Square Garden, and many events at MSG (beyond the Knicks and Rangers) will be promoted on the air.
CHICAGO - WMVP 1000, the ESPN station, has dismissed afternoon co-host Dan McNeil after not renewing his contract. Rotating host Carmen DeFalco takes over, whether temporary or permanent. Carmen has filled in numerous times for McNeil in the past. McNeil had been hosting on WMVP for nearly nine years after coming over from (continuing) rival WSCR 670. Since Mike North was not renewed for mornings at WSCR last summer, McNeil was believed to have been the highest paid sports talker in Chicago.
LOS ANGELES - It looks like the recent "merger" of Fox Sports and KLAC 570 means a major reduction of local content. The station's "Loose Cannons" show is replacing Lakers analyst Mychal Thompson with Fox host Chris Myers, while their "Petros and Money Show" is going national. Now, there is some doubt about KLAC remaining as the flagship station for Tony Bruno's late night show. On Tuesday (Jan. 20), the station ran a "Best of Petros & Money" show.
Ouch.
DALLAS - It's a Ticket for the Stars. Not an awards show, but a change of radio venue, starting next season, for the NHL Stars braodcasts, ending their 15 years on powerhouse WBAP 820. KTCK 1310 The Ticket has a new five season agreement including new pre and post-game programming. For additional coverage, the Stars games will also be carried on 104.1 FM and 1700 AM.
WASHINGTON D.C. - The media and coverage woes continue for the Washington Nationals. WDCW-TV 50 will show just 20 Nationals games over the air for the upcoming season. The games will consist of most or all Sunday telecasts. This means that many to most of their telecasts will be directly against the TBS national game on Sunday afternoons. Thus, the one time a week (at most) that the Nationals are over-the-air, baseball fans will likely have a game involving two contenders to choose from. Not to mention Orioles games in most areas, with many telecasts featuring the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays.
St. LOUIS - Sorry to report the passing of sportscaster Joe May, who died of a heart attack this past Saturday (Jan. 17) at the age of 67. May was Sports Director of WIBV Belleville (a St. Louis suburb in Illinois) and also called some St. Louis University football during his 40 year career. Most recently, May was broadcasting high school games over an internet site.
MILWAUKEE - WSSP 1250 will soon have another Program Director, but in this instance it is for good reason. Ryan Maguire leaves to take over as P.D. at Kansas City's KCSP. Both stations are under the same ownership, and KCSP remains the flagship station for the Royals broadcasts. WSSP has named Steve Fifer as Interim Program Director but reportedly is seeking a replacement.
ATLANTA - 790 The Zone has a new voice on its "Mayhem in the A. M." morning show. Known as The Sports Babe, Cayci Johnson joined the show last week.
SACRAMENTO - Contracts to Jim Kozimor, who continues as pre and post-game host on Kings telecasts. Kozimor has been hired by the Universal Sports Channel, the cable channel co-owned by NBC, where he will call some olympics related sports events. The schedule is such that he is not expected to miss any of his Kings or occasional fill-in assignments on KHTK.
MADISON - Longtime Wisconsin Badgers voice Matt Lepay is off to a good start as morning drive co-host on WTSO 1070 after the station reduced the air time of Mike & Mike earlier this month. His co-host is his broadcast partner Mike Lucas. Hopefully, the station will consider letting this duo go for longer than the current 2-hour daily stint from 6:00 until 8:00 A.M.
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