Is this the beginning of the end for all sports radio? The radio ratings for March are gradually being released this week, and the early returns are not good for sports stations around the country.
Granted, as of press time we do not have the latest for Detroit and Boston, two of the larger markets with high performing sports stations, but even that may not be enough to stop this trend.
This late February to late March ratings period is usually friendly to sports stations. NBA and NHL teams are into playoff runs. Most major markets have at least one NCAA team ready for the NCAA Tournament, along with regional conference tournaments leading in. Spring training is underway and baseball fans begin their optimism for the coming season. There is plenty to talk about. But it appears fewer people are around to talk about it.
As I have said earlier, I look at the overall audience ratings, since sports is not limited to 25 to 54 year old males.
In New York, WFAN dropped out of the top 10 in overall (6 AM to Midnight, 12+), now having lost half of a ratings point (3.0 to 2.5) since January. During the same period, WEPN 1050 has lost about 20% of its total audience. This while the Knicks and Rangers both headed toward playoff appearances (not common over the past few years) and the Yankees and Mets were in spring training.
San Francisco's KNBR, which carries the World Champion Giants games, shows as having lost more than 100,000 listeners since January.
In Chicago, WMVP 1000 gained .4 in the ratings and passed by rival WSCR The Score for the first time in several months in overall audience. Hard to say if that is due to WMVP airing the Bulls games as they were going toward finishing the regular season with the NBA's best record, or it is due to The Score giving such poor scoreboard and information updates (as discussed last week). However, neither station finished better than 25th place overall. During this time, Chicago had the Bulls charging to the top, the Blackhawks in a rush to the playoffs to defend their Stanley Cup championship, and the White Sox and Cubs in spring training. (Maybe this audience loss will convince WSCR to forget their "interactive" White Sox exhibition broadcasts where they stop the play-by-play only to take phone calls from fans to talk with the game broadcasters about the team.)
Sports radio remains dismal in Los Angeles, although this is not much of a change from the past year. Again, neither KSPN 710 or KLAC 570 did any better than a 1.0 overall. Even worse in Houston, where KILT has no change in their audience size since January. Neither KBME or KFNC had any increase since the (previous) February ratings, and none of these 3 competing stations so much as cracked the top 20 in overall ratings.
Similar story out of Atlanta, where neither WCNN or WQXI made the top 20 overall. In fact, their combined rating would barely crack the top 20 in the market.
Philadelphia sports fans had plenty going on during March. The Sixers and Flyers in their runs for the playoffs. Local teams in the NCAA tourney. The Phillies in spring training looking to return to the World Series. Yet, WIP 610 droped from a 3.1 to a 2.4 rating in just one month, and they had a 3.5 for the January ratings period. Like most of the other cities, the audience lost by WIP did not go over to the sports talk competition. WPEN's overall rating for March was nearly a 20% decrease from just the month before!
Of those large markets with the March ratings released thus far, only Dallas has a reasonable sports talk presence when compared with news and some music formats. A combined rating of WTCK The Ticket, KESN, and KRLD-FM would be 4th overall in the market. However, this is primarily because the 3 rival stations are bunched closely in the ratings, since none of the 3 cracked the top 20 overall in the market.
This trend would not be so alarming if one sports station was losing its audience to one or more other sports stations. The sports radio audience is sinking.
I have two separate theories as to why. (I'm interested in your feedback about which one you think is the biggest factor.)
One theory is that there continues to (in general) be too much emphasis on fan opinions and not enough on information and compelling and informative guests. Sports fans now have many other choices for sports information and can get expert opinion. They can "follow" experts of their favorite teams and sports online. They can go online and get all of the scores they want instead of hoping the local sports update will "bother" to give out of town scores.
The other theory is that sports fans have a certain amount of time to devote to following sports, and now use it to watch the actual games on TV instead of to merely hear what other fans think about them. While sports radio listenership has begun its decline, TV ratings for pro and even college sports has been rising significantly over the past couple of years.
Whether it is HD telecasts, fans wanting to get their money's worth because of paying so much more for cable or satellite packages for the games, or a combination, TV ratings keep rising. And those 2 to 3 hours spent watching one or more games each day could well be replacing the listening time to sports radio.
Just take a look at the ratings increases for every network involved in opening week telecasts of both the NBA and NHL playoffs this month. After a successful NCAA Tournament showing for CBS and Turner Sports. Coming off incredible ratings for the entire NFL season.
While on the subject, hockey fans actually "win" with the new TV package between the NHL and the NBC "family" including Versus. This new 10 year deal brings a ton of NHL games to fans around the country.
At least 100 regular season games will be televised by Versus and NBC starting next season, with Versus getting an increase from 50 to about 90 games. Come playoff time, every game will be televised on one of the channels, whether NBC, Versus, or perhaps CNBC or one of their others.
No word yet on how many telecasts NHL Network will be able to pick up starting next season.
On the local NHL television scene, it seems that the Pittsburgh Penguins were the most watched local team in terms of ratings for the 4th season in a row. The Chicago Blackhawks moved up to 2nd among local audiences, followed by Boston, Detroit, and Philadelphia.
The bigger markets also dominated the NBA local market regular season ratings. The Lakers had the biggest regular season audience, followed by Chicago (which coincidentally, came in 2nd for both of its winter sports teams), New York Knicks, and Boston.
Yet, two of those markets also had an impact at the other end of the list. New Jersey Nets telecasts on YES were the NBA's lowest local ratings, for the 2nd season in a row, with the L.A. Clippers telecasts finishing just above Jersey.
NEW YORK: WEPN 1050 is reducing The Michael Kay Show by an hour each afternoon starting next month. Mike Lupica, the columnist and also ESPN "The Sports Reporters" panelist over the years, will begin a 2 to 3 PM weekday show starting May 9th. It will be interesting to see if management is looking for Lupica to springboard to more hours on WEPN each day, or if this is targeting to replace a show on the national ESPN Radio schedule.
SAN FRANCISCO/OAKLAND: From The Wolf to The Shark for 95.7? A few days after securing the Oakland A's baseball broadcasts effective immediately, 95.7 FM dumped "The Wolf" country music format and is now SportsRadio 95.7. The station is negotiating to also bring the NHL Sharks broadcasts over from KFOX to give them year-round local play-by-play.
Word is that 95.7 is also targeting Stanford football and possibly basketball, since those have been airing on KTRB, the station which bailed on the A's broadcasts just days before the season opener and still has its ownership status in limbo.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
The Broadcast Booth - April 14th Update........
We're about to go through still another April 15th of "Jackie Robinson" day for Major League Baseball. Perhaps the worst day for fans watching any of the action on TV. Sorry, but MLB and its teams have done enough over the years to honor Robinson for all he accomplished. This need to have every player wear number 42 is a significant distraction for fans watching on TV. The local stations and sports networks showing highlights lose impact when every player has the same number on. Any great plays, clutch hits, or pitching performances worthy of making highlight features for the week, month, or even the season become tarnished because the player(s) featured are not wearing their regular numbers.
Elsewhere, some cable systems continue to find even more ways of getting out of hand with expecting their customers to cough up still more dollars for sports packages. As MLB teams continue to have more and more of their games on local or regional cable networks, the teams and cable providers seem to think that adding more telecasts should translate into extra money. One system in the Minneapolis area has "negotiated" to be able to include about 20 "additional" Twins telecasts this season for the subscribers.
Now comes a story out of Asheville that Charter TV will carry 45 "additional" Atlanta Braves telecasts, bringing the package from 109 to 154 games for the current season. This because of additional negotiations with Fox Sports South, which supposedly may be charging Charter an additional fee for these additional games. Can somebody tell me (and, more importantly, us as consumers) how part of a package of games would cost even more? Sorry, but if the regional networks can't make enough money, why are they spending all of this money to get the rights to show all of these games? Why should customers, even those who don't care about sports, be "forced" to pay even more because of this?
While some baseball fans are tired of seemingly every Yankees vs. Red Sox game being shown on national TV, ESPN did very well with its Sunday Night Baseball telecast of this matchup last week (4/10). The initial ratings report showed that telecast to be ESPN's highest rated Sunday night since August of 2009, and this was just the second week of the young season. And the August '09 telecast with almost as high of a rating was - you guessed it - Yankees vs. Red Sox. As an exclusive telecast in both the Boston and New York markets, it is interesting that the audience ratings in the Boston market were more than double the audience ratings for the New York market. Keep in mind the miserable start of the Red Sox this young season.
The big bucks going to college conferences continues stronger than ever. The Pac-10 Conference figures to be next. The Conference is waiting on bids for national coverage, now with the addition of Colorado and Utah to the Conference. Word is that Fox and CBS Sports will battle it out for rights to the football and basketball games.
The Big 12 Conference has just announced a 13 year deal with Fox Sports to include about 40 football games each season. A separate arrangement with Fox will allow ESPN and ABC to show selected Big 12 football and basketball games for next season. This deal brings millions and millions more to the Conference. However, it is the thousands of cable subscribers who are socked for increased costs whether or not they follow sports at all or wish to financially support the schools in these conferences.
LOS ANGELES: Multiple local sources report that the Lakers will have a new TV play-by-play voice to work with Stu Lantz starting next season. Although all of the Lakers' radio and TV announcer contracts are set to expire at the end of the team's playoff run, it appears the team will not seek to renew Joel Meyers, who has handled the TV side since 2003.
The Lakers continue their TV deals for one more season with Fox Sports and KCAL-TV before their gazillion dollar cable deal begins in the 2012-13 season. Spero Dedes is a likely choice to move from the radio booth over to the TV side, although his work for CBS Sports on NFL football and college basketball would create several conflicts. Bill MacDonald, after 25 years with Prime Ticket and Fox Sports, is also considered a candidate for either the radio or TV play-by-play spot.
PITTSBURGH: Congrats to Billy Hillgrove from "Billy Hillgrove Day" in Pittsburgh last Friday (4/8). The legendary play-by-play voice was honored in ceremonies. Hillgrove was chosen by the Rooney family to replace the then retired Jack Fleming in 1994 to become the voice of the Steelers, and has not missed even one game since.
In addition, the 70-year old Hillgrove has been the voice of University of Pittsburgh football for 37 seasons (during which he has missed only 2 games, with those being due to Steelers conflicts) and Pitt basketball for 42 years.
A prime example of his dedication came in January 2009 when the Steelers hosted San Diego in a 4:00 PM playoff game. Of course, he did the broadcast, but did so without his usual pre-game preparation routine. The reason? He called the Pitt basketball home game which started at Noon that day before heading over to the football game.
CHICAGO: Mike Murphy, who was on WSCR The Score for its first 17 years, has joined WMVP ESPN 1000 to co-host a Sunday morning basebal oriented show starting this Sunday (4/17) from 9 AM to 1 PM.
BOSTON: The Red Sox aren't the only team generating significant local TV ratings. The Bruins' ratings on NESN were reportedly up more than 40% from last season to the just concluded regular season. Both pre-game and post-game programming also showed double digit increases in viewers. NESN has already expanded its pre-game shows for the first round playoff series vs. Montreal to a full hour.
On the radio side, WEEI has moved Mike Adams to "The Big Show" in the afternoon along with Glenn Ordway and Michael Holley as of this week. The move coincides with Adams' evening show having fewer hours due to Red Sox broadcasts.
DALLAS: It's always good when a sports talk station gets a major guest, and SportsRadio 1310 The Ticket scored an excellent live segment with Rangers Manager Ron Washington last Friday (4/8). Washington was on live with Norm Hitzges.
RALEIGH/DURHAM: The Buzz 620 has added The Dan Patrick Show, airing it live from 9 AM to Noon, as of this week.
TORONTO: TSN Radio 1050 has added Bryan Hayes as a weekday host from 10 AM to Noon as of this week. Hayes comes over from 640 AM. The station, meanwhile, has begun streaming on TSN.ca.
Down the dial, The Score Radio has brought back local personality Stormin' Norman Rumack to host late nights.
ENGLAND: BBC 5 is again airing a live MLB broadcast of a Sunday afternoon game. This past Sunday, the weekly broadcast was the Braves vs. Phillies game. Due to the time difference, the broadcasts are heard during evening prime time in the UK.
Elsewhere, some cable systems continue to find even more ways of getting out of hand with expecting their customers to cough up still more dollars for sports packages. As MLB teams continue to have more and more of their games on local or regional cable networks, the teams and cable providers seem to think that adding more telecasts should translate into extra money. One system in the Minneapolis area has "negotiated" to be able to include about 20 "additional" Twins telecasts this season for the subscribers.
Now comes a story out of Asheville that Charter TV will carry 45 "additional" Atlanta Braves telecasts, bringing the package from 109 to 154 games for the current season. This because of additional negotiations with Fox Sports South, which supposedly may be charging Charter an additional fee for these additional games. Can somebody tell me (and, more importantly, us as consumers) how part of a package of games would cost even more? Sorry, but if the regional networks can't make enough money, why are they spending all of this money to get the rights to show all of these games? Why should customers, even those who don't care about sports, be "forced" to pay even more because of this?
While some baseball fans are tired of seemingly every Yankees vs. Red Sox game being shown on national TV, ESPN did very well with its Sunday Night Baseball telecast of this matchup last week (4/10). The initial ratings report showed that telecast to be ESPN's highest rated Sunday night since August of 2009, and this was just the second week of the young season. And the August '09 telecast with almost as high of a rating was - you guessed it - Yankees vs. Red Sox. As an exclusive telecast in both the Boston and New York markets, it is interesting that the audience ratings in the Boston market were more than double the audience ratings for the New York market. Keep in mind the miserable start of the Red Sox this young season.
The big bucks going to college conferences continues stronger than ever. The Pac-10 Conference figures to be next. The Conference is waiting on bids for national coverage, now with the addition of Colorado and Utah to the Conference. Word is that Fox and CBS Sports will battle it out for rights to the football and basketball games.
The Big 12 Conference has just announced a 13 year deal with Fox Sports to include about 40 football games each season. A separate arrangement with Fox will allow ESPN and ABC to show selected Big 12 football and basketball games for next season. This deal brings millions and millions more to the Conference. However, it is the thousands of cable subscribers who are socked for increased costs whether or not they follow sports at all or wish to financially support the schools in these conferences.
LOS ANGELES: Multiple local sources report that the Lakers will have a new TV play-by-play voice to work with Stu Lantz starting next season. Although all of the Lakers' radio and TV announcer contracts are set to expire at the end of the team's playoff run, it appears the team will not seek to renew Joel Meyers, who has handled the TV side since 2003.
The Lakers continue their TV deals for one more season with Fox Sports and KCAL-TV before their gazillion dollar cable deal begins in the 2012-13 season. Spero Dedes is a likely choice to move from the radio booth over to the TV side, although his work for CBS Sports on NFL football and college basketball would create several conflicts. Bill MacDonald, after 25 years with Prime Ticket and Fox Sports, is also considered a candidate for either the radio or TV play-by-play spot.
PITTSBURGH: Congrats to Billy Hillgrove from "Billy Hillgrove Day" in Pittsburgh last Friday (4/8). The legendary play-by-play voice was honored in ceremonies. Hillgrove was chosen by the Rooney family to replace the then retired Jack Fleming in 1994 to become the voice of the Steelers, and has not missed even one game since.
In addition, the 70-year old Hillgrove has been the voice of University of Pittsburgh football for 37 seasons (during which he has missed only 2 games, with those being due to Steelers conflicts) and Pitt basketball for 42 years.
A prime example of his dedication came in January 2009 when the Steelers hosted San Diego in a 4:00 PM playoff game. Of course, he did the broadcast, but did so without his usual pre-game preparation routine. The reason? He called the Pitt basketball home game which started at Noon that day before heading over to the football game.
CHICAGO: Mike Murphy, who was on WSCR The Score for its first 17 years, has joined WMVP ESPN 1000 to co-host a Sunday morning basebal oriented show starting this Sunday (4/17) from 9 AM to 1 PM.
BOSTON: The Red Sox aren't the only team generating significant local TV ratings. The Bruins' ratings on NESN were reportedly up more than 40% from last season to the just concluded regular season. Both pre-game and post-game programming also showed double digit increases in viewers. NESN has already expanded its pre-game shows for the first round playoff series vs. Montreal to a full hour.
On the radio side, WEEI has moved Mike Adams to "The Big Show" in the afternoon along with Glenn Ordway and Michael Holley as of this week. The move coincides with Adams' evening show having fewer hours due to Red Sox broadcasts.
DALLAS: It's always good when a sports talk station gets a major guest, and SportsRadio 1310 The Ticket scored an excellent live segment with Rangers Manager Ron Washington last Friday (4/8). Washington was on live with Norm Hitzges.
RALEIGH/DURHAM: The Buzz 620 has added The Dan Patrick Show, airing it live from 9 AM to Noon, as of this week.
TORONTO: TSN Radio 1050 has added Bryan Hayes as a weekday host from 10 AM to Noon as of this week. Hayes comes over from 640 AM. The station, meanwhile, has begun streaming on TSN.ca.
Down the dial, The Score Radio has brought back local personality Stormin' Norman Rumack to host late nights.
ENGLAND: BBC 5 is again airing a live MLB broadcast of a Sunday afternoon game. This past Sunday, the weekly broadcast was the Braves vs. Phillies game. Due to the time difference, the broadcasts are heard during evening prime time in the UK.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
The Broadcast Booth - April 5th Update
Butler University and its incredible run to the NCAA Championship 2 seasons in a row did not translate into huge ratings for CBS. Maybe enough people "already saw that last year" from Butler, or even more people than last year gave up on brackets. Whatever the case, the Monday night championship telecast finished down about 17% compared with last year. And for the first time in years, the telecast did not conflict with MLB season opening games.
Nothing better demonstrates the lower national interest than the early numbers showing the top 3 markets in terms of local ratings being closest to the participating teams. Indianapolis (home of Butler), Hartford (home market of UConn), and Louisville (next market south of Butler U.) were the leaders. Then again, early indications are that the national ratings numbers will finish higher than they were for the 2009 championship game. However you look at it, the telecast lost overall to "Dancing With The Stars".
As long-time sportscaster Gary Bender prepares for retirement, it's great to see the Phoenix Suns plan to honor him during their game on Monday. Bender spent 18 seasons with the Suns. His 27 years at the network level included stints on NFL, NBA, and MLB telecasts. Bender also has the distinction of having done radio play-by-play for both sides of the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers rivalry, even if more than 20 years apart.
OAKLAND/SAN FRANCISCO: The Oakland A's managed to open the season on a real radio station after all. After last year's scramble to get on KTRB and then be asked to consider buying the radio station to get it out of receivership, the A's instead began a 4-year deal on KBWF 95.7. The country music station (otherwise) brings an immediate signal advantage to the northeast corner of the Bay Area (Berkeley, Oakland Hills, etc.).
The broadcast crew, led by Ken Korach, stays the same. Finally, the A's radio station will, at least for this and the following 3 seasons. This, while the Giants games have aired on KNBR going back to 1978.
The 49ers are not changing stations for their radio broadcasts. Just the analyst to work along with Ted Robinson. Former all-pro defensive back Eric Davis, who had served as analyst on local exhibition game telecasts for the prior two seasons, joins the radio crew. He replaces his former 49er teammate, Gary Plummer, in the new role. No word yet on who will take over the analyst role for local exhibition telecasts, but we still aren't sure there will be any this August. (NFL lockout)
CHICAGO: They call WSCR 670 "The Score", but lately have made it seem like "a score" for listeners to get information over the air. This past Friday (4/1), I happened to be driving in the Chicago area over an hour after both the White Sox and Cubs opening day games were over, with the White Sox opener having been broadcast on WSCR.
It was 6:30 PM, and "time for another scoreboard update" they said. For baseball, listeners got quick recaps of both the White Sox and Cubs opening games. But no out-of-town MLB scores, with final scores in and several games in progress at the time. And not even a mention of if or when listeners could or would get those scores. Then, on to the NBA where the Bulls game was just about to start. This we learn. But then nothing about the Celtics game that night, important to Bulls fans as they both battle for the top spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Then, onto an in-progress score of the NHL Blackhawks game. But zero mention about the teams in competition for a playoff spot and their games that night.
Not having "national" scores is bad enough. But not including scores of interest to the local teams is another. This was supposed to be a "scoreboard update". Instead, the reporter hurried through it, making me think maybe a manager of team official from one of the baseball teams was holding or something. But no. The update ends, and it's back to more phone calls with fans' opinions.
WSCR has some very good reporters and hosts, some of whom I know or have known. Yet, the Friday incident, while not the first time they have left me hanging like that, was not the only one.
On Saturday afternoon, it turned out that the White Sox at Cleveland broadcast aired on the 7-second delay used for their call-in shows. OK, it can happen for maybe an inning until somebody catches it. Not on Saturday. The entire game was delayed compared with the TV feed.
Sorry, but this is insane to me. It tells me no one monitors the telecast of the game to make sure this doesn't happen AGAIN. Years ago when I was producing live sports broadcasts for games which were also televised, I recall bringing my own portable TV into the studio so that I could keep an eye on the game in case of technical problems or if something significant happened during the game to discuss with listeners afterward.
But there was more to get upset about. Keep in mind this is a regular season MLB game, not spring training. With Darrin Jackson doing play-by-play in the middle 3 innings as usual, the Indians put in a new pitcher. Jackson, along with main play-by-play voice Ed Farmer, admitted that they did not have information about this pitcher other than his name.
That was bad enough, but even into the NEXT inning, they still didn't. Granted, this technically is not the fault of WSCR, but to me it is a representation. How neither broadcaster would get up and go over to the Indians' people in the press box or to the Cleveland TV or radio booth to get information is beyond me. But where was the flagship station staff? Was no one in the studio that could look up information about a current Major League pitcher?
In my years of teaching sports broadcasting in college and working with students of many ages, I have given a poor grade for a lot less than these offenses. But in today's era, I'll bet the station's response would be "the information I want is on the WSCR web site". It may well be. But when I was in the car, I couldn't access the web. Nor should I have to. An all-sports station is supposed to report the sports news, not tell me I have to go to another source to get it.
Do they really think I'll ever visit their web site again?
BOSTON: While Dave O'Brien continues as the primary voice of ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball this season, the Red Sox and WEEI have extended his contract for 4 more seasons to remain on Red Sox radio along with Joe Castiglione. This, even though his ESPN duties could take him out of as many as 30 Red Sox broadcasts this season. This week he also was scheduled to call the NCAA Womens hoops championship game on Tuesday (4/5) and the Yankees vs. Twins Weds. Night Baseball game on ESPN, before getting to Cleveland for Thursday's Red Sox vs. Indians game. And he will know everybody that pitches for the Indians, too.
MINNEAPOLIS: Looks like WCCO continues to lose its local sports play-by-play. Word is (as of press time) that the NHL Wild will come off WCCO and move to KFAN starting for next season. The team is expected to buy the air time.
ATLANTA: 680 The Fan adds University of Georgia football and basketball to its impressive local play-by-play roster with a new multi-year deal. The Fan also carries the Braves, Hawks, and Thrashers broadcasts. The U. of Georgia deal also includes baseball broadcasts on (sister station) WFOM 1230 starting next month.
PHILADELPHIA: With Phillies fever (or should that be phever?) running high, the Phillies now have an HD Radio channel on HD4 of WOGL Oldies Radio. The channel will also carry each Phillies game live, and replay the previous day or night's game the following morning at 9 AM. The channel also plans original programming related to Phillies baseball during the day along with classic game replays.
KANSAS CITY: KCSP 610 has added Danny Parkins to its 9 to 11 AM midday show as of this week (Mon. 4/4). Parkins comes to K.C. from WSKO Syracuse, and replaces Shan Shariff, who left the market for Dallas's 105.3 The Fan and started there last week.
DENVER: The Broncos and KOA have given a 3-year contract extension to play-by-play voice Dave Logan. His analyst, at least for the 2011 season (if there is one) will again be former QB Brian Griese.
JACKSONVILLE: 1010XL Radio has moved its "Sports Final" show from morning drive to the 10 AM to 1 PM spot as of this week. The change was made to accommodate the Lex & Terry Show move to the 6 to 10 AM spot.
MUNCIE IN: WXFN 1340 wants to keep its local sports events and programming to the point of dropping ESPN Radio after 10 years. The station is working to pick up Fox Sports Radio programming in the near future.
Nothing better demonstrates the lower national interest than the early numbers showing the top 3 markets in terms of local ratings being closest to the participating teams. Indianapolis (home of Butler), Hartford (home market of UConn), and Louisville (next market south of Butler U.) were the leaders. Then again, early indications are that the national ratings numbers will finish higher than they were for the 2009 championship game. However you look at it, the telecast lost overall to "Dancing With The Stars".
As long-time sportscaster Gary Bender prepares for retirement, it's great to see the Phoenix Suns plan to honor him during their game on Monday. Bender spent 18 seasons with the Suns. His 27 years at the network level included stints on NFL, NBA, and MLB telecasts. Bender also has the distinction of having done radio play-by-play for both sides of the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers rivalry, even if more than 20 years apart.
OAKLAND/SAN FRANCISCO: The Oakland A's managed to open the season on a real radio station after all. After last year's scramble to get on KTRB and then be asked to consider buying the radio station to get it out of receivership, the A's instead began a 4-year deal on KBWF 95.7. The country music station (otherwise) brings an immediate signal advantage to the northeast corner of the Bay Area (Berkeley, Oakland Hills, etc.).
The broadcast crew, led by Ken Korach, stays the same. Finally, the A's radio station will, at least for this and the following 3 seasons. This, while the Giants games have aired on KNBR going back to 1978.
The 49ers are not changing stations for their radio broadcasts. Just the analyst to work along with Ted Robinson. Former all-pro defensive back Eric Davis, who had served as analyst on local exhibition game telecasts for the prior two seasons, joins the radio crew. He replaces his former 49er teammate, Gary Plummer, in the new role. No word yet on who will take over the analyst role for local exhibition telecasts, but we still aren't sure there will be any this August. (NFL lockout)
CHICAGO: They call WSCR 670 "The Score", but lately have made it seem like "a score" for listeners to get information over the air. This past Friday (4/1), I happened to be driving in the Chicago area over an hour after both the White Sox and Cubs opening day games were over, with the White Sox opener having been broadcast on WSCR.
It was 6:30 PM, and "time for another scoreboard update" they said. For baseball, listeners got quick recaps of both the White Sox and Cubs opening games. But no out-of-town MLB scores, with final scores in and several games in progress at the time. And not even a mention of if or when listeners could or would get those scores. Then, on to the NBA where the Bulls game was just about to start. This we learn. But then nothing about the Celtics game that night, important to Bulls fans as they both battle for the top spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Then, onto an in-progress score of the NHL Blackhawks game. But zero mention about the teams in competition for a playoff spot and their games that night.
Not having "national" scores is bad enough. But not including scores of interest to the local teams is another. This was supposed to be a "scoreboard update". Instead, the reporter hurried through it, making me think maybe a manager of team official from one of the baseball teams was holding or something. But no. The update ends, and it's back to more phone calls with fans' opinions.
WSCR has some very good reporters and hosts, some of whom I know or have known. Yet, the Friday incident, while not the first time they have left me hanging like that, was not the only one.
On Saturday afternoon, it turned out that the White Sox at Cleveland broadcast aired on the 7-second delay used for their call-in shows. OK, it can happen for maybe an inning until somebody catches it. Not on Saturday. The entire game was delayed compared with the TV feed.
Sorry, but this is insane to me. It tells me no one monitors the telecast of the game to make sure this doesn't happen AGAIN. Years ago when I was producing live sports broadcasts for games which were also televised, I recall bringing my own portable TV into the studio so that I could keep an eye on the game in case of technical problems or if something significant happened during the game to discuss with listeners afterward.
But there was more to get upset about. Keep in mind this is a regular season MLB game, not spring training. With Darrin Jackson doing play-by-play in the middle 3 innings as usual, the Indians put in a new pitcher. Jackson, along with main play-by-play voice Ed Farmer, admitted that they did not have information about this pitcher other than his name.
That was bad enough, but even into the NEXT inning, they still didn't. Granted, this technically is not the fault of WSCR, but to me it is a representation. How neither broadcaster would get up and go over to the Indians' people in the press box or to the Cleveland TV or radio booth to get information is beyond me. But where was the flagship station staff? Was no one in the studio that could look up information about a current Major League pitcher?
In my years of teaching sports broadcasting in college and working with students of many ages, I have given a poor grade for a lot less than these offenses. But in today's era, I'll bet the station's response would be "the information I want is on the WSCR web site". It may well be. But when I was in the car, I couldn't access the web. Nor should I have to. An all-sports station is supposed to report the sports news, not tell me I have to go to another source to get it.
Do they really think I'll ever visit their web site again?
BOSTON: While Dave O'Brien continues as the primary voice of ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball this season, the Red Sox and WEEI have extended his contract for 4 more seasons to remain on Red Sox radio along with Joe Castiglione. This, even though his ESPN duties could take him out of as many as 30 Red Sox broadcasts this season. This week he also was scheduled to call the NCAA Womens hoops championship game on Tuesday (4/5) and the Yankees vs. Twins Weds. Night Baseball game on ESPN, before getting to Cleveland for Thursday's Red Sox vs. Indians game. And he will know everybody that pitches for the Indians, too.
MINNEAPOLIS: Looks like WCCO continues to lose its local sports play-by-play. Word is (as of press time) that the NHL Wild will come off WCCO and move to KFAN starting for next season. The team is expected to buy the air time.
ATLANTA: 680 The Fan adds University of Georgia football and basketball to its impressive local play-by-play roster with a new multi-year deal. The Fan also carries the Braves, Hawks, and Thrashers broadcasts. The U. of Georgia deal also includes baseball broadcasts on (sister station) WFOM 1230 starting next month.
PHILADELPHIA: With Phillies fever (or should that be phever?) running high, the Phillies now have an HD Radio channel on HD4 of WOGL Oldies Radio. The channel will also carry each Phillies game live, and replay the previous day or night's game the following morning at 9 AM. The channel also plans original programming related to Phillies baseball during the day along with classic game replays.
KANSAS CITY: KCSP 610 has added Danny Parkins to its 9 to 11 AM midday show as of this week (Mon. 4/4). Parkins comes to K.C. from WSKO Syracuse, and replaces Shan Shariff, who left the market for Dallas's 105.3 The Fan and started there last week.
DENVER: The Broncos and KOA have given a 3-year contract extension to play-by-play voice Dave Logan. His analyst, at least for the 2011 season (if there is one) will again be former QB Brian Griese.
JACKSONVILLE: 1010XL Radio has moved its "Sports Final" show from morning drive to the 10 AM to 1 PM spot as of this week. The change was made to accommodate the Lex & Terry Show move to the 6 to 10 AM spot.
MUNCIE IN: WXFN 1340 wants to keep its local sports events and programming to the point of dropping ESPN Radio after 10 years. The station is working to pick up Fox Sports Radio programming in the near future.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The Broadcast Booth - March 29th Update.....
I'm always happy when baseball's opening day is upon us, but from a sports media standpoint this is an even happier year. While the advance weather forecasts for the midwest and northeast aren't the greatest for a March 31 and April 1 schedule of games, there is a big positive to opening the season on a Thursday and Friday.
That positive is the NCAA Final Four. As in, those still being on Saturday and Monday. Ever since the NCAA Tournament pushed back a week several years ago to the first weekend and Monday in April, it became a problem for the media. The MLB openers and the NCAA Championship Game are both stories and games which merit the full spotlight. Finally, they will have it.
While many of the paying customers won't like the weather for the baseball opening weekend, this move could provide benefits for the local teams in terms of more thorough media coverage surrounding opening day. Those who put baseball atop their list don't have to deal with all of the NCAA hype on opening day, then to have The Masters take the lead for the first full weekend of games. And the sports media can provide us with coverage of one "lead" story at a time.
As we have come to expect, MLB Network is as ready as ever to step up their coverage for what is already their 3rd full season of coverage. Along with expanded studio coverage on Thursday and Friday for opening day, MLB Network is planning to show more than 100 live games again this season, including live doubleheaders shown most Tuesdays during the season. They will also pick up a local telecast on many Friday nights, and continue to pick a Saturday night telecast (except for the 3 which Fox has rights to). All this in addition to continuing to originate Thursday Night Baseball telecasts with Bob Costas on play-by-play.
Yet, it gets even better during April, as MLB Network plans "30 Clubs in 30 Days" with plans to show at least one game with every team. This starts on Friday with the Seattle vs. Oakland opener. The Network is also adding to its live studio coverage during the week with additional programming starting mid-afternoon to lead into the evening's games.
Meanwhile, ESPN brings us 3 games on Thursday and 2 more openers on Friday. Then, the Sunday Night Baseball opener is San Francisco at L.A. ESPN goes up against the NCAA Championship game on Monday with the Yankees vs. Twins, before sticking around to show the same two teams on Wednesday night (4/6). Play ball!
While baseball rolls on the TV side, A's fans face more uncertainty over radio broadcasts of the A's games. The A's are supposed to continue on KTRB 860 this season and that station has carried several of the team's exhibition games. However, with the station still in receivership (as of press time late Tuesday), reports have surfaced that the station could withhold the A's broadcasts to force more negotiations with the team. The station failed to air last weekend's 2 games vs. Colorado, but has been airing (or scheduled to at press time) the games vs. the Giants from San Francisco on Monday and Tuesday nights.
CLEVELAND: The Cavaliers' current season now has a single bright spot, and that wasn't until Sunday (3/27) when legendary play-by-play voice Joe Tait returned to the microphone for the first time all season. Tait, still recovering from heart surgery in January, plans to also call the 4 remaining Cavs home games before his previously planned retirement. He needed help and his cane to get to his broadcast area and struggled a bit during the broadcast (his first since an exhibition game in October), but the good news is he made it back.
ARKANSAS: Sometimes all you can do about an embarrassing situation is to issue an apology and move on. The University of Arkansas' Hog Sports Network was faced with that very situation last week (3/23) regarding the women's basketball game in the WNIT vs. Oral Roberts. The network radio broadcast did not get on the air until the second half of the game due to what was later described as "technical and communication issues".
This led to Hog Sports Radio Network Program Director Dave Barr issuing a public apology, which also appeared on the school web site. Yet, rather than blame the source of the problem, Barr apologized on behalf of the Network.
HOUSTON: Raheel Ramzanali has been moved to a midday co-host position on KGOW 1560, working with a variety of co-hosts starting on Monday (4/4). Ramzanali replaces John Harris, who is moving to the overnight slot for Sporting News Radio.
DALLAS: 105.3 The Fan is changing its morning show starting on Monday April 11th when it debuts "New School with Shan @ R.J." from 5 to 9 AM. R.J. is R.J. Choppy, formerly of 103.3 ESPN for 9 years, while Shan Shariff is a former sports talk host in from Kansas City. They will replace Jagger and Gregg Henson, whose contracts are not being renewed.
NEW YORK: The recent trend of some TV stations' local newscasts reducing or eliminating sportscasts has come to New York. WPIX-TV has dropped the sports segment from its 10 PM newscasts, instead going with anchor Jodi Applegate on weeknights and Jim Watkins most weekends handing a roughly one minute scores and highlights recap. As a result, Glenn Petraitis, who had been handling weekend sports recaps, is no longer with the station. This will make the newscast's ratings over the next 6 months very interesting to watch, since WPIX-TV continues to air some Mets games this season. I would think they will lose some audience since Mets fans will likely switch to SNY's 10 PM sports updates for additional Mets coverage. And when Mets games run past 10:00, they figure to lose a portion of the "non-sports" audience which doesn't have to wait for WPIX news.
This after WNYW-TV had reduced the Russ Salzberg sports segment to roughly one minute at the end of the hour, with Salzberg signing off the entire newscast to end the show on some nights.
BOSTON: Congrats to long time former Bruins radio play-by-play voice Bob Wilson. This past Saturday (3/26) the team honored him by officially renaming the home radio booth the "Bob Wilson Radio Booth". Among those on hand to honor the 82-year old Wilson were team President Cam Neely, current radio voice Dave Goucher, and former TV voice Fred Cusick.
CHICAGO: WSCR The Score 670 has renewed the contract of evening host Laurence Holmes for 2 more years. Just in time for Holmes to be pre-empted on many weeknights as the station's White Sox play-by-play begins for the new season.
BALTIMORE/D.C.: WBFF-TV 45 has brought in Morgan Adsit as its new weekend sports anchor starting April 9 & 10th. She replaces Kristen Berset who moved a few miles south to WUSA-TV 9.
MILWAUKEE: Trenni Kusnierek, formerly of MLB Network and Fox Sports Wisconsin, has joined WTMJ 620 as afternoon sports anchor, replacing Bill Michaels, whose contract was not renewed. She starts on Monday April 4th.
BATON ROUGE: LSU baseball continues to get extended local media coverage this season. "Inside LSU Baseball" is a new weekly half hour TV show airing at 10:35 PM Sundays on WBRZ-TV 2 and streamed on LSUSports.net. This is in addition to the (LSU coach) Paul Mainieri Show on Mondays.
That positive is the NCAA Final Four. As in, those still being on Saturday and Monday. Ever since the NCAA Tournament pushed back a week several years ago to the first weekend and Monday in April, it became a problem for the media. The MLB openers and the NCAA Championship Game are both stories and games which merit the full spotlight. Finally, they will have it.
While many of the paying customers won't like the weather for the baseball opening weekend, this move could provide benefits for the local teams in terms of more thorough media coverage surrounding opening day. Those who put baseball atop their list don't have to deal with all of the NCAA hype on opening day, then to have The Masters take the lead for the first full weekend of games. And the sports media can provide us with coverage of one "lead" story at a time.
As we have come to expect, MLB Network is as ready as ever to step up their coverage for what is already their 3rd full season of coverage. Along with expanded studio coverage on Thursday and Friday for opening day, MLB Network is planning to show more than 100 live games again this season, including live doubleheaders shown most Tuesdays during the season. They will also pick up a local telecast on many Friday nights, and continue to pick a Saturday night telecast (except for the 3 which Fox has rights to). All this in addition to continuing to originate Thursday Night Baseball telecasts with Bob Costas on play-by-play.
Yet, it gets even better during April, as MLB Network plans "30 Clubs in 30 Days" with plans to show at least one game with every team. This starts on Friday with the Seattle vs. Oakland opener. The Network is also adding to its live studio coverage during the week with additional programming starting mid-afternoon to lead into the evening's games.
Meanwhile, ESPN brings us 3 games on Thursday and 2 more openers on Friday. Then, the Sunday Night Baseball opener is San Francisco at L.A. ESPN goes up against the NCAA Championship game on Monday with the Yankees vs. Twins, before sticking around to show the same two teams on Wednesday night (4/6). Play ball!
While baseball rolls on the TV side, A's fans face more uncertainty over radio broadcasts of the A's games. The A's are supposed to continue on KTRB 860 this season and that station has carried several of the team's exhibition games. However, with the station still in receivership (as of press time late Tuesday), reports have surfaced that the station could withhold the A's broadcasts to force more negotiations with the team. The station failed to air last weekend's 2 games vs. Colorado, but has been airing (or scheduled to at press time) the games vs. the Giants from San Francisco on Monday and Tuesday nights.
CLEVELAND: The Cavaliers' current season now has a single bright spot, and that wasn't until Sunday (3/27) when legendary play-by-play voice Joe Tait returned to the microphone for the first time all season. Tait, still recovering from heart surgery in January, plans to also call the 4 remaining Cavs home games before his previously planned retirement. He needed help and his cane to get to his broadcast area and struggled a bit during the broadcast (his first since an exhibition game in October), but the good news is he made it back.
ARKANSAS: Sometimes all you can do about an embarrassing situation is to issue an apology and move on. The University of Arkansas' Hog Sports Network was faced with that very situation last week (3/23) regarding the women's basketball game in the WNIT vs. Oral Roberts. The network radio broadcast did not get on the air until the second half of the game due to what was later described as "technical and communication issues".
This led to Hog Sports Radio Network Program Director Dave Barr issuing a public apology, which also appeared on the school web site. Yet, rather than blame the source of the problem, Barr apologized on behalf of the Network.
HOUSTON: Raheel Ramzanali has been moved to a midday co-host position on KGOW 1560, working with a variety of co-hosts starting on Monday (4/4). Ramzanali replaces John Harris, who is moving to the overnight slot for Sporting News Radio.
DALLAS: 105.3 The Fan is changing its morning show starting on Monday April 11th when it debuts "New School with Shan @ R.J." from 5 to 9 AM. R.J. is R.J. Choppy, formerly of 103.3 ESPN for 9 years, while Shan Shariff is a former sports talk host in from Kansas City. They will replace Jagger and Gregg Henson, whose contracts are not being renewed.
NEW YORK: The recent trend of some TV stations' local newscasts reducing or eliminating sportscasts has come to New York. WPIX-TV has dropped the sports segment from its 10 PM newscasts, instead going with anchor Jodi Applegate on weeknights and Jim Watkins most weekends handing a roughly one minute scores and highlights recap. As a result, Glenn Petraitis, who had been handling weekend sports recaps, is no longer with the station. This will make the newscast's ratings over the next 6 months very interesting to watch, since WPIX-TV continues to air some Mets games this season. I would think they will lose some audience since Mets fans will likely switch to SNY's 10 PM sports updates for additional Mets coverage. And when Mets games run past 10:00, they figure to lose a portion of the "non-sports" audience which doesn't have to wait for WPIX news.
This after WNYW-TV had reduced the Russ Salzberg sports segment to roughly one minute at the end of the hour, with Salzberg signing off the entire newscast to end the show on some nights.
BOSTON: Congrats to long time former Bruins radio play-by-play voice Bob Wilson. This past Saturday (3/26) the team honored him by officially renaming the home radio booth the "Bob Wilson Radio Booth". Among those on hand to honor the 82-year old Wilson were team President Cam Neely, current radio voice Dave Goucher, and former TV voice Fred Cusick.
CHICAGO: WSCR The Score 670 has renewed the contract of evening host Laurence Holmes for 2 more years. Just in time for Holmes to be pre-empted on many weeknights as the station's White Sox play-by-play begins for the new season.
BALTIMORE/D.C.: WBFF-TV 45 has brought in Morgan Adsit as its new weekend sports anchor starting April 9 & 10th. She replaces Kristen Berset who moved a few miles south to WUSA-TV 9.
MILWAUKEE: Trenni Kusnierek, formerly of MLB Network and Fox Sports Wisconsin, has joined WTMJ 620 as afternoon sports anchor, replacing Bill Michaels, whose contract was not renewed. She starts on Monday April 4th.
BATON ROUGE: LSU baseball continues to get extended local media coverage this season. "Inside LSU Baseball" is a new weekly half hour TV show airing at 10:35 PM Sundays on WBRZ-TV 2 and streamed on LSUSports.net. This is in addition to the (LSU coach) Paul Mainieri Show on Mondays.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
The Broadcast Booth - March 23rd Update
It's so far so good with the multiple network coverage of the NCAA Tournament, now down to just CBS and TBS.
Gus Johnson and analysts Len Elmore and Reggie Miller will handle the Southeast Region on Thursday (3/24) with BYU/ Florida and Wisconsin / Butler at 8:57 p.m., both on TBS.
CBS on Thursday will air the West Region with Vern Lundquist and Bill Raftery calling San Diego State / Connecticut followed by Duke / Arizona.
On Friday, CBS has Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg doing the East with North Carolina vs. Marquette and Ohio State vs. Kentucky. While on TBS, Marv Albert and Steve Kerr get the Southwest Region in San Antonio, with Kansas vs. Richmond and VA Commonwealth vs. Florida State.
As MLB Network gets ready to open the regular season with another promise to show all 30 teams at least once with "30 Games In 30 Days", the Network has just been nominated for 8 Sports Emmy Awards.
ESPN is going to borrow from "College Game Day" and originate "Baseball Tonight" every Sunday from the site of its Sunday Night Baseball telecast. The first one will be from outside of Dodger Stadium on April 3rd. Hopefully the fans surrounding will not be anywhere near the nuisance they become on College GameDay.
NEW YORK: WCBS 880 now has Brad Heller handling the morning sports updates on an interim basis since the departure of Jared Max. Max left WCBS to move down the dial to WEPN ESPN 1050.
INDIANAPOLIS: Best wishes for a continued recovery by Bob "Slick" Leonard from his recent heart attack suffered on a Pacers road trip. The former Pacers coach and long time radio analyst is being replaced on the air by former Pacer Austin Croshere. Now at age 78, Leonard has more than 55 years in pro basketball.
ATLANTA: It was after The Broadcast Booth came out last week that the story broke of The Fan 680 reportedly firing sports update reporter Chadd Scott due to comments made on a social networking site. A comment that he had already deleted at the request of management, and was not made on the air. It merely referenced one of the station's big advertisers.
I thought that reporters and hosts on sports talk stations are encouraged to interact with fans on social media sites and online in general. Instead, The Fan 680 sends a "message" to their listeners that their employees can only express approved opinions.
And to think this guy loses his job less than 2 weeks after ESPN's Bobby Knight says the s-word on ESPN and left it for another reporter to apologize on the air. Knight is still employed by ESPN.
PITTSBURGH: The Steelers broadcasts will stay on WBGG 970 and WDVE 102.5 for next season (whenever that may be), for what will be the 14th season as the team's flagship station. No changes in the booth.
St. LOUIS: Former Rams standout tackle Orlando Pace will be making some appearances on KSLG 1380 and KFNS 590, which is good news for fans who enjoy his knowledge of the game and his new found broadcast ability. He'll remain on those stations, since Pace is now an approximately 15% owner of Grand Slam Sports (which owns the stations).
We all knew this was coming from WXOS 101.1. After earlier bringing in local legend Howard Balzer to help with the station web site, Balzer and his "Pro Football Sunday" show is back from 10 AM to Noon. Balzer is also already doing a series of NFL Draft previews airing at various times on the station. Can't help but think that within days after we know when the next NFL season will start will come an announcement that someone else will then handle the web site duties so that Balzer can do more on the air.
BALTIMORE: Members of the local media will come together for the purpose of talking Orioles baseball with fans on Friday April 8th. The Fan 105.7's Scott Garceau, WBAL 1090's Brett Hollander and Keith Mills, Rob Long of Fox Sports 1370, and MASN's Roch Kubatko and Jen Royle will each be among the panelists at a luncheon that day. It will take place at the Sports Legends Museum in Baltimore.
TULSA: Oklahoma University now has a new play-by-play voice for both football and basketball starting later this year. That is the first time that sentence can be used in 51 years, since the just retired Bob Barry called Sooners games for 50 years. Yet, Toby Rowland of Oklahoma City's KWTV Channel 9 and KREF 1400, is not new to OU fans.
Rowland has called baseball, women's basketball, and other sports for OU over the years. Here's hoping he stands on his own merits and not in the shadow of Barry over the next couple of seasons.
Gus Johnson and analysts Len Elmore and Reggie Miller will handle the Southeast Region on Thursday (3/24) with BYU/ Florida and Wisconsin / Butler at 8:57 p.m., both on TBS.
CBS on Thursday will air the West Region with Vern Lundquist and Bill Raftery calling San Diego State / Connecticut followed by Duke / Arizona.
On Friday, CBS has Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg doing the East with North Carolina vs. Marquette and Ohio State vs. Kentucky. While on TBS, Marv Albert and Steve Kerr get the Southwest Region in San Antonio, with Kansas vs. Richmond and VA Commonwealth vs. Florida State.
As MLB Network gets ready to open the regular season with another promise to show all 30 teams at least once with "30 Games In 30 Days", the Network has just been nominated for 8 Sports Emmy Awards.
ESPN is going to borrow from "College Game Day" and originate "Baseball Tonight" every Sunday from the site of its Sunday Night Baseball telecast. The first one will be from outside of Dodger Stadium on April 3rd. Hopefully the fans surrounding will not be anywhere near the nuisance they become on College GameDay.
NEW YORK: WCBS 880 now has Brad Heller handling the morning sports updates on an interim basis since the departure of Jared Max. Max left WCBS to move down the dial to WEPN ESPN 1050.
INDIANAPOLIS: Best wishes for a continued recovery by Bob "Slick" Leonard from his recent heart attack suffered on a Pacers road trip. The former Pacers coach and long time radio analyst is being replaced on the air by former Pacer Austin Croshere. Now at age 78, Leonard has more than 55 years in pro basketball.
ATLANTA: It was after The Broadcast Booth came out last week that the story broke of The Fan 680 reportedly firing sports update reporter Chadd Scott due to comments made on a social networking site. A comment that he had already deleted at the request of management, and was not made on the air. It merely referenced one of the station's big advertisers.
I thought that reporters and hosts on sports talk stations are encouraged to interact with fans on social media sites and online in general. Instead, The Fan 680 sends a "message" to their listeners that their employees can only express approved opinions.
And to think this guy loses his job less than 2 weeks after ESPN's Bobby Knight says the s-word on ESPN and left it for another reporter to apologize on the air. Knight is still employed by ESPN.
PITTSBURGH: The Steelers broadcasts will stay on WBGG 970 and WDVE 102.5 for next season (whenever that may be), for what will be the 14th season as the team's flagship station. No changes in the booth.
St. LOUIS: Former Rams standout tackle Orlando Pace will be making some appearances on KSLG 1380 and KFNS 590, which is good news for fans who enjoy his knowledge of the game and his new found broadcast ability. He'll remain on those stations, since Pace is now an approximately 15% owner of Grand Slam Sports (which owns the stations).
We all knew this was coming from WXOS 101.1. After earlier bringing in local legend Howard Balzer to help with the station web site, Balzer and his "Pro Football Sunday" show is back from 10 AM to Noon. Balzer is also already doing a series of NFL Draft previews airing at various times on the station. Can't help but think that within days after we know when the next NFL season will start will come an announcement that someone else will then handle the web site duties so that Balzer can do more on the air.
BALTIMORE: Members of the local media will come together for the purpose of talking Orioles baseball with fans on Friday April 8th. The Fan 105.7's Scott Garceau, WBAL 1090's Brett Hollander and Keith Mills, Rob Long of Fox Sports 1370, and MASN's Roch Kubatko and Jen Royle will each be among the panelists at a luncheon that day. It will take place at the Sports Legends Museum in Baltimore.
TULSA: Oklahoma University now has a new play-by-play voice for both football and basketball starting later this year. That is the first time that sentence can be used in 51 years, since the just retired Bob Barry called Sooners games for 50 years. Yet, Toby Rowland of Oklahoma City's KWTV Channel 9 and KREF 1400, is not new to OU fans.
Rowland has called baseball, women's basketball, and other sports for OU over the years. Here's hoping he stands on his own merits and not in the shadow of Barry over the next couple of seasons.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Broadcast Booth - March 15th Update......
This figures to be a wonderful week for college hoops fans with the NCAA Tournament starting with every game finally shown live. No more gripes to the local TV stations across the country about which game was chosen over that game. Granted, many will have a challenge finding Tru-TV which gets to carry a couple of unopposed games. However, the important fact that every game will also be streamed live and free should make up for that.
There are other benefits for the fans. All of the first week's games are scheduled to be completed by midnight ET (with the possible exception of the last games of the day going into overtime). This is better than past years when CBS would show games starting after the late local newscasts which sometimes wouldn't start until after 11:30 ET.
The more casual fan may not enjoy this as much, as there will not be the switching to the endings of games and a "primary" telecast as in past years. CBS, TBS, TNT, and Tru-TV do each plan on cross-promoting other telecasts and keeping viewers very much updated on other games being played at the same time. Have remote will travel!
Where is the reprimand for Bobby Knight due to his use of an obscenity on ESPN earlier this month? It was back on March 5th when Knight was on College Gameday and refered to a "chicken s--- defense". The only apology came moments later on the show, but from host Rece Davis. Thus, there was no apology from Knight himself, who is a member of the media and is employed by ESPN. Why was Davis the only one to apologize?
It is bad enough that some media members continue to bow down to Knight even after his childish antics ruined the success he had as a coach. The fact that Knight (to the best of my knowledge) was not reprimanded and did not apologize for his own serious error is, well, chicken s---.
This was different from the incident last week in Philadelphia. Sports radio personality Mike Missanelli was on Fox-TV during a 5:00 newscast, and supposedly "didn't realize" he was on the air when he let loose with the f-word among others while anchor Lauren Cohn continued with her segment.
AT&T U-Verse cable subscribers are finally getting MLB Network after more than 2 years on the air. Earlier this year, the regional Fox Sports Networks were quietly pulled (except for those viewers paying up to $10 per month additional for AT&T's sports package), yet AT&T failed to reduce the price for its sports package even with around half of the channels pulled.
It was good to have proof that ESPN did not air a "report" from another media source without checking first. It seems that sports radio host Bob McCown "reported" last Friday on The Fan 590 Toronto that he heard that Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins was considering retirement while looking to comeback from his current injury. ESPN got denials from both Troy Crosby (Sidney's father) and from Sidney Crosby's agent. Good to know that at least one major source of sports news is doing their follow up.
On the other hand, there was the attempted "joke" report from Jim Crandell on Sacramento's KTXL-TV 10:00 PM News last week. Basketball fans in the Sacramento area have been concerned about the rumored move of the NBA Kings to Anaheim, especially since the Kings are the only "big 4" pro sports team in the city.
Yet, Crandell ran a clip of NBA Commissioner David Stern from the 1985 announcement that the Kings were moving TO Sacramento and dubbed in a voice to make it appear, however jokingly, that the announcement was about a move from Sacramento to Anaheim. (Again, this was on the 10 PM news.) As if this wasn't bad enough, Crandell had promoted the "announcement for Kings fans" earlier in the evening on the station. How awful for the team, its fans, and I would think eventually on the station's ratings for their newscasts.
There is still more of this "reporting" insanity. Talk show host Scott Moore is gone from WZZN 97.7 The Zone. Moore supposedly had tapes with Auburn star Cam Newton reportedly knowing about the "pay-for-play" controversy. It took WAAY-TV's Cole Cubelic to ask Moore if Cam was actually heard on the tapes, to which Moore said "no". The tapes also never aired.
On a positive note, The Library of Congress has acquired The John Miley Collection of sports broadcasts made between 1920 and 1972. The collection now cosists of more than 6,000 TV and radio broadcasts, and the Library plans to eventually digitally preserve and make them available for listening or viewing at the Library of Congress. Included are Wilt Chamberlain's last college game at Kansas, Arnold Palmer winning his first pro golf tournament from 1955, Curt Gowdy calling Oklahoma University football games from the late 1940's while at KOMA, and SMU's "near upset" of Notre Dame in 1949.
ATLANTA: The Falcons finishing with the best record in the NFC last season didn't help in the post-season, but it did for radio rights. The Falcons are moving to WQXI 790 The Zone for the coming season, with plans to add Falcons related programming to its lineup. Wes Durham and Dave Archer will continue as the broadcast team, with the game broadcasts also simulcast on WSTR Star 94 FM.
CHICAGO: WLS-TV gains a new sports anchor starting next week (3/21), even if it is a partially familiar name. Rafer Weigel leaves Headline News' "Morning Express" to join the station's sports staff. Rafer's late father Tim Weigel was both a sports and news anchor for the station for 17 years.
The NBA Bulls' surge to the top of the Eastern Conference has also surged the TV ratings. Bulls regular season telecasts on Comcast SportsNet are now up more than 65% over last season (as of late last week). The team's Monday (3/7) win over New Orleans was Comcast SportsNet's highest rated Bulls telecast ever (regular or post-season), even higher than the 3-overtime game vs. the Celtics in the memorable 2009 opening round NBA Playoff series.
MINNEAPOLIS: How the mighty have fallen. WCCO 830 has now lost University of Minnesota football and basketball, leaving it with only the NHL Wild among its play-by-play schedule.
KFAN 1130 will carry Gophers football on Saturdays along with the NFL Vikings most Sundays, with Gophers broadcasts also airing on KTLK-FM 100.3. KSTP-AM 1500 will carry basketball and hockey broadcasts as part of this 3-year package deal.
WASHINGTON DC: MASN will add a baseball oriented show weekdays at 5 PM starting on March 31 (the day of the MLB season openers). The show expects to devote segments to the Nationals, Orioles, and baseball in general. On many weeknights it will lead into the pre-game show of Orioles or Nationals telecasts.
CINCINATTI: Congrats to Xavier University play-by-play voice Joe Sunderman on winning the 2011 Bob Vetrone Atlantic 10 Media Award as he wraps up his 30th season on the Xavier broadcast team. The former Xavier player (and a member of the school's Hall of Fame) began his broadcast career as the analyst before switching over to play-by-play.
HILTON HEAD: 1130 AM has dropped ESPN Radio and gone to a music format as WHHW.
MACON: WPLA-AM Sports 1670 is adding a local morning show as of March 28. Charles Olson and Daniel Shirley will air from 7 to 9 AM. Hopefully the "And don't call me Shirley" jokes will stop after the first show. The station is already local from 3 to 6 PM with Bill Shanks.
There are other benefits for the fans. All of the first week's games are scheduled to be completed by midnight ET (with the possible exception of the last games of the day going into overtime). This is better than past years when CBS would show games starting after the late local newscasts which sometimes wouldn't start until after 11:30 ET.
The more casual fan may not enjoy this as much, as there will not be the switching to the endings of games and a "primary" telecast as in past years. CBS, TBS, TNT, and Tru-TV do each plan on cross-promoting other telecasts and keeping viewers very much updated on other games being played at the same time. Have remote will travel!
Where is the reprimand for Bobby Knight due to his use of an obscenity on ESPN earlier this month? It was back on March 5th when Knight was on College Gameday and refered to a "chicken s--- defense". The only apology came moments later on the show, but from host Rece Davis. Thus, there was no apology from Knight himself, who is a member of the media and is employed by ESPN. Why was Davis the only one to apologize?
It is bad enough that some media members continue to bow down to Knight even after his childish antics ruined the success he had as a coach. The fact that Knight (to the best of my knowledge) was not reprimanded and did not apologize for his own serious error is, well, chicken s---.
This was different from the incident last week in Philadelphia. Sports radio personality Mike Missanelli was on Fox-TV during a 5:00 newscast, and supposedly "didn't realize" he was on the air when he let loose with the f-word among others while anchor Lauren Cohn continued with her segment.
AT&T U-Verse cable subscribers are finally getting MLB Network after more than 2 years on the air. Earlier this year, the regional Fox Sports Networks were quietly pulled (except for those viewers paying up to $10 per month additional for AT&T's sports package), yet AT&T failed to reduce the price for its sports package even with around half of the channels pulled.
It was good to have proof that ESPN did not air a "report" from another media source without checking first. It seems that sports radio host Bob McCown "reported" last Friday on The Fan 590 Toronto that he heard that Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins was considering retirement while looking to comeback from his current injury. ESPN got denials from both Troy Crosby (Sidney's father) and from Sidney Crosby's agent. Good to know that at least one major source of sports news is doing their follow up.
On the other hand, there was the attempted "joke" report from Jim Crandell on Sacramento's KTXL-TV 10:00 PM News last week. Basketball fans in the Sacramento area have been concerned about the rumored move of the NBA Kings to Anaheim, especially since the Kings are the only "big 4" pro sports team in the city.
Yet, Crandell ran a clip of NBA Commissioner David Stern from the 1985 announcement that the Kings were moving TO Sacramento and dubbed in a voice to make it appear, however jokingly, that the announcement was about a move from Sacramento to Anaheim. (Again, this was on the 10 PM news.) As if this wasn't bad enough, Crandell had promoted the "announcement for Kings fans" earlier in the evening on the station. How awful for the team, its fans, and I would think eventually on the station's ratings for their newscasts.
There is still more of this "reporting" insanity. Talk show host Scott Moore is gone from WZZN 97.7 The Zone. Moore supposedly had tapes with Auburn star Cam Newton reportedly knowing about the "pay-for-play" controversy. It took WAAY-TV's Cole Cubelic to ask Moore if Cam was actually heard on the tapes, to which Moore said "no". The tapes also never aired.
On a positive note, The Library of Congress has acquired The John Miley Collection of sports broadcasts made between 1920 and 1972. The collection now cosists of more than 6,000 TV and radio broadcasts, and the Library plans to eventually digitally preserve and make them available for listening or viewing at the Library of Congress. Included are Wilt Chamberlain's last college game at Kansas, Arnold Palmer winning his first pro golf tournament from 1955, Curt Gowdy calling Oklahoma University football games from the late 1940's while at KOMA, and SMU's "near upset" of Notre Dame in 1949.
ATLANTA: The Falcons finishing with the best record in the NFC last season didn't help in the post-season, but it did for radio rights. The Falcons are moving to WQXI 790 The Zone for the coming season, with plans to add Falcons related programming to its lineup. Wes Durham and Dave Archer will continue as the broadcast team, with the game broadcasts also simulcast on WSTR Star 94 FM.
CHICAGO: WLS-TV gains a new sports anchor starting next week (3/21), even if it is a partially familiar name. Rafer Weigel leaves Headline News' "Morning Express" to join the station's sports staff. Rafer's late father Tim Weigel was both a sports and news anchor for the station for 17 years.
The NBA Bulls' surge to the top of the Eastern Conference has also surged the TV ratings. Bulls regular season telecasts on Comcast SportsNet are now up more than 65% over last season (as of late last week). The team's Monday (3/7) win over New Orleans was Comcast SportsNet's highest rated Bulls telecast ever (regular or post-season), even higher than the 3-overtime game vs. the Celtics in the memorable 2009 opening round NBA Playoff series.
MINNEAPOLIS: How the mighty have fallen. WCCO 830 has now lost University of Minnesota football and basketball, leaving it with only the NHL Wild among its play-by-play schedule.
KFAN 1130 will carry Gophers football on Saturdays along with the NFL Vikings most Sundays, with Gophers broadcasts also airing on KTLK-FM 100.3. KSTP-AM 1500 will carry basketball and hockey broadcasts as part of this 3-year package deal.
WASHINGTON DC: MASN will add a baseball oriented show weekdays at 5 PM starting on March 31 (the day of the MLB season openers). The show expects to devote segments to the Nationals, Orioles, and baseball in general. On many weeknights it will lead into the pre-game show of Orioles or Nationals telecasts.
CINCINATTI: Congrats to Xavier University play-by-play voice Joe Sunderman on winning the 2011 Bob Vetrone Atlantic 10 Media Award as he wraps up his 30th season on the Xavier broadcast team. The former Xavier player (and a member of the school's Hall of Fame) began his broadcast career as the analyst before switching over to play-by-play.
HILTON HEAD: 1130 AM has dropped ESPN Radio and gone to a music format as WHHW.
MACON: WPLA-AM Sports 1670 is adding a local morning show as of March 28. Charles Olson and Daniel Shirley will air from 7 to 9 AM. Hopefully the "And don't call me Shirley" jokes will stop after the first show. The station is already local from 3 to 6 PM with Bill Shanks.
Monday, March 7, 2011
The Broadcast Booth - March 7th Update
Lakers analyst and sometimes radio sports talk host Mychal Thompson gave his KSPN 710 Los Angeles a radio show to remember this past Friday (3/4) morning, much to his credit. From here on out, Thompson should be recognized as a broadcaster first, and no longer as a former NBA player who joined the media ranks.
Thompson could have excused himself from the broadcast, and chances are no one would have questioned it. To his credit, the show must go on. He could have also chosen to avoid comment on one of the morning's biggest sports stories. Instead, he went on at 10 AM and spent nearly two hours discussing that story, even to the point of putting listeners on the air.
Just hours prior to Thompson's scheduled show, Klay Thompson, the junior guard for Washington State who (at the time) led the Pac-10 in scoring for the season, had been stopped by Pullman (WA) police and charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana. The incident occurred late Thursday night following WSU's win over USC. The significance is that Klay is Mychal's son.
Mychal Thompson reportedly found out about this incident around 7 AM, just 3 hours before he was to take to the air on KSPN and host sports talk from 10 AM until 2 PM. Yet, Thompson kept his air shift, and spent nearly 2 hours talking and reacting to what happened.
It was not his disappointment and anger toward his own son alone which made it such a noteworthy broadcast. It was the fact that he went on the air and thoroughly addressed the ordeal with his audience.
This 2 hours made for compelling sports radio. In addition to reacting as many fathers would in such a situation, Mychal also discussed the possibilities of punishment for Klay. Not a simple matter, since Pac-10 Conference tournament time is upon us, and there would be a major impact without the leading scorer participating.
As one who demands that sports radio bring more immediate reaction from the players and coaches involved to a big story, this went above and beyond. This was not a ratings ploy. There was little to no time to hype this broadcast. It happened, and the Los Angeles radio audience was instantly a part of it.
Speaking of expert reaction on a sports talk show, Dan LeBatard on SportsTalk 790 Miami did a great job in talking about last week's Detroit Pistons player revolt after several players deliberately failed to show up for a team practice. On his Miami-based show, he was able to secure a live interview with Orlando Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy, which included the quote "They (Pistons) have got the wrong guys in their locker room."
Thus, listeners heard one NBA coach defending a competing team's coaching staff (well, the Pistons and Magic do play in the same Conference) even though neither involved the local team. LeBatard deserves a lot of credit for getting the Orlando coach to come on live even without the biting quotes.
This is not the only example of sports radio doing a great job in handling an unfortunate sports related story. The death of high school basketball player Wes Leonard (following a game winning shot) prompted Holland MI's WHTC 1450 and WBBL 107.3 to air a special tribute on its 3-7 PM show hosted by Bill Simonson and Alan Babbitt. This broadcast on Monday (3/7) was to have been broadcast live from DeVos Fieldhouse, the site of the Class C Michigan tournament game for that night between Fennville and Lawrence. Leonard's previous coaches were scheduled to guest on the show, as well as Bo Kimble, the former Loyola Marymount teammate of Hank Gathers (who had passed away on the court due to a heart condition 21 years ago). A very classy move by a local station.
Meanwhile, broadcast sports lost one of its biggest innovators ever with the passing of Frank Chirkinian at the age of 84. It seems appropriate that he will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame this May. Don't feel bad if you don't recognize the name. In a different way, he was to televised golf what Eddie Einhorn was to televised college basketball (See last week's column).
He was producer of The Masters telecasts for more than 30 years, and was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2007.
Among Chirkinian's other innovations were telling viewers how many strokes under or over par the leaders are, bringing overhead and blimp camera shots to the telecasts, and bringing in "name" announcers from other sports such as Jim Nantz and Pat Summerall. While Summerall's delivery on football could cure insomnia, his soft and brief deliveries fit well with golf telecasts. At least Chirkinian passed away knowing of his having been elected to the Hall and how so many others recognized his contributions.
Looks as though TNT was determined to show Carmelo Anthony in action on Thursday (3/10) night. The network has made its first schedule change of the entire season by switching to televise the N.Y. Knicks vs. Dallas for its second game, starting at 9:40 ET. The start time for TNT's doubleheader has been moved up an hour to 7 PM ET for the highly anticipated Lakers vs. Heat rematch from Christmas. The kicker is that the originally scheduled late game was Denver vs. Phoenix, with Denver now being Anthony's former team.
TBS has finally announced its early season Sunday MLB telecast schedule, seemingly bringing New York and Boston games to the rest of the country. It seems that 6 of the first 9 telecasts have one or the other, while the other 3 have the Philadelphia or Chicago markets.
The start times from week to week are staggered, although within 75 minutes of each other thus far. This while the Fox Saturday telecasts are not as consistent as past seasons with early April telecasts in the 1 PM ET time slot and at least 3 Saturdays (up from 2 last season) of prime time telecasts instead.
All times ET:
Sunday, April 3 (2 p.m.): Boston at Texas
Sunday, April 10 (1:30 p.m.): Philadelphia at Atlanta
Sunday, April 17 (1:30 p.m.): Toronto at Boston
Sunday, April 24 (2:15 p.m.): L.A. Dodgers at Chicago Cubs
Sunday, May 1 (1 p.m.): Toronto at N.Y. Yankees
Sunday, May 8 (2 p.m.): N.Y. Yankees at Texas
Sunday, May 15 (TBD): Philadelphia at Atlanta
Sunday, May 22 (1 p.m.): N.Y. Mets at N.Y. Yankees
Sunday, May 29 (1 p.m.): Boston at Detroit
Comcast's bringing of NBC Sports and Versus under the same umbrella allows NBC to expand its Notre Dame football coverage. Versus will televise the Notre Dame spring football scrimmage on Saturday April 16th.
MILWAUKEE: WAUK 540 ESPN will have a new weekly contributor to its afternoon show with Steve "Homer" True for the next Packers and NFL season, and beyond. None other than Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has been signed by the station to handle a weekly segment.
BOSTON: Now that WEEI has begun its revamped lineup, The Sports Hub 98.5 decided to add to its afternoon lineup. Former Patriot Jermaine Wiggins joins the Felger & Massarotti Show in studio each Wednesday. Wiggins and the station are keeping the door open toward eventually adding more days.
LOS ANGELES: The Dodgers secured and quickly began a new affiliation for the team's Spanish broadcasts. On Friday (3/4), the team announced that KTNQ 1020 will air 8 (now 7 more as of press time) spring training games and then the entire 162 game season. On Saturday (3/5), KTNQ aired its first broadcast with the Dodgers playing Cincinnati, and with Jaime Jarrin in the Spanish radio booth for his 53rd season. Fernando Valenzuela and Pepe Yniguez also continue in the booth. KHJ Radio had previously aired the games.
OKLAHOMA CITY: Talk about the end of an era. 80 year old Bob Barry Sr. will call his last game, after 50 years, as soon as this Wednesday (3/9) when the University of Oklahoma takes on Baylor in a Big 12 Conference tournament opening round game in which Baylor is favored. Barry's second stint calling OU hoops began in 1991, while his first stint was from 1961 to 1972.
AUSTIN: A rare change in the radio booth for Texas Longhorns football broadcasts starts for the 2011 season. Roger Wallace, Sports Director at KXAN, will move from sideline reporter to the analyst position. He replaces Keith Moreland, who started this month in Chicago as analyst on Cubs radio on WGN. Former Longhorn Rod Babers, who is a host on KEVT 1300, will join the Longhorns broadcasts as sideline reporter.
DES MOINES: Steve Deace, former afternoon host on WHO, will become co-host, along with Jon D. Miller, on a morning sports show o Sports Byline Radio Network. However, the show cannot air on a Des Moines station until later in the year due to a non-compete clause.
Thompson could have excused himself from the broadcast, and chances are no one would have questioned it. To his credit, the show must go on. He could have also chosen to avoid comment on one of the morning's biggest sports stories. Instead, he went on at 10 AM and spent nearly two hours discussing that story, even to the point of putting listeners on the air.
Just hours prior to Thompson's scheduled show, Klay Thompson, the junior guard for Washington State who (at the time) led the Pac-10 in scoring for the season, had been stopped by Pullman (WA) police and charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana. The incident occurred late Thursday night following WSU's win over USC. The significance is that Klay is Mychal's son.
Mychal Thompson reportedly found out about this incident around 7 AM, just 3 hours before he was to take to the air on KSPN and host sports talk from 10 AM until 2 PM. Yet, Thompson kept his air shift, and spent nearly 2 hours talking and reacting to what happened.
It was not his disappointment and anger toward his own son alone which made it such a noteworthy broadcast. It was the fact that he went on the air and thoroughly addressed the ordeal with his audience.
This 2 hours made for compelling sports radio. In addition to reacting as many fathers would in such a situation, Mychal also discussed the possibilities of punishment for Klay. Not a simple matter, since Pac-10 Conference tournament time is upon us, and there would be a major impact without the leading scorer participating.
As one who demands that sports radio bring more immediate reaction from the players and coaches involved to a big story, this went above and beyond. This was not a ratings ploy. There was little to no time to hype this broadcast. It happened, and the Los Angeles radio audience was instantly a part of it.
Speaking of expert reaction on a sports talk show, Dan LeBatard on SportsTalk 790 Miami did a great job in talking about last week's Detroit Pistons player revolt after several players deliberately failed to show up for a team practice. On his Miami-based show, he was able to secure a live interview with Orlando Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy, which included the quote "They (Pistons) have got the wrong guys in their locker room."
Thus, listeners heard one NBA coach defending a competing team's coaching staff (well, the Pistons and Magic do play in the same Conference) even though neither involved the local team. LeBatard deserves a lot of credit for getting the Orlando coach to come on live even without the biting quotes.
This is not the only example of sports radio doing a great job in handling an unfortunate sports related story. The death of high school basketball player Wes Leonard (following a game winning shot) prompted Holland MI's WHTC 1450 and WBBL 107.3 to air a special tribute on its 3-7 PM show hosted by Bill Simonson and Alan Babbitt. This broadcast on Monday (3/7) was to have been broadcast live from DeVos Fieldhouse, the site of the Class C Michigan tournament game for that night between Fennville and Lawrence. Leonard's previous coaches were scheduled to guest on the show, as well as Bo Kimble, the former Loyola Marymount teammate of Hank Gathers (who had passed away on the court due to a heart condition 21 years ago). A very classy move by a local station.
Meanwhile, broadcast sports lost one of its biggest innovators ever with the passing of Frank Chirkinian at the age of 84. It seems appropriate that he will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame this May. Don't feel bad if you don't recognize the name. In a different way, he was to televised golf what Eddie Einhorn was to televised college basketball (See last week's column).
He was producer of The Masters telecasts for more than 30 years, and was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2007.
Among Chirkinian's other innovations were telling viewers how many strokes under or over par the leaders are, bringing overhead and blimp camera shots to the telecasts, and bringing in "name" announcers from other sports such as Jim Nantz and Pat Summerall. While Summerall's delivery on football could cure insomnia, his soft and brief deliveries fit well with golf telecasts. At least Chirkinian passed away knowing of his having been elected to the Hall and how so many others recognized his contributions.
Looks as though TNT was determined to show Carmelo Anthony in action on Thursday (3/10) night. The network has made its first schedule change of the entire season by switching to televise the N.Y. Knicks vs. Dallas for its second game, starting at 9:40 ET. The start time for TNT's doubleheader has been moved up an hour to 7 PM ET for the highly anticipated Lakers vs. Heat rematch from Christmas. The kicker is that the originally scheduled late game was Denver vs. Phoenix, with Denver now being Anthony's former team.
TBS has finally announced its early season Sunday MLB telecast schedule, seemingly bringing New York and Boston games to the rest of the country. It seems that 6 of the first 9 telecasts have one or the other, while the other 3 have the Philadelphia or Chicago markets.
The start times from week to week are staggered, although within 75 minutes of each other thus far. This while the Fox Saturday telecasts are not as consistent as past seasons with early April telecasts in the 1 PM ET time slot and at least 3 Saturdays (up from 2 last season) of prime time telecasts instead.
All times ET:
Sunday, April 3 (2 p.m.): Boston at Texas
Sunday, April 10 (1:30 p.m.): Philadelphia at Atlanta
Sunday, April 17 (1:30 p.m.): Toronto at Boston
Sunday, April 24 (2:15 p.m.): L.A. Dodgers at Chicago Cubs
Sunday, May 1 (1 p.m.): Toronto at N.Y. Yankees
Sunday, May 8 (2 p.m.): N.Y. Yankees at Texas
Sunday, May 15 (TBD): Philadelphia at Atlanta
Sunday, May 22 (1 p.m.): N.Y. Mets at N.Y. Yankees
Sunday, May 29 (1 p.m.): Boston at Detroit
Comcast's bringing of NBC Sports and Versus under the same umbrella allows NBC to expand its Notre Dame football coverage. Versus will televise the Notre Dame spring football scrimmage on Saturday April 16th.
MILWAUKEE: WAUK 540 ESPN will have a new weekly contributor to its afternoon show with Steve "Homer" True for the next Packers and NFL season, and beyond. None other than Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has been signed by the station to handle a weekly segment.
BOSTON: Now that WEEI has begun its revamped lineup, The Sports Hub 98.5 decided to add to its afternoon lineup. Former Patriot Jermaine Wiggins joins the Felger & Massarotti Show in studio each Wednesday. Wiggins and the station are keeping the door open toward eventually adding more days.
LOS ANGELES: The Dodgers secured and quickly began a new affiliation for the team's Spanish broadcasts. On Friday (3/4), the team announced that KTNQ 1020 will air 8 (now 7 more as of press time) spring training games and then the entire 162 game season. On Saturday (3/5), KTNQ aired its first broadcast with the Dodgers playing Cincinnati, and with Jaime Jarrin in the Spanish radio booth for his 53rd season. Fernando Valenzuela and Pepe Yniguez also continue in the booth. KHJ Radio had previously aired the games.
OKLAHOMA CITY: Talk about the end of an era. 80 year old Bob Barry Sr. will call his last game, after 50 years, as soon as this Wednesday (3/9) when the University of Oklahoma takes on Baylor in a Big 12 Conference tournament opening round game in which Baylor is favored. Barry's second stint calling OU hoops began in 1991, while his first stint was from 1961 to 1972.
AUSTIN: A rare change in the radio booth for Texas Longhorns football broadcasts starts for the 2011 season. Roger Wallace, Sports Director at KXAN, will move from sideline reporter to the analyst position. He replaces Keith Moreland, who started this month in Chicago as analyst on Cubs radio on WGN. Former Longhorn Rod Babers, who is a host on KEVT 1300, will join the Longhorns broadcasts as sideline reporter.
DES MOINES: Steve Deace, former afternoon host on WHO, will become co-host, along with Jon D. Miller, on a morning sports show o Sports Byline Radio Network. However, the show cannot air on a Des Moines station until later in the year due to a non-compete clause.
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