As if there aren't enough challenges for sports fans in Oakland, such as losing the Raiders again, A's fans are close to another blast from the past because, as of press time, there is no local radio deal in place. The A's opening exhibition game is two weeks away. Long time fans go back more than 30 years to the time that KALX, a station with a signal so poor that fans at the stadium couldn't always hear I, was the only station which would air the games.
The A's and their fans were not happy with the overall coverage of the team when their games aired on 95.7 KGMZ The Game for the previous eight seasons, ending their agreement at the conclusion of the A's 2018 season.
The broadcast team of Ken Korach and Vince Cotroneo as returning. The club has announced that pre and post-game voice Chris Townsend has been promoted to Senior Broadcast Producer with expanded duties.
However, there is no station arrangement in place. The team is reportedly arranging for free streaming of the game broadcasts via one or more commonly available apps.
Not that the team needs any more pressure to announce a deal with at least one "real" local station, but the A's will be the first to open the 2019 regular season. They face the Mariners at the Tokyo Dome on March 20th, eight days sooner than the scheduled openers for all remaining clubs.
Over at KGMZ-FM The Game, the morning show's Lorenzo Neal, who has been with the station for nearly five years, has signed a contract extension. The former Raider (along with several other teams) remains a key part of the morning drive "Joe, Lo, & Dibs" show. The station continues to finally build up respectable ratings, helped by now being the flagship station of the Warriors.
DENVER: The city lost one of its sports pioneers with the passing of Irv Brown last weekend at the age of 83. Brown spent parts of four decades on the air with sports talk, many with partner Joe Williams. On the national level, Brown was also a part of history. He was part of the broadcast team in 1979 when ESPN televised the college football game between Colorado and Oregon. That was the very first college football telecast ever on ESPN.
Around the country, Brown is remembered for having been a basketball official and for coaching baseball. Fans were and are amazed to find out that he was an official during four of the NCAA Final Four appearances by the Johnny Wooden led UCLA Bruins during the late 60's and 70's. He went on to coach the Colorado University baseball team, which has been discontinued since 1980. His comment that "I made Colorado baseball what it is today" may stand as our most fond memory of him.
NEW ORLEANS: Sorry to also learn of the passing of Chuck Edwards, the voice of New Orleans sports. Edwards had been PA announcer for both the Saints and Pelicans. He was only 49. He had been a key part of the morning show on WXYK Gulfport.
CHICAGO: The hot potato known as the University of Illinois football and basketball broadcasts has now been caught by WLS 890, which has a new 5 year deal starting with the coming football season. After dumping White Sox and Bulls broadcasts in 2017, the station had been without live play-by-play. The games move over from WSCR 670, which picked up Bulls broadcasts which added even more schedule conflicts.
The Bulls are having another awful season, but WLS-TV Channel 7 added to the misery last weekend (2/2). On its early evening sportscast, Dionne Miller, who has been at the station for more than four years, reported that the Bulls were set to take on New Orleans. The problem was that New Orleans was the next opponent. The Bulls were playing in Charlotte 40 minutes later. No correction was made on that newscast, nor on the station's late news, when Miller had them correctly playing Charlotte during the highlight segment.
SOUTH JERSEY: Former Philadelphia 97.5 The Fanatic hosts Harry Mayes and Eytan Shander will begin hosting from Noon to 2 PM on weekdays on WENJ 97.3 ESPN in Millville. The pair is doing a daily podcast for the station until they begin on April 1st. The station will continue to carry Mike Gill from 2 to 6 PM, which leaves open the possibility of Mayes and Shander being able to expand to more afternoon hours.
CHARLOTTE: WBCN 1660 and 94.7 is now carrying Fox Sports Radio. As of now, there are no plans to originate any local programming. For those wondering, WBCN is re-assigned call letters and has no affiliation with the former Boston rock station which made those call letters famous.
Friday, February 8, 2019
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Over 100 Untold Stories
While NFL fans hope for a quality game and a solid telecast of the Super Bowl, others hope that the two weeks of hype starts taking a more solid direction moving forward. The making news when there is no news to justify "covering" the Super Bowl seems even more uneventful, probably due to all of the social media and podcasts adding to the broadcast and print media mix.
The rosters of the participating teams, along with the coaching staffs and front offices, total more than 150 people, each with their own story to tell. However, it seems like all we see are the starting quarterbacks answering the same questions they faced all season. Worse yet, this year seems to have set a record for media people interviewing media people.
Interviewing one of the beat writers or reporters of a participating team has merit, but radio and TV stations and newspapers didn't need to send reporters to Atlanta (or host city) to do that. Not when there are more than 150 stories to tell associated with the participating teams.
INDIANAPOLIS: Jeff Rickard adds co-hosting middays on WFNI The Fan 1070 and 107.5. The "Jeff & Big Joe Show" now airs from 10 AM to Noon on weekdays with former Colt Joe Staysniak remaining in the co-host role. Rickard replaces Michael Grady, who had been co-hosting from New York after joining the YES Network as sideline reporter for the Brooklyn Nets in 2017. Grady had been with the station for eight years.
ST. LOUIS: The disappointing season by the Blues has caused KMOX to drop the broadcasts it has done for the majority of the team's existence. The remainder of this season will complete this 12 season run. Beginning with the 2019-20 season, the Blues will air on WXOS ESPN 101.1. The station just extended its affiliation with ESPN Radio while marking its 10th anniversary as an affiliate.
RICHMOND: As we reported last week, WJFK-FM Washington D.C. is looking to syndicate its successful "Sports Junkies" morning show around the region. This week it was announced that WRNL-AM 910 The Fan has added "Sports Junkies" as its morning show. The Richmond market always shows very well with NFL TV ratings, especially for Redskins and division games. Having a strong Redskins presence in the morning should help during NFL season. However, since the coming season is now months away, it remains to be seen whether or not this move will impact the audience in the short term.
ORLANDO: WYGM 96.9 The Game will debut a new afternoon drive program on February 11th. "In The Zone with Brandon Kravitz & The Shot Doctor" will debut. THe 'Shot Doctor' is Austin Pistulka, who is also the Executive Producer.
COLUMBIA SC: Phil Kornblut and "SportsTalk" continues from 6 to 8 PM on 100.7 and 1470 The Point even though the S.C. (South Carolina) Radio Network was discontinued last week. Kornblut's show has been part of the state's sports radio scene for the past 35 years, airing on as many as 30 other stations around the state. The Point's web site will continue to stream SportsTalk. Kornblut will also continue his recruiting column for the Post & Courier.
The rosters of the participating teams, along with the coaching staffs and front offices, total more than 150 people, each with their own story to tell. However, it seems like all we see are the starting quarterbacks answering the same questions they faced all season. Worse yet, this year seems to have set a record for media people interviewing media people.
Interviewing one of the beat writers or reporters of a participating team has merit, but radio and TV stations and newspapers didn't need to send reporters to Atlanta (or host city) to do that. Not when there are more than 150 stories to tell associated with the participating teams.
INDIANAPOLIS: Jeff Rickard adds co-hosting middays on WFNI The Fan 1070 and 107.5. The "Jeff & Big Joe Show" now airs from 10 AM to Noon on weekdays with former Colt Joe Staysniak remaining in the co-host role. Rickard replaces Michael Grady, who had been co-hosting from New York after joining the YES Network as sideline reporter for the Brooklyn Nets in 2017. Grady had been with the station for eight years.
ST. LOUIS: The disappointing season by the Blues has caused KMOX to drop the broadcasts it has done for the majority of the team's existence. The remainder of this season will complete this 12 season run. Beginning with the 2019-20 season, the Blues will air on WXOS ESPN 101.1. The station just extended its affiliation with ESPN Radio while marking its 10th anniversary as an affiliate.
RICHMOND: As we reported last week, WJFK-FM Washington D.C. is looking to syndicate its successful "Sports Junkies" morning show around the region. This week it was announced that WRNL-AM 910 The Fan has added "Sports Junkies" as its morning show. The Richmond market always shows very well with NFL TV ratings, especially for Redskins and division games. Having a strong Redskins presence in the morning should help during NFL season. However, since the coming season is now months away, it remains to be seen whether or not this move will impact the audience in the short term.
ORLANDO: WYGM 96.9 The Game will debut a new afternoon drive program on February 11th. "In The Zone with Brandon Kravitz & The Shot Doctor" will debut. THe 'Shot Doctor' is Austin Pistulka, who is also the Executive Producer.
COLUMBIA SC: Phil Kornblut and "SportsTalk" continues from 6 to 8 PM on 100.7 and 1470 The Point even though the S.C. (South Carolina) Radio Network was discontinued last week. Kornblut's show has been part of the state's sports radio scene for the past 35 years, airing on as many as 30 other stations around the state. The Point's web site will continue to stream SportsTalk. Kornblut will also continue his recruiting column for the Post & Courier.
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Taylor Made Job For Colts
What should have been a simple announcement about the Indianapolis Colts radio broadcasts moving forward was ruined for all concerned, primarily due to speculation.
Although the Colts announced that Matt Taylor will remain as the team's radio play-by-play voice for next season, which removed the "interim" tag he had throughout the past season, his glory was overshadowed.
Taylor took over the play-by-play in August following the retirement announcement of 79 year old long time Colts voice Bob Lamey. Although the retirement announcement was unexpected since it took place during training camp, some attributed the change to a reported incident of Lamey, who was not on the air, possibly using a racial slur while sharing a story from years earlier.
Both Lamey and team stated that it was a retirement announcement and that it was not due to any incident. Yet, because of the speculation, Lamey did not get his proper recognition.
Along with having called the Colts games for years, Lamey spent years calling games for the most important teams in Indianapolis. Few remember his early days as "Hockey Bob Lamey" when he called the Indianapolis Racers games in the World Hockey Association. Even fewer recall that it was those same Racers that had a star rookie with them by the name of Wayne Gretzky.
After the Racers folded (and Gretzky wound up in Edmonton), Lamey soon after found his way to calling the Pacers games, switching from "Hockey Bob" to "Roundball Robert".
We would like to think that after more than 40 years of high profile sportscasting that Lamey would have been given a proper sendoff, no matter how or when he announced his retirement. And, that Matt Taylor would have his big moment and not have it overshadowed because of speculation about an incident which was not on the air - or even in social media. The Colts games continue to air locally on WFNI 107.5 and 1070.
Those that question the need for Los Angeles to have two NFL teams, let alone one, love the story that the L.A. market TV ratings for both the NFC and AFC Championship Game telecasts last Sunday (1/20) were comparable. Keep in mind that the Rams were in the first game of the day, and that technically neither was a prime time telecast in Los Angeles. The Patriots vs. Chiefs game ended shortly after 7 PM Pacific time.
It's a rare circumstance when having a local NFL team in an important game has little to no impact on the ratings. The Saints vs. Rams telecast wound up as the lowest rated "early window" conference championship game since 2013 at the national level. The Patriots vs. Chiefs thriller had a 26% audience increase over the "late" telecast of one year ago.
On the NHL side, it was actually no surprise that NBC stayed with its originally scheduled telecast of Washington at Chicago for its Sunday national telecast (on 1/20), despite the teams being at almost the opposite end of the standings. NBC Sports Network, which again this season is showing an extensive schedule of NHL telecasts, had Capitals telecasts this season in each of its top four highest rated telecasts.
While the Caps are Stanley Cup Champions, the Blackhawks may not make the playoffs for what would be a second consecutive season. Yet, four of the next five highest rated NBCSN telecasts so far this season involved the Blackhawks, which continues to have a large national following.
The holiday period Nielsen radio ratings were released this week. Although it is considered to be the least important of all of the monthly ratings, there were a few interesting trends from the big markets.
In Boston, WBZ-FM Sports Hub showed a .5 increase, moving from fifth to third in overall audience.
As the flagship station of the Patriots, the January ratings are likely to soar. WEEI-FM, on the other hand, dropped by .7 during the holiday period, falling to #11 overall and failing to finish in the top 10 overall for the first time in many months.
Without any of the New York teams going anywhere, both WFAN and WEPN dropped during this book, while in Chicago both WSCR and WMVP showed increases as the Bears went to the post-season.
This is something we have been pointing out for years. As much as most sports stations push their on-air talent, it is more often the teams and the local sports scene that drive the audience.
Los Angeles and Houston sports radio stayed in trend, however, despite each market having NFL teams heading for the post-season during this ratings period. KSPN 710, despite being the flagship station of the Rams, dropped from #26 to #27 overall in the market. It is worth noting that KLAC 570, the Chargers flagship, did show a nice overall audience increase. In Houston, KILT 610, the Texans flagship station, showed a half-point increase in the ratings. Yet, once again, none of Houston's three sports stations cracked the top 20 overall.
DALLAS: The December ratings showed that KRLD-FM The Fan moved up to #14 overall, passing up KTCK The Ticket which suffered its third consecutive ratings drop. KTCK 96.7 and 1310 are celebrating the station's 25 year anniversary this weekend with a series of big event live broadcasts.
Venues include Texas Motor Speedway and the Plano Events Center, with special guests including Troy Aikman and Jay Novacek.
WASHINGTON D.C.: WJFK-FM 106.7 The Fan has announced a long-term extension of "The Sports Junkies" morning show as it finishes its 23rd year on the air. The station also revealed that it will soon be announcing a syndication of this show to affiliates within the Mid-Atlantic region. While we understand and appreciate the success of "Junkies", other markets may not take to the D.C. talk nearly as much. More importantly, the D.C. market is not likely to accept lengthy discussion about teams not specific to the D.C. area. This could turn into one of those radio "Your mileage may vary" situations once this happens.
Although the Colts announced that Matt Taylor will remain as the team's radio play-by-play voice for next season, which removed the "interim" tag he had throughout the past season, his glory was overshadowed.
Taylor took over the play-by-play in August following the retirement announcement of 79 year old long time Colts voice Bob Lamey. Although the retirement announcement was unexpected since it took place during training camp, some attributed the change to a reported incident of Lamey, who was not on the air, possibly using a racial slur while sharing a story from years earlier.
Both Lamey and team stated that it was a retirement announcement and that it was not due to any incident. Yet, because of the speculation, Lamey did not get his proper recognition.
Along with having called the Colts games for years, Lamey spent years calling games for the most important teams in Indianapolis. Few remember his early days as "Hockey Bob Lamey" when he called the Indianapolis Racers games in the World Hockey Association. Even fewer recall that it was those same Racers that had a star rookie with them by the name of Wayne Gretzky.
After the Racers folded (and Gretzky wound up in Edmonton), Lamey soon after found his way to calling the Pacers games, switching from "Hockey Bob" to "Roundball Robert".
We would like to think that after more than 40 years of high profile sportscasting that Lamey would have been given a proper sendoff, no matter how or when he announced his retirement. And, that Matt Taylor would have his big moment and not have it overshadowed because of speculation about an incident which was not on the air - or even in social media. The Colts games continue to air locally on WFNI 107.5 and 1070.
Those that question the need for Los Angeles to have two NFL teams, let alone one, love the story that the L.A. market TV ratings for both the NFC and AFC Championship Game telecasts last Sunday (1/20) were comparable. Keep in mind that the Rams were in the first game of the day, and that technically neither was a prime time telecast in Los Angeles. The Patriots vs. Chiefs game ended shortly after 7 PM Pacific time.
It's a rare circumstance when having a local NFL team in an important game has little to no impact on the ratings. The Saints vs. Rams telecast wound up as the lowest rated "early window" conference championship game since 2013 at the national level. The Patriots vs. Chiefs thriller had a 26% audience increase over the "late" telecast of one year ago.
On the NHL side, it was actually no surprise that NBC stayed with its originally scheduled telecast of Washington at Chicago for its Sunday national telecast (on 1/20), despite the teams being at almost the opposite end of the standings. NBC Sports Network, which again this season is showing an extensive schedule of NHL telecasts, had Capitals telecasts this season in each of its top four highest rated telecasts.
While the Caps are Stanley Cup Champions, the Blackhawks may not make the playoffs for what would be a second consecutive season. Yet, four of the next five highest rated NBCSN telecasts so far this season involved the Blackhawks, which continues to have a large national following.
The holiday period Nielsen radio ratings were released this week. Although it is considered to be the least important of all of the monthly ratings, there were a few interesting trends from the big markets.
In Boston, WBZ-FM Sports Hub showed a .5 increase, moving from fifth to third in overall audience.
As the flagship station of the Patriots, the January ratings are likely to soar. WEEI-FM, on the other hand, dropped by .7 during the holiday period, falling to #11 overall and failing to finish in the top 10 overall for the first time in many months.
Without any of the New York teams going anywhere, both WFAN and WEPN dropped during this book, while in Chicago both WSCR and WMVP showed increases as the Bears went to the post-season.
This is something we have been pointing out for years. As much as most sports stations push their on-air talent, it is more often the teams and the local sports scene that drive the audience.
Los Angeles and Houston sports radio stayed in trend, however, despite each market having NFL teams heading for the post-season during this ratings period. KSPN 710, despite being the flagship station of the Rams, dropped from #26 to #27 overall in the market. It is worth noting that KLAC 570, the Chargers flagship, did show a nice overall audience increase. In Houston, KILT 610, the Texans flagship station, showed a half-point increase in the ratings. Yet, once again, none of Houston's three sports stations cracked the top 20 overall.
DALLAS: The December ratings showed that KRLD-FM The Fan moved up to #14 overall, passing up KTCK The Ticket which suffered its third consecutive ratings drop. KTCK 96.7 and 1310 are celebrating the station's 25 year anniversary this weekend with a series of big event live broadcasts.
Venues include Texas Motor Speedway and the Plano Events Center, with special guests including Troy Aikman and Jay Novacek.
WASHINGTON D.C.: WJFK-FM 106.7 The Fan has announced a long-term extension of "The Sports Junkies" morning show as it finishes its 23rd year on the air. The station also revealed that it will soon be announcing a syndication of this show to affiliates within the Mid-Atlantic region. While we understand and appreciate the success of "Junkies", other markets may not take to the D.C. talk nearly as much. More importantly, the D.C. market is not likely to accept lengthy discussion about teams not specific to the D.C. area. This could turn into one of those radio "Your mileage may vary" situations once this happens.
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Long Time Voices Staying Only A Short Time
As we prepare to find out which teams will be in the Super Bowl this coming Sunday, it's baseball broadcasters taking the headlines this week.
While Bob Costas will call at least 20 telecasts for MLB Network again this season and have an expanded role there, The New York Post confirmed that Costas is officially gone from NBC Sports. The report claims that his NBC contract was ended three years before it had been scheduled to per mutual agreement.
As for the most significant baseball broadcaster announcement of the year, "this one belongs to the Reds". Marty Brennaman, who is about to start his 46th consecutive season calling Reds games, announced that the 2019 season will be his last. The 76 year old Brennaman took over the Reds job for the 1974 season, which began with his calling Hank Aaron's 714th career homerun during the opening series.
Despite his longevity in the position, the broadcaster he replaced in Cincinnati remains on the air as well. It was none other than Al Michaels who left the Reds gig after the 1973 season for his network career.
Although Brennaman settled on baseball, his basketball play-by-play early in his career included calling the Virginia Squires of the ABA, which had a star forward by the name of Julius Erving during his tenure there. Michaels, while now associated with calling NFL games for NBC, called baseball for ABC and is also known for calling the 1980 Olympic hockey games during the USA's run to the Gold Medal.
Brennaman was joined for the majority of his career by the late Joe Nuxhall. Looking forward to his being honored at the visiting parks throughout the season.
It's a similar story in Pittsburgh, where Steve Blass is also going to retire following his 34th full season in the Pirates' booth. Even more incredibly, Blass will have been with the Pirates, going back to his pitching days, for 60 years. Blass and former pitcher Bob Walk will have been broadcast partners for 25 years. He is also 76 years old.
In New York, Howie Rose has his new broadcast partners on Mets radio starting with the coming season. Wayne Randazzo joins the booth as analyst, while continuing as host of the post-game show. Ed Coleman, who covers the Mets for sister station WFAN, will take over the pre-game hosting. The Mets broadcasts are moving to WCBS 880 starting this season.
The Detroit Tigers TV broadcast roster is finally settled after the ouster of both Mario Impemba and Rod Allen resulting from their reported altercation late last season. Matt Shepard, who filled in for Impemba in September, has been given the play-by-play spot. Kirk Gibson and Jack Morris, who were used occasionally as analysts last season, will rotate in the role. Shepard has been the morning host of WDFN-AM. He has been the radio voice of University of Michigan basketball and Eastern Michigan football. No word yet as to whether he will continue with the football broadcasts.
Not a change, but still another honor for Cubs radio voice Pat Hughes. The National Sports Media Association has named him "Illinois Sportscaster of the Year", the ninth time he has earned this honor. These are in addition to having won this Award in Wisconsin during his tenure with the Brewers prior to coming to the Cubs in the mid-90's.
Elsewhere, Yahoo Sports has partnered with Turner Sports and the NBA to produce a streaming game night show. The show will air for three hours five nights per week and include updates, highlights from live games, interviews, and analysis. The show will also have social media interaction. It will run from 8 to 11 PM ET starting on Tuesday (1/22), with a special debut edition from 5 to 8 PM on Monday (1/21) due to earlier action on Martin Luther King Day.
Along those same lines, Fox Sports will co-produce a streaming MLB highlights show, also slated for five nights a week, to begin with the coming baseball season. This show is expected to have live look-ins. The length and time slot has yet to be announced, but we do know that this show will be separate from Fox's MLB Whiparound and MLB Network's MLB Tonight.
MINNEAPOLIS: The new Sports Director at WCCO-TV is Mike Max, who comes across from his "Sports to the Max" show on WCCO-AM. No word yet as to whether or not his radio show will continue.
NORFOLK: Now we know more about why Nick Cattles returned to WVSP-FM ESPN 94.1 last june after having left for WBZ-FM Boston Sports Hub. Cattles has been promoted to Program Director. His first stint with the station was from 2012 to 2017.
While Bob Costas will call at least 20 telecasts for MLB Network again this season and have an expanded role there, The New York Post confirmed that Costas is officially gone from NBC Sports. The report claims that his NBC contract was ended three years before it had been scheduled to per mutual agreement.
As for the most significant baseball broadcaster announcement of the year, "this one belongs to the Reds". Marty Brennaman, who is about to start his 46th consecutive season calling Reds games, announced that the 2019 season will be his last. The 76 year old Brennaman took over the Reds job for the 1974 season, which began with his calling Hank Aaron's 714th career homerun during the opening series.
Despite his longevity in the position, the broadcaster he replaced in Cincinnati remains on the air as well. It was none other than Al Michaels who left the Reds gig after the 1973 season for his network career.
Although Brennaman settled on baseball, his basketball play-by-play early in his career included calling the Virginia Squires of the ABA, which had a star forward by the name of Julius Erving during his tenure there. Michaels, while now associated with calling NFL games for NBC, called baseball for ABC and is also known for calling the 1980 Olympic hockey games during the USA's run to the Gold Medal.
Brennaman was joined for the majority of his career by the late Joe Nuxhall. Looking forward to his being honored at the visiting parks throughout the season.
It's a similar story in Pittsburgh, where Steve Blass is also going to retire following his 34th full season in the Pirates' booth. Even more incredibly, Blass will have been with the Pirates, going back to his pitching days, for 60 years. Blass and former pitcher Bob Walk will have been broadcast partners for 25 years. He is also 76 years old.
In New York, Howie Rose has his new broadcast partners on Mets radio starting with the coming season. Wayne Randazzo joins the booth as analyst, while continuing as host of the post-game show. Ed Coleman, who covers the Mets for sister station WFAN, will take over the pre-game hosting. The Mets broadcasts are moving to WCBS 880 starting this season.
The Detroit Tigers TV broadcast roster is finally settled after the ouster of both Mario Impemba and Rod Allen resulting from their reported altercation late last season. Matt Shepard, who filled in for Impemba in September, has been given the play-by-play spot. Kirk Gibson and Jack Morris, who were used occasionally as analysts last season, will rotate in the role. Shepard has been the morning host of WDFN-AM. He has been the radio voice of University of Michigan basketball and Eastern Michigan football. No word yet as to whether he will continue with the football broadcasts.
Not a change, but still another honor for Cubs radio voice Pat Hughes. The National Sports Media Association has named him "Illinois Sportscaster of the Year", the ninth time he has earned this honor. These are in addition to having won this Award in Wisconsin during his tenure with the Brewers prior to coming to the Cubs in the mid-90's.
Elsewhere, Yahoo Sports has partnered with Turner Sports and the NBA to produce a streaming game night show. The show will air for three hours five nights per week and include updates, highlights from live games, interviews, and analysis. The show will also have social media interaction. It will run from 8 to 11 PM ET starting on Tuesday (1/22), with a special debut edition from 5 to 8 PM on Monday (1/21) due to earlier action on Martin Luther King Day.
Along those same lines, Fox Sports will co-produce a streaming MLB highlights show, also slated for five nights a week, to begin with the coming baseball season. This show is expected to have live look-ins. The length and time slot has yet to be announced, but we do know that this show will be separate from Fox's MLB Whiparound and MLB Network's MLB Tonight.
MINNEAPOLIS: The new Sports Director at WCCO-TV is Mike Max, who comes across from his "Sports to the Max" show on WCCO-AM. No word yet as to whether or not his radio show will continue.
NORFOLK: Now we know more about why Nick Cattles returned to WVSP-FM ESPN 94.1 last june after having left for WBZ-FM Boston Sports Hub. Cattles has been promoted to Program Director. His first stint with the station was from 2012 to 2017.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Wizards Telecasts Betting On More Numbers
Two sports telecast trends are coming together as one starting later this week (1/11), with NBC Sports Washington leading the way. Having a duplicate telecast on a separate channel is not new, as evidenced by ESPN showing its college football championship telecast last Monday on several of its channels.
Perhaps a better example is when ESPN did a separate Statcast version of its National League Wild Card telecast this past October, showing a ton of statistics and having a separate broadcast crew talking up the statistical angles.
What NBC Sports Washington is doing on Friday, and on seven other Wizards telecasts over the remainder of the season, is providing a duplicate telecast with an emphasis on betting and fantasy sports. Although it will show the same basic telecast and have the same announcing crew, its NBC Sports Washington Plus telecast of the Wizards game against Milwaukee will show additional data.
Information such as odds and point spreads, along with fantasy sports updates will appear in layers toward the bottom of the screen. According to Sports Business Journal, the look will be similar to what CNBC does with its daily stock market coverage.
The plan is for these telecasts to also offer contests and sweepstakes, allowing "fans" to guess things such as the number of points scored in a given quarter by both teams and individual players.
From a ratings standpoint, this concept could be the even bigger winner. When a telecast with this feed is a blowout, this is the sort of thing that could keep fans watching longer than they normally would to find out how their "guesses" turned out. The plan is for this alternate telecast to also include the same commercials as the "regular" version. Thus, the potential for 4th quarter advertisers to have more impact over the course of several games.
It will be interesting to see how quickly other NBC Sports regional networks adopt this idea over the next few months. It is possible that parents of younger children may complain about this possibly encouraging gambling. What is even more interesting is that, so far, the NBA is going along with this idea, even though it is very early on. That's a far cry from the days nearly 50 years ago when the NFL publicly did not like Jimmy The Greek on CBS talking about the teams against the point spreads on NFL Today.
Looking back at long term TV ratings from 2018 we see that The Golf Channel showed perhaps the most impressive increase. It was not from a tournament or special programming. The network show an approximately 7% increase in overall audience, which puts it ahead of "average day" viewers of MLB Network for the entire year.
On the other side, NASCAR ratings slumped for the year, as did MLB telecasts on FS1. Although the FS1 viewership grew for the year (which in a way wasn't much of a challenge), a lot of fans still don't know to find their hidden telecasts. Another problem with FS1 and its MLB coverage was inconsistent start times for its Saturday coverage and being locked in to the majority of its telecasts by the start of the season. Starting telecasts anywhere between 1 PM and 10 PM ET on Saturdays, and having no pattern for occasional weeknight telecasts is no way to develop audience habits. Their MLB Whiparound show, even with little to no more competition with ESPN reducing "Baseball Tonight" seemed to have that name because they "whip around" its starting time each night as well.
Speaking of MLB Network, their tendency to keep coming up with innovation and improvements throughout the year seem to have gone the way of the complete game. This network should be able to access an expansive inventory of video from MLB as well as from each team. Instead, all we get for most of three months are the same 20 stale baseball movies and the Ken Burns series they have been airing for most of their 10 years of existence.
Here is an idea, which is actually their own, but needs to be expanded. Just like their "30 Teams In 30 Days" approach during spring training, they could be spending one day out of each off-season month emphasizing one team. Show one of their classic games, a player profile, past season highlights film, and add some discussion about them from their analysts. Give fans of each team a reason to keep track of which day their favorite team will be highlighted. Save the movies for overnight or up against Sunday Night Baseball, and not twice every week.
NBC lucked out with its NFL Wild Card telecast last week (1/6) between the Eagles and Bears. The thrilling end resulted in the best ratings for an NBC Wild Card telecast in 25 years, and its highest rated "non Super Bowl" telecast since regaining NFL telecasts in 2006. The audience ratings for the game were more than double what the network had for its prime time Golden Globes Awards telecast which followed.
Yet, the NFL has another audience statistic to be more proud of. The Green Bay Packers were long gone before the playoffs, but their rivalry against the Bears was very much in evidence. It seems that Milwaukee's ratings for this telecast were higher than those for Dallas, although both markets had the same audience share. What makes this significant is that this game had zero impact on the Packers, while Dallas fans watched because it directly impacted who the Cowboys are playing this coming weekend.
ESPN killed in the ratings with its Colts vs. Texans telecast, being the most watched show of the evening.
Meanwhile, ESPN showed its highest overnight ratings since last January with its college football championship telecast on Monday (1/7).
However, the most entertaining media story from that game came from Birmingham's WJOX 94.5, which aired the radio broadcast. During its local post game show, following the Alabama blowout loss, the station mistakenly aired a commercial for U. of Alabama championship souvenirs being available at a local sporting goods store.
Perhaps a better example is when ESPN did a separate Statcast version of its National League Wild Card telecast this past October, showing a ton of statistics and having a separate broadcast crew talking up the statistical angles.
What NBC Sports Washington is doing on Friday, and on seven other Wizards telecasts over the remainder of the season, is providing a duplicate telecast with an emphasis on betting and fantasy sports. Although it will show the same basic telecast and have the same announcing crew, its NBC Sports Washington Plus telecast of the Wizards game against Milwaukee will show additional data.
Information such as odds and point spreads, along with fantasy sports updates will appear in layers toward the bottom of the screen. According to Sports Business Journal, the look will be similar to what CNBC does with its daily stock market coverage.
The plan is for these telecasts to also offer contests and sweepstakes, allowing "fans" to guess things such as the number of points scored in a given quarter by both teams and individual players.
From a ratings standpoint, this concept could be the even bigger winner. When a telecast with this feed is a blowout, this is the sort of thing that could keep fans watching longer than they normally would to find out how their "guesses" turned out. The plan is for this alternate telecast to also include the same commercials as the "regular" version. Thus, the potential for 4th quarter advertisers to have more impact over the course of several games.
It will be interesting to see how quickly other NBC Sports regional networks adopt this idea over the next few months. It is possible that parents of younger children may complain about this possibly encouraging gambling. What is even more interesting is that, so far, the NBA is going along with this idea, even though it is very early on. That's a far cry from the days nearly 50 years ago when the NFL publicly did not like Jimmy The Greek on CBS talking about the teams against the point spreads on NFL Today.
Looking back at long term TV ratings from 2018 we see that The Golf Channel showed perhaps the most impressive increase. It was not from a tournament or special programming. The network show an approximately 7% increase in overall audience, which puts it ahead of "average day" viewers of MLB Network for the entire year.
On the other side, NASCAR ratings slumped for the year, as did MLB telecasts on FS1. Although the FS1 viewership grew for the year (which in a way wasn't much of a challenge), a lot of fans still don't know to find their hidden telecasts. Another problem with FS1 and its MLB coverage was inconsistent start times for its Saturday coverage and being locked in to the majority of its telecasts by the start of the season. Starting telecasts anywhere between 1 PM and 10 PM ET on Saturdays, and having no pattern for occasional weeknight telecasts is no way to develop audience habits. Their MLB Whiparound show, even with little to no more competition with ESPN reducing "Baseball Tonight" seemed to have that name because they "whip around" its starting time each night as well.
Speaking of MLB Network, their tendency to keep coming up with innovation and improvements throughout the year seem to have gone the way of the complete game. This network should be able to access an expansive inventory of video from MLB as well as from each team. Instead, all we get for most of three months are the same 20 stale baseball movies and the Ken Burns series they have been airing for most of their 10 years of existence.
Here is an idea, which is actually their own, but needs to be expanded. Just like their "30 Teams In 30 Days" approach during spring training, they could be spending one day out of each off-season month emphasizing one team. Show one of their classic games, a player profile, past season highlights film, and add some discussion about them from their analysts. Give fans of each team a reason to keep track of which day their favorite team will be highlighted. Save the movies for overnight or up against Sunday Night Baseball, and not twice every week.
NBC lucked out with its NFL Wild Card telecast last week (1/6) between the Eagles and Bears. The thrilling end resulted in the best ratings for an NBC Wild Card telecast in 25 years, and its highest rated "non Super Bowl" telecast since regaining NFL telecasts in 2006. The audience ratings for the game were more than double what the network had for its prime time Golden Globes Awards telecast which followed.
Yet, the NFL has another audience statistic to be more proud of. The Green Bay Packers were long gone before the playoffs, but their rivalry against the Bears was very much in evidence. It seems that Milwaukee's ratings for this telecast were higher than those for Dallas, although both markets had the same audience share. What makes this significant is that this game had zero impact on the Packers, while Dallas fans watched because it directly impacted who the Cowboys are playing this coming weekend.
ESPN killed in the ratings with its Colts vs. Texans telecast, being the most watched show of the evening.
Meanwhile, ESPN showed its highest overnight ratings since last January with its college football championship telecast on Monday (1/7).
However, the most entertaining media story from that game came from Birmingham's WJOX 94.5, which aired the radio broadcast. During its local post game show, following the Alabama blowout loss, the station mistakenly aired a commercial for U. of Alabama championship souvenirs being available at a local sporting goods store.
Friday, January 4, 2019
NFL PreGame Shows Out Foxed
As we get ready for a big weekend of football over a variety of networks, it's interesting to note viewer trends of the surrounding studio shows from the just concluded 2018 NFL season.
Even with all of the coverage of the NFL throughout the week, it is noteworthy that viewership was up overall for the pre-game shows offered by the televising networks compared with the 2017 regular season. Coincidentally, both The NFL Today on CBS and ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown showed viewership increases of roughly 4% for the season.
NBC's Football Night In America, which has most of its first hour going against the doubleheader game(s) of Fox and/or CBS each week, gained roughly 200,000 viewers from the prior season. The only decrease, curiously, was Fox NFL Kickoff, which showed a decline of approximately 1%.
It remains to be seen whether Fox will make any changes from its long in place lineup of hosts, or if they will stand pat and consider this season a fluke. Whether they do or don't, there is plenty of reason for concern on their part.
2018 was the first season that Fox had the benefit of Thursday Night Football for much of the season, providing them with the first chance to promote their Sunday pregame show most weeks. Although the NY Giants got off to a poor start, which likely had an effect with fewer views from the nation's largest market, the next two largest markets, Los Angeles and Chicago, had teams which aired mostly on Fox that were in first place for the majority of the season. The Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles also had the majority of their telecasts on Fox.
Even though Fox did not lose very many viewers from the previous season, the point is that the other networks combined to increase viewership well beyond the audience numbers which Fox's show lost. Fox needs to find one or more reasons why they are the only pregame show which did not increase its viewership.
This Monday night is ESPN's turn to shine with its coverage of the college national championship game between Alabama and Clemson. They are arranging it so that even the casual fan will find a reason to tune in. Unlike when Fox moves important baseball games to FS1, this Monday's game will be easy to find. As of press time, it is scheduled to air on 17 separate places if you count streaming feeds on ESPN3!
The feed will include ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic, Goal Line, and even the SEC Network. Feeds will range from the participant team announcers to multi-camera views to enhanced statistics such as real time drive charts. Camera angles will include from first down markers, the orange pylons, and sky cams.
It's possible that NBC Sports Radio has come up with a way to draw some attention. The new year brought "The Daily Line" to the network each weekday from 3 to 7 PM ET, with the focus being on betting lines and fantasy sports information.
Still in works but not finalized at press time is that portions of the show will be simulcast, or possibly edited highlights, each day on the NBC Sports Regional Networks. The length of the planned TV version is not known, nor is it certain whether each regional network would air the same length show.
It remains to be seen whether or not "The Daily Line" would replace the afternoon highlights version of The Dan Patrick Show, or would air in different time slots.
The feeling here is that this show has a lot of potential. At least in the early stage, it will be the only show with betting and fantasy as a center point, and provide factual information and discussion about upcoming games. Some fans prefer to learn information instead of hearing the same discussion about the local teams over and over again.
HOUSTON: It's a new challenge for the new Program Director brought in for KILT 610 and KIKK 650 as the sports stations struggle to build a larger audience. Armen Williams takes over, coming in from Denver's KKFN 104.3 The Fan.
SAN FRANCISCO: It's official that long time 49ers radio voice Ted Robinson is cutting back on his schedule and will be handling Community Affairs for the team instead of calling the games.
Stepping in will be none other than Greg Papa, who comes across the Bay after having called the Oakland Raiders games until after the 2017 season.
BALTIMORE: With WBAL Newsradio 1090 adding 101.5 FM as a simulcast, it means that the Ravens games now air on three signals within the Baltimore area. The game broadcasts also air on Rock 97.9, with those expected to continue even with WBAL's FM simulcast.
LOS ANGELES: The Dodgers have extended the contract of radio (and occasional TV) voice Charlie Steiner through the next three seasons. The 69 year old Steiner will celebrate his 50th year as a broadcaster during the upcoming 2019 season.
Happy New Year!
Even with all of the coverage of the NFL throughout the week, it is noteworthy that viewership was up overall for the pre-game shows offered by the televising networks compared with the 2017 regular season. Coincidentally, both The NFL Today on CBS and ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown showed viewership increases of roughly 4% for the season.
NBC's Football Night In America, which has most of its first hour going against the doubleheader game(s) of Fox and/or CBS each week, gained roughly 200,000 viewers from the prior season. The only decrease, curiously, was Fox NFL Kickoff, which showed a decline of approximately 1%.
It remains to be seen whether Fox will make any changes from its long in place lineup of hosts, or if they will stand pat and consider this season a fluke. Whether they do or don't, there is plenty of reason for concern on their part.
2018 was the first season that Fox had the benefit of Thursday Night Football for much of the season, providing them with the first chance to promote their Sunday pregame show most weeks. Although the NY Giants got off to a poor start, which likely had an effect with fewer views from the nation's largest market, the next two largest markets, Los Angeles and Chicago, had teams which aired mostly on Fox that were in first place for the majority of the season. The Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles also had the majority of their telecasts on Fox.
Even though Fox did not lose very many viewers from the previous season, the point is that the other networks combined to increase viewership well beyond the audience numbers which Fox's show lost. Fox needs to find one or more reasons why they are the only pregame show which did not increase its viewership.
This Monday night is ESPN's turn to shine with its coverage of the college national championship game between Alabama and Clemson. They are arranging it so that even the casual fan will find a reason to tune in. Unlike when Fox moves important baseball games to FS1, this Monday's game will be easy to find. As of press time, it is scheduled to air on 17 separate places if you count streaming feeds on ESPN3!
The feed will include ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic, Goal Line, and even the SEC Network. Feeds will range from the participant team announcers to multi-camera views to enhanced statistics such as real time drive charts. Camera angles will include from first down markers, the orange pylons, and sky cams.
It's possible that NBC Sports Radio has come up with a way to draw some attention. The new year brought "The Daily Line" to the network each weekday from 3 to 7 PM ET, with the focus being on betting lines and fantasy sports information.
Still in works but not finalized at press time is that portions of the show will be simulcast, or possibly edited highlights, each day on the NBC Sports Regional Networks. The length of the planned TV version is not known, nor is it certain whether each regional network would air the same length show.
It remains to be seen whether or not "The Daily Line" would replace the afternoon highlights version of The Dan Patrick Show, or would air in different time slots.
The feeling here is that this show has a lot of potential. At least in the early stage, it will be the only show with betting and fantasy as a center point, and provide factual information and discussion about upcoming games. Some fans prefer to learn information instead of hearing the same discussion about the local teams over and over again.
HOUSTON: It's a new challenge for the new Program Director brought in for KILT 610 and KIKK 650 as the sports stations struggle to build a larger audience. Armen Williams takes over, coming in from Denver's KKFN 104.3 The Fan.
SAN FRANCISCO: It's official that long time 49ers radio voice Ted Robinson is cutting back on his schedule and will be handling Community Affairs for the team instead of calling the games.
Stepping in will be none other than Greg Papa, who comes across the Bay after having called the Oakland Raiders games until after the 2017 season.
BALTIMORE: With WBAL Newsradio 1090 adding 101.5 FM as a simulcast, it means that the Ravens games now air on three signals within the Baltimore area. The game broadcasts also air on Rock 97.9, with those expected to continue even with WBAL's FM simulcast.
LOS ANGELES: The Dodgers have extended the contract of radio (and occasional TV) voice Charlie Steiner through the next three seasons. The 69 year old Steiner will celebrate his 50th year as a broadcaster during the upcoming 2019 season.
Happy New Year!
Saturday, December 1, 2018
Milwaukee Brewing Up A Ton of Sports
While the Packers struggle and face missing the NFL playoffs and the Brewers look to build on their success during this off-season, the most interesting sports battle in Milwaukee has suddenly become for radio listeners.
The market recently saw the change of 94.5 WKTI as it dropped its country music format and became 94.5 ESPN upon new ownership. The significance of the change is enhanced by being the sister station to WTMJ 620 which has been the long time flagship for both the Brewers and Packers broadcasts. This enables 94.5 to enhance the local team coverage, along with acting as the host of one of those teams when they conflict during August and September (and possibly October).
But there is now more to the story, as iHeart suddenly changed WRNW 97.3 to "The Game". To make things more interesting, "The Game" starts out with local programming it brought over from WOKY 920, even though WOKY hardly made a dent in the local sports scene. WRNW brings over Drew Olson and Kevin Brandt for its 6 to 10 AM spot, Dan Needles and Dan Davis for 10 AM to Noon, and Dario Melendez and Bob Brainerd from Noon to 2 PM. The Game airs Mike Heller, a regionally syndicated show from 2 to 6 PM. The station is also the Milwaukee station for University of Wisconsin basketball and football.
WOKY 920 remains all sports, but will not simulcast with The Game. It returns to syndicated shows such as Dan Patrick and Colin Cowherd. Factor in the existing 105.7 The Fan and sister WSSP 1250, along with WKTI sister WAUK 540 sports, and we now have an incredible five full-time sports stations serving the Milwaukee market.
It doesn't stop there. Being just 75 miles from Chicago, the two major sports outlets, WSCR The Score 670 and WMVP ESPN 1000 with heavy local programming, are easily received in the Milwaukee area. WSCR has occasionally appeared in the Milwaukee ratings books.
When you consider that WTMJ 620 originates some sports programming in support of its Packers and Brewers play-by-play, and is expected to continue that long time tradition, you have a lot of competition for the sports fans. The big question now is whether it will be survival of the fittest or waiting for the next "hot" radio format and see which of these stations bites first and second.
The October Nielsen radio ratings showed another incredible battle among the popular Boston sports stations. WBZ-FM Sports Hub and WEEI-FM combined for a nearly 1.5 overall ratings increase and finished second and third in the market. This is not likely to hold for the November book, as the October run of the Red Sox to the World Series championship while the Patriots battle to return to the Super Bowl each took center stage. WBZ-FM increased by .8 of a rating point with its Patriots broadcasts and finished #1 during afternoon drive. WEEI-FM, the Red Sox flagship, understandably finished #1 at night. However, if WEEI-FM did not overtake Sports Hub during the Red Sox run, this could set the stage for WBZ-FM to maintain the lead, even as both stations continue to attract large audiences.
In New York, the programming revisions at WFAN-FM seem to have caught up with them, and not in a positive way. The Fan dropped .7 of a ratings point, although it finished at a very respectable #8 in the market. Keep in mind this was during the Yankees run in the post-season. WEPN-FM ESPN only gained .1 overall (#20 in the market), but made news with its afternoon drive ratings.
WEPN-FM with The MIchael Kay Show almost caught Mike Francesa on WFAN-FM, which included a tie between the two for the 25 to 54 male group. While Francesa's show airs on 660 AM and 101.9 FM, providing superior signal coverage to WEPN, Kay is also the regular season TV voice of the Yankees and this rating period was at the height of their post-season run. In addition, Francesa's show is also simulcast on YES Network as its play-by-play schedule permits.
The Fan's competitive strength continues to now be mornings, where Boomer & Gio finished 1.5 rating points ahead of Golic & Wingo on WEPN-FM.
In Minneapolis, KXFN-FM The Fan finished an impressive #2 overall, including #1 for weekends, which surrounds its Vikings coverage. In Chicago, the lack of an extended post-season run from the Cubs and another horrible start by the Bulls sent WSCR 670 The Score all the way down to #18 in the market with a 1.4 rating point drop. Yet, WMVP ESPN 1000 held steady with its ratings, which are now roughly half of WSCR's.
IOWA CITY: Although Iowa Hawkeyes play-by-play voice Gary Dolphin is undergoing a two-game broadcasting suspension, at least his remarks that caused it were on the air and not via social media. Dolphin, who acknowledge his mistake, was heard over the air during game breaks commenting about team needs and the performance of one player in particular. Dolphin thought his microphone was off. WHO 1040 Des Moines let its fans discuss the suspension at length. His suspension runs through Monday (12/3).
ATLANTA: The Braves are realigning their radio and TV broadcaster alignment starting with the 2019 season. The impressive analyst work of former Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur and the request of Joe Simpson to cut back prompted the change. Francoeur is now expected to work roughy 100 telecasts, with Simpson handling about 30 during his 28th season in the booth. Simpson will move over to the radio booth for up to 100 other games.
Tom Glavine will work more games on the TV side, while Chip Caray continues on play-by-play. Ben Ingram and Don Sutton will also rotate on the Braves announcing team, primarily on the radio side.
The market recently saw the change of 94.5 WKTI as it dropped its country music format and became 94.5 ESPN upon new ownership. The significance of the change is enhanced by being the sister station to WTMJ 620 which has been the long time flagship for both the Brewers and Packers broadcasts. This enables 94.5 to enhance the local team coverage, along with acting as the host of one of those teams when they conflict during August and September (and possibly October).
But there is now more to the story, as iHeart suddenly changed WRNW 97.3 to "The Game". To make things more interesting, "The Game" starts out with local programming it brought over from WOKY 920, even though WOKY hardly made a dent in the local sports scene. WRNW brings over Drew Olson and Kevin Brandt for its 6 to 10 AM spot, Dan Needles and Dan Davis for 10 AM to Noon, and Dario Melendez and Bob Brainerd from Noon to 2 PM. The Game airs Mike Heller, a regionally syndicated show from 2 to 6 PM. The station is also the Milwaukee station for University of Wisconsin basketball and football.
WOKY 920 remains all sports, but will not simulcast with The Game. It returns to syndicated shows such as Dan Patrick and Colin Cowherd. Factor in the existing 105.7 The Fan and sister WSSP 1250, along with WKTI sister WAUK 540 sports, and we now have an incredible five full-time sports stations serving the Milwaukee market.
It doesn't stop there. Being just 75 miles from Chicago, the two major sports outlets, WSCR The Score 670 and WMVP ESPN 1000 with heavy local programming, are easily received in the Milwaukee area. WSCR has occasionally appeared in the Milwaukee ratings books.
When you consider that WTMJ 620 originates some sports programming in support of its Packers and Brewers play-by-play, and is expected to continue that long time tradition, you have a lot of competition for the sports fans. The big question now is whether it will be survival of the fittest or waiting for the next "hot" radio format and see which of these stations bites first and second.
The October Nielsen radio ratings showed another incredible battle among the popular Boston sports stations. WBZ-FM Sports Hub and WEEI-FM combined for a nearly 1.5 overall ratings increase and finished second and third in the market. This is not likely to hold for the November book, as the October run of the Red Sox to the World Series championship while the Patriots battle to return to the Super Bowl each took center stage. WBZ-FM increased by .8 of a rating point with its Patriots broadcasts and finished #1 during afternoon drive. WEEI-FM, the Red Sox flagship, understandably finished #1 at night. However, if WEEI-FM did not overtake Sports Hub during the Red Sox run, this could set the stage for WBZ-FM to maintain the lead, even as both stations continue to attract large audiences.
In New York, the programming revisions at WFAN-FM seem to have caught up with them, and not in a positive way. The Fan dropped .7 of a ratings point, although it finished at a very respectable #8 in the market. Keep in mind this was during the Yankees run in the post-season. WEPN-FM ESPN only gained .1 overall (#20 in the market), but made news with its afternoon drive ratings.
WEPN-FM with The MIchael Kay Show almost caught Mike Francesa on WFAN-FM, which included a tie between the two for the 25 to 54 male group. While Francesa's show airs on 660 AM and 101.9 FM, providing superior signal coverage to WEPN, Kay is also the regular season TV voice of the Yankees and this rating period was at the height of their post-season run. In addition, Francesa's show is also simulcast on YES Network as its play-by-play schedule permits.
The Fan's competitive strength continues to now be mornings, where Boomer & Gio finished 1.5 rating points ahead of Golic & Wingo on WEPN-FM.
In Minneapolis, KXFN-FM The Fan finished an impressive #2 overall, including #1 for weekends, which surrounds its Vikings coverage. In Chicago, the lack of an extended post-season run from the Cubs and another horrible start by the Bulls sent WSCR 670 The Score all the way down to #18 in the market with a 1.4 rating point drop. Yet, WMVP ESPN 1000 held steady with its ratings, which are now roughly half of WSCR's.
IOWA CITY: Although Iowa Hawkeyes play-by-play voice Gary Dolphin is undergoing a two-game broadcasting suspension, at least his remarks that caused it were on the air and not via social media. Dolphin, who acknowledge his mistake, was heard over the air during game breaks commenting about team needs and the performance of one player in particular. Dolphin thought his microphone was off. WHO 1040 Des Moines let its fans discuss the suspension at length. His suspension runs through Monday (12/3).
ATLANTA: The Braves are realigning their radio and TV broadcaster alignment starting with the 2019 season. The impressive analyst work of former Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur and the request of Joe Simpson to cut back prompted the change. Francoeur is now expected to work roughy 100 telecasts, with Simpson handling about 30 during his 28th season in the booth. Simpson will move over to the radio booth for up to 100 other games.
Tom Glavine will work more games on the TV side, while Chip Caray continues on play-by-play. Ben Ingram and Don Sutton will also rotate on the Braves announcing team, primarily on the radio side.
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