Radio continues to be the electronic media which delivers the most "sports news" of any. Many TV stations around the country have reduced their local sports presence, some to the point of no longer having a designated sportscast even on their late night newscasts. While there are a ton of sports related web sites, the majority of web sites are not sports related.
Obviously, sports radio stations are dominated with sports content. But with radio, news stations generally have scheduled sportscasts and most have at least one reporter dedicated to sports news and information.
Music and general talk stations will usually give local sports headlines at some point during their broadcast day. While it is true that a portion of the audience of a music or general talk station may not be sports fans, my long time contention is that their handling of sports information is an important credibility test for such a station.
When I was teaching a college course in Sports Broadcasting a few years ago, I would purposely challenge certain students who I could tell were not as well versed about sports as they wanted to appear.
Nothing like giving a student a story to read about then active NHL goalie Patrick Roy. During his playing career, anyone who followed the NHL to any degree knew that his name was not pronounced like Roy Rogers. First, I would remind the students that if they are not certain about a player's name to either ask someone who would know, re-write the story to not include the name, or skip airing the story all together. Then I would include a story about that goalie in the mix.
It never failed that I would catch at least one student who figured a 3 letter name would have an obvious pronounciation and didn't check it. It was a great lesson for them.
Yet, too often I still hear newscasters making what are obvious errors to a sports fan, even if much of the listening audience doesn't catch on. Just the other day, I heard another local newscaster in Chicago mispronounce a local player's name and she went on as if nothing was wrong.
I'm here to tell you that I will no longer turn to that station for information. I don't always know if she is correctly giving the names of people in the news either. Sports may not be a priority with most stations, but accuracy should be.
In this era where the sports media often reports what other media is reporting instead of confirming or denying a story using their own resources, it is discouraging to hear major market stations risking their future credibility because a reporter doesn't verify a simple fact or pronounciation.
Especially when so many experienced sports reporters and play-by-play voices are out of work.
Meanwhile, the so-called story about the suspensions of Tony Kornheiser from his WTEM Washington D.C. and ESPN PTI co-hosting gigs seem oddly proportioned from where I sit. So he didn't like an outfit that Hannah Storm was wearing. Hardly worth all of the air time and ink this story has received. Yet, as part of his job over the years, he has questioned the performance abilities of numerous players, coaches, and managers, just as the majority of sportscasters and sportswriters do. In those instances, he is taking someone's job performance to task. No one questions that. Can you please tell me how questioning someone's personal appearance is a more serious offense than questioning someone's ability to do the job they are paid to do?
Speaking of questioning a job, there have yet to be any consequences (as of press time) for Kevin Keitzman, afternoon host at Kansas City's WHB Sports Radio 810. He is among those opposed to the work of Brent Musburger and Bobby Knight on ESPN's primary Big 12 basketball telecasts this season. To the point of starting the www.ByeByeBrentAndBob.com web site with a petition to get the broadcast team off of the Conference's games.
The web page includes some of the "memorable" quotes from the pair taken from game telecasts this season. The last I heard, nearly 8,000 people had visited and "signed" the petition.
Normally, I would comment about how poorly Knight treated the media during his coaching years and how this sounds sleazy enough to be something Knight would have done during that time.
Instead, I will raise the question as to how a broadcast professional is clearly attempting to take away work from other broadcasters and is still on the air, while Tony Kornheiser is suspended from both radio and TV shows because of comments about someone's appearance.
On a happier note, spring is in and on the air, as pre-season baseball gets underway next week, meaning that baseball season is not far.
Kudos to KCSP 610 Kansas City for getting Royals fans in the spirit as early as this week. "Afternoon Saloon" host Chris Hamblin is broadcasting live back to K.C. from the Royals' camp in Surprise AZ. Next week, 9 to 11 AM host Nick Wright will be live from Surprise, with morning host Bob Fescoe on the air from AZ during the March 8 to 12 week. The station also has begun expanded coverage for these 5 weeks from 10 AM to Noon each Saturday.
Texas Rangers fans will have even more to keep track of during spring training than the new faces on the roster. Although 14 of the Rangers exhibition games will be broadcast on radio, it seems that 5 weekday games will air on The Fan 105.3, but the 9 weekend broadcasts will air on KRLD 1080. Eric Nadel and Dave Barnett return for another season of the play-by-play, for those with the patience to find them.
In Chicago, WSCR The Score 670 is once again making several of their White Sox exhibition broadcasts what they call "interactive". Sorry, but I call them a waste of time. I can't believe they are bringing this back for a 3rd year. They present the first 3 or 4 innings of the game as usual, and then let broadcasters Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson field phone calls from listeners while the rest of the game is going on, giving only occasional updates about what is happening on the field in front of them.
They'll never convince me that hearing "Steve from the south side talking about who should bat cleanup" is more informative than how a rookie pitcher trying to make the team is throwing at the same time. It's not like they don't have other times of the day to talk about the White Sox.
If they instead had players, coaches, and team officials come on for extended interviews I could understand this move. But either broadcast the game action, or don't bother at all.
Once the regular season begins in April, the Bay Area will finally have its fair share of TV games. After years of being the one part of the country with the least TV coverage in the big leagues, the progress has been amazing over the past 5 years. Even if you need to have cable or satellite TV which carries the right network.
Comcast SportsNet Bay Area will show 136 Giants games this season, along with ex-players Rich Aurilia and F.P. Santangelo handling the surrounding programming. Comcast SportsNet California will air 145 A's games, and has added former standout player Carney Lansford to its surrounding crew. The pre-game crew is planning to be live at the Coliseum for "Tailgate Tuesdays" leading in to the home games. It wasn't that long ago when you couldn't see even 100 games total between the 2 teams over the course of a season, including cable coverage.
Our comments last week about how good it is to have college baseball getting more broadcast time have brought in more activity.
Texas A & M now has some of its weekend games airing on The Zone 1150, and now provides free audio for every A & M game not broadcast via AggieAthletics.com. A solid marketing idea, as that could keep fans and supporters on the school's web site for hours.
The LSU Sports Radio Network, including WDGL 98.1 Baton Rouge, is airing selected baseball games this season. They already aired their entire opening 3 game series this past weekend (Feb. 19-21) vs. Centenary.
CINCINNATI / Northern Kentucky: Some progress for fans interested in the Kentucky Ninth Region high school basketball tournament next week (March 1 - 7), especially after last year's ridiculous broadcast restrictions when high school games did not sell enough tickets. Arena officials are still not allowing any telecasts (as of press time), but are permitting radio and online broadcasts. The tournament concludes with the boys and girls championship games doubleheader on Sunday March 7.
NASHVILLE: WGFX 104.5 is aggressive about taking over as the Titans' flagship station from sister station WKDF. 104.5 already plans extensive NFL draft coverage in April, will host the (head coach) Jeff Fisher Show, and might expand the pre and post-game programming.
To make room for its Titans coverage, the station has dropped its Vanderbilt play-by-play. WRQQ 97.1 starts a new 3-year deal for the upcoming football season to include football and basketball broadcasts. Play-by-play voice Joe Fisher will join WRQQ and host a daily Commodore update.
RIVERSIDE: KVFG has become "ESPN High Desert Sports Radio" as of last week (Feb. 16th), including carrying "Game Night" on those evenings when it is not carrying either the Lakers or Angels broadcasts. The station debuted on a Tuesday to coincide with the Lakers vs. Warriors broadcast it carried on its opening night.
REDDING: KKXS 96.1 is bringing San Francisco Giants broadcasts back to the Northern California community for the first time in 3 seasons. In addition, ESPN Radio's package of games will begin airing next week (as of March 1).
PARKSLEY MD: Local and regional sports talk comes to WVES 99.3 one night per week beginning March 3. "All Star Sports with Ken and Steve" moves to the country music station and will begin at 6 PM each Wednesday night.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Sports Media Report - Feb. 16th update
We have all heard the old expression, "Sometimes I don't know my own strength!", but Dallas SportsRadio 1310 The Ticket certainly has the radio version of that expression to deal with first hand.
The station's annual "Ticketstock" free fan festival this weekend proved to be too popular, especially with Barry Sanders as the headliner. It seems that the crowd that turned out hoping to be one of the lucky ones to score an autograph from the NFL legend was too much for police and security to handle. In years past, this event went smooth and was a tremendous promotion for the station and even the local teams, which send players and management each year to participate.
This past weekend, many fans left disappointed as the crowd became large and partially unruly. What was supposed to be another great promotion for Dallas' most established sports station had station officials huddled up by the end of the weekend and turned into a lesson in crisis management.
Here is the official statement issued by The Ticket on their web site:
"The Staff and Management of Sportsradio 1310 the Ticket is aware of many issues regarding the line up, camping out and policing of the Barry Sanders autograph tickets at Ticketstock this past weekend.
We apologize to anyone that feels slighted or that was left out in securing an autograph ticket for any of our guests after investing many hours waiting in line.
We also apologize to all of our listeners and fans who were disappointed in the way the autograph tickets were handed out. Tickets for all guests are limited, and based on individual agreements with each guest. There is no "standard" number.
Ticketstock is a free event that we have produced for the past 16 years. Over that time, we have been fortunate to have many big name celebrity athletes come out to meet P1s, sign autographs and go on the air— all for free. We charge no admission fee, we don’t charge for autographs like many memorabilia shows do. We are also fortunate that these athletes create such huge demand amongst the general public.
That being said, we unfortunately didn’t have the manpower in place to police the line for 24 hours during the event to prevent line jumpers, line place holders and the like. We have used the honor system in all pervious years with a good deal of success. Unfortunately this year, the honor system didn’t work and a few bad apples spoiled the whole bunch.
Ticket Management has already begun discussing and planning ways in which the autograph distribution will be handled next year and for all upcoming Ticketstock events to avoid these issues in the future. Once final decisions have been made about our changes in policy, that information will be prominently publicized well in advance to all of our listeners, to the general public and to all sports memorabilia dealers.
Thank you for your support of Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket, and of Ticketstock."
I give the station a lot of credit for directly addressing the matter with its listeners and fans, and for promising action so that it does not happen again. When I first heard what had happened, I would have bet the ranch that all we would hear about it would be a quiet cancelation announcement of this event from this point on. Frankly, this is a good lesson in crisis management and reaches above being a radio station.
MINNEAPOLIS: While local sports fans wait to see what will happen while the Twins and Vikings both try to overcome challenges to return to the post-season during 2010, the local sports radio competition could now prove just as interesting.
As the Twins prepare to begin play in a real baseball facility (new outdoor stadium) in just a few weeks, the team also begins the 4th and final year of its radio contract with 1500 KSTP. The station is making it obvious that it wants to retain the Twins for years to come. They did so by announcing that KSTP is prying ESPN Radio away from KFAN 1130, which could be effective by the end of April.
KFAN was the Twin Cities' first sports radio station, starting in 1991 and has had more than its share of success. Now it will face its biggest challenge to date. KSTP could even move long established personalities such as Patrick Reusse and Joe Soucheray, although as of press time there has not been anything further. KSTP has been struggling in recent ratings books, so even a parital format change is no surprise.
Yet, it will be interesting to see how the Twins fare this season, especially early, with weather and a real baseball facility now in play for home games. If the team does not get off to a fast start, retaining the radio rights might not be as hot of an item as it was the past few seasons.
CINCINNATI: In addition to Minneapolis, ESPN is also on the move in Cinci. As of this week (Monday Feb. 15), ESPN Radio has moved to 50,000 watt 1530 AM, including Mike & Mike. In addition to the stronger signal, the ESPN brand will be built around a lot of local and regional play-by-play.
In addition to the Cincinnati Bengals broadcasts, the station will also continue to carry University of Kentucky football and basketball, along with selected University of Louisville football and basketball games. When possible, the station plans to carry play-by-play of ESPN Radio games.
Personally, this sounds like a winner. A ton of local play-by-play, a nice selection of national game broadcasts, and a lot of sports related information shows to surround.
But what of WSAI 1360? It will remain sports, becoming Fox Sports 1360 and will now carry Dan Patrick, Jim Rome, etc. on that frequency.
Further up the dial, Andy Furman began his 5 to 7 PM "Real Talk" show last week (Feb. 8) on WQRT 1160. His first guest was none other than Pete Rose, who reportedly contacted Furman personally and offered to be his first guest.
DETROIT: Another honor for Ernie Harwell. The voice of the Tigers for 42 seasons will receive the Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award in Sports Broadcasting in New York on May 5th. Word is that Al Kaline will attend the presentation. Harwell is only the 3rd receipient of the sports award, with the others being Scully himself and Dick Enberg. Here's hoping Ernie's health allows him to attend.
OREGON: The radio dial has never and still is not exactly filled to the rim with college baseball broadcasts. Yet, Oregon State baseball will be heard on as many as 8 stations on its baseball network starting in just a few days. KEJO 1240 Corvallis will air every game, with weekend games heard on KPAM 860 in the Portland area. Football and basketball voice Mike Parker will call the games.
FARGO: It is the end of an era, as WDAY-AM will no longer carry North Dakota State football and basketball broadcasts after 27 consecutive years and 43 of the past 46 years. The Fan 740 and The Flag 1100 are reportedly among the other stations now bidding for the package.
GENERAL: This past weekend and much of this week are a nightmare for sports radio stations. At least they make it seem that way. The NFL season ended with the Super Bowl and we didn't have the Pro Bowl to kick around the week after. The NBA All-Star Game took away 4 days of league action. Worse yet, the NHL season is on vacation until next month. The "casual" sports fan had no choice but to try the Olympics and/or NASCAR racing practically unopposed for TV viewing.
Yet, sports radio stations rarely if ever focus on either, at least in the larger markets. I understand that there are still hours and hours to fill, but I contend it doesn't have to be for the purpose of beating a dead horse.
I happened to travel to Philadelphia last week and got a rare chance to tune to Howard Eskin on WIP. I anticipated hearing how a respected and often controversial host would handle "the drought" of very little NBA and NHL action, with baseball still a few days off from training camp. I should have known. All I heard was nearly 2 hours worth of Donovan McNabb and Eagles talk. There was no news. The football season is over.
This is not to pick on Eskin. It was the same thing on other sports stations I sampled, including WSCR Chicago talking about Jay Cutler and the Bears, and WFAN talking about the Giants.
I'm not suggesting I would rather have heard people talking about bobsledding or the speed of the pit crew of their favorite drivers, but I would like to think there is something more exciting to talk about on sports stations when there is a lull.
Meanwhile, it's still mid-February, but ESPN is already starting to unveil its college football schedule for the fall. It kicks off on Labor Day with a pair of college games being played in nearby NFL stadiums. Maryland vs. Navy will meet in Baltimore with Boise State taking on Virginia Tech from D.C.
Here is what has been announced so far, with tons more to come:
Sat, Sep 4 TBD LSU vs. North Carolina (from Atlanta) ESPN
Mon, Sep 6 4 p.m. Navy vs. Maryland (from Baltimore) ESPN
8 p.m. Boise State vs. Virginia Tech (from Landover, Md.) ESPN
Thu, Sep 16 7:30 p.m. Cincinnati at North Carolina State ESPN
Thu, Sep 23 7:30 p.m. Miami at Pittsburgh ESPN
Thu, Oct 28 7:30 p.m. Florida State at North Carolina State ESPN
Thu, Nov 4 7:30 p.m. Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech ESPN
The station's annual "Ticketstock" free fan festival this weekend proved to be too popular, especially with Barry Sanders as the headliner. It seems that the crowd that turned out hoping to be one of the lucky ones to score an autograph from the NFL legend was too much for police and security to handle. In years past, this event went smooth and was a tremendous promotion for the station and even the local teams, which send players and management each year to participate.
This past weekend, many fans left disappointed as the crowd became large and partially unruly. What was supposed to be another great promotion for Dallas' most established sports station had station officials huddled up by the end of the weekend and turned into a lesson in crisis management.
Here is the official statement issued by The Ticket on their web site:
"The Staff and Management of Sportsradio 1310 the Ticket is aware of many issues regarding the line up, camping out and policing of the Barry Sanders autograph tickets at Ticketstock this past weekend.
We apologize to anyone that feels slighted or that was left out in securing an autograph ticket for any of our guests after investing many hours waiting in line.
We also apologize to all of our listeners and fans who were disappointed in the way the autograph tickets were handed out. Tickets for all guests are limited, and based on individual agreements with each guest. There is no "standard" number.
Ticketstock is a free event that we have produced for the past 16 years. Over that time, we have been fortunate to have many big name celebrity athletes come out to meet P1s, sign autographs and go on the air— all for free. We charge no admission fee, we don’t charge for autographs like many memorabilia shows do. We are also fortunate that these athletes create such huge demand amongst the general public.
That being said, we unfortunately didn’t have the manpower in place to police the line for 24 hours during the event to prevent line jumpers, line place holders and the like. We have used the honor system in all pervious years with a good deal of success. Unfortunately this year, the honor system didn’t work and a few bad apples spoiled the whole bunch.
Ticket Management has already begun discussing and planning ways in which the autograph distribution will be handled next year and for all upcoming Ticketstock events to avoid these issues in the future. Once final decisions have been made about our changes in policy, that information will be prominently publicized well in advance to all of our listeners, to the general public and to all sports memorabilia dealers.
Thank you for your support of Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket, and of Ticketstock."
I give the station a lot of credit for directly addressing the matter with its listeners and fans, and for promising action so that it does not happen again. When I first heard what had happened, I would have bet the ranch that all we would hear about it would be a quiet cancelation announcement of this event from this point on. Frankly, this is a good lesson in crisis management and reaches above being a radio station.
MINNEAPOLIS: While local sports fans wait to see what will happen while the Twins and Vikings both try to overcome challenges to return to the post-season during 2010, the local sports radio competition could now prove just as interesting.
As the Twins prepare to begin play in a real baseball facility (new outdoor stadium) in just a few weeks, the team also begins the 4th and final year of its radio contract with 1500 KSTP. The station is making it obvious that it wants to retain the Twins for years to come. They did so by announcing that KSTP is prying ESPN Radio away from KFAN 1130, which could be effective by the end of April.
KFAN was the Twin Cities' first sports radio station, starting in 1991 and has had more than its share of success. Now it will face its biggest challenge to date. KSTP could even move long established personalities such as Patrick Reusse and Joe Soucheray, although as of press time there has not been anything further. KSTP has been struggling in recent ratings books, so even a parital format change is no surprise.
Yet, it will be interesting to see how the Twins fare this season, especially early, with weather and a real baseball facility now in play for home games. If the team does not get off to a fast start, retaining the radio rights might not be as hot of an item as it was the past few seasons.
CINCINNATI: In addition to Minneapolis, ESPN is also on the move in Cinci. As of this week (Monday Feb. 15), ESPN Radio has moved to 50,000 watt 1530 AM, including Mike & Mike. In addition to the stronger signal, the ESPN brand will be built around a lot of local and regional play-by-play.
In addition to the Cincinnati Bengals broadcasts, the station will also continue to carry University of Kentucky football and basketball, along with selected University of Louisville football and basketball games. When possible, the station plans to carry play-by-play of ESPN Radio games.
Personally, this sounds like a winner. A ton of local play-by-play, a nice selection of national game broadcasts, and a lot of sports related information shows to surround.
But what of WSAI 1360? It will remain sports, becoming Fox Sports 1360 and will now carry Dan Patrick, Jim Rome, etc. on that frequency.
Further up the dial, Andy Furman began his 5 to 7 PM "Real Talk" show last week (Feb. 8) on WQRT 1160. His first guest was none other than Pete Rose, who reportedly contacted Furman personally and offered to be his first guest.
DETROIT: Another honor for Ernie Harwell. The voice of the Tigers for 42 seasons will receive the Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award in Sports Broadcasting in New York on May 5th. Word is that Al Kaline will attend the presentation. Harwell is only the 3rd receipient of the sports award, with the others being Scully himself and Dick Enberg. Here's hoping Ernie's health allows him to attend.
OREGON: The radio dial has never and still is not exactly filled to the rim with college baseball broadcasts. Yet, Oregon State baseball will be heard on as many as 8 stations on its baseball network starting in just a few days. KEJO 1240 Corvallis will air every game, with weekend games heard on KPAM 860 in the Portland area. Football and basketball voice Mike Parker will call the games.
FARGO: It is the end of an era, as WDAY-AM will no longer carry North Dakota State football and basketball broadcasts after 27 consecutive years and 43 of the past 46 years. The Fan 740 and The Flag 1100 are reportedly among the other stations now bidding for the package.
GENERAL: This past weekend and much of this week are a nightmare for sports radio stations. At least they make it seem that way. The NFL season ended with the Super Bowl and we didn't have the Pro Bowl to kick around the week after. The NBA All-Star Game took away 4 days of league action. Worse yet, the NHL season is on vacation until next month. The "casual" sports fan had no choice but to try the Olympics and/or NASCAR racing practically unopposed for TV viewing.
Yet, sports radio stations rarely if ever focus on either, at least in the larger markets. I understand that there are still hours and hours to fill, but I contend it doesn't have to be for the purpose of beating a dead horse.
I happened to travel to Philadelphia last week and got a rare chance to tune to Howard Eskin on WIP. I anticipated hearing how a respected and often controversial host would handle "the drought" of very little NBA and NHL action, with baseball still a few days off from training camp. I should have known. All I heard was nearly 2 hours worth of Donovan McNabb and Eagles talk. There was no news. The football season is over.
This is not to pick on Eskin. It was the same thing on other sports stations I sampled, including WSCR Chicago talking about Jay Cutler and the Bears, and WFAN talking about the Giants.
I'm not suggesting I would rather have heard people talking about bobsledding or the speed of the pit crew of their favorite drivers, but I would like to think there is something more exciting to talk about on sports stations when there is a lull.
Meanwhile, it's still mid-February, but ESPN is already starting to unveil its college football schedule for the fall. It kicks off on Labor Day with a pair of college games being played in nearby NFL stadiums. Maryland vs. Navy will meet in Baltimore with Boise State taking on Virginia Tech from D.C.
Here is what has been announced so far, with tons more to come:
Sat, Sep 4 TBD LSU vs. North Carolina (from Atlanta) ESPN
Mon, Sep 6 4 p.m. Navy vs. Maryland (from Baltimore) ESPN
8 p.m. Boise State vs. Virginia Tech (from Landover, Md.) ESPN
Thu, Sep 16 7:30 p.m. Cincinnati at North Carolina State ESPN
Thu, Sep 23 7:30 p.m. Miami at Pittsburgh ESPN
Thu, Oct 28 7:30 p.m. Florida State at North Carolina State ESPN
Thu, Nov 4 7:30 p.m. Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech ESPN
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Sports Media Report - Feb. 4th update
Obviously, it's not possible to ignore the Super Bowl in a Sports Media Update. Yet, I'm close to doing so. Unless you are a fan of one of the teams actually participating, the hour after hour of trying to make a story out of a routine practice becomes too much.
Yet, I will say that I am disappointed at one aspect that seems to be overlooked. Personally, the anticipation comes from this being what I call a "legitimate" Super Bowl matchup. The "wild card" teams are gone, and I love the fact that it is a pair of actual first place teams doing battle. Better yet, it is the teams with the 2 best records in their respective conferences. I don't recall if or when that has happened before. And that's my point.
I always thought the emphasis on sports - at any level - is about winning and working toward the ultimate success. It makes me very pleased to see the two teams that did the best for the regular season have this opportunity. Whichever team wins will have truly earned it. They didn't get there because of a stunning upset, a late season "comeback", or because of a fluke play or key injury from a favored opponent. This really is a "Super" Bowl, whether the game is close or not. This regular season actually meant something.
Meanwhile, this is the root of my disappointment with the NCAA and the very likely upcoming expansion of the basketball tourney to (gulp) 96 teams. I'm 100% sure it will happen because it means millions more in TV money and exposure for the NCAA and its teams.
But it also means further destroying college basketball. Why even have a regular season? Getting into the NCAA Tournament will become even less "special" when .500 teams in most conferences will get in. And without a formula other than opinions based on schedules and point spreads. But for one more day filled with games and thousands of additional hours of media coverage generating millions of dollars, regular season be damned. They'll make it March Sadness, and the media will eat it up.
Meanwhile, I think I found my ultimate example of my recently expressed concerns about how much the media "reports" news from competing sources instead of either confirming or breaking their own stories.
Last week, former NBA player Paul Shirley was dismissed from ESPN due to some sorry comments about not wanting to donate to the Haiti relief efforts. Whether a blogger (the comments were reportedly on his blog for ESPN) should be dismissed for expressing an opinion, no matter how unpopular, when no facts were in error, is for another day.
How did I find out this "news"? I first saw it on the "Chicago Breaking News" web site, which is a combination from the Chicago Tribune and WGN Radio and WGN-TV. A major newspaper, highly rated AM station, and a nationally known TV station, each with independent sports departments.
I don't understand why a media combo with its own sports departments would even publish a story about personnel at a competitor. As a sports fan, I have a choice of going to ESPN or (for example) WGN-TV's web site for breaking sports news. So if WGN tells me this, and I want more information, why wouldn't I click away and go right to ESPN?
Believe it or not, it doesn't stop there. You see, the "Chicago Breaking News" story on behalf of WGN and the Tribune did credit the source of the story in the first sentence. It read "CBSNews.com reports: Former Bulls forward Paul Shirley........".
Let's get this straight. The Tribune, WGN Radio, and WGN-TV, each with sports departments, allowed a story taken from CBSNews.com to appear on their web site as "Breaking News". While the story was about a dismissal at another prime source of breaking news. In Chicago, CBS Radio's WBBM News Radio has overtaken WGN Radio in the ratings within the past couple of years. CBS Radio's WSCR Sports Radio is in a battle with ESPN's WMVP 1000, while WGN Radio airs "Sports Central" on weeknights it doesn't carry a Blackhawks hockey or Cubs baseball broadcast. Yet, "Chicago Breaking News" was giving direct promotion of its 2 biggest competitors.
Now I fit in with the times. I just reported which other media WGN reported on.
Sorry, but I come from the old school where you would be severely scolded if you so much as mentioned a competitor on the air without a darn good reason.
Speaking of ESPN, ESPN Radio and Yahoo have unveiled a new stream player allowing fans to listen to ESPN Radio stations from (presently) 19 markets including its Chicago outlet WMVP 1000. From a fan's point of view, this is a really fun idea. After a big trade or signing, or a big sports story from a particular city, it can be fun to hear the local fans take.
From a radio standpoint, with the new reliance on PPM's to measure the "radio" audience, fans streaming out of town ESPN broadcasts online won't show up as "radio" listeners in the same way. This could be sports radio's equivalent of the music stations that sell the songs they play for download, giving listeners one more reason NOT to listen. While they scratch their heads wondering where the audience went to.
Congrats to Jon Miller on winning the Ford C. Frick Award and his upcoming induction into the Broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. It is very well deserved. As he gets ready for his 21st consecutive season calling the Sunday Night Baseball games for ESPN, you stop to realize that Miller might have the longest continuous run of calling national telecasts on the same network in modern MLB history. Yet, I also wonder if Jon will deliver his Hall of Fame speech imitating Vin Scully.
It was nice to see so many rememberances of Tom Brookshier, who passed away last week at the age of 78. His performance as both a player and broadcaster will not be forgotten. In another sense, he had an indirect impact on TV football telecasts. After he was let go by CBS following an off-color comment on the air in 1983, it set the stage of John Madden to join Pat Summerall and take even the boring Summerall with him to the top of the TV broadcast teams.
CHICAGO: How much will fans want to hear from an interim head coach? WSCR 670 The Score is looking for an answer to that question. DePaul University, again a distant last in Big East basketball this season, recently named Tracy Webster as Interim Head Coach for the remainder of this season. Yet, WSCR will have Webster in its studios each Monday night for the next few weeks (through the season) to talk DePaul basketball with host Laurence Holmes.
As much as I think coaches shows should be more prominent on sports radio, I'm not so sure that this show will set the ratings world on fire.
PITTSBURGH: WBGG Fox Sports 970 has gone local in the morning as of this week, naming Greg Linelli to host from 6 - 9 AM Monday through Friday.
Down the dial, ESPN 1250 has again dismissed Eddy Crow as one of the co-hosts of "The Drive". As of now, Scott Paulsen and Mike Logan remain on the show.
Both stations are preparing to battle against the new KDKA-FM "The Fan", which promises at least twice the number of local sports programming hours on weekdays than 1250 ESPN now offers.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs might be an influence as to how quickly the Pittsburgh market will support 3 sports stations. If the Penguins make another deep run into the Playoffs, it would probably make a difference for at least the month of May. If not, the Pirates are not likely to hold enough interest until fall when college football, the Steelers, and then the Penguins return and bring plenty to talk about locally.
HOUSTON: KFNC 97.5 has ended Calvin Murphy's afternoon show, but Murphy remains with the station for what is termed "special assignments". Fred Faour and Matt Dean now host from 1 to 4 PM while Carl Dukes will host solo from 4 until 5. No changes in the morning, where KFNC remains in 3rd place from 6 to 10 AM among the 4 Houston area sports stations with KBME 790 showing a nice increase. KILT is the overall sports radio ratings leader through December.
KANSAS CITY: Chiefs football returns to KCFX-FM for the 21st season in the fall. However, WHB 810 has inked a deal for additional and official Chiefs programming starting for next season.
WHB will carry a 2nd hour of post-game programming, the Todd Haley Show, and a show with the starting QB, along with extensive interviews. The station is already planning to broadcast live from the Chiefs' training camp in August.
TULSA: KTBZ 1430 will once again carry the AA (baseball) Tulsa Drillers for the upcoming season, with Dennis Higgins back for his 2nd season as play-by-play voice. However, the station gives priority to Jim Rome's show on weekday afternoons, and will bump conflicting games to KAKC 1300.
WAUSAU WI: Fans who have complained about lack of signal from WXCO 1230 and its ESPN Radio finally got their wish. As of last week (Jan. 25), the sports station moved to 100.5 FM, expanding its coverage by as much as 50 miles. Word is that 1230 will continue to broadcast local high schoo games, but will likely change to a different format for the rest of its broadcast day.
Since I get a lot of requests for telecast schedules, here is the lineup for Fox-TV's MLB Game of the Week for the coming season, with the Fox NASCAR schedule below:
MLB on FOX REGULAR SEASON BROADCAST SCHEDULE (Schedule Subject to Change; All times 4:00 PM ET unless noted)
April 10 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers
April 17 New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers
April 24 New York Yankees at Anaheim Angels, Seattle Mariners at Chicago White Sox
May 1 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros at Atlanta Braves
May 8 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies
May 15 Philadelphia Phillies at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros at San Francisco Giants
May 22 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at New York Mets, Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs at Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers
May 29 St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
June 5 Florida Marlins at New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Anaheim Angels at Seattle Mariners
June 12 Philadelphia Phillies at Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs
June 19 Los Angeles Dodgers at Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins at Philadelphia Phillies
June 26 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox at San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox
July 3 Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays at Minnesota Twins, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
July 10 Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers
July 17 Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals
July 24 New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies at Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles
July 31 Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins
August 7 Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves
August 14 Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays
August 21 Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers at Baltimore Orioles
August 28 Philadelphia Phillies at San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
September 4 New York Mets at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Oakland A’s, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins
September 11 Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
September 18 Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers
Upcoming NASCAR on FOX 2010 Schedule
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500 Qualifying, 1:00 PM
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Budweiser Shootout, 8:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 14 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500, 12:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 21 - California Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fontana, 2:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 28 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Las Vegas, 2:00 PM
Sun. March 7 - Atlanta Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Atlanta, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 21 - Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Bristol, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 28 - Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Martinsville, 12:00 PM
Sat. April 10 - Phoenix Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Phoenix, 7:00 PM
Sun. April 18 - Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fort Worth, 2:00 PM
Sun. April 25 - Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR Racing from Talladega, 12:00 PM
Sat. May 1 - Richmond Int’l Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Richmond, 7:00 PM
Sat. May 8 - Darlington Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Darlington, 7:00 PM
Sun. May 16 - Dover Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Dover, 12:00 PM
Sun. May 30 - Lowe’s Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Charlotte, 5:00 PM
Yet, I will say that I am disappointed at one aspect that seems to be overlooked. Personally, the anticipation comes from this being what I call a "legitimate" Super Bowl matchup. The "wild card" teams are gone, and I love the fact that it is a pair of actual first place teams doing battle. Better yet, it is the teams with the 2 best records in their respective conferences. I don't recall if or when that has happened before. And that's my point.
I always thought the emphasis on sports - at any level - is about winning and working toward the ultimate success. It makes me very pleased to see the two teams that did the best for the regular season have this opportunity. Whichever team wins will have truly earned it. They didn't get there because of a stunning upset, a late season "comeback", or because of a fluke play or key injury from a favored opponent. This really is a "Super" Bowl, whether the game is close or not. This regular season actually meant something.
Meanwhile, this is the root of my disappointment with the NCAA and the very likely upcoming expansion of the basketball tourney to (gulp) 96 teams. I'm 100% sure it will happen because it means millions more in TV money and exposure for the NCAA and its teams.
But it also means further destroying college basketball. Why even have a regular season? Getting into the NCAA Tournament will become even less "special" when .500 teams in most conferences will get in. And without a formula other than opinions based on schedules and point spreads. But for one more day filled with games and thousands of additional hours of media coverage generating millions of dollars, regular season be damned. They'll make it March Sadness, and the media will eat it up.
Meanwhile, I think I found my ultimate example of my recently expressed concerns about how much the media "reports" news from competing sources instead of either confirming or breaking their own stories.
Last week, former NBA player Paul Shirley was dismissed from ESPN due to some sorry comments about not wanting to donate to the Haiti relief efforts. Whether a blogger (the comments were reportedly on his blog for ESPN) should be dismissed for expressing an opinion, no matter how unpopular, when no facts were in error, is for another day.
How did I find out this "news"? I first saw it on the "Chicago Breaking News" web site, which is a combination from the Chicago Tribune and WGN Radio and WGN-TV. A major newspaper, highly rated AM station, and a nationally known TV station, each with independent sports departments.
I don't understand why a media combo with its own sports departments would even publish a story about personnel at a competitor. As a sports fan, I have a choice of going to ESPN or (for example) WGN-TV's web site for breaking sports news. So if WGN tells me this, and I want more information, why wouldn't I click away and go right to ESPN?
Believe it or not, it doesn't stop there. You see, the "Chicago Breaking News" story on behalf of WGN and the Tribune did credit the source of the story in the first sentence. It read "CBSNews.com reports: Former Bulls forward Paul Shirley........".
Let's get this straight. The Tribune, WGN Radio, and WGN-TV, each with sports departments, allowed a story taken from CBSNews.com to appear on their web site as "Breaking News". While the story was about a dismissal at another prime source of breaking news. In Chicago, CBS Radio's WBBM News Radio has overtaken WGN Radio in the ratings within the past couple of years. CBS Radio's WSCR Sports Radio is in a battle with ESPN's WMVP 1000, while WGN Radio airs "Sports Central" on weeknights it doesn't carry a Blackhawks hockey or Cubs baseball broadcast. Yet, "Chicago Breaking News" was giving direct promotion of its 2 biggest competitors.
Now I fit in with the times. I just reported which other media WGN reported on.
Sorry, but I come from the old school where you would be severely scolded if you so much as mentioned a competitor on the air without a darn good reason.
Speaking of ESPN, ESPN Radio and Yahoo have unveiled a new stream player allowing fans to listen to ESPN Radio stations from (presently) 19 markets including its Chicago outlet WMVP 1000. From a fan's point of view, this is a really fun idea. After a big trade or signing, or a big sports story from a particular city, it can be fun to hear the local fans take.
From a radio standpoint, with the new reliance on PPM's to measure the "radio" audience, fans streaming out of town ESPN broadcasts online won't show up as "radio" listeners in the same way. This could be sports radio's equivalent of the music stations that sell the songs they play for download, giving listeners one more reason NOT to listen. While they scratch their heads wondering where the audience went to.
Congrats to Jon Miller on winning the Ford C. Frick Award and his upcoming induction into the Broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. It is very well deserved. As he gets ready for his 21st consecutive season calling the Sunday Night Baseball games for ESPN, you stop to realize that Miller might have the longest continuous run of calling national telecasts on the same network in modern MLB history. Yet, I also wonder if Jon will deliver his Hall of Fame speech imitating Vin Scully.
It was nice to see so many rememberances of Tom Brookshier, who passed away last week at the age of 78. His performance as both a player and broadcaster will not be forgotten. In another sense, he had an indirect impact on TV football telecasts. After he was let go by CBS following an off-color comment on the air in 1983, it set the stage of John Madden to join Pat Summerall and take even the boring Summerall with him to the top of the TV broadcast teams.
CHICAGO: How much will fans want to hear from an interim head coach? WSCR 670 The Score is looking for an answer to that question. DePaul University, again a distant last in Big East basketball this season, recently named Tracy Webster as Interim Head Coach for the remainder of this season. Yet, WSCR will have Webster in its studios each Monday night for the next few weeks (through the season) to talk DePaul basketball with host Laurence Holmes.
As much as I think coaches shows should be more prominent on sports radio, I'm not so sure that this show will set the ratings world on fire.
PITTSBURGH: WBGG Fox Sports 970 has gone local in the morning as of this week, naming Greg Linelli to host from 6 - 9 AM Monday through Friday.
Down the dial, ESPN 1250 has again dismissed Eddy Crow as one of the co-hosts of "The Drive". As of now, Scott Paulsen and Mike Logan remain on the show.
Both stations are preparing to battle against the new KDKA-FM "The Fan", which promises at least twice the number of local sports programming hours on weekdays than 1250 ESPN now offers.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs might be an influence as to how quickly the Pittsburgh market will support 3 sports stations. If the Penguins make another deep run into the Playoffs, it would probably make a difference for at least the month of May. If not, the Pirates are not likely to hold enough interest until fall when college football, the Steelers, and then the Penguins return and bring plenty to talk about locally.
HOUSTON: KFNC 97.5 has ended Calvin Murphy's afternoon show, but Murphy remains with the station for what is termed "special assignments". Fred Faour and Matt Dean now host from 1 to 4 PM while Carl Dukes will host solo from 4 until 5. No changes in the morning, where KFNC remains in 3rd place from 6 to 10 AM among the 4 Houston area sports stations with KBME 790 showing a nice increase. KILT is the overall sports radio ratings leader through December.
KANSAS CITY: Chiefs football returns to KCFX-FM for the 21st season in the fall. However, WHB 810 has inked a deal for additional and official Chiefs programming starting for next season.
WHB will carry a 2nd hour of post-game programming, the Todd Haley Show, and a show with the starting QB, along with extensive interviews. The station is already planning to broadcast live from the Chiefs' training camp in August.
TULSA: KTBZ 1430 will once again carry the AA (baseball) Tulsa Drillers for the upcoming season, with Dennis Higgins back for his 2nd season as play-by-play voice. However, the station gives priority to Jim Rome's show on weekday afternoons, and will bump conflicting games to KAKC 1300.
WAUSAU WI: Fans who have complained about lack of signal from WXCO 1230 and its ESPN Radio finally got their wish. As of last week (Jan. 25), the sports station moved to 100.5 FM, expanding its coverage by as much as 50 miles. Word is that 1230 will continue to broadcast local high schoo games, but will likely change to a different format for the rest of its broadcast day.
Since I get a lot of requests for telecast schedules, here is the lineup for Fox-TV's MLB Game of the Week for the coming season, with the Fox NASCAR schedule below:
MLB on FOX REGULAR SEASON BROADCAST SCHEDULE (Schedule Subject to Change; All times 4:00 PM ET unless noted)
April 10 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers
April 17 New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers
April 24 New York Yankees at Anaheim Angels, Seattle Mariners at Chicago White Sox
May 1 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros at Atlanta Braves
May 8 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies
May 15 Philadelphia Phillies at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros at San Francisco Giants
May 22 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at New York Mets, Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs at Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers
May 29 St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
June 5 Florida Marlins at New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Anaheim Angels at Seattle Mariners
June 12 Philadelphia Phillies at Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs
June 19 Los Angeles Dodgers at Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins at Philadelphia Phillies
June 26 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox at San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox
July 3 Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays at Minnesota Twins, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
July 10 Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers
July 17 Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals
July 24 New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies at Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles
July 31 Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins
August 7 Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves
August 14 Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays
August 21 Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers at Baltimore Orioles
August 28 Philadelphia Phillies at San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
September 4 New York Mets at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Oakland A’s, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins
September 11 Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
September 18 Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers
Upcoming NASCAR on FOX 2010 Schedule
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500 Qualifying, 1:00 PM
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Budweiser Shootout, 8:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 14 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500, 12:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 21 - California Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fontana, 2:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 28 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Las Vegas, 2:00 PM
Sun. March 7 - Atlanta Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Atlanta, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 21 - Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Bristol, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 28 - Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Martinsville, 12:00 PM
Sat. April 10 - Phoenix Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Phoenix, 7:00 PM
Sun. April 18 - Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fort Worth, 2:00 PM
Sun. April 25 - Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR Racing from Talladega, 12:00 PM
Sat. May 1 - Richmond Int’l Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Richmond, 7:00 PM
Sat. May 8 - Darlington Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Darlington, 7:00 PM
Sun. May 16 - Dover Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Dover, 12:00 PM
Sun. May 30 - Lowe’s Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Charlotte, 5:00 PM
Sports Media Report - Feb. 4th update
Obviously, it's not possible to ignore the Super Bowl in a Sports Media Update. Yet, I'm close to doing so. Unless you are a fan of one of the teams actually participating, the hour after hour of trying to make a story out of a routine practice becomes too much.
Yet, I will say that I am disappointed at one aspect that seems to be overlooked. Personally, the anticipation comes from this being what I call a "legitimate" Super Bowl matchup. The "wild card" teams are gone, and I love the fact that it is a pair of actual first place teams doing battle. Better yet, it is the teams with the 2 best records in their respective conferences. I don't recall if or when that has happened before. And that's my point.
I always thought the emphasis on sports - at any level - is about winning and working toward the ultimate success. It makes me very pleased to see the two teams that did the best for the regular season have this opportunity. Whichever team wins will have truly earned it. They didn't get there because of a stunning upset, a late season "comeback", or because of a fluke play or key injury from a favored opponent. This really is a "Super" Bowl, whether the game is close or not. This regular season actually meant something.
Meanwhile, this is the root of my disappointment with the NCAA and the very likely upcoming expansion of the basketball tourney to (gulp) 96 teams. I'm 100% sure it will happen because it means millions more in TV money and exposure for the NCAA and its teams.
But it also means further destroying college basketball. Why even have a regular season? Getting into the NCAA Tournament will become even less "special" when .500 teams in most conferences will get in. And without a formula other than opinions based on schedules and point spreads. But for one more day filled with games and thousands of additional hours of media coverage generating millions of dollars, regular season be damned. They'll make it March Sadness, and the media will eat it up.
Meanwhile, I think I found my ultimate example of my recently expressed concerns about how much the media "reports" news from competing sources instead of either confirming or breaking their own stories.
Last week, former NBA player Paul Shirley was dismissed from ESPN due to some sorry comments about not wanting to donate to the Haiti relief efforts. Whether a blogger (the comments were reportedly on his blog for ESPN) should be dismissed for expressing an opinion, no matter how unpopular, when no facts were in error, is for another day.
How did I find out this "news"? I first saw it on the "Chicago Breaking News" web site, which is a combination from the Chicago Tribune and WGN Radio and WGN-TV. A major newspaper, highly rated AM station, and a nationally known TV station, each with independent sports departments.
I don't understand why a media combo with its own sports departments would even publish a story about personnel at a competitor. As a sports fan, I have a choice of going to ESPN or (for example) WGN-TV's web site for breaking sports news. So if WGN tells me this, and I want more information, why wouldn't I click away and go right to ESPN?
Believe it or not, it doesn't stop there. You see, the "Chicago Breaking News" story on behalf of WGN and the Tribune did credit the source of the story in the first sentence. It read "CBSNews.com reports: Former Bulls forward Paul Shirley........".
Let's get this straight. The Tribune, WGN Radio, and WGN-TV, each with sports departments, allowed a story taken from CBSNews.com to appear on their web site as "Breaking News". While the story was about a dismissal at another prime source of breaking news. In Chicago, CBS Radio's WBBM News Radio has overtaken WGN Radio in the ratings within the past couple of years. CBS Radio's WSCR Sports Radio is in a battle with ESPN's WMVP 1000, while WGN Radio airs "Sports Central" on weeknights it doesn't carry a Blackhawks hockey or Cubs baseball broadcast. Yet, "Chicago Breaking News" was giving direct promotion of its 2 biggest competitors.
Now I fit in with the times. I just reported which other media WGN reported on.
Sorry, but I come from the old school where you would be severely scolded if you so much as mentioned a competitor on the air without a darn good reason.
Speaking of ESPN, ESPN Radio and Yahoo have unveiled a new stream player allowing fans to listen to ESPN Radio stations from (presently) 19 markets including its Chicago outlet WMVP 1000. From a fan's point of view, this is a really fun idea. After a big trade or signing, or a big sports story from a particular city, it can be fun to hear the local fans take.
From a radio standpoint, with the new reliance on PPM's to measure the "radio" audience, fans streaming out of town ESPN broadcasts online won't show up as "radio" listeners in the same way. This could be sports radio's equivalent of the music stations that sell the songs they play for download, giving listeners one more reason NOT to listen. While they scratch their heads wondering where the audience went to.
Congrats to Jon Miller on winning the Ford C. Frick Award and his upcoming induction into the Broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. It is very well deserved. As he gets ready for his 21st consecutive season calling the Sunday Night Baseball games for ESPN, you stop to realize that Miller might have the longest continuous run of calling national telecasts on the same network in modern MLB history. Yet, I also wonder if Jon will deliver his Hall of Fame speech imitating Vin Scully.
It was nice to see so many rememberances of Tom Brookshier, who passed away last week at the age of 78. His performance as both a player and broadcaster will not be forgotten. In another sense, he had an indirect impact on TV football telecasts. After he was let go by CBS following an off-color comment on the air in 1983, it set the stage of John Madden to join Pat Summerall and take even the boring Summerall with him to the top of the TV broadcast teams.
CHICAGO: How much will fans want to hear from an interim head coach? WSCR 670 The Score is looking for an answer to that question. DePaul University, again a distant last in Big East basketball this season, recently named Tracy Webster as Interim Head Coach for the remainder of this season. Yet, WSCR will have Webster in its studios each Monday night for the next few weeks (through the season) to talk DePaul basketball with host Laurence Holmes.
As much as I think coaches shows should be more prominent on sports radio, I'm not so sure that this show will set the ratings world on fire.
PITTSBURGH: WBGG Fox Sports 970 has gone local in the morning as of this week, naming Greg Linelli to host from 6 - 9 AM Monday through Friday.
Down the dial, ESPN 1250 has again dismissed Eddy Crow as one of the co-hosts of "The Drive". As of now, Scott Paulsen and Mike Logan remain on the show.
Both stations are preparing to battle against the new KDKA-FM "The Fan", which promises at least twice the number of local sports programming hours on weekdays than 1250 ESPN now offers.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs might be an influence as to how quickly the Pittsburgh market will support 3 sports stations. If the Penguins make another deep run into the Playoffs, it would probably make a difference for at least the month of May. If not, the Pirates are not likely to hold enough interest until fall when college football, the Steelers, and then the Penguins return and bring plenty to talk about locally.
66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666
HOU:
Calvin Murphy’s afternoon talk show on KFNC (97.5 FM) has been canceled, but he has been told he will remain with the Cumulus Media station in an unspecified role.
Cumulus employees were told in a memo that Murphy was “leaving … to focus on other things.” Murphy said he does have other interests and activities to pursue but that the decision to end the show rested with Cumulus.
“I have some other things I can do, so I’m not in a cramp,” he said. “I enjoyed it. It’s their decision. I always have something else ready to do. I’m going to be at the station and on special assignments, and I am pleased with that.”
Murphy, who hosted the show with KFNC program director Dave Tepper and Julie Takahashi, joined KFNC in July 2007. KFNC rarely polled above 1 percent of the listening audience for men 25-54 in afternoon drive and was generally in fourth place among the four Houston sports stations.
With Murphy’s departure, Fred Faour and Matt Dean now will host from 1 to 4 p.m. Carl Dukes will host solo from 4 to 5 p.m. and with Tepper and Takahashi from 5 to 7 p.m.
Ratings updates
Arbitron’s Christmas present for KILT (610 AM) was an upswing in what has become a consistent give-and-take pattern in the four-way competition for Houston’s sports radio audience.
KILT regained the lead in morning drive among men 25-54, the key demo for sports radio, over KGOW (1560 AM). KFNC (97.5 FM) remains third in morning drive, and KBME (790 AM) doubled its morning-drive audience share in its first partial book with new morning hosts Matt Jackson and Adam Wexler.
The four stations combined for a 9 percent share of the audience in morning drive for what Arbitron describes as the holiday ratings period, up from 7.8 percent in the December ratings book and, for comparison purposes, only 6 percent in January 2009. (Reality check: Spanish-language KLTN nearly exceeded that total on its own, and KODA’s Christmas music boosted its share to a point greater than the three stations other than KILT combined.)
KILT extended its lead at middays (10 a.m.-3 p.m.), even though all four stations were up from December, and in afternoon drive time, where it was the only one of the four stations that was up from the previous book. The CBS station also had a strong nighttime show, thanks, no doubt, to Rockets games, and its week-long numbers were larger than the other three stations combined.
KANSAS CITY: Chiefs football returns to KCFX-FM for the 21st season in the fall. However, WHB 810 has inked a deal for additional and official Chiefs programming starting for next season.
WHB will carry a 2nd hour of post-game programming, the Todd Haley Show, and a show with the starting QB, along with extensive interviews. The station is already planning to broadcast live from the Chiefs' training camp in August.
TULSA: KTBZ 1430 will once again carry the AA (baseball) Tulsa Drillers for the upcoming season, with Dennis Higgins back for his 2nd season as play-by-play voice. However, the station gives priority to Jim Rome's show on weekday afternoons, and will bump conflicting games to KAKC 1300.
WAUSAU WI: Fans who have complained about lack of signal from WXCO 1230 and its ESPN Radio finally got their wish. As of last week (Jan. 25), the sports station moved to 100.5 FM, expanding its coverage by as much as 50 miles. Word is that 1230 will continue to broadcast local high schoo games, but will likely change to a different format for the rest of its broadcast day.
Since I get a lot of requests for telecast schedules, here is the lineup for Fox-TV's MLB Game of the Week for the coming season, with the Fox NASCAR schedule below:
MLB on FOX REGULAR SEASON BROADCAST SCHEDULE (Schedule Subject to Change; All times 4:00 PM ET unless noted)
April 10 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers
April 17 New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers
April 24 New York Yankees at Anaheim Angels, Seattle Mariners at Chicago White Sox
May 1 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros at Atlanta Braves
May 8 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies
May 15 Philadelphia Phillies at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros at San Francisco Giants
May 22 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at New York Mets, Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs at Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers
May 29 St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
June 5 Florida Marlins at New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Anaheim Angels at Seattle Mariners
June 12 Philadelphia Phillies at Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs
June 19 Los Angeles Dodgers at Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins at Philadelphia Phillies
June 26 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox at San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox
July 3 Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays at Minnesota Twins, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
July 10 Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers
July 17 Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals
July 24 New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies at Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles
July 31 Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins
August 7 Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves
August 14 Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays
August 21 Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers at Baltimore Orioles
August 28 Philadelphia Phillies at San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
September 4 New York Mets at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Oakland A’s, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins
September 11 Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
September 18 Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers
Upcoming NASCAR on FOX 2010 Schedule
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500 Qualifying, 1:00 PM
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Budweiser Shootout, 8:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 14 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500, 12:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 21 - California Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fontana, 2:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 28 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Las Vegas, 2:00 PM
Sun. March 7 - Atlanta Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Atlanta, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 21 - Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Bristol, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 28 - Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Martinsville, 12:00 PM
Sat. April 10 - Phoenix Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Phoenix, 7:00 PM
Sun. April 18 - Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fort Worth, 2:00 PM
Sun. April 25 - Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR Racing from Talladega, 12:00 PM
Sat. May 1 - Richmond Int’l Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Richmond, 7:00 PM
Sat. May 8 - Darlington Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Darlington, 7:00 PM
Sun. May 16 - Dover Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Dover, 12:00 PM
Sun. May 30 - Lowe’s Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Charlotte, 5:00 PM
Yet, I will say that I am disappointed at one aspect that seems to be overlooked. Personally, the anticipation comes from this being what I call a "legitimate" Super Bowl matchup. The "wild card" teams are gone, and I love the fact that it is a pair of actual first place teams doing battle. Better yet, it is the teams with the 2 best records in their respective conferences. I don't recall if or when that has happened before. And that's my point.
I always thought the emphasis on sports - at any level - is about winning and working toward the ultimate success. It makes me very pleased to see the two teams that did the best for the regular season have this opportunity. Whichever team wins will have truly earned it. They didn't get there because of a stunning upset, a late season "comeback", or because of a fluke play or key injury from a favored opponent. This really is a "Super" Bowl, whether the game is close or not. This regular season actually meant something.
Meanwhile, this is the root of my disappointment with the NCAA and the very likely upcoming expansion of the basketball tourney to (gulp) 96 teams. I'm 100% sure it will happen because it means millions more in TV money and exposure for the NCAA and its teams.
But it also means further destroying college basketball. Why even have a regular season? Getting into the NCAA Tournament will become even less "special" when .500 teams in most conferences will get in. And without a formula other than opinions based on schedules and point spreads. But for one more day filled with games and thousands of additional hours of media coverage generating millions of dollars, regular season be damned. They'll make it March Sadness, and the media will eat it up.
Meanwhile, I think I found my ultimate example of my recently expressed concerns about how much the media "reports" news from competing sources instead of either confirming or breaking their own stories.
Last week, former NBA player Paul Shirley was dismissed from ESPN due to some sorry comments about not wanting to donate to the Haiti relief efforts. Whether a blogger (the comments were reportedly on his blog for ESPN) should be dismissed for expressing an opinion, no matter how unpopular, when no facts were in error, is for another day.
How did I find out this "news"? I first saw it on the "Chicago Breaking News" web site, which is a combination from the Chicago Tribune and WGN Radio and WGN-TV. A major newspaper, highly rated AM station, and a nationally known TV station, each with independent sports departments.
I don't understand why a media combo with its own sports departments would even publish a story about personnel at a competitor. As a sports fan, I have a choice of going to ESPN or (for example) WGN-TV's web site for breaking sports news. So if WGN tells me this, and I want more information, why wouldn't I click away and go right to ESPN?
Believe it or not, it doesn't stop there. You see, the "Chicago Breaking News" story on behalf of WGN and the Tribune did credit the source of the story in the first sentence. It read "CBSNews.com reports: Former Bulls forward Paul Shirley........".
Let's get this straight. The Tribune, WGN Radio, and WGN-TV, each with sports departments, allowed a story taken from CBSNews.com to appear on their web site as "Breaking News". While the story was about a dismissal at another prime source of breaking news. In Chicago, CBS Radio's WBBM News Radio has overtaken WGN Radio in the ratings within the past couple of years. CBS Radio's WSCR Sports Radio is in a battle with ESPN's WMVP 1000, while WGN Radio airs "Sports Central" on weeknights it doesn't carry a Blackhawks hockey or Cubs baseball broadcast. Yet, "Chicago Breaking News" was giving direct promotion of its 2 biggest competitors.
Now I fit in with the times. I just reported which other media WGN reported on.
Sorry, but I come from the old school where you would be severely scolded if you so much as mentioned a competitor on the air without a darn good reason.
Speaking of ESPN, ESPN Radio and Yahoo have unveiled a new stream player allowing fans to listen to ESPN Radio stations from (presently) 19 markets including its Chicago outlet WMVP 1000. From a fan's point of view, this is a really fun idea. After a big trade or signing, or a big sports story from a particular city, it can be fun to hear the local fans take.
From a radio standpoint, with the new reliance on PPM's to measure the "radio" audience, fans streaming out of town ESPN broadcasts online won't show up as "radio" listeners in the same way. This could be sports radio's equivalent of the music stations that sell the songs they play for download, giving listeners one more reason NOT to listen. While they scratch their heads wondering where the audience went to.
Congrats to Jon Miller on winning the Ford C. Frick Award and his upcoming induction into the Broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. It is very well deserved. As he gets ready for his 21st consecutive season calling the Sunday Night Baseball games for ESPN, you stop to realize that Miller might have the longest continuous run of calling national telecasts on the same network in modern MLB history. Yet, I also wonder if Jon will deliver his Hall of Fame speech imitating Vin Scully.
It was nice to see so many rememberances of Tom Brookshier, who passed away last week at the age of 78. His performance as both a player and broadcaster will not be forgotten. In another sense, he had an indirect impact on TV football telecasts. After he was let go by CBS following an off-color comment on the air in 1983, it set the stage of John Madden to join Pat Summerall and take even the boring Summerall with him to the top of the TV broadcast teams.
CHICAGO: How much will fans want to hear from an interim head coach? WSCR 670 The Score is looking for an answer to that question. DePaul University, again a distant last in Big East basketball this season, recently named Tracy Webster as Interim Head Coach for the remainder of this season. Yet, WSCR will have Webster in its studios each Monday night for the next few weeks (through the season) to talk DePaul basketball with host Laurence Holmes.
As much as I think coaches shows should be more prominent on sports radio, I'm not so sure that this show will set the ratings world on fire.
PITTSBURGH: WBGG Fox Sports 970 has gone local in the morning as of this week, naming Greg Linelli to host from 6 - 9 AM Monday through Friday.
Down the dial, ESPN 1250 has again dismissed Eddy Crow as one of the co-hosts of "The Drive". As of now, Scott Paulsen and Mike Logan remain on the show.
Both stations are preparing to battle against the new KDKA-FM "The Fan", which promises at least twice the number of local sports programming hours on weekdays than 1250 ESPN now offers.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs might be an influence as to how quickly the Pittsburgh market will support 3 sports stations. If the Penguins make another deep run into the Playoffs, it would probably make a difference for at least the month of May. If not, the Pirates are not likely to hold enough interest until fall when college football, the Steelers, and then the Penguins return and bring plenty to talk about locally.
66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666
HOU:
Calvin Murphy’s afternoon talk show on KFNC (97.5 FM) has been canceled, but he has been told he will remain with the Cumulus Media station in an unspecified role.
Cumulus employees were told in a memo that Murphy was “leaving … to focus on other things.” Murphy said he does have other interests and activities to pursue but that the decision to end the show rested with Cumulus.
“I have some other things I can do, so I’m not in a cramp,” he said. “I enjoyed it. It’s their decision. I always have something else ready to do. I’m going to be at the station and on special assignments, and I am pleased with that.”
Murphy, who hosted the show with KFNC program director Dave Tepper and Julie Takahashi, joined KFNC in July 2007. KFNC rarely polled above 1 percent of the listening audience for men 25-54 in afternoon drive and was generally in fourth place among the four Houston sports stations.
With Murphy’s departure, Fred Faour and Matt Dean now will host from 1 to 4 p.m. Carl Dukes will host solo from 4 to 5 p.m. and with Tepper and Takahashi from 5 to 7 p.m.
Ratings updates
Arbitron’s Christmas present for KILT (610 AM) was an upswing in what has become a consistent give-and-take pattern in the four-way competition for Houston’s sports radio audience.
KILT regained the lead in morning drive among men 25-54, the key demo for sports radio, over KGOW (1560 AM). KFNC (97.5 FM) remains third in morning drive, and KBME (790 AM) doubled its morning-drive audience share in its first partial book with new morning hosts Matt Jackson and Adam Wexler.
The four stations combined for a 9 percent share of the audience in morning drive for what Arbitron describes as the holiday ratings period, up from 7.8 percent in the December ratings book and, for comparison purposes, only 6 percent in January 2009. (Reality check: Spanish-language KLTN nearly exceeded that total on its own, and KODA’s Christmas music boosted its share to a point greater than the three stations other than KILT combined.)
KILT extended its lead at middays (10 a.m.-3 p.m.), even though all four stations were up from December, and in afternoon drive time, where it was the only one of the four stations that was up from the previous book. The CBS station also had a strong nighttime show, thanks, no doubt, to Rockets games, and its week-long numbers were larger than the other three stations combined.
KANSAS CITY: Chiefs football returns to KCFX-FM for the 21st season in the fall. However, WHB 810 has inked a deal for additional and official Chiefs programming starting for next season.
WHB will carry a 2nd hour of post-game programming, the Todd Haley Show, and a show with the starting QB, along with extensive interviews. The station is already planning to broadcast live from the Chiefs' training camp in August.
TULSA: KTBZ 1430 will once again carry the AA (baseball) Tulsa Drillers for the upcoming season, with Dennis Higgins back for his 2nd season as play-by-play voice. However, the station gives priority to Jim Rome's show on weekday afternoons, and will bump conflicting games to KAKC 1300.
WAUSAU WI: Fans who have complained about lack of signal from WXCO 1230 and its ESPN Radio finally got their wish. As of last week (Jan. 25), the sports station moved to 100.5 FM, expanding its coverage by as much as 50 miles. Word is that 1230 will continue to broadcast local high schoo games, but will likely change to a different format for the rest of its broadcast day.
Since I get a lot of requests for telecast schedules, here is the lineup for Fox-TV's MLB Game of the Week for the coming season, with the Fox NASCAR schedule below:
MLB on FOX REGULAR SEASON BROADCAST SCHEDULE (Schedule Subject to Change; All times 4:00 PM ET unless noted)
April 10 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers
April 17 New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers
April 24 New York Yankees at Anaheim Angels, Seattle Mariners at Chicago White Sox
May 1 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros at Atlanta Braves
May 8 (*3:00 PM ET)New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies
May 15 Philadelphia Phillies at Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners at Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros at San Francisco Giants
May 22 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at New York Mets, Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs at Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers
May 29 St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
June 5 Florida Marlins at New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Anaheim Angels at Seattle Mariners
June 12 Philadelphia Phillies at Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs
June 19 Los Angeles Dodgers at Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins at Philadelphia Phillies
June 26 (*7:00 PM ET) New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox at San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox
July 3 Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays at Minnesota Twins, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
July 10 Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers
July 17 Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals
July 24 New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies at Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles
July 31 Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins
August 7 Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves
August 14 Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays
August 21 Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers at Baltimore Orioles
August 28 Philadelphia Phillies at San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners, Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves
September 4 New York Mets at Chicago Cubs, Anaheim Angels at Oakland A’s, Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins
September 11 Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners at Anaheim Angels
September 18 Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers
Upcoming NASCAR on FOX 2010 Schedule
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500 Qualifying, 1:00 PM
Sat. Feb. 6 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Budweiser Shootout, 8:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 14 - Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona 500, 12:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 21 - California Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fontana, 2:00 PM
Sun. Feb. 28 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Las Vegas, 2:00 PM
Sun. March 7 - Atlanta Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Atlanta, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 21 - Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Bristol, 12:00 PM
Sun. March 28 - Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Martinsville, 12:00 PM
Sat. April 10 - Phoenix Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Phoenix, 7:00 PM
Sun. April 18 - Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Fort Worth, 2:00 PM
Sun. April 25 - Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR Racing from Talladega, 12:00 PM
Sat. May 1 - Richmond Int’l Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Richmond, 7:00 PM
Sat. May 8 - Darlington Raceway, NASCAR Racing from Darlington, 7:00 PM
Sun. May 16 - Dover Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Dover, 12:00 PM
Sun. May 30 - Lowe’s Motor Speedway, NASCAR Racing from Charlotte, 5:00 PM
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Sports Media Update - Jan. 27th
Sports radio and the Super Bowl. For this column, these are both the "big game" over the next 10 days. We may actually find out how "big".
The game itself is always a huge audience draw capping off a day which is really more of a national holiday than some of the true national holidays. Over the last few years, especially, many of the local sports stations in larger markets, including some without NFL teams, set up shop for the week leading into the game on press row covering the Super Bowl. Members of the participating teams, along with players and coaches from NFL teams past and present also attend and go up and down the rows of station tables.
Over the years, unless my favorite team is in the game, I have personally reduced the amount of time I spend listening and watching sportcasts during the days leading in to the Super Bowl. I don't like being tired of hearing about the game long before it happens. And from talking with others around the country, I'm definitely not alone in feeling that way.
Why is this year different? I'm sure it's not, at least as far as the sports stations staffing radio row in Miami. But this year we have many of the NFL markets being measured monthly with the PPM system. We have seen steady growth among many of the sports stations, including some markets with more than one sports radio station increase their audience in recent months.
I, for one, will be curious to see if or how the ratings are impacted for the sports stations emphasizing the Super Bowl during the last week of January. The ones not in Indiana or Louisiana, that is.
If the out-of-market sports stations with a table at Super Bowl week show an audience drop after months of increase, maybe we will finally see the end of the hour after hour about the Super Bowl by next year. But if the increase continues, well, then I guess I'll continue my tradition of not listening and watching the endless Super Bowl hype for years to come. But now we will know. The ratings information is distributed every month, rather than every quarter so we will benefit with more specific audience information.
Then again, the TV ratings for the AFC and NFC Championship telecasts were sensational. But that is game action, and not a talk show. Early reports show that Fox had the biggest audience for the NFC game than any TV program (sports or not) other than a Super Bowl since 1998, and that was the Seinfeld finale.
The Colts vs. Jets game was the highest rated AFC Championship game in 24 years.
Now we'll see if those viewers prefer to wait until the Super Bowl game itself, or if they really want to talk about it day after day.
NBA-TV is making more strides this season, its first on some of the larger cable systems. I am looking forward to a new show the network is producing called "Making the Call". The show will focus on rules and regulations. The debut show premieres on Wednesday (Jan. 27) with Ronnie Nunn, the NBA Director of Officiating, as the primary guest. I'm sure there a few head coaches who would have liked to have done the questioning!
The network will be showing plenty of games over the next few days, picking up local telecasts:
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 27 Los Angeles Lakers @ Indiana Pacers
FRIDAY, JAN. 29 Boston Celtics @ Atlanta Hawks
SATURDAY, JAN. 30 Atlanta Hawks @ Orlando Magic
SUNDAY, JAN. 31 Phoenix Suns @ Houston Rockets
It will be interesting to see if the true basketball fans prevail over the big market casual fans for next Tuesday (Feb. 2), when NBA-TV presents its "Fan Night" game. One of the choices is Detroit at New Jersey. That game is only news because one of the those teams will probably win a game. Yet, those are both huge TV markets. The logical choice is Atlanta vs. Oklahoma City in a battle of 2 hot teams making strong playoff runs.
On the baseball side, ESPN has announced some of its upcoming Sunday Night Baseball matchups:
April 4 Opening Night: New York Yankees at Boston
April 11 St. Louis at Milwaukee
April 18 New York Mets at St. Louis
April 25 Atlanta at N.Y. Mets
May 2 N.Y. Mets at Philadelphia
May 9 N.Y. Yankees at Boston
May 16 Philadelphia at Milwaukee
May 23 N.Y. Yankees at N.Y. Mets
May 30 Texas at Minnesota
July 4 Kansas City at L.A. Angels
July 11 Chicago Cubs at L.A. Dodgers
July 18 Philadelphia at Chicago Cubs
Yes, 2 of the first 6 weeks are Yankees vs. Red Sox. As if that is a surprise.
Spring training games could be abundant this season more than ever. No official word yet from MLB Network, which picked up about 30 telecasts last March. ESPN has announced it will televise 10 exhibition games from March 22 through Friday April 2, during the last 2 weeks of exhibition play.
ESPN will kick off the regular season with 5 games on Monday April 5 (making it 6 opening games counting the April 4 Yankees vs. Red Sox telecast). American League fans will enjoy Cleveland at Chicago White Sox and Minnesota at L A Angels. National League fans will enjoy St. Louis at Cincinnati, Chicago Cubs at Atlanta, and San Francisco at Houston.
In addition to its Saturday Game of the Week, Fox-TV might be moving 2 of its telecasts into prime time. USA Today reports that one would be in May and the other in June. As good as that sounds for baseball fans, that seems too early in the season to offer a compelling matchup for prime time.
BOSTON: Baseball fans in the Boston area get an interesting opportunity this Thursday (Jan. 28) evening. The Cambridge Center for Adult Education begins its "Homerun in Harvard Square" seminar series at 6 PM. The guest will be none other than Peter Gammons, now with MLB Network. Upcoming confirmed guests are Tom DiBenedetto, Red Sox partner; Jed Lowrie, Red Sox infielder; and Larry Silverstein, attorney/special counsel to the LA Dodgers. Details at www.ccae.org.
CINCINNATI: Great idea from Fox Sports Ohio to promote the upcoming Reds season. The Network has taken a group of telecasts of significant Reds games from the past 40 years and synced the audio of the radio broadcasts with Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall.
Included in the Monday night series will be Game 4 of the 1970 World Series, Tom Browning's perfect game, the clinching 1976 NLCS game vs. Philadelphia, Tom Seaver's no-hitter vs. St. Louis from 1978, the 1985 game in which Pete Rose breaks the all-time hit record, and Game 7 of the memorable 1975 World Series.
It's too bad that the rest of the country can't enjoy these, especially with the hometown flavor of "Marty and Joe on Reds radio". Here is a regional network producing this, while the nationally available ESPN Classic sticks us with poker, bowling, boxing, and probably tiddly winks in prime time.
BALTIMORE: Anita Marks is no longer a part of afternoon drive on The Fan 105.7, and also shown on MASN, after nearly 4 years. She had been co-hosting the show with Scott Garceau.
SAN FRANCISCO: Extra Sports 860 will no longer be living up to its name as of next week. KTRB will begin running the syndicated Michael Savage show from 3 to 6 PM as of Monday (Feb. 1). No other changes have been announced as of press time, but it seems odd to only take out the afternoon drive sports show.
KANSAS CITY: Former Royals pitcher Paul Splittorff continues to make good progress recovering from the infection which took him away from the majority of Royals telecasts last season. He recently joined Dave Armstrong and Jon Sundvold on a Kansas University basketball broadcast, and plans to join them again for a game or two during February. The number of Royals games Splittorff will work during the upcoming season has yet to be finalized.
LINCOLN: Former Nebraska University linebacker Adrian Fiala will no longer be a part of the Nebraska football broadcast team, which he had been a part of since 1996. He worked with current play-by-play voice Greg Sharpe, as well as Jim Rose and Warren Swain. Sharpe and Matt Davison will handle the call for the 2010 season.
Lincoln's KLMS 1480 AM has officially dumped ESPN Radio and its sports programming after 12 years as a sports station. Whether temporary or not, the station has gone oldies.
The game itself is always a huge audience draw capping off a day which is really more of a national holiday than some of the true national holidays. Over the last few years, especially, many of the local sports stations in larger markets, including some without NFL teams, set up shop for the week leading into the game on press row covering the Super Bowl. Members of the participating teams, along with players and coaches from NFL teams past and present also attend and go up and down the rows of station tables.
Over the years, unless my favorite team is in the game, I have personally reduced the amount of time I spend listening and watching sportcasts during the days leading in to the Super Bowl. I don't like being tired of hearing about the game long before it happens. And from talking with others around the country, I'm definitely not alone in feeling that way.
Why is this year different? I'm sure it's not, at least as far as the sports stations staffing radio row in Miami. But this year we have many of the NFL markets being measured monthly with the PPM system. We have seen steady growth among many of the sports stations, including some markets with more than one sports radio station increase their audience in recent months.
I, for one, will be curious to see if or how the ratings are impacted for the sports stations emphasizing the Super Bowl during the last week of January. The ones not in Indiana or Louisiana, that is.
If the out-of-market sports stations with a table at Super Bowl week show an audience drop after months of increase, maybe we will finally see the end of the hour after hour about the Super Bowl by next year. But if the increase continues, well, then I guess I'll continue my tradition of not listening and watching the endless Super Bowl hype for years to come. But now we will know. The ratings information is distributed every month, rather than every quarter so we will benefit with more specific audience information.
Then again, the TV ratings for the AFC and NFC Championship telecasts were sensational. But that is game action, and not a talk show. Early reports show that Fox had the biggest audience for the NFC game than any TV program (sports or not) other than a Super Bowl since 1998, and that was the Seinfeld finale.
The Colts vs. Jets game was the highest rated AFC Championship game in 24 years.
Now we'll see if those viewers prefer to wait until the Super Bowl game itself, or if they really want to talk about it day after day.
NBA-TV is making more strides this season, its first on some of the larger cable systems. I am looking forward to a new show the network is producing called "Making the Call". The show will focus on rules and regulations. The debut show premieres on Wednesday (Jan. 27) with Ronnie Nunn, the NBA Director of Officiating, as the primary guest. I'm sure there a few head coaches who would have liked to have done the questioning!
The network will be showing plenty of games over the next few days, picking up local telecasts:
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 27 Los Angeles Lakers @ Indiana Pacers
FRIDAY, JAN. 29 Boston Celtics @ Atlanta Hawks
SATURDAY, JAN. 30 Atlanta Hawks @ Orlando Magic
SUNDAY, JAN. 31 Phoenix Suns @ Houston Rockets
It will be interesting to see if the true basketball fans prevail over the big market casual fans for next Tuesday (Feb. 2), when NBA-TV presents its "Fan Night" game. One of the choices is Detroit at New Jersey. That game is only news because one of the those teams will probably win a game. Yet, those are both huge TV markets. The logical choice is Atlanta vs. Oklahoma City in a battle of 2 hot teams making strong playoff runs.
On the baseball side, ESPN has announced some of its upcoming Sunday Night Baseball matchups:
April 4 Opening Night: New York Yankees at Boston
April 11 St. Louis at Milwaukee
April 18 New York Mets at St. Louis
April 25 Atlanta at N.Y. Mets
May 2 N.Y. Mets at Philadelphia
May 9 N.Y. Yankees at Boston
May 16 Philadelphia at Milwaukee
May 23 N.Y. Yankees at N.Y. Mets
May 30 Texas at Minnesota
July 4 Kansas City at L.A. Angels
July 11 Chicago Cubs at L.A. Dodgers
July 18 Philadelphia at Chicago Cubs
Yes, 2 of the first 6 weeks are Yankees vs. Red Sox. As if that is a surprise.
Spring training games could be abundant this season more than ever. No official word yet from MLB Network, which picked up about 30 telecasts last March. ESPN has announced it will televise 10 exhibition games from March 22 through Friday April 2, during the last 2 weeks of exhibition play.
ESPN will kick off the regular season with 5 games on Monday April 5 (making it 6 opening games counting the April 4 Yankees vs. Red Sox telecast). American League fans will enjoy Cleveland at Chicago White Sox and Minnesota at L A Angels. National League fans will enjoy St. Louis at Cincinnati, Chicago Cubs at Atlanta, and San Francisco at Houston.
In addition to its Saturday Game of the Week, Fox-TV might be moving 2 of its telecasts into prime time. USA Today reports that one would be in May and the other in June. As good as that sounds for baseball fans, that seems too early in the season to offer a compelling matchup for prime time.
BOSTON: Baseball fans in the Boston area get an interesting opportunity this Thursday (Jan. 28) evening. The Cambridge Center for Adult Education begins its "Homerun in Harvard Square" seminar series at 6 PM. The guest will be none other than Peter Gammons, now with MLB Network. Upcoming confirmed guests are Tom DiBenedetto, Red Sox partner; Jed Lowrie, Red Sox infielder; and Larry Silverstein, attorney/special counsel to the LA Dodgers. Details at www.ccae.org.
CINCINNATI: Great idea from Fox Sports Ohio to promote the upcoming Reds season. The Network has taken a group of telecasts of significant Reds games from the past 40 years and synced the audio of the radio broadcasts with Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall.
Included in the Monday night series will be Game 4 of the 1970 World Series, Tom Browning's perfect game, the clinching 1976 NLCS game vs. Philadelphia, Tom Seaver's no-hitter vs. St. Louis from 1978, the 1985 game in which Pete Rose breaks the all-time hit record, and Game 7 of the memorable 1975 World Series.
It's too bad that the rest of the country can't enjoy these, especially with the hometown flavor of "Marty and Joe on Reds radio". Here is a regional network producing this, while the nationally available ESPN Classic sticks us with poker, bowling, boxing, and probably tiddly winks in prime time.
BALTIMORE: Anita Marks is no longer a part of afternoon drive on The Fan 105.7, and also shown on MASN, after nearly 4 years. She had been co-hosting the show with Scott Garceau.
SAN FRANCISCO: Extra Sports 860 will no longer be living up to its name as of next week. KTRB will begin running the syndicated Michael Savage show from 3 to 6 PM as of Monday (Feb. 1). No other changes have been announced as of press time, but it seems odd to only take out the afternoon drive sports show.
KANSAS CITY: Former Royals pitcher Paul Splittorff continues to make good progress recovering from the infection which took him away from the majority of Royals telecasts last season. He recently joined Dave Armstrong and Jon Sundvold on a Kansas University basketball broadcast, and plans to join them again for a game or two during February. The number of Royals games Splittorff will work during the upcoming season has yet to be finalized.
LINCOLN: Former Nebraska University linebacker Adrian Fiala will no longer be a part of the Nebraska football broadcast team, which he had been a part of since 1996. He worked with current play-by-play voice Greg Sharpe, as well as Jim Rose and Warren Swain. Sharpe and Matt Davison will handle the call for the 2010 season.
Lincoln's KLMS 1480 AM has officially dumped ESPN Radio and its sports programming after 12 years as a sports station. Whether temporary or not, the station has gone oldies.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Sports Media Report - Jan. 20th update
In recent years, this has been the week to start reducing time spent listening to and watching sports talk shows in order to limit hearing about the Super Bowl over and over and over again.
Not so this time around. It is getting to the point where even the sports stations are not reporting what is truly sports "news" when it comes to the Super Bowl. The sports outlets are making it a media event instead of a football game. I can understand if music stations and local TV newscasts take that angle, but it's getting out of hand.
All of a sudden sports stations, sports TV talk shows, and sports related web sites are bringing us "news stories" about how many commercials are sold, what singers will be performing, and which advertisers are spending big bucks for the game.
Am I the only one who resents seeing the "stadium name" story showing up in "Sports Headlines" all afternoon?
As a sports fan, I don't care how many millions CBS is getting for the commercials. I don't care who will be advertising. I don't care what stadium the game is being played in.
I never thought it would get to the point where I might actually welcome hearing from the row after row of sports anchors sitting at media headquarters for a week interviewing the same people over and over again. At least they focus on the game itself.
A player injury won't be as important as this week's name for the stadium hosting the game. If this doesn't stop, they might as well have a CBS "Festival of Commercials" and let two good NFL teams play a sudden death series of downs at halftime. What's next? Please remember this is about a football game. At least on the sports stations and outlets.
I'll admit that I rarely report or comment on NASCAR, but this is strange enough to catch my attention. The NASCAR web site now features an interview with a racing team owner who complains about certain commentators on the national TV coverage:
http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/headlines/cup/01/20/jack.rousch.television.coverage.fans/
He is certainly entitled to his opinion. Yet, it is the opinion of others, namely the "name brand" commentators that are a big part of the reason so many people are watching the telecasts in the first place. Somebody needs to tell him that times have changed. The "don't say anything bad about anybody" approach died in the 70's when Howard Cosell went prime time to "tell it like it is". He should be glad there is so much interest in the telecasts. If it works, don't fix it.
MIAMI: Ed Freeman and Jeff Fox have a new contract for the 1 to 3 PM spot on WAXY The Ticket 790. Yet, the station won't quite be all sports, as it has picked up a syndicated non-sports show to air from 1 to 4 AM.
TAMPA: WFLA 970 has hired Allyson Turner to be part of its morning show team starting next Monday (Jan. 25), working along with Jack Harris and Tedd Webb. While at Miami's WQAM, among her responsibilities was producing Hank Goldberg's show. She replaces Sharon Taylor, who was let go several weeks ago after nearly 10 years with the station.
PITTSBURGH: The Fan comes to Pittsburgh in the form of the city's first FM sports station which debuts on February 15th. Unless another FM station were to suddenly forge ahead, KDKA-FM 93.7 will become The Fan on the President's Day holiday. Until then, "B94" will continue to play the hits and cross promote the CBS owned Star 100.7 FM which figures to inherit its music audience.
CINCINNATI: The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Andy Furman, who hosted SportsTalk on WLW for more than 18 years, could return to the local airwaves as quickly as the first week in February. WQRT-AM, which airs syndicated non-sports programming, is reportedly looking at opening up the 5 to 7 PM weekday spot for its first local show.
BALTIMORE: Fox Sports 1370 AM is taking a chance on Baltimore fans being interested in the NHL Washington Capitals, especially in areas where the originating signal from D.C. does not come in. This past weekend, WVIE began with the first of nine Capitals broadcasts they will carry this season. Nothing further has been announced beyond the regular season.
DALLAS: For all of the accolades, and deservedly so, that Brad Sham has gained over the years for his calls of Cowboys football and other sports, his baseball counterpart is also making history. Rangers voice Eric Nadel has again been named "Texas Sportscaster of the Year". Eric certainly knows the drill by now. This marks the fifth time he was won the Award. Keep in mind this is a statewide award, not just for the Metroplex.
BANGOR: The Patriots, Red Sox, and Celtics may be "the" teams throughout Maine, but following them in the Bangor area just took on a new challenge. WAEI 97.1 and WABI 910 decided to pull the plug on carrying WEEI Boston sports programming, citing a contract dispute after 16 months of the arrangement.
Neither side is talking much, but it would appear that WEEI is not pleased with the decision. This is based on WEEI issuing a statement to "remind" Bangor area residents of the WEEI online stream.
WAEI and WABI immediately switched over to Fox Sports programming, which they had only been carrying overnight. Sounds like everybody loses on this one.
TAMPA: Despite the Buccaneers disappointing season, Sports Radio 1010 has brought back its weekly hour focused on the Bucs. Each Wednesday from 5 to 6 PM J. P. Peterson and Scott Reynolds host, with the show scheduled to air each week throughout the entire off season. That's plenty of time to do nothing but look ahead.
Meanwhile, sorry that we have two deaths to reflect on this week. Art Rust, who hosted sports talk on WABC Radio New York in the 80's, passed away last week. A lot of fans consider Rust's show to have laid the foundation for WFAN before the 80's were over.
From Hazard, KY comes word that Ernest Sparkman died at the age of 84 this past Friday (Jan. 15). Sparkman, who played college hoops at the University of Kentucky long ago, broadcast Kentucky Sweet 16 High School Basketball tournament games for 40 years. WSGS-FM, of which Sparkman was one of the owners for a long time, is the only station to broadcast every tournament game for the past 61 years.
NBC-TV has announced its Jan. 31st NHL Game of the Week. Detroit will be at Pittsburgh in an obvious choice since this is a Stanley Cup Finals rematch. The Penguins will also be feature this Sunday (1/24) with their game from Philadelphia. What is nice is how NBC is maintaining the 12:30 PM ET start for its Sunday telecasts. I contend that a consistent starting time is far more important than some of the networks realize. For example, ABC's Sunday NBA package, which hasn't started yet, tends to vary the start times when not doing a doubleheader.
NEWPORT NEWS VA: The "757 Club" with Johnny "D" DeCandido and Bartley Barefoot on WXTG 102.1 and 1490 AM has been moved to a later time, now airing weekdays from 5 to 7 PM. The Chris Myers Show from Fox Sports has moved into the 3 to 5 PM spot.
GREEN VALLEY WV: WAMN 1050 has changed ownership and has ended its affiliation with ESPN as of this week and now is a music station. WKEZ 1240, which will continue to carry Fox Sports, becomes the area's only full-time sports station.
Not so this time around. It is getting to the point where even the sports stations are not reporting what is truly sports "news" when it comes to the Super Bowl. The sports outlets are making it a media event instead of a football game. I can understand if music stations and local TV newscasts take that angle, but it's getting out of hand.
All of a sudden sports stations, sports TV talk shows, and sports related web sites are bringing us "news stories" about how many commercials are sold, what singers will be performing, and which advertisers are spending big bucks for the game.
Am I the only one who resents seeing the "stadium name" story showing up in "Sports Headlines" all afternoon?
As a sports fan, I don't care how many millions CBS is getting for the commercials. I don't care who will be advertising. I don't care what stadium the game is being played in.
I never thought it would get to the point where I might actually welcome hearing from the row after row of sports anchors sitting at media headquarters for a week interviewing the same people over and over again. At least they focus on the game itself.
A player injury won't be as important as this week's name for the stadium hosting the game. If this doesn't stop, they might as well have a CBS "Festival of Commercials" and let two good NFL teams play a sudden death series of downs at halftime. What's next? Please remember this is about a football game. At least on the sports stations and outlets.
I'll admit that I rarely report or comment on NASCAR, but this is strange enough to catch my attention. The NASCAR web site now features an interview with a racing team owner who complains about certain commentators on the national TV coverage:
http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/headlines/cup/01/20/jack.rousch.television.coverage.fans/
He is certainly entitled to his opinion. Yet, it is the opinion of others, namely the "name brand" commentators that are a big part of the reason so many people are watching the telecasts in the first place. Somebody needs to tell him that times have changed. The "don't say anything bad about anybody" approach died in the 70's when Howard Cosell went prime time to "tell it like it is". He should be glad there is so much interest in the telecasts. If it works, don't fix it.
MIAMI: Ed Freeman and Jeff Fox have a new contract for the 1 to 3 PM spot on WAXY The Ticket 790. Yet, the station won't quite be all sports, as it has picked up a syndicated non-sports show to air from 1 to 4 AM.
TAMPA: WFLA 970 has hired Allyson Turner to be part of its morning show team starting next Monday (Jan. 25), working along with Jack Harris and Tedd Webb. While at Miami's WQAM, among her responsibilities was producing Hank Goldberg's show. She replaces Sharon Taylor, who was let go several weeks ago after nearly 10 years with the station.
PITTSBURGH: The Fan comes to Pittsburgh in the form of the city's first FM sports station which debuts on February 15th. Unless another FM station were to suddenly forge ahead, KDKA-FM 93.7 will become The Fan on the President's Day holiday. Until then, "B94" will continue to play the hits and cross promote the CBS owned Star 100.7 FM which figures to inherit its music audience.
CINCINNATI: The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Andy Furman, who hosted SportsTalk on WLW for more than 18 years, could return to the local airwaves as quickly as the first week in February. WQRT-AM, which airs syndicated non-sports programming, is reportedly looking at opening up the 5 to 7 PM weekday spot for its first local show.
BALTIMORE: Fox Sports 1370 AM is taking a chance on Baltimore fans being interested in the NHL Washington Capitals, especially in areas where the originating signal from D.C. does not come in. This past weekend, WVIE began with the first of nine Capitals broadcasts they will carry this season. Nothing further has been announced beyond the regular season.
DALLAS: For all of the accolades, and deservedly so, that Brad Sham has gained over the years for his calls of Cowboys football and other sports, his baseball counterpart is also making history. Rangers voice Eric Nadel has again been named "Texas Sportscaster of the Year". Eric certainly knows the drill by now. This marks the fifth time he was won the Award. Keep in mind this is a statewide award, not just for the Metroplex.
BANGOR: The Patriots, Red Sox, and Celtics may be "the" teams throughout Maine, but following them in the Bangor area just took on a new challenge. WAEI 97.1 and WABI 910 decided to pull the plug on carrying WEEI Boston sports programming, citing a contract dispute after 16 months of the arrangement.
Neither side is talking much, but it would appear that WEEI is not pleased with the decision. This is based on WEEI issuing a statement to "remind" Bangor area residents of the WEEI online stream.
WAEI and WABI immediately switched over to Fox Sports programming, which they had only been carrying overnight. Sounds like everybody loses on this one.
TAMPA: Despite the Buccaneers disappointing season, Sports Radio 1010 has brought back its weekly hour focused on the Bucs. Each Wednesday from 5 to 6 PM J. P. Peterson and Scott Reynolds host, with the show scheduled to air each week throughout the entire off season. That's plenty of time to do nothing but look ahead.
Meanwhile, sorry that we have two deaths to reflect on this week. Art Rust, who hosted sports talk on WABC Radio New York in the 80's, passed away last week. A lot of fans consider Rust's show to have laid the foundation for WFAN before the 80's were over.
From Hazard, KY comes word that Ernest Sparkman died at the age of 84 this past Friday (Jan. 15). Sparkman, who played college hoops at the University of Kentucky long ago, broadcast Kentucky Sweet 16 High School Basketball tournament games for 40 years. WSGS-FM, of which Sparkman was one of the owners for a long time, is the only station to broadcast every tournament game for the past 61 years.
NBC-TV has announced its Jan. 31st NHL Game of the Week. Detroit will be at Pittsburgh in an obvious choice since this is a Stanley Cup Finals rematch. The Penguins will also be feature this Sunday (1/24) with their game from Philadelphia. What is nice is how NBC is maintaining the 12:30 PM ET start for its Sunday telecasts. I contend that a consistent starting time is far more important than some of the networks realize. For example, ABC's Sunday NBA package, which hasn't started yet, tends to vary the start times when not doing a doubleheader.
NEWPORT NEWS VA: The "757 Club" with Johnny "D" DeCandido and Bartley Barefoot on WXTG 102.1 and 1490 AM has been moved to a later time, now airing weekdays from 5 to 7 PM. The Chris Myers Show from Fox Sports has moved into the 3 to 5 PM spot.
GREEN VALLEY WV: WAMN 1050 has changed ownership and has ended its affiliation with ESPN as of this week and now is a music station. WKEZ 1240, which will continue to carry Fox Sports, becomes the area's only full-time sports station.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Sports Media Update - Jan. 14th
This started as a private discussion based on my comments over the past few weeks about the recent growth of ratings for sports radio including more than one station in some markets increasing. I still do not think it has anything to do with PPM's taking over.
It has to do with establishing credibility among sports fans. Radio and TV stations which have cut back on or haven't had a true sports presence are losing more and more sports fans, and the audience response reflects this.
Granted, I am old school about sports and news reporting. I was born and raised seeking to break stories and get the scoop on my competition. There was a time when my sportscasts would compete against another top local radio station, and I would actually record theirs while I was on the air and listen back to what my competitor reported on prior to my next report. I had to know I had better information and hopefully better reaction to the big stories of the day.
And I would never mention another radio station. It was considered a "no-no". These were things I learned from watching other news and sports reporters. I once had a News Director who urged me to mention that I was anxious to watch a local team's road game on TV that night. When I questioned that, he told me that mentioning the game being on TV could keep people from listening to the radio broadcast on our biggest competitor radio station, I made it a point to make references to televised games.
What does this have to do with today's ratings? They are a reflection of change. These days, for some reason, it has become acceptable, if not the norm, for radio and TV stations to openly refer to other radio and TV stations. It shows. It seems like many sportscasts today are rumors of what might happen in place of looking at upcoming games. And every rumor seems to include its source instead of verification.
Listen to or watch a sportscast on a station that does not have a sports reporter. Count how many stories include a "ESPN is reporting that....." or "Fox Sports says.....". Therein lies the problem. These "stories" remind me and others like me to simply listen to another outlet to get my news.
Granted, the Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien "story" is not sports, but this is an extreme example of my point. In the old days, this "story" never would have been anywhere other than on an NBC station. Yet, CBS, ABC, and Fox Radio and TV stations have covered this "story" as if there audience needs this information. It is really a reason to watch NBC and see how this comes out. Just the same, hearing what Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, or ESPN have reported that day gives me a reason to go right to those sources for information. I'm here to tell you that people are wise to this, and it is reflecting in the overall growth of sports stations.
Same theory on the TV side, where some local stations are reducing or eliminating sports coverage on local news "because of" ESPN. Instead of trying to out perform them locally. As a result, SportsCenter thrives while local news ratings drop in the 25-54 male demographic.
Yet, it doesn't stop there. This past Tuesday morning, I read an A P story about the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars reducing some ticket prices for next season. The story goes on to give a primary reason for this being that 9 of their 10 home games this past season were blacked out. Silly me. I thought sports teams were trying to win. Yet, this wire service story had no mention of the fact that the Jaguars again failed to make the playoffs. Here's a thought. Maybe if they had made the playoffs, ticket sales wouldn't be such a concern.
Meanwhile, February 1st is the date that this year's winner of the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford Frick Award for broadcasters will be announced. Some major choices this year, including the late Skip Caray, the recently retired Lanny Frattare (Pirates), Reds legend Joe Nuxhall, and Jon Miller of ESPN and 4 MLB teams over the years.
Ten regular season games from the NBA Development League will air during February and March. What makes this curious is that the network showing them happens to be Versus. Some dismiss this story because it's not as if this will create a demand for Versus from those cable and satellite systems which still don't (or can't) carry it. I have to believe, since Comcast owns a big chunk of Versus, that this is the start of Comcast looking to forge a better relationship with the NBA prior to taking over NBC.
NBA-TV has added Matt Winer as a studio analyst starting next week. Winer had been with ESPN since 1991 and a big part of the NBA coverage. This comes on the heels of ESPN losing baseball analyst Peter Gammons to MLB Network. Before coming to ESPN, Winer was with KSDK-TV in St. Louis, where he was hired to replace Trey Wingo when he had left that station to go to ESPN.
It seems rare for NBC-TV to grow its sports coverage (Comcast anyone?), but the network has announced it will televise six key horse races this spring which lead up to the Kentucky Derby in May. These will include the will include the Louisiana Derby, Lane's End Stakes, Santa Anita Derby, Wood Memorial, Bluegrass Stakes and Arkansas Derby.
CHICAGO: The growth of ratings for the NHL Blackhawks telecast have led to Comcast SportsNet Chicago adding 18 'out of town' NHL telecasts for the remainder of this broken season. To their credit, the telecasts are well chosen, such as Detroit at San Jose on Feb. 2nd.
St. LOUIS: KFNS sports radio has added Howard Balzer and Andy Strickland to its afternoon show, along with Jay Randolph Jr. KSLG 1380 now has Joe Pelusi, Charlie Marlow, Mike Wellington, and Hanna Hercules handling middays, with Evan Makovsky on from 1 to 2 PM. WXOS 101.1 introduced Bob Stelton as a co-host with Bryan Burwell to replace Pat Parris.
PITTSBURGH: The Cannon was shot down from WPGB-FM 104,7. Ellis Cannon is out from his weeknight sports talk show in favor of political talk instead. In addition, Cannon is out from Fox Sports 970 sports updates and pre-game shows on Pirates and Steelers broadcasts on other Clearance Channel stations.]
DENVER: Market veteran Jerry Schemmel has been added to the Rockies broadcast team for this season, replacing the retired Jeff Kingery. This comes despite his having reduced his role on NBA Nuggets broadcasts to cut back on travel. Schemmel is also in his first full seasons as football and basketball play-by-play for Colorado State University.
NEW ORLEANS: WIST 690 has switched from music to sports to start the new year. It carries Stephen A. Smith and Dan Patrick, but is adding local programming, including Eric Asher, Eric Richey, and Kenny Wilkerson, formerly of WWL.
SPARTANBURG: Another sports radio simulcast is born. 97.1 FM is now carrying WSPG 1400 ESPN programming in a move to increase the signal coverage. The station will continue to carry Atlanta Braves baseball for the upcoming season.
WILMINGTON NC: John Smist becomes the new weekend sports anchor at WECT-TV. Smist has left Bangor's WLBZ-TV after almost 6 years to accept this position.
It has to do with establishing credibility among sports fans. Radio and TV stations which have cut back on or haven't had a true sports presence are losing more and more sports fans, and the audience response reflects this.
Granted, I am old school about sports and news reporting. I was born and raised seeking to break stories and get the scoop on my competition. There was a time when my sportscasts would compete against another top local radio station, and I would actually record theirs while I was on the air and listen back to what my competitor reported on prior to my next report. I had to know I had better information and hopefully better reaction to the big stories of the day.
And I would never mention another radio station. It was considered a "no-no". These were things I learned from watching other news and sports reporters. I once had a News Director who urged me to mention that I was anxious to watch a local team's road game on TV that night. When I questioned that, he told me that mentioning the game being on TV could keep people from listening to the radio broadcast on our biggest competitor radio station, I made it a point to make references to televised games.
What does this have to do with today's ratings? They are a reflection of change. These days, for some reason, it has become acceptable, if not the norm, for radio and TV stations to openly refer to other radio and TV stations. It shows. It seems like many sportscasts today are rumors of what might happen in place of looking at upcoming games. And every rumor seems to include its source instead of verification.
Listen to or watch a sportscast on a station that does not have a sports reporter. Count how many stories include a "ESPN is reporting that....." or "Fox Sports says.....". Therein lies the problem. These "stories" remind me and others like me to simply listen to another outlet to get my news.
Granted, the Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien "story" is not sports, but this is an extreme example of my point. In the old days, this "story" never would have been anywhere other than on an NBC station. Yet, CBS, ABC, and Fox Radio and TV stations have covered this "story" as if there audience needs this information. It is really a reason to watch NBC and see how this comes out. Just the same, hearing what Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, or ESPN have reported that day gives me a reason to go right to those sources for information. I'm here to tell you that people are wise to this, and it is reflecting in the overall growth of sports stations.
Same theory on the TV side, where some local stations are reducing or eliminating sports coverage on local news "because of" ESPN. Instead of trying to out perform them locally. As a result, SportsCenter thrives while local news ratings drop in the 25-54 male demographic.
Yet, it doesn't stop there. This past Tuesday morning, I read an A P story about the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars reducing some ticket prices for next season. The story goes on to give a primary reason for this being that 9 of their 10 home games this past season were blacked out. Silly me. I thought sports teams were trying to win. Yet, this wire service story had no mention of the fact that the Jaguars again failed to make the playoffs. Here's a thought. Maybe if they had made the playoffs, ticket sales wouldn't be such a concern.
Meanwhile, February 1st is the date that this year's winner of the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford Frick Award for broadcasters will be announced. Some major choices this year, including the late Skip Caray, the recently retired Lanny Frattare (Pirates), Reds legend Joe Nuxhall, and Jon Miller of ESPN and 4 MLB teams over the years.
Ten regular season games from the NBA Development League will air during February and March. What makes this curious is that the network showing them happens to be Versus. Some dismiss this story because it's not as if this will create a demand for Versus from those cable and satellite systems which still don't (or can't) carry it. I have to believe, since Comcast owns a big chunk of Versus, that this is the start of Comcast looking to forge a better relationship with the NBA prior to taking over NBC.
NBA-TV has added Matt Winer as a studio analyst starting next week. Winer had been with ESPN since 1991 and a big part of the NBA coverage. This comes on the heels of ESPN losing baseball analyst Peter Gammons to MLB Network. Before coming to ESPN, Winer was with KSDK-TV in St. Louis, where he was hired to replace Trey Wingo when he had left that station to go to ESPN.
It seems rare for NBC-TV to grow its sports coverage (Comcast anyone?), but the network has announced it will televise six key horse races this spring which lead up to the Kentucky Derby in May. These will include the will include the Louisiana Derby, Lane's End Stakes, Santa Anita Derby, Wood Memorial, Bluegrass Stakes and Arkansas Derby.
CHICAGO: The growth of ratings for the NHL Blackhawks telecast have led to Comcast SportsNet Chicago adding 18 'out of town' NHL telecasts for the remainder of this broken season. To their credit, the telecasts are well chosen, such as Detroit at San Jose on Feb. 2nd.
St. LOUIS: KFNS sports radio has added Howard Balzer and Andy Strickland to its afternoon show, along with Jay Randolph Jr. KSLG 1380 now has Joe Pelusi, Charlie Marlow, Mike Wellington, and Hanna Hercules handling middays, with Evan Makovsky on from 1 to 2 PM. WXOS 101.1 introduced Bob Stelton as a co-host with Bryan Burwell to replace Pat Parris.
PITTSBURGH: The Cannon was shot down from WPGB-FM 104,7. Ellis Cannon is out from his weeknight sports talk show in favor of political talk instead. In addition, Cannon is out from Fox Sports 970 sports updates and pre-game shows on Pirates and Steelers broadcasts on other Clearance Channel stations.]
DENVER: Market veteran Jerry Schemmel has been added to the Rockies broadcast team for this season, replacing the retired Jeff Kingery. This comes despite his having reduced his role on NBA Nuggets broadcasts to cut back on travel. Schemmel is also in his first full seasons as football and basketball play-by-play for Colorado State University.
NEW ORLEANS: WIST 690 has switched from music to sports to start the new year. It carries Stephen A. Smith and Dan Patrick, but is adding local programming, including Eric Asher, Eric Richey, and Kenny Wilkerson, formerly of WWL.
SPARTANBURG: Another sports radio simulcast is born. 97.1 FM is now carrying WSPG 1400 ESPN programming in a move to increase the signal coverage. The station will continue to carry Atlanta Braves baseball for the upcoming season.
WILMINGTON NC: John Smist becomes the new weekend sports anchor at WECT-TV. Smist has left Bangor's WLBZ-TV after almost 6 years to accept this position.
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