Sports Talkers On The Rise

First and foremost, our sincere prayers and best wishes to all those impacted by Hurricane Sandy and all that went with it. For the moment, it puts sports and how it is covered in the background, but soon, a lot of people will need the relief and the escape that sports is supposed to provide.

At press time on Tuesday, some of the late September to mid-October radio ratings are coming out for the top markets. In New York, as WFAN is about to begin its move to the FM dial on Saturday (11/3), the station showed a .4 overall increase to a 3.2, good for 13th place. Of course, the increase is more likely due to the Yankees being in the East Division race until the last day of the season (before clinching it) and then into the post-season for the duration of the ratings period.

In Los Angeles, KSPN 710 is showing signs of life, inching up to 24th place overall, while KLAC 570 lingers in 32nd place, even after a full season as the Dodgers' flagship station. Chicago listeners have again increased WSCR The Score 670 up to 13th place overall. Although rival WMVP ESPN 1000 showed a significant .6 increase (to a 1.9 overall), it finished 23rd overall. San Francisco listeners, as you might expect, had Giants fever and put KNBR 680 into the top spot overall. Despite the amazing season by the Oakland A's and the sellout crowds during the final homestand and Division Series, KGMZ The Game showed only a slight increase and is out-rated by KNBR by a higher than 4-to-1 margin.

Perhaps Philadelphia is the most interesting race among the sports stations around the country. The move to FM seems to have taken over in Philly. WIP-FM has risen to 10th overall, and now has more than six times the total audience of WIP-AM, which now airs more separate programming than in the past. WPEN-FM ESPN rose by .3 and is up to 19th overall, also trumping the ratings by its AM signal. This would seem to bode well for WFAN going to FM, at first with a simulcast, and a possible "split" with the AM going to national programming just after the first of the year.

As for baseball ratings, the World Series ratings seem to reflect the decline in the local telecast ratings of several MLB teams during the just concluded season. Ratings were down overall in comparison for the World Series, even with two of the top market teams involved (Detroit and San Francisco). It could be that football, both college (Saturday night Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma) and NFL (Sunday and Monday nights) was a factor. It wasn't that long ago that NBC did not provide a Sunday Night Football telecast during World Series weekend.

Yet, there is a cause for concern for MLB. Although it is an indirect comparison, the NBA Finals did better in the ratings this year than the World Series, making it five times in the  past seven years that has happened. And this June's Finals were decided in only five games, so you can't "blame" a deciding game. In 2012, even the NCAA BCS Championship Series (football) and Final Four (basketball) showed better audience numbers than the World Series.

MLB Network is returning its "Hot Stove" show on Monday November 12th. What's interesting this time is that the show will supposedly originate in the morning, rather than early evening. This could be MLB looking to compete against the NFL Network's weekday morning show by starting during the off-season. This gives MLB Network the chance to refine and develop the show, in hopes of luring viewers over after the Super Bowl leading into the start of spring training.

In an ironic twist, the Dan Patrick Show will be seen on NBC Sports Network starting next Monday (Nov. 5). The Show was dropped a few weeks ago by the Comcast SportsNet regional networks, which, of course, are owned by NBC. Hopefully, and especially with the holiday season coming up, NBC Sports Network will assure having guest hosts on the holidays (and days such as the Friday after Thanksgiving) so that the Dan Patrick Show will have live and fresh content every weekday. Especially now, there is NO excuse for showing repeats during mornings when there are plenty of games and sports news to talk about, and when many viewers can watch who do not otherwise have the opportunity during the regular work week.

CBS-TV will bring viewers an SEC doubleheader on Saturday (11/3), with Ole Miss at Georgia at 3:30 ET (Tim Brando on the call) and then Alabama vs. LSU at 8:00 ET (with Verne Lundquist).

St. LOUIS: A great move, in more ways than one, for sports fans courtesy of KMOX. As the station moves from its long-time studios, the station has posted a link to comments from several major sportscasters and reporters reflecting:

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/10/30/the-sports-hub-memories-at-one-memorial/

SARASOTA: WTMY 1280 is returning its local 3 to 6 PM "Ozzie & The Godfather Show" after only two weeks of national programming.

SCRANTON: Congrats to John Sadak on being named as play-by-play voice of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees minor league games starting in 2013. The former voice of the Wilmington Blue Rocks replaces Mike Vander Woude, who had announced that he was leaving the position after the team was eliminated from the International League playoffs last month. Sadak is expected to continue calling regional college football games for ESPN.

Will TV Ratings Jump Through The Hoops?

While the NFL telecasts continue to produce major ratings and the NHL is no closer to starting (as of press time), it remains to be seen how the early season NBA telecast ratings will fare now that the regular season is only a few days away from starting.

As always, NBA fans will be treated to four consecutive nights of nationally televised doubleheaders. Next Tuesday (Oct. 30) has TNT with season openers from Miami (including the ring ceremony vs. the Celtics) and then Dallas at Los Angeles (Lakers). On Wednesday (Oct. 31), NBA-TV takes over with a doubleheader that has San Antonio opening at New Orleans followed by the Lakers playing in Portland.

On Thursday, TNT shows another local matchup, as the Brooklyn Nets will host the New York Knicks, followed by another strong Western Conference matchup between Oklahoma City and San Antonio. Then, on Friday (Nov. 2), ESPN makes its regular season telecast debut with Miami at New York followed by the Lakers and Clippers from Los Angeles.

Granted, the NBA could have some serious sports audience competition for as many as three of those four nights. The first two scheduled regular nights' viewership could depend on the length of the World Series, while the Nov. 1st telecasts on TNT will be up against the NFL Thursday game. Even though it is not one of the better Thursday night NFL matchups (San Diego at Kansas City), it is the NFL.

If the World Series ends on or by Monday, it could be a very good ratings start for the NBA, especially without the NHL which is usually in full swing by this point.

College hoops are now less than three weeks from going full throttle. Tuesday Nov. 13th is the date for the ESPN College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon, which will include 11 games in 24 hours, starting with a Midnight ET game between West Virginia and Gonzaga. In fact, if you include the ESPN "family" of networks, there will be only five days without at least one college hoops telecast between Nov. 13th and March 10th. And two of those are Dec. 24 and 26.

On another positive note, Dan Shulman will again call college hoops for ESPN, including the prime Saturday night slot working with Dick Vitale. In addition, Shulman will be back as the primary baseball voice, again handling Sunday Night Baseball on TV and then post-season radio play-by-play.

SAN FRANCISCO: CSN Bay Area is going all out, understandably, with its 'surrounding' coverage of the Giants games in the World Series. Its expanded pre-game and post-game coverage includes Greg Papa, Scott Reiss, Duane Kuiper, and Mike Krukow, along with Vida Blue, Bip Roberts, and Bill Laskey as analysts. Impressive as it may be, let's hope it's not still another instance of having too many analysts and not enough time for any of them to properly express their thoughts and concerns.

CHICAGO: Bears radio broadcasts will stay put on WBBM 780 (and its 105.9 FM simulcast) as part of a multi-year contract extension announced this week. Jeff Joniak and Tom Thayer will remain in the booth. The deal also continues the (Head Coach) Lovie Smith show, known as "Bears Insider" for one hour on Monday nights (except when the Bears are playing, of course).

Sister station WSCR 670 The Score will again be airing DePaul basketball for the 15th consecutive season. While Zach Zaidman continues as play-by-play voice, local sportscaster Jeff Blanzy becomes the new analyst. The choice of Blanzy is an odd one. Not because of his ability as a sportscaster. It's because DePaul has produced several NBA players over the years. Yet, somewhere between the University and the station, no one sees the need for a former player to be the analyst. Three of the games will air on WYLL 1160 due to conflicts.

PHILADELPHIA: WIP 610 now has a multi-year agreement to air Villanova basketball starting on November 9th. In addition, "Talking Villanova Basketball With Jay Wright" will air on a weekly basis. The station will also air Villanova football starting with the 2013 season.

St. LOUIS: Fox Sports Midwest has picked up 10 of the St. Louis University Billikens basketball games, meaning that 23 of their games are now scheduled to be televised locally.

Ft. MYERS: ESPN Radio 770 is spreading the wealth among its sister stations in order to help with the large number of area play-by-play conflicts it faces. Its 98.1 FM (South Ft. Myers), 101.5 FM (Bonita Springs), and 105.1 FM (Naples) stations will air their fair share of broadcasts throughout the year. College football broadcasts include Florida State and Miami University, although the Tampa Bay Buccaneers games are expected to air on 770 each Sunday. During basketball season, the Miami Heat and college hoops will be spread around, along with the Tampa Bay Lightning (if and when the NHL season appears). When the 2013 baseball season rolls around, the stations will be able to carry both the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays games. In addition, 770 will continue to air play-by-play from ESPN Radio, including the World Series and NBA games.

SIOUX FALLS: ESPN 99.1 has expanded the role of local native Jeff Thurn. Known for his work on Sirius XM and markets such as Nashville, Thurn now hosts "Overtime With Jeff Thurn" from 4-7 PM weekdays, moving from having been a weekend show. Thurn was quoted as being pleased to be back in his hometown, and we wish him well on this.

Giant Steps For A Buck

Joe Buck calls entire games in two major sports on the same day. Was it a publicity stunt, or did Fox Sports allow it because it was physically possible to do?

Whether you enjoy Joe Buck as a broadcaster or not, you have to give him credit for calling back-to-back games to a large national audience, especially when it involved both football and baseball. This past Sunday, Buck was in San Francisco. First, he called the doubleheader game from San Francisco with the N.Y. Giants playing at the 49ers. Since there was no overtime and the game ended about when it was expected to, Buck was escorted over to the nearby baseball stadium and proceeded to call the entire Giants vs. St. Louis Cardinals NLCS game in prime time. Not only the same city, but both games happened to involve the Giants!

That experience has to be one of Buck's career highlights. It's not the first time an announcer has called two sports on national TV the same day in the same area (Keith Jackson did it), but it appears to be the first with both games in progress within an hour of each other. The preparation is nothing short of amazing. It's not only knowing all of the teams involved, but it's knowing the different production and support personnel on each telecast, and then being able to carry it off so well.

A lot has been written and said about the TBS post-season coverage, with most of it less than positive. I think they have done better than most people. However, they suffer from what seems to be a network "syndrome" with announcers not always being in the exact role they are best suited for.
Ron Darling and John Smoltz are both doing well as analysts. However, why have two pitchers and no position player or manager? Aren't the fans entitled to analysis from a prominent hitter? Shouldn't Cal Ripken (like him or not as an analyst) be in the booth with either Darling OR Smoltz?

Yet, it's not only TBS that does this. I have pointed out numerous times how absurd it is that ESPN has Doris Burke as an analyst sitting courtide during some NBA telecasts, while former players sit in the studio? (And I think Doris does a very good job - it's just that she didn't play in the NBA.)

At least ESPN realizes the error of their ways and is finally (long overdue) assigning a host for the ABC/ESPN studio portion of its NBA telecasts starting this season. Bill Simmons, although more known as a basketball author than a broadcaster, has been named to host. It will still be Jalen Rose and Magic Johnson in the studio. It's not whether or not you enjoy their respective commentary, it's that because there are so many analysts, it seems none of them get the time they need to bring out their complete thoughts. Same with TBS, with Ripken, David Wells, and Dennis Eckersley in the studio. Do we really need what amounts to FOUR pitchers to comment on the same plays?

I suppose this is due in part to the major ratings success of the NFL. The executives who make these decisions see the endless parade of analysts on Fox and CBS, and the parade of hosts and analysts on Sunday Night Football, and seem to think that doing the same for baseball and basketball will make a difference.

At least Fox has done it more sensibly, having a former QB (Bradshaw), former defensive standout (Long), and a former coach (Johnson) on their crew. I'd prefer they each have more individual segments instead of all three seemingly commenting on everything.

Let the viewers enjoy and appreciate each analyst, instead of force-feeding multiple opinions about every play or move.

Meanwhile, auto racing coverage in the news these past few days, as the networks vie for the loyal and consistent audiences it delivers. Fox Sports announced an 8-year extension with NASCAR which will soon include streaming as part of their coverage.

NBC Sports Group has a new 4-year deal, starting in 2013, to cover Formula One races. NBC will show only four of the major races, with as many as 16 others to be shown on NBC Sports Network.

The NBC Sports Network continues to suffer without the NHL to act as its anchor. The filler live programming isn't going to bring in enough viewers. Just putting "any" college football and (soon) basketball games with unfamiliar teams to most isn't going to make a dent.

COLUMBUS: Scott Torgerson has been suspended (as of press time) from WBNS 97.1 The Fan because of a Twitter comment. Normally, I'd be wondering why a comment not made on the air would have such an impact, but I'll go along with this one. Torgerson stated that he wished that ESPN's Desmond Howard "would get fired or die". In this instance, especially with WBNS being the flagship station for Ohio State football, the station had to make this move. It remains to be seen how long the suspension will last, and what will happen to Torgerson's role if and when he returns.

CHICAGO: No word (as of press time) regarding a replacement for Bob Brenly as analyst on Chicago Cubs telecasts starting next season. Brenly left after eight seasons in the role, and is reportedly in line to join the AZ Diamondbacks broadcast team.

CINCINNATI: WQRT-AM 1160 is adding to its sports content, bringing two more hours of afternoon drive sports talk as of this week. Now that the Reds' season is over, WQRT has brought in Jeff Piecoro from Fox Sports Ohio to host from 5-7 PM on weekdays, while Dennis Walker will host sports talk from 3 to 5 PM. The station airs non-sports (talk) programming the rest of the day. This change may or may not continue past next spring when the Reds' 2013 season starts.

CLEVELAND: The biggest competition the Browns may be involved in could be regarding their radio rights after this season. All signs indicate that WTAM 1100 is going to have a bidding war on its hands from the rival sports network groups seeking the most valuable rights in town for themselves.

TAMPA: Sports fans now have plenty of radio choices. WHNZ 1250 has picked up Fox Sports Radio, which was made available when WDAE 620 switched, understandably, to ESPN a few weeks back. In addition, 98.7 The Fan is the local CBS Sports station, while 1010 AM is expected to carry the national CBS Sports feed starting with the new year. WHBO 1040 had chosen to go with NBC Sports. The move by WHNZ gives Fox Sports more coverage, especially south of the Bay, as WTMY 1280 continues to air Fox Sports programming. The end result figures to be a highly saturated audience during the nights when the various games are airing on TV.
 

Too Many Big Losses

What a sad week for sports media everywhere, as we have lost four important members since the weekend.

Alex Karas probably deserved even more recognition for his NFL accomplishments on the Lions' defensive line, but we all remember him for his time as an analyst on Monday Night Football, in addition to movie roles and a couple of TV shows. One story I remember from his playing days was how he almost "stopped" history. Karas used to tell the story of how he was on the field when Tom Dempsey of the New Orleans Saints kicked his record 63 yard field goal in the last seconds to upset the Lions. He recalled getting a hand up and "almost" getting a piece of the football as it sailed toward the goal post. Yet, if he had even tipped the ball slightly and stopped it from going through, chances are nobody would have remembered it this many years later. No one would have believed a field goal of that length would have been made.

Beano Cook's passing at age 81 is another that takes our memories back to another era. Cook's unique style of college football analysis has been a part of ABC/ESPN since 1982, including part of this season. Whether you liked him or not, you have to respect his style and ability to keep it fresh season after season and through all of the changes in the college game.

In addition to Karas, Detroit sports fans suffered still another loss on Tuesday. Frank "Budd" Lynch seemingly invented Red Wings games. Lynch did play-by-play of the first Red Wings game ever televised in 1949 and in 1985 was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame for his broadcasting work.

Also in 1985, he became the Red Wings' public address announcer and continued in that role for as long as he could. Even though his passing comes at the age of 95, he will never be replaced.

Chicago area sports fans lost writer Bill Jauss earlier this week, also at the age of 81. Jauss was a sports writer for 50 years before retiring in 2005, most of that with the Chicago Tribune. He was also a participant in "The Sports Writers" radio show on WGN Radio in the 80's, and later on "The Sports Writers On TV" on a regional sports network.

This all combines for a tremendous loss for long-time sports fans. These were individuals who did what they did, and quite well, for a long period of time, and mostly with one employer. Here's hoping they all leave a lot of inspiration behind.

Meanwhile, we'll see if the Game 5's and competitive Division Series can rescue the MLB post-season ratings. (Press time is on Thursday afternoon while the games are being played.) Even with the Yankees on Monday night in their ALDS series against Baltimore, the ESPN Monday Night Football telecast of the Jets vs. Houston more than doubled the TBS baseball ratings. And, as usual, NBC Sunday Night Football telecast finished well ahead of TBS' Sunday telecasts, which also included the Yankees. It should be pointed out, however, that both the Sunday and Monday night Yankees games began after a rain delay, which likely sent some audience members off to the NFL telecasts never to return. Then again, this comes on top of a regular season which reportedly saw more than half of the MLB teams showing a decline in local TV ratings over the course of the season.

The NFL Network has added Andrea Kremer, formerly with ESPN and NBC, to its roster of reporters.

CBS Radio continues a serious effort to push its new sports network, especially in New York City. The acquisition of WRXP-FM 101.9 leads to a simulcast of WFAN 660, as well as FM dial competition for ESPN Radio. Although WFAN will be simulcast on FM, it appears that the two will change to separate sports programming by the end of the year. One frequency will likely shift to the CBS Sports Radio national programming, while the other continues with the WFAN local personalities. It will be interesting to see what becomes of the play-by-play broadcasts of the Mets, Giants, Nets, and Devils games. The positive aspect to that is that fans will know where to tune when there are conflicts, especially with the Nets and Devils (if and when the NHL has a season).

In Philadelphia, CBS is poised to change WIP-AM over to CBS sports programming while maintain the local presence on WIP-FM, and the NYC acquisition is reportedly designed with the same plan in mind. As a result, rumors are flying in Chicago. There, CBS is currently simulcasting WBBM NewsRadio 780 on 105.9 FM, and has a struggling music station on 104.3 FM. Some are speculating that CBS will switch one of those two stations over to WSCR The Score 670.

HOUSTON: As the Astros change leagues to start the 2013 season, they are also completely changing radio announcers. Although the retirement of Milo Hamilton after this season was known, there is some surprise that Brett Dolan and Dave Raymond have not been retained either. Then again, what they really need to change is the players.

DENVER: The Rockies, meanwhile, are keeping their broadcast teams in tact for 2013. Jack Corrigan and Jerry Schemmel return for their 4th season together on KOA 850, while Drew Goodman, George Frazier, and Jeff Huson will return on the TV side.

ATLANTA: SportsRadio 92.9 The Game continues to build an impressive staff for its debut. Its football related local personnel already includes Randy Cross, former QB Kordell Stewart, and former Falcons tackle (and NFL Network analyst) Jamie Dukes. Basketball analysis includes Rick Kamla of NBA-TV. The station has also brought in Jason Goff from WSCR The Score in Chicago to host one of its shows.

ORLANDO: The musical chairs of national networks continues for Orlando listeners. Last week we noted that WHOO 1080 mysteriously dropped ESPN to pick up NBC Sports. As you might expect, ESPN Radio will be back on (or before) November 12th on WDBO 580.

On the TV side, fans of the NBA Magic won't have to constantly search the TV listings to find the games between Fox Sports Florida and Sun Sports. Starting this season, Fox Sports Florida will air every game, except for exclusive national telecasts. And without Dwight Howard, at this point in time only one Magic game (Dec. 14th vs. Golden State) will be shown elsewhere. David Steele and Matt Goukas continue as the broadcast team.

The Hidden NFL Stories

As the NFL continues to dominate in the TV ratings, the league's impact on the media is also quite significant these days. Last week, understandably, the emphasis was on the replacement referees and their role in getting the "real" officials back on the field. Those events enabled the NFL to turn a negative into a positive. And, to squash another story which could have had more of a negative impact on the league.

While the referees story was so dominant, it gave the NFL the opportunity to get the saga of the New Orleans Saints players involved in the bounty penalties out of view. Just days earlier, the previously suspended players were allowed to return to the lineup, but it would be "upon further review", to use a favorite term of the NFL. Late last week, I asked five friends who are NFL fans but do not work in the media, "What happened with those Saints players? Are they playing?". And four of them were not certain. That was the proof I needed. The media, outside of the Saints' market, abandoned that story to run with the real officials returning and debate the Green Bay vs. Seattle controversy. But frankly, the NFL should not have gotten away with having the Saints players story buried like that.

Yet, the NFL publicity machine keeps barreling on, as Sunday night and Monday night ratings were through the roof once again. But I'm convinced the ratings would have been astronomical even without the return of the "real" officials. Fans still would have watched in big numbers to see if the replacement refs would have screwed up even worse than the previous Monday night.

At Fox Sports, they do not have MLB coverage these next two weekends (since TBS has the Division Series games in both leagues except for MLB Network showing one game on Sunday), they are going all out with football. Along with the usual NFL fare on Sunday afternoon, Fox will have a college football doubleheader on Saturday (10/6), thus keeping alive the late afternoon slot which had been for baseball over the past 2+ months. The Arizona at Stanford game will air starting at 3:30 ET, with West Virginia at Texas scheduled for 7:50 ET. This means that Fox goes up against ABC's college telecasts in both time slots. Then for Saturday Oct. 13th, Fox plans to air a live Pac-12 Conference doubleheader. Utah will be UCLA late afternoon with USC at Washington as the prime-time game. And that most recent time that Utah football was nationally televised was?

On the baseball side, plenty has been said by others about the new MLB deals which begin for 2014. Although TBS gets screwed by having to pay millions more for just under half of the inventory it has this year, the fans win because of the increase in available games on a national basis. The lifting of local blackouts for ESPN Monday and Wednesday night and TBS Sunday telecasts could be noteworthy in a few markets where not as many fans enjoy the local announcing teams. Yet, if and as the local originating telecast crew does a sufficient to excellent job, those stations/networks won't have anything to worry about in terms of losing audience share when telecasts compete.

Kudos to ESPN and MLB Network for their coverage of the last two days of an exciting regular season. MLB Network's ability to pick up the Texas at Oakland showdown on Wednesday afternoon was a tremendous service to baseball fans. And, of course, ESPN's dual coverage of the final Yankees and Orioles regular season games with the East Division on the line was right on.

Locally, it is most likely the increased ratings on YES for Yankees telecasts for their final two regular season series that could keep this season's ratings from finishing at their lowest point since the 2003 season. This is highly unusual given the Yankees' being in such as close race with Baltimore. It's one thing that the Phillies' ratings dropped more than 35% for this season, given that they went from first place in 2011 to not even contending this year.

The Baltimore/DC area has the most to celebrate in terms of local ratings. The Nationals' telecasts showed the biggest increase of any other team at more than 70%, while the Orioles ratings increased by more than 40%.
 
A nice act by Josh Lewin as he completes his first season calling the Mets on WFAN. On Wednesday (10/3), the final day of the regular season, Lewin sent out a Tweet to thank the fans.

Meanwhile, CBS Radio Sports continues in its attempt to grow its start-up national radio network and battle ESPN Radio in several key markets and for team broadcast rights. Somehow, they managed to embarass themselves in Chicago. WSCR The Score 670 is the flagship station for White Sox broadcasts. The White Sox were battling the Tigers for first place in the A.L. Central until two days were left in the season. Most of the time over the past week, the White Sox and Tigers were playing at the same time.

Believe it or not, on more than one occasion, play-by-play voice Ed Farmer told listeners he "is waiting for the Tigers score to come up on the scoreboard". And this happened several times earlier in the season. Let me get this straight. A CBS owned sports station hosting MLB play-by-play has no way to get instant scores to its listeners? They can't afford to have online access in the booth? Sorry, but they should have monitoring the Tigers' games on a separate TV feed and provided listeners with continuing accounts. If not batter-by-batter, certainly no less than when every half inning came to an end. This is a Chicago station, not a minor league broadcast where one guy has to handle everything. Why would fans listen to the station at other times when they aren't getting important information when it matters most?

There is absolutely no excuse for that, whether it is the cheapness of one station or a representation of CBS Sports.

In Cincinnati, ESPN 1510's "Bengals Gameplan" show on Wednesday (10/3) was scheduled (as of press time) to have Jimmy Cefalo and Rich Gannon among its guests. No question about having Dolphins' broadcaster Cefalo on. But having "Rich Gannon of CBS Sports" on has to make you wonder. An ESPN station, with all of its resources, turns to a CBS expert?

TAMPA: WHBO 1040 has decided to go with NBC Sports Radio, giving the new network one of few "major league" market signups. It is believed the primary reason is to add The Dan Patrick Show to the late morning lineup. Back in August, 98.7 The Fan was launched as a CBS Sports affiliate. (WHOO 1080 Orlando also signed up with NBC and added Dan Patrick to its lineup this week.)

CHICAGO: WRTO-AM has signed a 3-year extension to broadcast Chicago Bulls home games in Spanish again this season, now doing all home games. Oscar Ramos continues with play-by-play.

CLEVELAND: It seems not worth doing for one segment per week, but WKYC-TV Channel 3 has hired former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel. The "A Moment With Jim Tressel" segment will air within the station's Wednesday night 7:00 newscasts.

CINCINNATI: Fox Sports Ohio has picked up seven Xavier University basketball telecasts for the upcoming season. Brad Johansen and Steve Wolf will call the mixture of home and road games.

How Tweet It Is For The NFL

The impact of social media on the sports world had not been as evident as it has become over the past few days. Especially for NFL fans.

Obviously, the biggest sports story of the week (and perhaps the entire season) was Monday night's referee fiasco at the conclusion of the Green Bay vs. Seattle game. ESPN did a tremendous job of covering the reaction and providing analysis of the play that changed the season. Not just because they televised the game and had access to resources at the stadium and with the NFL.

It was social media that added even more to the thorough ESPN coverage that extended into the following day on their SportsCenter and other shows. Wisely, ESPN showed numerous Twitter comments, including from players on both the Packers and Seahawks as well as players from around the NFL. Their providing this brought fans additional input about how players and team personnel were feeling and dealing with the situation. In the 'old days', when reporters would pick up the phone and attempt to get players and team personnel to comment for use on the air, many players would either say "no comment", or ask that their comments not be used on the air. They would not want to be linked to anything controversial and/or something they would have to defend later.

But with Twitter and Facebook, reporters are able to find direct quotes from the players (and team and league personnel) which are public and use them to contribute to their news stories and coverage. I give ESPN a ton of credit for having a system in place that enabled them to gather and present comments from players and others from around the country within a short period of time.

Even though the SportsCenter format of moving from sport to sport to sport and not having a flow for viewers especially interested in one sport or league can be annoying, the fact that the SportsCenter which followed the Packers vs. Seahawks game attracted record numbers for SportsCenter shows that fans are thinking ESPN for breaking sports news.

The NFL has had its share of other social media dealings this month. There was the recent situation where a fan of the K.C. Chiefs went on Twitter and in a moment of frustration blasted the team's ownership and its unwillingness to spend the big bucks. It seems that someone in the front office of the Chiefs saw this Tweet, and sent out a Twitter reply via the team's offical feed which questioned this fan's knowledge and told him it was "your choice to be a fan". It seems the team also went ahead and blocked this fan from the team's Twitter account.

Then it turns out that the team official apologized. However, since the fan was blocked from future tweets, the fan was not aware of any apology and had already spread the word about getting such a negative response from the team.

(For those not aware of all of this, the specifics are at http://mashable.com/2012/09/12/nfl-fan-chiefs/ )

As a result, there was more embarrassment caused to the Chiefs than to this fan based on this story getting out into the media. Obviously, without this form of social media, we don't have this story. But because of it, millions of NFL fans are aware of how a team official berated one of its fans publicly.

Then, on Sunday (9/23), those DirecTV viewers with Sunday Ticket who were watching the overtime of the Detroit vs. Tennessee game saw an accidental and very ill-timed start to a commercial during the game's most important play. As the game-tying "hail Mary" pass was completed to Titus Young, commercial started and played for a few seconds. Viewers missed anywhere from part of the actual play to the immediate reaction, depending on the timing of their local system. And how do we know this? Because, obviously, fans who spend hundreds of dollars to have Sunday Ticket went to Twitter and Facebook to express their frustration with DirecTV, regardless of their feeling about the outcome of one of the most exciting games we'll have all season.

Tie it all together, and it shows how many facts, opinions, and incidents we wouldn't otherwise know about if it wasn't for social media.

Not all of the social media use is good, but at least social media gives us the ability to move ahead to the next post and/or delete and move on.

Take the case of Comcast SportsNet Chicago earlier this week. Their news feed, usually consisting of local sports news, interviews, and features, included sending out the video of a brand new commerical featuring Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls. Asking fans to watch a commercial just because it features a local star seems a bit much for what is otherwise presented as a news organization.

Meanwhile, CBS Sports Radio Network is adding the Jim Rome Show to its national network lineup to start on January 2nd. What this does is helps to make CBS Sports Radio a formidable option for stations, and perhaps listeners in smaller markets, instead of Fox Sports Radio programming.

TBS has put together its announcing teams for its upcoming MLB post-season coverage. The number one team will be Ernie Johnson along with John Smoltz and Ron Darling. Look for them to call the Yankees games (if and as they make the post-season and win the first round) for both its ALDS and ALCS coverage. Brian Anderson will call a division series along with Joe Simpson. In addition, the other two division series will have announcing teams of Dick Stockton and Bob Brenly, as well as Don Orsillo and Buck Martinez, who have (with the exception of Brenly) worked multiple seasons on the TBS post-season coverage. Although Smoltz and Darling each do solid jobs as analysts, it does not make sense to have two pitchers and no position players in analyst roles at the game.

ATLANTA: The Game 92.9 Sports Radio will now make its debut in mid-October, and should be announcing its lineup within the next few days. I suppose that since this is a CBS station they want to get somewhat established before the first of the year and the new national network. Yet, the timing of this is strange. The start of this station could come more than a week after the Braves play their last game, although they could be in the NLCS at the time. The football season is well underway, obviously, meaning that the pro and college football fans most likely already have the football based shows they listen to already established.

Media Competes Just Like The Teams

Is the impact that sports has on media greater than the impact media is having on sports right now? Several developments on both fronts this week make that a most interesting question.

NBC is at both ends of the spectrum in terms of the sports impact on the media. Its NFL opener and two Sunday Night Football telecasts have brought tremendous ratings, as expected, and the network has several major matchups to bring us, including its first ever Thanksgiving prime-time telecast. However, the NHL lockout (as of press time) and its threat to delay or even wipe out the scheduled season would mean a severe blow to NBC Sports Network on cable/satellite. NBCSN started to enjoy the benefits of its thorough and expanded NHL coverage from last season, which included the first time showing every post-season game on a national basis.

Since NBC has not been a serious contender (to this point) for any of the MLB or NBA telecasts, the NHL games became the central focus for NBCSN. Although the network has added a few "lesser" college football telecasts and just began some MLS telecasts (with dismal ratings), the lack of live pro sports content without the NHL would be a severe blow to its progress. In addition, the newly added NBC Sports Radio Network loses much of its promotional opportunity from TV until or unless the masses have a real reason to tune in to NBCSN. Yet, this is a sports impact, since NBC has no control over whether or not there is an NHL season or a sufficient number of games available for its audience.If the NHL lockout does go on for weeks, certainly the fans, owners, and current players lose out big time. In this instance, so would NBCSN and indirectly the new NBC Sports Radio Network.

The competition also continues to heat up between CBS Radio Sports and ESPN Radio, although in this instance more at the local level than on a national platform. We have already seen the effort by CBS in New York to maintain its Yankees and Mets rights and keep local baseball away from the expanded signal of ESPN on FM there.

Now, CBS Radio wants to get into the act in Cleveland. Word is that WKRK 92.3 (a CBS station) is making a serious bid to air the Indians baseball games starting with the 2013 season, which would end the long-time run on WTAM 1100. Here is a case where the Indians' bottom line could benefit because of the influx of radio sports networks and for no other reason. This is the Cleveland Indians, fresh off their typical season of falling off the face of the earth after the All-Star break and playing spoiler in front of dropping crowds. If it wasn't for CBS and NBC Radio starting sports networks this quarter, I'd have a hard time believing there would be anything even close to a bidding war for Indians baseball on the radio. Realistically, the team might instead be negotiating for the time to sell its own advertising and hope to do better than break even.

In Boston, ESPN Radio has managed to firm up its battle against CBS' WEEI based on a major announcement earlier this week. While CBS' WBZ-FM The Sports Hub continues to generate strong overall ratings and looks to be one of the stronger CBS Radio Sports Network stations in terms of a major market presence, WEEI is allowing ESPN to take a stronger position in the market. WEEI will no longer simulcast its AM and FM signals as of October 5th, when 850 AM will switch to full-time "national" ESPN Radio, while 93.7 FM will continue the local "regular" WEEI programming, including the Red Sox and Celtics play-by-play. This seems like an ESPN corporate push in the radio battle with CBS, but may not have anywhere near the impact ESPN seems to think it will. The passionate "local" fans would be more likely to switch over to the Sports Hub than to a national feed. Where this could (and emphasis on "could") make a difference would be in fringe areas beyond the FM signal who also can easily receive WFAN 660 from NYC. Some of those listeners might choose the ESPN brand over what WFAN has to offer. I'm just not sure it will make enough of a ratings difference to justify this locally, although ESPN Radio will gain financially based on increased national and/or regional sales.

Still another reminder of media impact on the game comes with the unfortunate passing of Steve Sabol earlier this week. The former President of NFL Films, along with his late father Ed Sabol, spent the past 50 years revolutionizing how football is televised. It wasn't only the innovations, such as slow-motion replays, reverse angle replays, and implementing showing single plays from multiple angles that made NFL Films so great. Nor was it just the amazing editing and packaging of game highlights lasting anywhere from 30 seconds of key plays to 30 minutes of highlights from a single game. Nor was it the unforgettable voices of John Facenda and Harry Kalas making every play seem legendary to our ears.

We can't overlook how comparably little TV coverage the NFL had when the Sabols were in their prime with NFL Films. When Monday Night Football first started in 1970, ABC-TV used NFL Films for their half-time highlights of the Sunday games. At that point in time, every NFL market would have either two or three games shown on Sunday afternoon. The network pre-game shows were 30 minutes, and some (but not all) NFL markets added another half hour pre-game on Sunday mornings. The "post-game" we saw on Sunday afternoons was often up to five minutes to go through the scoreboard and maybe show us a key touchdown or two from around the country.

Even into the 1970's, fans often waited for the following Saturday after a specific NFL game to see extended highlights on the half hour "NFL Game of the Week" TV series, and only then if the featured game was the one they were most interested in. It was within this extended highlights format that fans learned to watch plays in slow motion, from different angles, and hear player and coach reaction from the moment. These aspects of NFL coverage that we all take for granted today were started 40+ years ago by the Sabols. Media coverage of football, and for that matter all sports, was brought to this level with a big thanks from NFL Films. How wonderful that Ed Sabol (Steve's father) was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011, and that Steve was around to enjoy it.

Even with the later 4:25 ET start time for NFL primary doubleheader game telecasts this season, it's good to see the networks are sensitive to wanting fans to see the conclusion of a long running opening game. This past Sunday (9/15), CBS stayed with the conclusion of the Baltimore at Philadelphia game before switching viewers over to the Jets vs. Steelers doubleheader game in many northeast markets. In this instance, the New York and Pittsburgh markets, along with nearby "secondary" markets for the respective teams, did get switched to the Jets vs. Steelers in time for the start.

However, the Ravens vs. Eagles telecast could have gone a lot better, especially when CBS' #2 NFL team of Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf were involved. The telecast showed Ravens safety Bernard Pollard injured on a play, but for whatever non-acceptable reason, failed to follow up. Several minutes of playing time elapsed before Gumbel and Dierdorf even mentioned Pollard's replacement. Despite the fact that Pollard made a key first quarter interception in the end zone to stop an Eagles drive in perhaps the most significant play of the first half. Pollard did not return to the game, yet his injury and its status went uncovered. Here was one of the few instances when a game telecast could have actually had some benefit from having a "sideline reporter", and CBS blows an important in-game injury story.

Over at Fox Sports, their Saturday afternoon MLB coverage on Saturday (9/14) scored the highest overnight for a Fox Saturday baseball telecast in more than 2 months. Then, its USC vs. Stanford prime-time college football telecast was the highest of the first three weeks of its Saturday night games, showing an increase each week, and less domination by the ABC prime-time telecasts.

The new Pac-12 Network has added "coach" Rick Neuheisel to its Saturday football studio coverage.

Speaking of new TV networks, Comcast SportsNet Houston is getting ready to make its debut on October 1st, in time to begin its Rockets coverage as the team's new TV home. CSN Houston also takes over televising the Astros for next season, with the challenge of being a new network having to showcase a team which lost over 100 games as it begins play in a new league. Kelli Johnson has been signed as an anchor and reporter, coming over from CSN Mid-Atlantic where she had been covering the Nationals on a regular basis.