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WLS Lose the Sox and Bulls

Still about 2 months till MLB opening day (which is in March now, thanks to more off days negotiated into the schedule) and 1 month till the spring training games start, so the White Sox can afford to remain "on the clock" a while longer.

I don't suppose not having a flagship matters much now, even in terms of generating talk about the team on that station's talk shows (assuming the new flagship has sports talk). Everyone knows the plan -- sell off all valuable assets for other teams' top prospects while picking wisely at the top of the draft, play like a glorified Class AAA team for three or four years, then suddenly turn into the Astros. The problem is talking about a team that plans to lose about two-thirds of its games over the next three or four years, which doesn't exactly jam the phone lines.
 
Guessing those conflict Bulls games will land on one of the FM properties? XRT maybe? Maybe WBBM given the limited number of conflict nights that will only happen in March and April this year.
By my count, there will be five for sure and possibly six when the regular seasons overlap. I counted four overlaps for 670's spring training broadcasts:
3/30-Cubs at Miami (6:10 p.m.), Bulls at Orlando (6)
4/1-Cubs at Miami (12:10), Washington at Bulls (2:30)
4/3-Cubs at Cincinnati (5:40), Charlotte at Bulls (7)
4/6-Bulls at Boston (6:30), Cubs at Milwaukee (7:10)
*maybe* 4/7-Cubs at Milwaukee (3:05), Brooklyn at Bulls (7) ... probably not a direct overlap between games but potentially between Cubs post-game and Bulls pre-game
4/11-Pittsburgh at Cubs (7:05), Bulls at Detroit (7, season finale)
 
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schmave said:
Guessing those conflict Bulls games will land on one of the FM properties? XRT maybe? Maybe WBBM given the limited number of conflict nights that will only happen in April this year.
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What they do in NYC is make a deal with a non-owned AM station for overflows. I doubt they'd break format on an FM station.
 
I know WFAN has pushed games to WCBS on occasion when necessary.
Don't remember what WMVP did in the old days when they had both the Sox and Bulls. I live in Ohio so obviously can't get any Chicago FM stations.
When WGN had both the Cubs and Bears back in the late 80s and early 90s, one of them got pushed to WLS on conflict nights (which, of course, were rare). When they had the Cubs and Hawks more recently, Hawks games were pushed to WIND even if it was a Stanley Cup Finals game.
 
WGN + White Sox = Bad idea.

Any new cume brought in the door from White Sox baseball isn't going to stick around for any of WGN's other programming.

My prediction is that the Sox will land on either WMVP or WIND.
 
MarkW said:
WGN + White Sox = Bad idea.

Any new cume brought in the door from White Sox baseball isn't going to stick around for any of WGN's other programming.
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I doubt if Blackhawks fans stick around, or Cubs fans in the last few years of their tenure at WGN.
 
I don't think any sports broadcast does much to improve the ratings of dayside programming. If anything, baseball, with its relatively high quantity of day games, chases off core listeners.
 
the Sox do not have nearly as many daytime weekday games as the Cubs, so this won't affect their dayparts as much. And, this may come in handy for WGN as it looks like the Hawks will miss the NHL Playoffs, so they can move into Sox broadcasts in the evening rather quickly.
 
Exactly. That said, it's a weird turn of events but an understandable one.
WGN barely used to give the Sox the time of day when they carried the Cubs. I'm sure they'll do a great job as the flagship. As a Cubs fan, I'm plenty thrilled with the partnership with 670 and don't really miss them being on WGN other than the occasional flash of sentimentality.
 
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