Sounders move to iHeart KJR 950

Ever since I've been coming here to RD the one thing that seems to get repeated frequently, whenever radio formats are discussed especially, is that radio caters to advertisers. I would guess that TV does also. The medium caters to the advertisers, not the other way around.

For example, when a highly rated talk show went over the edge a few years ago, there went the advertisers. Advertisers rule. The medium has to play to their tune.

I could be wrong -- but that's just an observation from reading posts here on RD by the experts.

The NFL seems to do this (hence, the artificial breaks in the game). NFL Football is still the most popular sport in the country, even with the artificial breaks in the game for advertisers. One would think that MLS could learn from the NFL's success.

And I also think that perhaps MLS could Americanize the sport a little more: for one thing, get rid of the archaic Anglophile terms ("nil" and "pitch" -- here in the US it's Zero and Field), which makes the sport seem like a narrowly tailored geek sport as opposed to the kind that Joe Sixpack wants to watch on TV.

boombox4 said:

Ever since I've been coming here to RD the one thing that seems to get repeated frequently, whenever radio formats are discussed especially, is that radio caters to advertisers. I would guess that TV does also. The medium caters to the advertisers, not the other way around.

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I would submit your statement/observation is a little too simplistic.. Profit, or non-profit, Radio and TV are all some sort of businesses. That, hopefully, we can all agree on.

Commercial stations have always based their business on attracting as large an audience as possible, then attracting advertisers who want to reach those listeners. Things evolved over the years where the number of stations and groups grew to the point where each station was narrowing their programming focus to attract listeners of a certain age bracket, then attracting an advertiser base that wants to reach that audience. These days, a group owner might try and attract several audience age brackets by owning several stations under one umbrella, each station covering a different demographic range. Ultimately the goal is to have your local station group become a one-stop-shop for ad agencies/advertisers, because your group covers all the bases (pardon the baseball pun).

For Sports stations targeting the 18-55 male age bracket, (beer and car advertisers) sports play by play and talk around it is a natural. Problem is, professional teams don't subscribe to the belief that the audience is gradually shrinking, insisting stations pay more every time the contract is up for negotiation.

Kelly A said:

For larger market professional teams, it's totally the rule. Teams have their own: Ticket sales, in-arena advertising sales, broadcast advertising sales, and (as mentioned) team-paid broadcast talent. Radio only gets the advertising in the pregame and some potential post game call-in shows.

AA and AAA teams will sometimes give away their broadcasts to a local station, who owns all the advertising and expenses for talent, etc. in the broadcast. The team uses the broadcast purely to promote ticket sales.

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That is interesting. In that case, why don't we see a lot more stations running local pregame shows before the network? For example, KOMO only does it for football, not basketball, and I've never heard of the Seahawks or Mariners doing anything like that. As far as the advertising model for soccer, I think maybe what MLS should do is what is already done with basketball in this country, where the clock is actually stopped for a time out and the media can then go to a break. My dad watches a lot more soccer than I do, so I might ask him what he thinks of that idea, but I really don't think it would take much away from the game as it stands right now, assuming that the time out rules don't change from where they are.

Kelly A said:

For larger market professional teams, it's totally the rule. Teams have their own: Ticket sales, in-arena advertising sales, broadcast advertising sales, and (as mentioned) team-paid broadcast talent. Radio only gets the advertising in the pregame and some potential post game call-in shows.

AA and AAA teams will sometimes give away their broadcasts to a local station, who owns all the advertising and expenses for talent, etc. in the broadcast. The team uses the broadcast purely to promote ticket sales.

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That's how the Everett Aquasox got on KSER in the '90s. No advertising. But lots and LOTS of color commentary.

bobdavcav said:

That is interesting. In that case, why don't we see a lot more stations running local pregame shows before the network? For example, KOMO only does it for football, not basketball, and I've never heard of the Seahawks or Mariners doing anything like that. As far as the advertising model for soccer, I think maybe what MLS should do is what is already done with basketball in this country, where the clock is actually stopped for a time out and the media can then go to a break. My dad watches a lot more soccer than I do, so I might ask him what he thinks of that idea, but I really don't think it would take much away from the game as it stands right now, assuming that the time out rules don't change from where they are.

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Some do. Pay close attention to how they go to commercial break. If it's a fixed line such as, "...on the Washington Huskies IMG Sports Network," then it's network. If there is no set outcue, then chances are it's local. Some stations will have its own pre-game show before going to a network pre-game. All depends on the arrangements, contracts and demand (UW Football in much more demand than basketball).

Mariners have too many games, it's a different animal.

Seahawks pre-game show is on right now, it's called 710 ESPN.

bobdavcav said:

....why don't we see a lot more stations running local pregame shows before the network? For example, KOMO only does it for football, not basketball, and I've never heard of the Seahawks or Mariners doing anything like that....

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Dori Monson, Dave Wyman, San Atkins, Ray Roberts and Paul Moyer do that every game for three hours pre- and post-game. They'll sign off for some of their more distant partners early, and hang on for KIRO for hours.