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Athletics on Bay Area Radio
- Thread starter HenryOchs
- Start date
It's one thing to put football on a music station. Not that many games. But baseball is a commitment.
CTListener
Walk of Fame Participant
I've heard baseball on music stations, but strictly small-market or suburban affiliates, not on flagships. The Red Sox are on AC WBOQ in Gloucester, Mass., and on alternative WWOD in Woodstock, Vt., for example -- both stations were playing oldies at the time they joined the Sox network and only recently flipped to something more contemporary.
TriangleTriadMediaNews
Frequent Participant
WMMS is the only music station that I'm aware of that's a flagship station for an MLB team, although they do share the Indians as well as the Cavs with their sister station WTAM-AM. During their inaugural year in Washington DC, the Nationals flagship affiliate was Z104 which at the time was a modern AC station.
RadioJunkieMike
Leading Participant
The Bone is the one station in the Cumulus cluster that's actually doing well. Why would they disrupt that with the A's?
And Wild is in a tight 3-way race with KMVQ and KMEL -- they'd be foolish to add baseball.
LKellerIII
Walk of Fame Participant
I recall that in the '90's, the Oakland A's were on KFRC, but that's when they had the 99.7/610 AM simulcast. The game would only run on 610 AM. My impression is that games can negatively impact ratings for music station in the long run because many listeners just want their favorite music format, and aren't interested in sports. I would think that KYLD running baseball would cause most listeners to default to 99.7 Now for music. (99.7...there's your "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon").
IIRC, The Bone used to run the Raiders in simulcast with KNBR...maybe still does, but as Big A pointed out - many less games than baseball. Also - The Bone's demographic would be WAY older than 94.9, so more likely to be football fans, I would think.
The Padres ran for a season or so on an alternative station in San Diego. It was not good for the numbers. Second thing Entercom did after closing on CBS in the market was blow up an expendable format to give the Padres a new home.
Now, the train wreck they created before the first pitch is a whole 'nother thread.
The Twins were also on an alternative FM station, but the team owned the station. Even they decided to sell the rights to the games to someone else after awhile because they realized the audiences were so different it did not help revenue.
Football games generally don't disrupt a station that much and they do better 25-54 than baseball.
Now, the train wreck they created before the first pitch is a whole 'nother thread.
The Twins were also on an alternative FM station, but the team owned the station. Even they decided to sell the rights to the games to someone else after awhile because they realized the audiences were so different it did not help revenue.
Football games generally don't disrupt a station that much and they do better 25-54 than baseball.
PTBoardOp94
Walk of Fame Participant
West coast baseball is especially hard to justify on an otherwise successful station.
With only two other AL teams on the west coast, the As will play around 60 games outside of the Pacific time zone. Meaning the flagship station will often have to switch to baseball well before 5pm. When the As travel to New York or Tampa Bay, the pregame show would start around 3:30. And every day game, regardless of location, will eat into the earlier hours of PM drive.
With only two other AL teams on the west coast, the As will play around 60 games outside of the Pacific time zone. Meaning the flagship station will often have to switch to baseball well before 5pm. When the As travel to New York or Tampa Bay, the pregame show would start around 3:30. And every day game, regardless of location, will eat into the earlier hours of PM drive.
CTListener
Walk of Fame Participant
CBS had WBCN as the flagship of the "WBCN Patriots Rock Radio Network" for years before making the team the main attraction on its new "Sports Hub" WBZ-FM. Here in western New England, the Pats air both on WTIC news/talk 1080 AM and Springfield's classic rock powerhouse WAQY 102.1 FM. A factor in football continuing to air on music stations -- at least here in the East -- is that most games are on weekends, and the Monday and Thursday games are all at night, safely separated from the important commuter and at-work audiences that might otherwise be tempted to find something else to listen to.
ksradiogeek
Star Participant
You already know they're not moving to Wild. Largely female targeting station airing baseball in market #4? God no.
If they did that, they would lose Total Line Reporting, and force each station to be listed by Nielsen separately. They really need the combined single line numbers to keep the perception of being "tied" with KQED.
I thought about that when I made my post. Is the contribution of the AM that significant?
Also, do advertisers care if they're tied with a non-com? They're close to tied with WBUR in Boston.
I think there is a feeling in the PPM markets that advertisers will compare with the now-listed non-coms and decide, in some cases, that the commercial station does not reach the whole market.
The AM of the CBS combo covers well a lot of areas towards Santa Rosa to the north and San Jose to the South where the FM is not as good or not audible. I'm guessing that adding the Am increases the rank position by at least 5 if not 10 full positions.
michael hagerty
Walk of Fame Participant
The FM is also a little shaky as you leave the Bay Area to the east---Vallejo to Fairfield. Complicating matters beyond terrain, KRNO in Reno on the same frequency and with a tower up on Mount Rose in Nevada. Once in a while, you'll get a burst of them driving along I-80 once you get out of the shadow of the Sierra (from about the Folsom/Rancho Cordova border on Highway 50).
They are officially looking for a new home now
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/10...he-game-splitting-ways-on-a-very-bitter-note/
It's funny, they are mad at 95.7 the game for not talking about the A's, but if they look for a new home, the new home probably will not talk about sports at all anyway.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/10...he-game-splitting-ways-on-a-very-bitter-note/
It's funny, they are mad at 95.7 the game for not talking about the A's, but if they look for a new home, the new home probably will not talk about sports at all anyway.
The easy solution to that problem is for the A's to buy their own station. They can brand it A's Radio, and talk about the team 24/7.
michael hagerty
Walk of Fame Participant
Rich Lieberman, the Bay Area radio blogger, has been suggesting that someone willing to write a check could bring 610 back to commercial broadcasting after 13 years as Family Life Radio. He's been not-so-subtly lobbying K-101/KOFY founder Jim Gabbert to be that guy, but no action. The A's could. 610's signal isn't what it used to be (no one's is), but it could be improved well beyond what FLR's doing with it now.
He may have pointed this out, but I believe the Dodgers are partners with iHeart in LA.
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