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ESPN Radio to Air Every MLB Postseason Game

DavidEduardo said:
The FM band had lots of unique content from the 40's well into the 50's. But several things impeded any audience growth of FM.

First, before the development of AFC circuits, FM reception drifted. Second, the Armstrong-Sarnoff battle kept FM from being more actively promoted at the national level. Third, as TV developed, radio had enough trouble adapting and sustaining AM stations for anyone to spend much time on FM.
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The move from 42-50 MHz to 88-108 MHz after the war didn't help FM initially (thousands of receivers became obsolete after the transition -- IIRC, the last "old-band" stations went off the air in 1948), but it was the right decision over the long term. There wasn't enough room in the old band for growth -- it couldn't expand up or down. Same problem as today, ironically.

As a surprise to some, the FM band had begun a slow but impressive growth again in the 60's, with station counts increasing plenty of pre-simulcast-ban innovations like WOR-FM's early FM rock format and the development of Beautiful Music at stations like KFOG, WDVR and WJIB to ethnic FMs such as WOOK-FM and WZEN.
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I'm guessing that the start of Stereo FM in 1961 had a hand in the start of FM's success as well.

And unlike color TV, Sarnoff did not want FM to succeed as the money consumers would spend on FM might decrease the money spent on a TV set. At that time, such opposition was very significant to the state of FM.
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RCA didn't invent FM, and they couldn't reap the patent rewards. That had to have something to do with Sarnoff's opposition, besides his personal feud with Armstrong.
 
KeithE4 said:
RCA didn't invent FM, and they couldn't reap the patent rewards. That had to have something to do with Sarnoff's opposition, besides his personal feud with Armstrong.
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It was notable that RCA and most other major electronics manufacturers didn't add FM to their radios (primarily portables) until after the patent ran out.

Prior to that, FM was primarily available in expensive component hi fi equipment. It wasn't standard equipment in cars either.
 
Back on topic:

Cubs-Giants won't be heard in the Hartford market tonight, as WUCS has chosen to go with a who-cares-except-the-gamblers NFL matchup of Buccaneers-Panthers (EXCLUSIVELY on Westwood One, as the announcers keep bleating, as if any listener gives half a hoot about a syndicator or even knows what a syndicator is) instead.
 
Debate v. Football Night in America

Football lost. Football got a 10.2 overnight rating, down 22% from last year's Week 5 Sunday night game. Debate 2 ratings down 20% from Debate 1 but still beat foot. Worst Sunday night numbers in three years since it was NFL versus World Series.
 
CTListener said:
Back on topic:

Cubs-Giants won't be heard in the Hartford market tonight, as WUCS has chosen to go with a who-cares-except-the-gamblers NFL matchup of Buccaneers-Panthers (EXCLUSIVELY on Westwood One, as the announcers keep bleating, as if any listener gives half a hoot about a syndicator or even knows what a syndicator is) instead.
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Looks like either WUCS changed its mind or I misheard a promo earlier in the day, because Cubs-Giants was aired. I am sure I heard a promo for the NFL game earlier in the day. Oh well. The baseball game turned out to be a classic, even if I had to stay up to nearly 2:45 a.m. to find out how it ended.
 
Is WEEI 850 an LMA? It seems like WEEI makes a lot of programming choices at the expense of ESPN. It broadcast MNF instead of baseball last night. It broadcasts BC football and basketball. When WEEI had the Red Sox and Celtics, 850 was where the Celtics would be heard.
 
While ESPN Radio broadcasts of the MLB playoffs can be heard here in central Ohio from WMVP or WCKY, our local ESPN affiliates (WBNS-AM 1460 and -FM 97.1) can't be bothered to carry them. It's not like they are being pre-empted for other events ... just the usual talk lineup from ESPN radio. Listened to part of Cubs-Giants on WMVP last night, which shocked me because I figured they would not be allowed to carry the broadcast in the home market.
This lack of carriage for the MLB playoffs goes back years here in the Columbus market. We get all of the Sunday night games during the regular season, but the playoffs are basically ignored until the World Series, and even then it is a crapshoot.
 
schmave said:
While ESPN Radio broadcasts of the MLB playoffs can be heard here in central Ohio from WMVP or WCKY, our local ESPN affiliates (WBNS-AM 1460 and -FM 97.1) can't be bothered to carry them.
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Is this because of how people in central Ohio feel about Cleveland?
 
I don't think so. There are a lot of Cleveland sports fans here (not surprisingly). This has been an issue going back years. Maybe they determined the ratings were too low, but i can't imagine the talk they run does much better if better at all.
Oddly enough, we have no Indians affiliate here in Columbus proper although several small stations nearby carry them. Never had a problem getting a Reds affiliate even though WLW is heard quite well here.
 
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