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WBBM to lose the Bears

If the Bears were to end up on ESPN 1000, they'd need an overflow station to take care of any White Sox conflicts in August, September, and (hopefully) October. That wouldn't be an issue with 95.5.
 
Around the NFL, teams have been moving their broadcasts to active or classic rock stations for the last few years, and I think this could favor 95.5. they would definitely need to keep the current broadcast team together.
 
What's weird to me is that besides 100.3 HD2, there really isn't an FM companion for WMVP, despite being one of the largest ESPN affiliates in the US, and so of course WCHI had to be taken.
 
MarkW said:
I predict a deal will be made with both 95.5 and 1000. The latter will likely carry extended pre- and post-game shows.
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This feels the most likely to me.
 
sjs1959 said:
Around the NFL, teams have been moving their broadcasts to active or classic rock stations for the last few years, and I think this could favor 95.5. they would definitely need to keep the current broadcast team together.
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What they are doing is trying to get off the AM stations everywhere.
 
The Bears' WBBM broadcasts are on both 780 and 105.9. The correct framing here is WBBM / Audacy doesn't want to lose money on them any longer.

It would be interesting if Good Karma's WMVP got them given that co-owned WTMJ lost the Packers after a 90-plus year run.
 
tvnut said:
It would be interesting if Good Karma's WMVP got them given that co-owned WTMJ lost the Packers after a 90-plus year run.
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And where are they going, you ask?

iHeartRadio’s The Game 97.3 will become the Packers’ Milwaukee affiliate beginning in the 2022 season.
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I've noted elsewhere that there's a very organized campaign taking place at iHeart to collect the broadcast rights of as many NFL teams as possible. They've done it by presenting a package of broadcast and online content, produced by iHeart staff, for the teams. I expect they'll do the same with the Bears, and the new package will make money for iHeart.
 
Whoa - I missed that news regarding the Packers. That is a big, big win for iHM and a gigantic setback for Good Karma.

The Game has been trying to build a statewide network of affiliates over the past year or two, although big gaps in that network do still exist. I suspect that was part of their strategy in terms of landing the Packers.

I'm not sure when the Seahawks rights are up for grabs in Seattle, but it looks like it could be very soon. The most recent renewal with KIRO AM & FM appears to be at the end of 2017.
 
MarkW said:
Whoa - I missed that news regarding the Packers. That is a big, big win for iHM and a gigantic setback for Good Karma.

The Game has been trying to build a statewide network of affiliates over the past year or two, although big gaps in that network do still exist. I suspect that was part of their strategy in terms of landing the Packers.

I'm not sure when the Seahawks rights are up for grabs in Seattle, but it looks like it could be very soon. The most recent renewal with KIRO AM & FM appears to be at the end of 2017.
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The Game's stations have terrible ratings. WRNW itself is stuck in the zeros. The station they just put on in Duluth literally tanked from a 6 to a 0 in a single book with the format change. Their Madison station is in the zeros. Their Wausau station doesn't show up. Their Green Bay station is in the zeros.

The programming on The Game was originally on WOKY. When they flipped 97.3 from Top-40 to Sports and shifted all of WOKY's programming to 97.3, WOKY had a whopping 0.1 in the ratings. The Top-40 format had something like a 2.7. Never recovered beyond the 1s.

They need ratings and hopefully the Packers can do that. They have the resources to produce the pre and post game shows for the network. Their first game as flagship was last night. It was OK. They put a lot of work into it. But their regular programming is extremely lackluster as far as audience goes. Nobody listens to it. It's not exactly BAD programming. I think they do a good job and have a decent team, it's just nobody listens to it.

The local VP Jeff Tyler's mindset was always "To be successful as a Sports station, we need a team. We need a team" Well they got a team. The Badgers for WOKY and WRIT. That was almost a decade ago. The FM side of the Badgers games shifted from WRIT to WRNW with the format change in 2018. Didn't help their ratings much. Now it seems they are trying again.
 
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TheBigA said:
I've noted elsewhere that there's a very organized campaign taking place at iHeart to collect the broadcast rights of as many NFL teams as possible. They've done it by presenting a package of broadcast and online content, produced by iHeart staff, for the teams. I expect they'll do the same with the Bears, and the new package will make money for iHeart.
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Coincidentally, iHeart lost the Browns in 2013 because the *team* wanted full control over production of all ancillary content, including a daily two-hour infomercial, and iHeart had (and has) no stations for that. The Browns re-upped with Audacy and Good Karma in 2020.
 
I’ll be interested to see how WTEM in DC and WTMJ does this year without the local NFL teams. They aren’t completely abandoning them, WTEM announced that they would still have pre and post games and develop a in-game talk show. WTMJ is going to do something similar. In years past co-owned WSCR was all bears all Sunday when the cubs are done and there’s little reason to think that won’t continue after this year.

NFL broadcast contracts are so high that it’s likely most of these stations are losing money on them, the money marker is the extended pre and post games shows.

With most fans watching games on tv or phone do they really want to listen to the same pbp on the radio or do they want Instant reaction, news and whatever else on their team? Don’t get me wrong a station like WTMJ is going to lose a lot of listeners when the packers are playing but theres likely a lot of people looking live reaction, talk about the the touchdown that just happen or the injury to the star QB that can’t happen with regular pbp. Pre game shows and talk shows are far cheaper to produce.
 
bobjim45 said:
With most fans watching games on TV or phone do they really want to listen to the same pbp on the radio or do they want Instant reaction, news and whatever else on their team?
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Yes. That's the only way I watch Dallas Cowboys Football. I listen to the radio broadcast while watching the game on television. Been doing this for about the past 35 years.
 
bobjim45 said:
I’ll be interested to see how WTEM in DC and WTMJ does this year without the local NFL teams. They aren’t completely abandoning them, WTEM announced that they would still have pre and post games and develop a in-game talk show. WTMJ is going to do something similar. In years past co-owned WSCR was all bears all Sunday when the cubs are done and there’s little reason to think that won’t continue after this year.

NFL broadcast contracts are so high that it’s likely most of these stations are losing money on them, the money marker is the extended pre and post games shows.

With most fans watching games on TV or phone do they really want to listen to the same pbp on the radio or do they want Instant reaction, news and whatever else on their team? Don’t get me wrong a station like WTMJ is going to lose a lot of listeners when the packers are playing but theres likely a lot of people looking live reaction, talk about the the touchdown that just happen or the injury to the star QB that can’t happen with regular pbp. Pre game shows and talk shows are far cheaper to produce.
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Unless your outside errands in the parking or Uber or Lyft or Taxi Driving.
 
DarrenVision said:
Unless your outside errands in the parking or Uber or Lyft or Taxi Driving.
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Way before the cellphone era, my dad worked on sundays, and radio was the only logical way to tune into the football game. They had their own boombox out there, and they tuned to AM to get the game. What a time that was!
 
ZantennaG1 said:
Way before the cellphone era, my dad worked on sundays, and radio was the only logical way to tune into the football game. They had their own boombox out there, and they tuned to AM to get the game. What a time that was!
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I take it that was back in the era when Jack Brickhouse and Irv Kupcinet called the games on WGN? Right Kup? Dat's right, Jack. :D
 
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