I was out and about today and was scanning the dial as the Steelers game on 98.9 WTOH-FM was delayed due to severe weather in Pittsburgh. I noticed how the Browns game was not airing on WBNS 97.1 FM or 1460 AM. I always thought it was interesting that a team like the Browns would air their games on a station like the Fan 97.1 / 1460. With priorities for other teams (OSU, Blue Jackets), the Browns seem to be pre-emoted a lot on the Fan. When the Browns were on 98.9 FM years ago, they were never pre-empted. So when the Browns left 98.9, they moved to a station where they are not even second fiddle? The Bengals games are still on 105.3 FM which barely covers the city of Columbus. It seems strange that the Ohio NFL teams have such sub standard radio coverage in Central Ohio while the Steelers have a full time FM signal. I guess the question is with audio streaming options, is game coverage on terrestrial radio in secondary markets (like Columbus) as important these days?
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Pittsburgh Steelers / Cleveland Browns / Cincinnati Bengals Radio Coverage in Columbus
- Thread starter cbussteeler
- Start date
It was listed on the station website, starting at 2:30 PM. It was in LA. When were you listening?
It was around 4:30 - sounded like national NFL studio coverage - but I could be wrong.
98.9 WTOH is a Salem Talk station. It's also a Class A station, powered at 2,600 watts. There's not much other than infomercials and repeats of weekday shows on weekends on WTOH. So if it agrees to carry a live sports team, those broadcasts will happen as scheduled. But if you are more than 20 miles from Columbus, you are not going to get a great signal.
Sports Radio outlet "The Fan" 97.1 WBNS-FM is currently #1 in Columbus. WBNS-FM is a Class B station powered at 20,500 watts. It and sister station 1460 WBNS have first crack at most Ohio teams that want a Columbus affiliate. Wouldn't you want your team to be heard on Columbus' #1 station? (Vs. WTOH which doesn't even subscribe to Nielsen ratings.)
With Columbus halfway between Cleveland and Cincinnati, there are local stations that carry each team. According to Wikipedia, 106.7 WZCB, an iHeart Urban station, powered at 3,000 watts, is the Bengals' affiliate. WBNS-AM-FM are the Browns' affiliates in Columbus.
But as said above, WBNS-FM is the flagship for the Columbus Blue Jackets NHL team, the only major league sports franchise in Columbus. So the Blue Jackets will often get first rights. According to Wikipedia, 105.7 WXZX, an iHeart Alternative station, is the spill-over Blue Jackets station.
Sports Radio outlet "The Fan" 97.1 WBNS-FM is currently #1 in Columbus. WBNS-FM is a Class B station powered at 20,500 watts. It and sister station 1460 WBNS have first crack at most Ohio teams that want a Columbus affiliate. Wouldn't you want your team to be heard on Columbus' #1 station? (Vs. WTOH which doesn't even subscribe to Nielsen ratings.)
With Columbus halfway between Cleveland and Cincinnati, there are local stations that carry each team. According to Wikipedia, 106.7 WZCB, an iHeart Urban station, powered at 3,000 watts, is the Bengals' affiliate. WBNS-AM-FM are the Browns' affiliates in Columbus.
But as said above, WBNS-FM is the flagship for the Columbus Blue Jackets NHL team, the only major league sports franchise in Columbus. So the Blue Jackets will often get first rights. According to Wikipedia, 105.7 WXZX, an iHeart Alternative station, is the spill-over Blue Jackets station.
I'm glad this thread was opened, because coverage of non-Columbus teams on Columbus radio over the past decade or so has turned largely to garbage. A lot of that comes from iHeart shunning live sports for the most part, but also The Fan grabbing up all of these teams and clearly not having room for all of the inventory doesn't help.
Browns games should not be hidden on an HD3 signal. Period, not with their popularity here. I am no Browns fan but I don't find that acceptable at all. 105.7 can't be the Browns overflow, as it is for the Jackets, because of the Browns/iHeart acrimony, but I find it hard to believe there isn't another signal in town 97.1 can't use for overflow programming when they and 1460 are full.
Then the other problem is iHeart. For many years, Reds and Bengals games aired on 610 and some games, mostly Reds day games, were shoved over to 1230 if there was a conflict. That wasn't so bad. 610 has a great signal most of the time, but iHeart's decision to get rid of sports on its AM outlets has hurt those teams and that's even with WLW's signal blanketing the market. Columbus should not have only a partial schedule of Reds games on local radio, and the fact that they and the Bengals are on a signal (105.3, not 106.7) where the format and sports are an awful mix shows the priority.
There's no reason 610 and 1230 cannot air sports. It would solve a ton of issues.
On top of that, Guardians games are on a Christian station and Cavaliers games air on a gospel format. The flagship for both teams is an iHeart station. Same situation as Cincinnati. Good enough for those cities but not for the market in the middle?
Browns games should not be hidden on an HD3 signal. Period, not with their popularity here. I am no Browns fan but I don't find that acceptable at all. 105.7 can't be the Browns overflow, as it is for the Jackets, because of the Browns/iHeart acrimony, but I find it hard to believe there isn't another signal in town 97.1 can't use for overflow programming when they and 1460 are full.
Then the other problem is iHeart. For many years, Reds and Bengals games aired on 610 and some games, mostly Reds day games, were shoved over to 1230 if there was a conflict. That wasn't so bad. 610 has a great signal most of the time, but iHeart's decision to get rid of sports on its AM outlets has hurt those teams and that's even with WLW's signal blanketing the market. Columbus should not have only a partial schedule of Reds games on local radio, and the fact that they and the Bengals are on a signal (105.3, not 106.7) where the format and sports are an awful mix shows the priority.
There's no reason 610 and 1230 cannot air sports. It would solve a ton of issues.
On top of that, Guardians games are on a Christian station and Cavaliers games air on a gospel format. The flagship for both teams is an iHeart station. Same situation as Cincinnati. Good enough for those cities but not for the market in the middle?
How much of that is iHeart and how much of that is the teams? From what I can see, it's more from the teams.
It's up to the team to get the best coverage for its network.
From what I have seen, the NFL would rather have its games on a music FM than a sports AM.
It'll be interesting to see what happens to The Jets when WEPN moves to AM only in 2024.
All things being equal, I just can't see the Reds or Bengals being happier with their current lot on Columbus radio than when both of them aired on the biggest signal in town. That 105.3 urban format definitely doesn't jibe with baseball. Maybe more so with the Bengals, but even then it's a very limited signal. WLW being so widely available around here does mitigate the situation. I personally listen to Reds and Bengals games on 700 unless I'm in an area with a lot of interference or 700 is not carrying the latter.
Of note, Jim Donovan's only still calling home games due to recovering from extensive lukemia treatment, so the substitute announcers are destined to throw people off.
Chris Rose (part of the team's preseason television coverage) filled in.
Well, considering the next 2 games are at home (12/10 vs Jacksonville, 12/17 vs Da Bears), we'll probably get Jim Donovan back in the Doug Dieken Broadcast Booth for those games
Didn't Jim say he was just going to do home games this year?
There was no big announcement made or anything like that.
He worked the opener, took his leave, came back week 13, and it was just the luck of the draw that the Browns played back to back games out west (Denver, LA) right after.
It was likely just a case of taking it easy with JD and not having him make 2 cross country trips so soon after returning (he also has a bit of a "pitch count" doing his day job at channel 3 as well, as they're not running him through the grinder right away either)
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