• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

No Baseball For You!

raccoonradio

raccoonradio

From posts I made on FB to a friend in CA. He was listening to Padres game on their flagship (a bit weak).
Me:
XM of course has national feed and the flagship of both teams. If I were driving my car and tried to find game play by play I most likely would get nothing--most affiliates no longer carry these games, or rarely do EXCEPT for WHSQ 880 (Mets), WFAN 660 (?) (Yankees) or WTAM 1100 (Guardians). Not sure about Philly (WIP 610? Unlikely) or Detroit. KC and the CA teams, no way.
It's possible WEEI 850 or even WEEI-FM 93.7 Boston may carry games later. XM a must for me especially at work.
I was barely able to hear WEEI 850 at work in 04 when Red Sox won world series. We used to use baby monitors or mini fm transmitters. Later Sox (if involved) moved to 93.7--whose xmtr is one town away from my workplace (Peabody...N Reading).
Funny thing: WBZ FM 98.5 The Sports Hub which debuted in 2009 has NEVER carried baseball play by play at all. They are too busy with Celtics, Bruins, Patriots, Revolution and local sports talk. [I know I've said that before but I just find it curious. No baseball play by play ever. As in complete games not highlights]
I work 2 to 10:30 pm.

I also have Fox Sports and TBS apps on my phone but video eats lots of data and it's not easy to watch while working. At a furry convention at the Armon in Stamford in 2022 the hotel tvs didn't have Fox for World Series (Ch 5 NYC). Had to watch app on my phone. One yr in Vt during All Star Game the hotel didn't have Fox and I didn't have smartphone yet. Another yr in Pittsburgh WBGG 970 had game but weak signal.
Last yr no XM but I paid $3 for one month of mlb audio for playoffs
 
Last edited:
Scan of AM dial last night trying to find Padres-Dodgers (I do have XM and can hear it via bluetooth).
Stations carrying game?

None.
 
Has there ever been widespread carriage of national broadcasts at the Division Series level? What's going to happen today, when four games will be played, with the early and late pair overlapping considerably? Are there even going to be national broadcasts of all four games?
 
Not sure; I know they had 4 games a few days ago and maybe times weren't as tightly scheduled at today...will they indeed do all 4 games w a national feed (in addition to the local broadcasts?) There is one main MLB channel for XM but maybe they'll expand. As for ESPN radio and terrestrial radio carriage maybe diff games will be offered.
I believe today is (all times Eastern) 3p at Det, 5p at NYM, 7p at KC and 9p at SD

TV coverage is FoxSports1, TBS etc
I can recall playoffs at same time when ESPN had a certain round and one gm would be ESPN, the other on ESPN2 and my cable had those on 49 and 50.
For ALDS: TBS
For NLDS: FS1
 
CTListener said:
Has there ever been widespread carriage of national broadcasts at the Division Series level? What's going to happen today, when four games will be played, with the early and late pair overlapping considerably? Are there even going to be national broadcasts of all four games?
Click to expand...
Always, dating back to the CBS Radio days.
 
raccoonradio said:
From posts I made on FB to a friend in CA. He was listening to Padres game on their flagship (a bit weak).
Me:
XM of course has national feed and the flagship of both teams. If I were driving my car and tried to find game play by play I most likely would get nothing--most affiliates no longer carry these games, or rarely do EXCEPT for WHSQ 880 (Mets), WFAN 660 (?) (Yankees) or WTAM 1100 (Guardians). Not sure about Philly (WIP 610? Unlikely) or Detroit. KC and the CA teams, no way.
It's possible WEEI 850 or even WEEI-FM 93.7 Boston may carry games later. XM a must for me especially at work.
I was barely able to hear WEEI 850 at work in 04 when Red Sox won world series. We used to use baby monitors or mini fm transmitters. Later Sox (if involved) moved to 93.7--whose xmtr is one town away from my workplace (Peabody...N Reading).
Funny thing: WBZ FM 98.5 The Sports Hub which debuted in 2009 has NEVER carried baseball play by play at all. They are too busy with Celtics, Bruins, Patriots, Revolution and local sports talk. [I know I've said that before but I just find it curious. No baseball play by play ever. As in complete games not highlights]
I work 2 to 10:30 pm.

I also have Fox Sports and TBS apps on my phone but video eats lots of data and it's not easy to watch while working. At a furry convention at the Armon in Stamford in 2022 the hotel tvs didn't have Fox for World Series (Ch 5 NYC). Had to watch app on my phone. One yr in Vt during All Star Game the hotel didn't have Fox and I didn't have smartphone yet. Another yr in Pittsburgh WBGG 970 had game but weak signal.
Last yr no XM but I paid $3 for one month of mlb audio for playoffs
Click to expand...
Don't expect WEEI carrying any playoff baseball... they no longer carry ESPN Radio.
 
Yes true, and they have BetQL on the AM and Infinity Sports. I didn't know if they were doing very occasional ESPN if that but nothing. In fact I think the only ESPN radio affils in New England are a couple in Maine.
ESPN even lost the Windsor Locks CT-licensed WUCS, not far from their Bristol HQ.
Of course they're owned by iHeart and now run their FoxSportsRadio

Wiki:"The station switched affiliations from ESPN Radio to Fox Sports Radio and rebranded as "Fox Sports 97.9" on January 2, 2024"
 
No station in Dallas/Fort Worth is carrying the ESPN radio feed of the MLB playoff games. You would think the flagship station of the Texas Rangers Radio Network would carry baseball.
 
OK, so what makes you think a station like WBZ-FM or WEEI would attract more listeners and advertising revenue by airing a day-long marathon of second-round MLB playoff games featuring out-of-market teams? The hypothetical Boston driver who is frustrated that no terrestrial station is carrying the Tigers-Guardians game this afternoon most likely doesn't exist, as baseball fans of such deep devotion to all things MLB almost certainly have SiriusXM or MLB streaming in their cars. Again, this is a situation in which people whose lives revolve around radio fail to realize what a minor part of the lives of the overwhelming majority of others out there that radio really is.
 
salemjedi54 said:
No station in Dallas/Fort Worth is carrying the ESPN radio feed of the MLB playoff games. You would think the flagship station of the Texas Rangers Radio Network would carry baseball.
Click to expand...
The Rangers aren't in the playoffs. It's the heart of football season, college and pro. Heck, even the NHL Stars are playing, and the Mavs are playing preseason games. There's plenty of local sports topics on the table for the talk show hosts on that Rangers flagship to discuss, and plenty of listeners eager to join the conversation. You think any of them want to hear Phillies vs. Mets instead?
 
Not even small little stations are running the games. For the most part the day of the ESPN (freq) or FoxSports (freq) station in the heartland is gone. People are usually parochial in the team cheering. For many if your team isn't in playoffs, you give up watching or listening. Usually I do tune in.
Definitely understandable tho in the past you might get these playoffs an an "ESPN on WEEI 850" or 890, 1510 or whatever (I do know at one point an NL playoff aired on 1510--maybe when they were mostly sports.

But even at night when you might find the occasional baseball playoff on a distant AM, not so much now. Stations have other sports commitments, or talk--or they moved to FM.
I do recall driving to Chicago in the old days and picking up various ballgames on the way on AM or FM.

Interesting moment some years ago. I was to stay in Syracuse for the night. Yankees affiliates could still be picked up. John Sterling:"Boy it's a hot one out there. On a day like today you have to thank that Mr Carrier who invented air conditioning."
At the precise moment I was on Carrier Circle, soon to go by the Carrier factory.
 
Some sports networks and talk syndicators realized not many people may be listening to a given station but "advertisers want to reach a national audience".
So you would have Talk 1200 with Clay & Buck, Hannity etc; hardly any listeners but "the shows are cleared". Now online streaming etc is serving these people so
why bother with AM or FM? Especially with the sports networks.
There was a bit of a buzz recently when it was said WEEI's Cape affiliated wanted to shell out $40k/yr for a local host (wow!) and speculation had them deserting the EEI network (96.3 owned by iHeart) and maybe going Fox Sports Radio. Oops, EEI must have offered them a better deal to stay.

OOPS: WEEI To Lose Cape Cod Simulcast
>>The posting states the station will continue to carry Sports programming following the end of the WEEI simulcast

Didn't happen
 
raccoonradio said:
But even at night when you might find the occasional baseball playoff on a distant AM, not so much now. Stations have other sports commitments, or talk--or they moved to FM.
I do recall driving to Chicago in the old days and picking up various ballgames on the way on AM or FM.
Click to expand...
That was then, this is now. Radio has changed, baseball has changed, sports fans have changed.
 
This is what happens when the company that has the radio rights to baseball sells all its stations and gets out of radio. The games end up on fewer radio stations because they can't force them on O&Os. Yet the MLB still grants them those rights. At the same time, the MLB offers audio only streaming of the playoffs. So if you're concerned about the data being used for streaming TV, then maybe try streaming audio:

www.mlb.com

The Official Site of Major League Baseball

Coverage includes audio and video clips, interviews, statistics, schedules and exclusive stories.
www.mlb.com www.mlb.com
 
Nick G on FB New England Radio Stations:
"Looks like ESPN NY (50,000 watt blowtorch 880, which covers New England) is going to carry the ESPN Radio broadcast of Yankees-Royals tonight following Mets post game. That's actually quite interesting... given that ESPN Radio broadcasts (excluding the World Series) have to be blacked out in the home team markets. Rangers game on 1050.
 
Maybe they're cherry picking the game with the most national appeal for coverage on ESPN Radio. I can tell you that SiriusXM, which always carries home/away/national feeds when available, is carrying only the Cleveland (175) and Detroit (176) audio today. MLB Network Radio (89) carries national broadcasts during the regular season (one or two games a week) and the ALCS and NLCS, but this afternoon, it's carrying its usual mid-afternoon talk show, "Loud Outs," where the hosts were discussing the death yesterday of former Indians and Red Sox ace Luis Tiant as of 20 minutes ago, not even giving a passing mention to the game going on at Comerica Park right now.

Given SXM's cozy relationship with ESPN, I'd say the chances that ESPN has a p-b-p crew at this game at all are nil. Otherwise, SXM would be dumping the gab and carrying the ESPN feed.

UPDATE: Never mind. I forgot to check ESPN Radio (80). That's where the national feed is. I'm eating crow right now.
 
CTListener said:
Maybe they're cherry picking the game with the most national appeal for coverage on ESPN Radio. I can tell you that SiriusXM, which always carries home/away/national feeds when available, is carrying only the Cleveland (175) and Detroit (176) audio today. MLB Network Radio (89) carries national broadcasts during the regular season (one or two games a week) and the ALCS and NLCS, but this afternoon, it's carrying its usual mid-afternoon talk show, "Loud Outs," where the hosts were discussing the death yesterday of former Indians and Red Sox ace Luis Tiant as of 20 minutes ago, not even giving a passing mention to the game going on at Comerica Park right now.

Given SXM's cozy relationship with ESPN, I'd say the chances that ESPN has a p-b-p crew at this game at all are nil. Otherwise, SXM would be dumping the gab and carrying the ESPN feed.

UPDATE: Never mind. I forgot to check ESPN Radio (80). That's where the national feed is. I'm eating crow right now.
Click to expand...

Every MLB playoff game has been carried nationally on radio dating back to the CBS Radio Sports days.
 
raccoonradio said:
Nick G on FB New England Radio Stations:
"Looks like ESPN NY (50,000 watt blowtorch 880, which covers New England) is going to carry the ESPN Radio broadcast of Yankees-Royals tonight following Mets post game. That's actually quite interesting... given that ESPN Radio broadcasts (excluding the World Series) have to be blacked out in the home team markets. Rangers game on 1050.
Click to expand...
Yep. I was the one that posted that.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom