Any A's update?

[BossRadioDJ]

Thoughts on listening to the A's on 95.7 The Wolf during Saturday evening's game: terrible audio ... unless they were trying hard to replicate bad AM radio sound, in which case they succeeded perfectly well. Listening all the way from Emeryville onto 580 through Oakland over to Pleasanton, the sound was just plain bad: thin, tinny, and the "sssizzle" on the letter "S" in every commercial was so hissy that it got downright annoying.

I've heard better audio on 32 kbps Internet feeds of baseball. If this was a last-minute, scraped-together audio feed, then that's fine; it will probably be fixed. I expected rich, full "FM" sound, and got something significantly worse.

The claim that 95.7 covers all the way to Stockton? Not even close -- not even close to close. The station faded out when I hit the Altamont Pass, and was gone for good by the time I reached West Nowhere. Switching to A's (and Sharks) affiliate ESPN 970 (KESP) in Modesto was no help. They had on NCAA Final Four basketball, which I guess takes precedence over either of the two local pro sports teams.

 

[LKellerIII]

It was said that As baseball was one of 106.9/KFRC's problems. Listeners would tune in expecting to hear Classic Hits, hear baseball instead, and tune right out again. If you do that enough times during baseball season, you probably stop tuning in all together...unless you're an As fan, of course. And if you are a fan, you'll tune in whatever station is carrying the game, whether you listen to their regular programming or not.

Having said that, you may be right that Country music listeners would be more accepting.

Fair points, but are there any other music-intensive FMs that are MLB flagships?

Comparing MLB to NFL teams on music-intensive FMs isn't fair because baseball is played every day, football is played once a week. Right there in SF, a 49ers' fan might not like the music played on KSAN, but that fan will tune in 107.7 FM on game day. The only NFL teams without an FM flagship are the two NY teams, Chicago and Denver.

You must have mis-read my post. I wasn't comparing football on radio to baseball on radio. But if anything, that reinforces my point. There are so many baseball games being broadcast that music stations running MLB are much more likely to piss off their regular music listeners.

Perhaps it's ironic for me - as a kid I grew up glued to KFI in LA listening to Vin Scully and the Dodgers in the Sandy Koufax-Don Drysdale era. But as an adult, I've found baseball on the radio to be dull as dishwater. So I'm one of those listeners that would be POed when my music is pre-empted by baseball.

Having said that - the A's on The Wolf is no problem for me. I rarely listen to country music. And given that The Wolf has no competition for Country listeners, it will probably be less of a problem for them than it was for 106.9.

 

[Madmansam]

Thoughts on listening to the A's on 95.7 The Wolf during Saturday evening's game: terrible audio ... unless they were trying hard to replicate bad AM radio sound, in which case they succeeded perfectly well. Listening all the way from Emeryville onto 580 through Oakland over to Pleasanton, the sound was just plain bad: thin, tinny, and the "sssizzle" on the letter "S" in every commercial was so hissy that it got downright annoying.

I've heard better audio on 32 kbps Internet feeds of baseball. If this was a last-minute, scraped-together audio feed, then that's fine; it will probably be fixed. I expected rich, full "FM" sound, and got something significantly worse.

The claim that 95.7 covers all the way to Stockton? Not even close

There used to be a time when then Classical KKHI's signal boomed into Stockton, but that was before KBYN-95.9 Arnold signed on the air.

 

[RadioStarOne]

It just depends on which way the wind is blowing and how warm it is for a lot of the SF signals to reach into Stockton.

 

[Madmansam]

It just depends on which way the wind is blowing and how warm it is for a lot of the SF signals to reach into Stockton.

Not necessarily. There are several Bay Area FM radio stations that boom in without having to own a highend radio. Among them are KPFA-94.1, KOIT-96.5, KLLC-97.3, KISQ-98.1, KMVQ-99.7, KIOI-101.3, KUZX-102.1, KBLX-102.9, KFOG-104.5, and KFRC-106.9. I get those stations 365 days a year. And then there is KKSF-103.7. I get that station every once in awhile though there are times, the Fresno station would come in instead. And as for the old KKHI-95.7, I used to get that every day at one time too.

 

[SCV_Ears]

Thoughts on listening to the A's on 95.7 The Wolf during Saturday evening's game: terrible audio ... unless they were trying hard to replicate bad AM radio sound, in which case they succeeded perfectly well. Listening all the way from Emeryville onto 580 through Oakland over to Pleasanton, the sound was just plain bad: thin, tinny, and the "sssizzle" on the letter "S" in every commercial was so hissy that it got downright annoying.

I've heard better audio on 32 kbps Internet feeds of baseball. If this was a last-minute, scraped-together audio feed, then that's fine; it will probably be fixed. I expected rich, full "FM" sound, and got something significantly worse.

The claim that 95.7 covers all the way to Stockton? Not even close -- not even close to close. The station faded out when I hit the Altamont Pass, and was gone for good by the time I reached West Nowhere. Switching to A's (and Sharks) affiliate ESPN 970 (KESP) in Modesto was no help. They had on NCAA Final Four basketball, which I guess takes precedence over either of the two local pro sports teams.

KESP's signal goes very directional after susnset. Stockton? It can barely be heard in Turlock at night.

 

[BossRadioDJ]

KESP's signal goes very directional after sunset. Stockton? It can barely be heard in Turlock at night.

Indeed. I live here in The Town Manteca Flushes Into and KESP/970 doesn't come in during the day at all. (Well, it's fair-to-poor on the car radio around town during daytime, but forget hearing it at all behind closed doors.*)

As for 95.7, I drove around Manteca ("Beautiful City Of Lard") and Lathrop yesterday, and the A's game was barely perceptible in the hash. The Giants on KNBR in the same locations? Just plain blasting in, all the way to Jamestown and Sonora.



* - Not intended as a Charlie Rich reference.

 

[Madmansam]

Thoughts on listening to the A's on 95.7 The Wolf during Saturday evening's game: terrible audio ... unless they were trying hard to replicate bad AM radio sound, in which case they succeeded perfectly well. Listening all the way from Emeryville onto 580 through Oakland over to Pleasanton, the sound was just plain bad: thin, tinny, and the "sssizzle" on the letter "S" in every commercial was so hissy that it got downright annoying.

I've heard better audio on 32 kbps Internet feeds of baseball. If this was a last-minute, scraped-together audio feed, then that's fine; it will probably be fixed. I expected rich, full "FM" sound, and got something significantly worse.

The claim that 95.7 covers all the way to Stockton? Not even close -- not even close to close. The station faded out when I hit the Altamont Pass, and was gone for good by the time I reached West Nowhere. Switching to A's (and Sharks) affiliate ESPN 970 (KESP) in Modesto was no help. They had on NCAA Final Four basketball, which I guess takes precedence over either of the two local pro sports teams.

KESP's signal goes very directional after susnset. Stockton? It can barely be heard in Turlock at night.

Nah. I can't pick up KESP after sunset