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Astros moving to KBME

For us in the Rio Grande Valley, it really sucks because the KTRH signal made it possible to listen to the Astros down here. Unless our local Sports station starts to carry the Astros games, it's gonna be tough to follow our favorite team, since we will already be without Astros games on TV.

Seems like Crane and co. are doing everything they can to turn South Texas into Rangers country :-\
 
Well...I guess I should now retract my post from the other thread.

Oh Smittian, the 'Stros will be all right. Bring on the Cubs, Cards and Brewers.....oh wait! Jim Crane allowed the team to get railroaded into the American. Hope you're looking forward to seeing the Mariners, Angels, and Athletics...at 10 o'clock at night! However, you'll still be able to hear the 'Stros on the flagship "News Radio 740 KTRH".....oh wait! Now they'll be on Sports Talk 790. Hope you have a tall antenna! Hey, come see a game! Ticket prices have been lowered, beer and food is cheaper...heck you can even bring your own suds and coolers now. Just come on down to Minute Maid Park......oh wait! They're moving to Reckling Park and sharing the field with Rice!

OK, that last part is, of course, baloney...but needless to say, I am not a big Jim Crane fan thus far. The only good idea I've seen so far was to return the old logo and color schemes to the uniforms. He's seemingly trying to break away from the history of the franchise for some odd reason. I mean this is the same guy that actually entertained renaming the team.

I don't typically rant like this, so please accept my apologies for doing so. Back to our regularly scheduled postings, already in progress.
 
Crane was left with a pile of feces by the former owner of the Astros.

No National League, no TV coverage (the same population that has HD radio receivers has CSN), and now no radio coverage except for those near the kbme transmitter. Unless KLVI becomes an Astros affiliate again (not likely), we'll be forced to follow real teams that play baseball.

What a marketing train wreck.
 
Look on the bright side, We'll be seeing more Rangers, Sox and Yankees fans filling up this season over at Minute Maid.
 
I have to wonder: Does MLB really generate ratings on the radio? Really? REALLY? I suspect it is more of a prestige thing these days, with saturation TV coverage of all the games. Much different from pre-1980's when few games were available on TV.

Look on the bright side, We'll be seeing more Rangers, Sox and Yankees fans filling up this season over at Minute Maid.
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And we'll be seeing much less of all the obnoxious Cubs fans, for most of whom the closest they've ever been to something called Wrigley is when they were chomping on chewing gum.
 
Not to mention The Cards; Their fan base also includes Houston because they travel here during the summer. It's quite ironic to see a lot of fans from Houston traveling to St. Louis... and vice-versa.
 
Today's generation of fans probably don't know this, but Houston and St. Louis have a long shared history in baseball. For many years from 1921 through 1958 the minor league Houston Buffs were one of the Cards' farm teams.

During that period, a lot of stars like brothers Dizzy Dean and Paul Dean, Solly Hemus, Vinegar Ben Mizell, Hal Epps, Don Gutteridge, Al Papai, Joe Medwick, Frank O. Mancuso, Harry Brecheen and Howie Pollet played in Houston on their way to the major leagues.

In 1931, led by former Cardinals outfielder Joe Schultz, the Buffs won 108 out of 159 games and won the Texas League championship. The Buffs' most notable period came between 1939–41, when, as a Cardinal farm laden with talent, they won three straight Texas League pennants.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
I have to wonder: Does MLB really generate ratings on the radio? Really? REALLY? I suspect it is more of a prestige thing these days, with saturation TV coverage of all the games. Much different from pre-1980's when few games were available on TV.
Click to expand...

Well, with CSN, we might as well be back in the 70's with most of the town unable to see the team...

...but with the radio, it's really hard to hear them, too. See also: Houston Rockets. I'm beginning to forget they're there.
 
While losing KTRH does hurt the Astros Radio Network, the Network did pick up KTKR in San Antonio, a 50kw blowtorch that blankets South Texas during daytime operation.
 
Strange marketing moves indeed by the Stros. Maybe the good sticks didn't want them? As a tyke, my Dad took me to Buffs games and with that St. Louis connection, I became a rabid Cardinal fan. Put my Cards hat up to be loyal to the home team, but the home team hasn't been loyal to me. Got me a new Redbirds cap, found my autographed Fleer card of Stan the Man, and the Astros can try what has been described as a physically impossible self inflicted sex act.
PS note to Rockets, I don't miss you.
 
So the Astros Radio Network is taken care of to the west by picking up a 50kw blowtorch in KTKR 760, but what about to the east? I was hoping the Network would pick up former affiliate KLVI, but it's Beaumont affiliate will be KIKR, which can be heard all the way to the state line. Further east, the Network retains Lake Charles affiliate KEZM, which can be heard as far east as Lafayette. Beyond that, the network has an affiliate in New Orleans, so an Astros fan is covered along I-10 all the way to Biloxi.
 
93-3TheSurge said:
While losing KTRH does hurt the Astros Radio Network, the Network did pick up KTKR in San Antonio, a 50kw blowtorch that blankets South Texas during daytime operation.
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That's good as far as day games are concerned. KTKR's nighttime signal barely covers Bexar County.
 
Smittian said:
93-3TheSurge said:
While losing KTRH does hurt the Astros Radio Network, the Network did pick up KTKR in San Antonio, a 50kw blowtorch that blankets South Texas during daytime operation.
Click to expand...
That's good as far as day games are concerned. KTKR's nighttime signal barely covers Bexar County.
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KTKR's nighttime coverage isn't as good as WOAI or WWL by any means, but it covers more than Bexar County. To the north, I agree with you; as soon as you get to Kendall or Guadalupe County, it fades fast. To the south, however, it travels pretty well. I've heard KTKR as far south as Cotulla.
 
The Cleveland Indians were able to negotiate a deal with Clear Channel to be on BOTH 50,000 watt Talk station WTAM (similar to 50,000 watt KTRH) PLUS full-power FM Rock station 100.7 WMMS. Many MLB teams are asking for both AM and FM coverage.

The Phillies are on 50,000 watt 1210 WPHT PLUS full-power 94.1 WIP-FM.
The Mets will be on 50,000 watt 660 WFAN PLUS full-power 101.9 WFAN-FM.
The Tigers will be on 50,000 watt 1270 WXYT PLUS full-power 97.1 WXYT-FM.
The Red Sox are on 50,000 watt 850 WEEI PLUS 93.7 WEEI-FM. (WEEI-FM is full-power although on a signal north of Boston.)

The Astros really are being demoted to go from 50,000 watt KTRH to 5000 watt KBME. OK, KBME is a Sports station, but that's little comfort to be on only a regional power AM station with no FM simulcast.

Most MLB games take place on weeknights, Sat. nights and Sunday afternoons. Not exactly prime time for an AM Talk station like KTRH. There are only a few weekday games a year that might interfer with afternoon drive programming.
 
I don't see any FM in this market carrying Astros games, unless we see a flip to FM SportsTalk somewhere. I don't think baseball on the radio is the draw a lot of people think it is, especially for a team like the Astros which has stunk in recent years.

I have read that in other markets sports play-by-play can actually be a ratings killer for some stations, but I would welcome any firm statistics.

Perhaps a better financial model for team broadcasts would be for the team to buy the time and control most or all of the commercial inventory.
 
For a radio station like KBME, the reception can feel so pretty weak at night. And I Believe The Astros might be better heard on the FM side of radio, I think The Astros would be much be heard on KKRW or KTBZ because CC's third FM station in their Houston cluster, KODA has been pretty much ruled out because it considers itself as a cash cow station-Primarily targeting workday music listeners.
 
Maybe CC wanted to bring more cred to 790 or they went to the Astros and said you are not relevant any more to be on 740. Or moving to the American League had something to do with it.
 
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