Baseball rain delay fill question

[ixnay]

From 1977 to 1981, KYW 1060 Philadelphia (then as now an all news station) carried pbp of Phillies baseball.

During rain delays that were so long that Harry Kalas or perhaps the now retired Andy Musser (I don't recall the late Richie Ashburn doing this) would throw the broadcast back to the affiliates for a fill in of 20-to 30 minutes. While most affiliates would rejoin the Phillies network at the end of that time for an update as to when the game might resume, KYW would stick with it's all news routine until play was actually about to resume.

WCBS 880 New York is all news - except when they carry Yankee games. When the Yankee network comes back from a rain delay fill, does WCBS join the network for the rain delay update, or to they stick to all news until "play ball!" is about to be shouted?

How do other stations carrying MLB pbp handle rain delays as far as coming back to the network for intermittent updates when the resumption of the game is not in sight?

Hope this post is understood...

ixnay

 

[ticoSD]

> From 1977 to 1981, KYW 1060 Philadelphia (then as now an all
> news station) carried pbp of Phillies baseball.
>
> During rain delays that were so long that Harry Kalas or
> perhaps the now retired Andy Musser (I don't recall the late
> Richie Ashburn doing this) would throw the broadcast back to
> the affiliates for a fill in of 20-to 30 minutes. While
> most affiliates would rejoin the Phillies network at the end
> of that time for an update as to when the game might resume,
> KYW would stick with it's all news routine until play was
> actually about to resume.
>
> WCBS 880 New York is all news - except when they carry
> Yankee games. When the Yankee network comes back from a
> rain delay fill, does WCBS join the network for the rain
> delay update, or to they stick to all news until "play
> ball!" is about to be shouted?
>
> How do other stations carrying MLB pbp handle rain delays as
> far as coming back to the network for intermittent updates
> when the resumption of the game is not in sight?
>
> Hope this post is understood...
>
> ixnay
>
IIRC, when WSB-AM had the Braves, they used to run replays of Neal Boortz or Clark Howard, if the delay went on for an extended period of time. Affiliates stations would more than likely resume regularly-scheduled programming.
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"...and the countdown continues until the neanderthals that govern college football do something about their pathetic postseason."--Tim Brando, Sporting News Radio</P>

 

[Pratte4Life]

The Pirates do a pretty good job. They turn the broadcast into a talk show during a rain delay- with their announcers taking calls from fans listening in.

Your topic reminds me of a situation when I called minor league baseball. Between games of a doubleheader, I would often try and plead for them to play a few commercials and I'd fill in the air time with an interview of a local sportswriter or something between games to keep an audience.

"Oh, no!" they'd insist. "We have to go back to the regular format between breaks."

Which was a "Music of Your Life" format.

I can't imagine how we kept even one listener between games.

 

[CapeFish]

The Marlins do a show called "The Rain Delay Spectacular" which features chats with people in the Marlins organization, people from the other team's organization, Marlins news, some WQAM sports updates, a caller once in a blue moon, some recaps of the game delayed and scoreboard watching. If the rain delay is extended beyond 20-30 minutes, they hand it back to the affiliates until news comes about the game.