Cincinnati Reds on WYTS

[Cincinnati Kid]

Just wondering about the Cincinnati Reds broadcasts on WYTS - 1230-AM. Does that station air all of the games (day games, night games, weekend, etc.)? Do local listeners tune in to that station for the games as opposed to picking up WLW? I thought of that second question especially at night when reception on the 1230-AM frequency is not the best even in the suburbs. Thanks.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

A question for the CMH folks from an out-of-market interloper:

It does seem curious that the Reds are on a tiny class IV stick,
even with WLW almost in your backyard. Were they previously
on WTVN 610 or WBNS 1460, or even a big-stick FM?

I'm especially curious if it had been WTVN, as in when there was
a weekday afternoon game--did El Rushbo trump the Reds, or
vice-versa? And how did it shake out?

BTW, the Reds website has WYTS 1230 as its only CMH affiliate.

 

[radiogeek07]

To my knowledge, they are the only station to have the Reds. During the day I tune into 1230 because I get the game in HD. At night though, it's 700 WLW.
And yes, YTS broadcasts day games.

 

[xmusicmatt]

To my knowledge, they are the only station to have the Reds. During the day I tune into 1230 because I get the game in HD. At night though, it's 700 WLW.
And yes, YTS broadcasts day games.

Years ago I beleive that WTVN had the reds for a bit. WYTS 1230 AM has had it in recent years though.

 

[redsfan1966]

WTVN did broadcast Reds games for many years....in fact, TVN used to do remotes with George Lehner from the Red's carvan stops here in Columbus, with interviews. I think if there was a conflict on a weekday game---they would switch the game to the 1230 frequency. I think 1230 has been the affiliate here for at least the past 6 - 8 years if not more. I always thought it was odd to have Reds games on both TVN and WLW when it was the case. On a side note----Reds coverage on 1230 has been worse than usual this year----on more than a few occasions the games have been cut off during play to go to FSR programming----and I believe last Thursday's game didnt air at all after a rain delay.

 

[jhc2010]

Yes, WYTS has cut away from Reds games this year to go to Fox Sports Radio programming. It usually happens when a game is running late and the clock strikes 11 PM or Midnight.

Also, they frequently cut to commercials too soon. Marty will be saying the score at the end of an inning, and sometimes you don't even get to hear what the score is because they are already in a commercial. How hard is it to push the commercial button when the announcer is FINISHED talking???

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

It sounds as though the station is trying to get in as many commercials as it can between innings. That's when a program director or someone similar needs to talk with whoever is running the board for the games. Of course, maybe they could blame it on a computer being pre-set, etc.

I have wondered about this station that carries the games there in Columbus. I remember being at the Jeffersonville Mall near Washington Court House one Sunday afternoon and hearing the Reds broadcast on 1230 K.C. A number of years back, I recall a fairly-powerful FM station in that area carrying the Reds. I do see the need for a station in a town 100 miles away airing them. If anything else, it does possibly provide a clearer signal for those who work in downtown buildings or shops who may want to listen.

 

[columbus radio fan]

do you think a throwaway station like WYTS actually has someone in the studio running the games? It's automated, just like the whole station is. They are relying on the NETWORK to send the tones to fire the local break. If they send it early, affiliates like WYTS cuts off Marty in the middle of a sentence. Sure sounds like this is the case for WYTS.

 

[schmave]

It sounds as though the station is trying to get in as many commercials as it can between innings. That's when a program director or someone similar needs to talk with whoever is running the board for the games. Of course, maybe they could blame it on a computer being pre-set, etc.

I have wondered about this station that carries the games there in Columbus. I remember being at the Jeffersonville Mall near Washington Court House one Sunday afternoon and hearing the Reds broadcast on 1230 K.C. A number of years back, I recall a fairly-powerful FM station in that area carrying the Reds. I do see the need for a station in a town 100 miles away airing them. If anything else, it does possibly provide a clearer signal for those who work in downtown buildings or shops who may want to listen.

1250 AM in Washington Court House has carried the Reds for years, and some late-night and weekend games used to be simulcast on its FM sister station, 105.5. I'm talking the early to mid-90s here (105.5 is no longer listenable within Columbus proper because of 105.7's HD signal; it could be heard easily when 105.7's tower was up near Marysville).
That said, it was obvious that WCHO was taking the feed directly off WLW's signal. There was no delay and if the board-op wasn't on top of things, occasionally a WLW ID or Cincinnati commercial would be heard on 1250 or 105.5. With WLW's tower being no more than 50 miles from Court House and covering that area with a mammoth signal 24/7, I never understood why the station carried the Reds in the first place.
On other questions ... WTVN was the Reds affiliate from about 1992 to 2001 or so. Rush took precedence over the Reds and no spring training games aired. I don't think a spring training broadcast ever has aired on a Columbus affiliate.
When I still lived in Columbus, I always listened to WLW for the Reds.

 

[Chuck Douglas]

do you think a throwaway station like WYTS actually has someone in the studio running the games? It's automated, just like the whole station is.

Incorrect. The guy that was there for 16 innings the other night can attest to it.

They are relying on the NETWORK to send the tones to fire the local break. If they send it early, affiliates like WYTS cuts off Marty in the middle of a sentence. Sure sounds like this is the case for WYTS.

Even with someone in the local studio, the network must have their elements placed and timed correctly. This includes tones, verbal cues and network vs local spot breaks. If it's bad on their end it's bad throughout.

 

[xmusicmatt]

do you think a throwaway station like WYTS actually has someone in the studio running the games? It's automated, just like the whole station is.

Incorrect. The guy that was there for 16 innings the other night can attest to it.

They are relying on the NETWORK to send the tones to fire the local break. If they send it early, affiliates like WYTS cuts off Marty in the middle of a sentence. Sure sounds like this is the case for WYTS.

Even with someone in the local studio, the network must have their elements placed and timed correctly. This includes tones, verbal cues and network vs local spot breaks. If it's bad on their end it's bad throughout.

Things happen and its not always automation, the board op or whatever's fault. I used to run cleveland indians, columbus crew, ohio state and browns games (and some other synidcated shows) for an AM station and nothing was 100% perfect everytime, there was times when something happened and the network break would not be right or the what not or maybe some reason the network threw an extra 30 seconds into a local break or cut one short for who knows why. I would say 98% of the times things went smoothly but there was a few times that 'it happened'... a good board op tends to just make due and roll on which is what I usually did. ( I always tried to think and prepare for the worse -- ie a extra 30 second promo loaded on the wizard button bar or what not incase I had to fill time etc.) still made fun times for the pay I got.. and I actually enjoyed the job (one of the few ive had in life I could say that).

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Thanks for the various bits of information. It is interesting to hear from those who have "run the board" along a team's network during play-by-play.

It does seem there is always something from the originating station that is going to squeak through and be heard on stations along the network. I remember when a gasoline company by the name of Tresler-Comet had a couple of quick mentions during the course of Reds game broadcasts. It was interesting that these were set up to go over the entire network since all of the Tresler-Comet stations I knew of were only in the Greater Cincinnati area.

With regards to WCHO in Washington Court House being a part of the Reds Network although being easily with-in the range of powerful WLW, maybe part of that is tradition (although I know there are some in management who choose to ignore such things as tradition). I want to think that WCHO (AM) has been on the network since the 1950's when the Cincinnati stations who served as the flagship of the network weren't as easy to receive in that community. Maybe they have some longtime sponsors who advertise on those portions of the broadcast inwhich stations along the network can air their own commercials.

 

[del_griffith]

I worked for WBBY in the 70's when they carried the reds.

They used to have 3 or 4 breaks in a row that were all network spots. I used to tighten the bailing wire on my car when the log looked that way with back to back net spots at the breaks.

Except you should have seen me make a beeline for the studio when the called for the floater spot (which at that time was the first pitching change of the game) or an early id. More than once had grease to my arm pits running to the studio to pot down the network (which was taken from WHOK-FM at the time) and insert our local spot or id.

Once in a great moon WHOK would slip and I'd slip and we'd get portions of WLW's id, WHOK's ID and our full ID.

Also our broadcast was sometimes noisy as WHOK carried local HS football on Fridays in September and we'd have to pick the feed off WLW. Always fun if there was a thunderstorm between us and the Queen City.

 

[schmave]

I worked for WBBY in the 70's when they carried the reds.

They used to have 3 or 4 breaks in a row that were all network spots. I used to tighten the bailing wire on my car when the log looked that way with back to back net spots at the breaks.

Except you should have seen me make a beeline for the studio when the called for the floater spot (which at that time was the first pitching change of the game) or an early id. More than once had grease to my arm pits running to the studio to pot down the network (which was taken from WHOK-FM at the time) and insert our local spot or id.

Once in a great moon WHOK would slip and I'd slip and we'd get portions of WLW's id, WHOK's ID and our full ID.

Also our broadcast was sometimes noisy as WHOK carried local HS football on Fridays in September and we'd have to pick the feed off WLW. Always fun if there was a thunderstorm between us and the Queen City.

Isn't it illegal to simply transmit another station over your own?
I know it's done frequently, especially with sports. I remember board-opping at WLQR 1470 in Toledo in the late 90s and we simply took the Tigers "network" feed from WJR. Luckily, WJR's tower was only about 40 miles away so the signal was perfect.

 

[del_griffith]

I believe as long as all the permissions are in place it's ok.

Prior to the days of cheap distribution, this was done frequently.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

I believe as long as all the permissions are in place it's ok.
Prior to the days of cheap distribution, this was done frequently.

And even if an affiliate did have a Telco feed, it was probably a "not much
better than a phone call" 3.5 kHz un-EQed line, and it still may have been
a "dirty" feed from the flagship station.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

For a time when WCTM (92.9-FM) in Eaton, Ohio was carrying the Reds in the early 1960's, the feed was received over the air from WKRC-FM (now WKRQ) in Cincinnati. WKRC - 550-AM was the flagship station then (and was from 1957 thru 1963). Right next to WCTM's studios on North Barron Street was a taven that served food in addition to liquid refreshments. During one of the broadcasts, a meat truck pulled into the parking lot of the tavern to make a delivery. Apparently, the spark plugs of the truck started causing interference in the reception of WKRC-FM at WCTM and the result was the interference going out over the station's signal. I was told someone from the station went to the truck, found no around the idling vehicle, so they just got into the truck and turned the engine off. That cleared up the reception, but must have surprised the driver when he got back to his truck.