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Cumulus dumping ESPN for CBS Sports Radio

T

ThePickleReport

Rumor has it. Ok, that doesn't effect Buffalo since WGR is owned by Entercom. But, Jim Rome is moving to CBS from Premier. Do you think there is a chance that WGR is persuaded to dump most of ESPN? They hardly run it anyway since adding the Sabres/Bills shows.

I'm kind of hoping that they do since CBS is going to have Scott Ferrall on from 10pm-2am. He's on the Howard Stern channels on Sirius/XM currently.
 
ESPN has a distinct advantage over CBS Radio Sports, at least for the moment and foreseeable future. CBS is making the big push and has the AFC conference rights plus an NFL connection, but ESPN is the benchmark for sports programming in television and radio. At this point, outside of Cumulus' and CBS' properties, the only stations that might consider CBS Sports Radio are third tier players. WECK? CBS Sports Radio/Cumulus would have reservations approving that deal because CBS/Cumulus wants the programming on signals that provide coverage and penetration. (Recall the posts here about NBC Sports Radio's "Buffalo" affiliates.) What's more, Cumulus wouldn't want to compete with itself.

CBS made a Sports deal with Dickey clan because Cumulus is the second largest pure play radio company in the game and there are more outlets available to act as retail stores for the wholesaler. WGR will stay with ESPN. It's a good fit, it has heritage in the market, the name recognition is high and there's no reason to change. Furthermore, Entercom isn't going to lift a finger or spend a dime to advance the cause of the Dickeys or CBS Sports. When you're talking the Field family or Dickey clan, it's a pitched battle of the network egos.
 
Element9 said:
CBS is making the big push and has the AFC conference rights plus an NFL connection, but ESPN is the benchmark for sports programming in television and radio.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that the CBS Sports rights are strictly for TV, not radio. Same thing with NBC Sports.

ESPN has been a bit better in getting baseball for both TV and radio. But they don't have radio rights to Monday Night Football.

These radio networks are strictly branding and talk shows. Not play by play.

The ESPN radio deal with Cumulus was leftover from the Citadel purchase of ABC Radio from Disney. ESPN certainly has the money and power to syndicate it themselves.
 
WGR has been an ESPN affiliate since 1992 (one of the original affiliates) through numerous owners, including Rich Communications, Keymarket-River City-Sinclair Radio, and since 2000, Entercom. I think both parties are pleased with the relationship. Change, especially to CBS, seems highly unlikely.
 
JustPastBuffalo said:
WGR has been an ESPN affiliate since 1992 (one of the original affiliates) through numerous owners, including Rich Communications, Keymarket-River City-Sinclair Radio, and since 2000, Entercom. I think both parties are pleased with the relationship. Change, especially to CBS, seems highly unlikely.
Click to expand...
I would agree except that CBS is trying to launch affiliates so I could imagine CBS trying to package their programming with Rome and WGR taking it just to keep Rome so that they do not have to try and fill a 12-3 spot everyday.

As for sports rights ESPN has baseball and the NBA. Dial Global has the NFL (Uses CBS's music), College Football and basketball. With CBS, NBC and Yahoo all now having or launching newtworks plus FOX and ESPN it will be interesting to see if companies like Sports USA and Dial Global will be able to hang on or if they will lose all of their games to the big companies with TV networks.
 
Thanks for the discussion. I was just wondering out loud if at some point the lack of clearances of ESPN on WGR leaves an opening for someone like, say WECK, to take them 24-7. I reference Citadel (now Cumulus) losing the ESPN in Syracuse to Galaxy, who sweetened the offer with an ESPN Deportes clearance.
 
It should be noted that ESPN and Cumulus are seperating their satellite delivery system on November 3, ESPN-owned XDS Satellite receivers will *only* carry their programming, Cumulus-syndicated shows like Cigar Dave and Bob Brinker will require a seperate XDS receiver and will no longer be available on the former ABC/Citadel/Cumulus receivers.

This was originally going to happen the first week of September, but I have a hunch a bunch of affiliates were all requesting new XDS boxes for the switch which may have postponed the change in carrier frequency.
 
Any idea who the hosts of CBS Sports Radio's morning show are?
 
With the likelihood of NHL lockout continuing past January (discussed in another thread) and the absence of Sabres games, WGR might be ripe for some sports competition. Might Cumulus consider dropping the upper demo Swing format on 1270 in favor of CBS Sports Radio? Swing has put up respectable numbers and the format runs cheaply on a signal that isn't one of the best AM's in the market. But with Cumulus, anything is possible. Granted, the demographics would be better with Sports on 1270, but the ratings would most likely be weaker.
 
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