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Yes ESPN has radio distribution rights to every MLB Game.
Yes ESPN has radio distribution rights to every MLB Game.
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ESPN Radio to Air Every MLB Postseason Game
- Thread starter Y2kTheNewOldies
- Start date
OK, they left one foot in the radio business but removed everything else. The ABC Radio Network. The ABC owned stations. Just a token presence.
And how many stations will actually carry this feed?
ESPN Radio has about 500 affiliates. Probably half of them will carry some part of the playoffs and series. A lot of it depends on which teams are playing.
ESPN has about 500 affiliates, as Big A noted. The revived ABC Radio Network which launched at the beginning of last year with about 1000 affiliates, is a separate network now run by ABC directly. In addition, Disney has Radio Disney in the US on one AM and a lot of HD2 channels, and a whole bunch of Radio Disney operations throughout Latin America.
That does not seem like "one foot" in the business. It looks like a major commitment to networking and branding.
It also depends if local affiliates have rights to local teams, and they're playing at the same time.
For example, KTAR 620 Phoenix aired a Coyotes preseason hockey game, while sister station KMVP-FM 98.7 broadcast a preseason Suns game. Game 1 of the Cubs/Giants NLDS didn't air in Phoenix. Both stations are ESPN Radio affiliates to one extent or another (most network fare is on 620, while 98.7 uses it as overnight/weekend filler).
If ESPN operates the station under a LMA, they don't own it. And, actually, they own and operate two stations and operate four under LMA's. And those stations they operate (owned or not) do local programming and do not necessarily clear the network feed.
ESPN Radio's play-off games are most likely to be cleared on turn-key stations in smaller markets. They are least likely to cleared in larger markets in which stations broadcast local shows - especially if no local teams are in the play-offs. Many sports-talk stations have opted for local call-in shows (with local spots) over games. What often happens is people watch the game on TV and call in to talk about it as the game is underway.
Meanwhile Disney, is pulling back from OTA radio for Radio Disney and morphing it into a streaming service because that's where target millennials are listening.
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However, tonight WEPN New York was running the Rangers vs Blue Jays. They will clear the network feed unless they have a local conflict.
Millennials are too old for Radio Disney. The point is that Disney is still doing radio.
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Disney has been adding HD2 Radio Disney channels across the country, so it is not pulling back. It is simultaneously moving into streaming because that is where the target 6 to 11 listeners are.
Pre-teens are not Millenials by the more widely used definitions which generally along the lines of
"There are no precise dates for when this group starts or ends; demographers and researchers typically use starting birth years ranging from the late 1970s to early 1980s and ending birth years ranging from the mid-1990s to early 2000s."
So Millennials would be those between 13 and 34. That is not the Radio Disney target in the USA (although it is outside the US)
ESPN Radio has aired every MLB post-season game for a decade or more. I'm not sure why this has gotten so much press this year, unless there is some kind of a feud behind the scenes in Chicago about the Cubs games being on two stations.
ESPN Radio has held the rights since 1998. Before that, it was:
1976-97: CBS
1957-75: NBC
1939-56: Mutual
1935-38: NBC, CBS, and Mutual
1927-34: NBC and CBS
1922-26: Westinghouse
1921: KDKA Pittsburgh (Live), WBZ Springfield MA, & WJZ Newark NJ (recreated)
I'm quite sure that CBS/WSCR is not happy that ESPN/WMVP is also airing the games. That's nothing new, though.
Moving to HD2 is the definition of pulling back. If a tree falls on HD2 (or 3 or 4) does it make a sound? HD is a failed experiment. That's why Disney is moving to streaming.
You make it sound like it's a one-or-the-other thing. It's not. Radio Disney has always streamed it's audio, so it's not "moving to" anything. The main difference is that Disney doesn't want to own towers and transmitters. But they create lots of radio content, and provide it to hundreds of OTA radio stations.
Moving away from what was a motley collection of mostly-deficient AM stations and going to improved streaming and HD subchannels for the car is actually an improvement of its radio presence.
HD has hardly failed, with about half of all cars having it this coming model year. While it is not a qualified mass-appeal success, it has definitely proven worthwhile to many stations, often in ways not anticipated when digital radio on-band was envisioned about 25 years ago.
In what ways has HD Radio "proven worthwhile?" Maybe it could have but as so often happens, short-sighted management has squandered any opportuity.
Lots of specialized and ethnic formats are available on HD channels. The use of channels to provide data services such as real-time traffic, is a profitable use and, in fact, helps keep FM in car radios. The ability to use an HD-2 to program a translator is another very successful use of HD.
There are many formats no longer represented on the main channels, which nobody has bothered to place on sub-channels. People buy content, not hardware. And the industry does not seem to have done much to provide content which would move hardware sales for HD. Nothing new. The industry didn't do much with the FM band until they were forced to stop simulcasting and provide unique content (which sold FM receivers). Sarnoff wanted people to buy color TVs before making more than a 10 year token effort to provide color programming.
The FM band had lots of unique content from the 40's well into the 50's. But several things impeded any audience growth of FM.
First, before the development of AFC circuits, FM reception drifted. Second, the Armstrong-Sarnoff battle kept FM from being more actively promoted at the national level. Third, as TV developed, radio had enough trouble adapting and sustaining AM stations for anyone to spend much time on FM.
Independently programmed FMs declined significantly from 1950 to 1960, and those owned by AM stations went into simulcasting arrangements. But initially, the industry did a lot with the FM band, with about 1000 FMs licensed in 1950 at a time when there were about 2000 AM stations operating.
As a surprise to some, the FM band had begun a slow but impressive growth again in the 60's, with station counts increasing plenty of pre-simulcast-ban innovations like WOR-FM's early FM rock format and the development of Beautiful Music at stations like KFOG, WDVR and WJIB to ethnic FMs such as WOOK-FM and WZEN.
And unlike color TV, Sarnoff did not want FM to succeed as the money consumers would spend on FM might decrease the money spent on a TV set. At that time, such opposition was very significant to the state of FM.
When you say "nobody" that is wrong. HD radio programming depends on the market. So if you go to certain markets, there are lots of smaller formats on HD channels, and they're even showing up in the ratings. NPR has a very active HD radio content distribution division, and most NPR stations have HD2 channels with lots of additional content not available on the main station. CBS Radio has done a lot with HD. It's not as obvious as the main channel, but if you look, you'll find it.
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