Holding radio stations hostage

[vchimpanzee]

I haven't looked at any newspapers yet to see if this was done, but at one time my favorite radio station was one that aired Duke games. There was a time when that station had to air the entire ACC Tournament. Before they went Spanish and dropped Duke, though, they had somehow gotten out of that obligation, and rightfully so. As long as the market is covered, there's no sense in such an arrangement. The whole concept of "The Tar Heel Network Broadcast of the ACC Tournament" or "The Blue Devil Network Broadcast of the ACC Tournament" is ridiculous. How it should be: You carry your team's games. There is an ACC Tournament network, and someone is designated to carry those games so the ones not otherwise aired in the market can be heard. I found Majic 94.1 airing the tournament long after UNC was out of it. Considering what happened jhust hours after the tournament ended, that may not have been such a bad thing, but unless it was the only station reaching the entire Triad carrying games that didn't involve a North Carolina team, it doesn't seem right.

I don't know how many other stations did this, but I figure Mix 101.5 is the "at work" station--how would THAT have gone over with the primarily female audience? I don't know what percentage of them would be sports fans, I don't imagine you can really listen to the game if you are and get anything done.

 

[w00t]

Mix 101.5 is the NCSU flagship but they didn't carry any of the ACC games that NCSU was not in. 97.9/98.9 "The Bear" in the Eastern NC market carried the entire tournament all from the NCSU network and I know that 96.5 The Drive in Fayetteville carried it from the Tarheel network.

From what I understand it's up to each individual affiliate.

 

[virgiltab1]

I guess the Tar Heels Sports Network sales people can sell anything, including Woody Durham and crew covering the entire ACC tourney without UNC. I did hear WFNZ AM in Charlotte carrying the games by the Tar Heel network.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Mix 101.5 is the NCSU flagship but they didn't carry any of the ACC games that NCSU was not in. 97.9/98.9 "The Bear" in the Eastern NC market carried the entire tournament all from the NCSU network and I know that 96.5 The Drive in Fayetteville carried it from the Tarheel network.

From what I understand it's up to each individual affiliate.

I guess that's true now. I couldn't believe they got away with it for so many years. But I saw no station listed in the News & Observer carrying the entire tournament, and only some AMs and two FMs with different coverage areas in the News & Record.

Not so long ago, the News & Observer had a long list of stations carrying every game.

Menawhile, I lose my favorite pop station for days (at least in the afternoon) during March Madness. They carry all games of the NCAA Tournament. Not literally all since in the early days several games air at once, but you get the idea. The owner is a play-by-play man for several different local sports teams, so you know he likes sports. So while the station doesn't have that much sports--I'm thinking it's so they can keep their commitments to certain teams--this time of year, it pretty much shuts down for basketball.

 

[quadraphonic]

As long as the market is covered, there's no sense in such an arrangement. The whole concept of "The Tar Heel Network Broadcast of the ACC Tournament" or "The Blue Devil Network Broadcast of the ACC Tournament" is ridiculous.

It's a holdover from back in the day before 24/7 sports, when the ACC Tournament was a much bigger cultural phenomenon, on local AM stations mostly, not covering regional areas or the internet.

Don't begrudge them for selling whatever they can sell. More power to them. Odds are, you'll be back, unless you get distracted by a shiny button or something that whistles.

 

[corysnyder]

Duke was a stand-alone network, and when the ACC expanded, they decided that calling all of the games on Thursday & Friday would be way to much for 2 guys. They do/did air both semi-final games and the championship game, regardless of Duke's involvment. The entire tournament had been aired on 850 for a long time, but this year, with the ownership/station changes, the tournament aired on 99.9 and 620.

 

[berlin201]

Here's how the coverage in the Triangle went:

Tar Heel Sports Network carried all 11 games on WCHL-AM 1360; the Carolina game, both semifinal games on Saturday, and the final on Sunday, on "Yuck Radio One-Oh-Sux-One," and all tourney games not involving Duke on 620 The Buzz; the Blue Devil ISP Network cut in on 620 for the Duke games, as this is the flagship Duke station.
The Wolfpack Sports Network carried the N.C. State games on its flagship, Mix-101.5, and shifted the non-Wolfpack games to sister station 99.9 The Fan (of course, any games on while the Carolina Hurricanes are playing would get bumped out, as 99.9 is the flagship of the Hurricanes).

For the NCAA Tournament, Westwood One is broadcasting the games on 99.9, except during Hurricanes games, during which time now-sister station 620 The Buzz would take over. This is a huge benefit of the Capitol Broadcasting deal that brought in 620; last year, during the Final Four, 99.9 had to cut out the first game (I believe it was Michigan State-UConn), shifting that game to 1410-AM, whose signal sucks big-time; and they shifted the second game (Carolina-Villanova) to Mix 101.5--- because the Hurricanes were playing that night during the Final Four broadcasts.
Speaking of 850, did they air any games since they became WKIX-AM? During its days as 850 The Buzz, they were affiliated with both Carolina and Duke, as well as the Carolina Panthers and the Indy Motor Speedway radio network. I think they also used to cover the Hurricanes (were they 102.9's predecessors, or did they move to another station before moving to 102.9 in 2005?)

 

[DToTheJ]

... last year, during the Final Four, 99.9 had to cut out the first game (I believe it was Michigan State-UConn), shifting that game to 1410-AM, whose signal sucks big-time...

... yet probably more reliable than the signal of an HD-2 channel, I'm sure...

 

[XTalker]

I may be late to this party, but here is the real deal. All of the individual ACC schools have their own radio network operations. While most are operated by a separate company, they do so with the authority of the school. The school has a say about the talent and the chosen stations.

The network is general a separate, for profit, business. The theory of airing all ACC tournament games is that a Duke fan is interested in all of the games from the Duke perspective and therefor will listen to Bob Harris and company before they would listen to Woody, etc.

Meanwhile, the companies pay such high dollars for the rights to the game, the entire ACC tournament offers a chance to make some of that money back.

Now for the stations - the first offer in an affiliation agreement calls for ALL games of the pre-season, regular season, ACC Tournament, and post season. The individual station can always come back with "not airing the pre-season games that don't count" or "only airing ACC games involving your school" and the network responds based on how badly they want the station on the network. A full power FM with a good signal and good audience can demand more than a small FM or AM station. At tat level, it is generall "if you want Carolina basketball, you'll take it ALL." There have even been some deals that said "if you want basketball you have to take football" and I am even aware of one that said "if you want BB and FB, you will take Women's BB and baseball".

It is all about how bad they want you, or how bad you want them! A matter of what do you want, and what are you willing to give up to get it - in both directions. It is a business negotiation and has nothing to do with the fact that the same game may be on television and six other radio stations in the region.

 

[XTalker]

I may be late to this party, but here is the real deal. All of the individual ACC schools have their own radio network operations. While most are operated by a separate company, they do so with the authority of the school. The school has a say about the talent and the chosen stations.

The network is general a separate, for profit, business. The theory of airing all ACC tournament games is that a Duke fan is interested in all of the games from the Duke perspective and therefor will listen to Bob Harris and company before they would listen to Woody, etc.

Meanwhile, the companies pay such high dollars for the rights to the game, the entire ACC tournament offers a chance to make some of that money back.

Now for the stations - the first offer in an affiliation agreement calls for ALL games of the pre-season, regular season, ACC Tournament, and post season. The individual station can always come back with "not airing the pre-season games that don't count" or "only airing ACC games involving your school" and the network responds based on how badly they want the station on the network. A full power FM with a good signal and good audience can demand more than a small FM or AM station. At tat level, it is generall "if you want Carolina basketball, you'll take it ALL." There have even been some deals that said "if you want basketball you have to take football" and I am even aware of one that said "if you want BB and FB, you will take Women's BB and baseball".

It is all about how bad they want you, or how bad you want them! A matter of what do you want, and what are you willing to give up to get it - in both directions. It is a business negotiation and has nothing to do with the fact that the same game may be on television and six other radio stations in the region.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Here's how the coverage in the Triangle went:

Tar Heel Sports Network carried all 11 games on WCHL-AM 1360; the Carolina game, both semifinal games on Saturday, and the final on Sunday, on "Yuck Radio One-Oh-Sux-One," and all tourney games not involving Duke on 620 The Buzz; the Blue Devil ISP Network cut in on 620 for the Duke games, as this is the flagship Duke station.
The Wolfpack Sports Network carried the N.C. State games on its flagship, Mix-101.5, and shifted the non-Wolfpack games to sister station 99.9 The Fan (of course, any games on while the Carolina Hurricanes are playing would get bumped out, as 99.9 is the flagship of the Hurricanes).

For the NCAA Tournament, Westwood One is broadcasting the games on 99.9, except during Hurricanes games, during which time now-sister station 620 The Buzz would take over. This is a huge benefit of the Capitol Broadcasting deal that brought in 620; last year, during the Final Four, 99.9 had to cut out the first game (I believe it was Michigan State-UConn), shifting that game to 1410-AM, whose signal sucks big-time; and they shifted the second game (Carolina-Villanova) to Mix 101.5--- because the Hurricanes were playing that night during the Final Four broadcasts.
Speaking of 850, did they air any games since they became WKIX-AM? During its days as 850 The Buzz, they were affiliated with both Carolina and Duke, as well as the Carolina Panthers and the Indy Motor Speedway radio network. I think they also used to cover the Hurricanes (were they 102.9's predecessors, or did they move to another station before moving to 102.9 in 2005?)

Wow, thanks for this. The News & Observer didn't bother with any of this information. Then again, I haven't seen any since March 20 or so, so there may be some information I haven't seen.

WRBZ did air The Hurricanes. Then WDOX. It amazed me The Charlotte Observer had WDOX listed. When WPTF was the affiliate, many subscribers would have been able to pick up the signal, even at night. With WRBZ, during the day maybe. With WDOX, mail subscribers only.