Indians, Clear Channel announce five-year contract

[W8YSU]

FROM INDIANS.COM:

By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com | 01/29/2013 9:31 AM ET

CLEVELAND -- The Indians announced on Tuesday that they have come to terms on a new five-year contract with Clear Channel Media and Entertainment for WTAM 1100 AM to remain the team's flagship radio station.

The radio team of Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus will remain intact.

"We are thrilled to extend our relationship with the Cleveland Indians," Gary Mincer, market president of Clear Channel Media and Entertainment Cleveland, said in a release. "Our partnership with the Indians allows fans from all over the region to follow Indians baseball."

As part of the deal, WTAM 1100 AM will air all regular-season games, and WMMS 100.7 FM will simulcast 144 games. Clear Channel Cleveland will also air 15 live broadcasts of Spring Training games, and will continue to distribute games to the Indians Radio Network, which includes 26 stations throughout Ohio and western Pennsylvania.

"The Cleveland Indians are proud and excited to continue our 15-year partnership with Clear Channel Media and Entertainment," team president Mark Shapiro said in a release. "We are fortunate that this partnership continues our consistent broadcast on WTAM while expanding our radio presence to a new FM audience through WMMS."

The Indians have also reached a multiyear deal with Rosenhaus, who is entering his seventh season as part of the radio broadcast team.

 

[wjf82]

Why are they simulcasting 144 games. I thought WTAM was a 50,000 watt signal. What good does this do for WMMS?

And only 26 radio affiliates? The Reds currently have 93. But hey, you could be the Mets and only have SEVEN affiliates.

 

[Seltzer]

Why are they simulcasting 144 games. I thought WTAM was a 50,000 watt signal. What good does this do for WMMS?

And only 26 radio affiliates? The Reds currently have 93. But hey, you could be the Mets and only have SEVEN affiliates.

You don't put baseball on an iconic rock station. I understand NFL games but so much for the MMS brand.

 

[1sttimecaller]

You don't put baseball on an iconic rock station. I understand NFL games but so much for the MMS brand.
[/quote]


Old thinking.

Why not?

 

[vjm]

Why are they simulcasting 144 games. I thought WTAM was a 50,000 watt signal. What good does this do for WMMS?

And only 26 radio affiliates? The Reds currently have 93. But hey, you could be the Mets and only have SEVEN affiliates.

You don't put baseball on an iconic rock station. I understand NFL games but so much for the MMS brand.

Again, you have to get it out of your head that WMMS is a pure rock station...it has long morphed into a "mancave" station, mixing hot talk, rock and sports.

This is just another part of that. This is why CC was able to keep the Tribe...AM and FM. CBS couldn't match that.

 

[fingers]

I'm glad there are on an FM station now-I haven't listened to WMMS in 15 or 20 years, so it dosen't bother me about ruining a "rock" station.

 

[vjm]

Why are they simulcasting 144 games. What good does this do for WMMS?

It keeps them ahead of the ratings game vs 92.3 The Fan, with whom they are battling for the male demo on the FM side.

And since the contract says that all Tribe games will be on WTAM, that means that 'MMS will (as they have done for years) be the backup station for the Cavs when there are conflicts on 1100.

This new arrangement puts roughly 180 games a year on WMMS between the big 3 teams in town.

I wouldn't be shocked now if 106.5 "The Lake" becomes more rock heavy, picking up some of the music load from MMS.

Clearly now, 100.7 is all about Rover, Cox, the Browns, and the Tribe. The music now is almost filler when it gets right down to it.

 

[iFartRadio]

Current rock is dead as a door nail. The rock stars of today are the POP stars. This is a good move.

 

[1sttimecaller]

Current rock is dead as a door nail. The rock stars of today are the POP stars. This is a good move.

Agreed. The only people complaining about the lack of music on WMMS are mostly on this board. Their ratings and more importantly their revenue show the old bird has new wings without the rock.

 

[Whkam1420]

Why are they simulcasting 144 games. I thought WTAM was a 50,000 watt signal. What good does this do for WMMS?

And only 26 radio affiliates? The Reds currently have 93. But hey, you could be the Mets and only have SEVEN affiliates.

You don't put baseball on an iconic rock station. I understand NFL games but so much for the MMS brand.

Again, you have to get it out of your head that WMMS is a pure rock station...it has long morphed into a "mancave" station, mixing hot talk, rock and sports.

This is just another part of that. This is why CC was able to keep the Tribe...AM and FM. CBS couldn't match that.

I look at it from the standpoint that they had to go FM or they would have lost the rights to CBS. Think of the role CBS has now played in these negotiations, even without winning the Indians, they may substantially put a dent in one of CBS' biggest competitors (WMMS or WTAM). And imagine if the Indians continue stinking. CBS really looks like it comes out the winner.

 

[CleveFan]

For WMMS, this is a big boost for them. Their numbers usually go up in the fall when they air the Browns. For spring and summer, they have a chance of getting a bigger audience than what they usually get in those seasons.

Plus, of course, 'MMS has a stronger coverage area than The Fan. My guess is signal and coverage area played a role in fighting for the rights.

I bet that Rover and Alan Cox will get a boost from the games. Look at what the Tribe did for Triv on WTAM. Speaking of which, 'MMS may as well drop the music and go all-talk. They can just move the rock tunes over to The Lake.

 

[xmusicmatt]

You don't put baseball on an iconic rock station. I understand NFL games but so much for the MMS brand.

If your Clear Channel and you want to keep your prized Indians contract instead of it being taken away by CBS (The Fan) You darn well put them on FM.. and as you can see .. 144 games will air on WMMS!

 

[DrC]

You don't put baseball on an iconic rock station. I understand NFL games but so much for the MMS brand.

Most of the Indians games will likely pre-empt the satellite-fed Nikki Sixx show on weeknights. Although I'd be bummed if Alan Cox was pre-empted a few times a week for Indians games, I can live with losing "the Sixx Sense".

Regardless of their past, WMMS reminds me of Real Radio 104.1 in Orlando - the talk shows are the thing, and any music that gets played is an afterthought. And given the current state of commercial album rock, I'm completely fine with that.

 

[Capulet]

If your Clear Channel and you want to keep your prized Indians contract instead of it being taken away by CBS (The Fan) You darn well put them on FM.. and as you can see .. 144 games will air on WMMS!
[/quote]

Exactly. Clear Channel paid heavily to keep the Indians on WTAM. They essentially had to put the games on AM and FM. Think of the WMMS inventory lost because they are airing network spots on 144 games ! The only gain for WMMS is the possibility of attracting new cume audience.

 

[chrocket87]

You don't put baseball on an iconic rock station. I understand NFL games but so much for the MMS brand.

I think that was another reason behind launching 99x. Doing this allows CC to push MMS more talk, while giving some of the music audience somewhere else in the cluster to go (though they're trading in their Metallica and Godsmack for Fun. and Mumford and Sons).

 

[raccoonradio]

via Tom Taylor's newsletter

>>Baseball goes on Cleveland’s WMMS (100.7) – so just how far is baseball going to go on FM?
One source tells this newsletter that Major League Baseball's goal is to have an FM signal in every flagship market in the next five years....It’s not the first time baseball has been added to a music station, but one fan on the Cleveland Board of RadioDiscussions.com complains that “You don't put baseball on an iconic rock station. I understand NFL games, but so much for the MMS brand.” But baseball’s a cume magnet, and Clear Channel market manager Gary Mincer knows that to extend the 15-year relationship with the Indians, he’s going to offer a broad package.

 

[wjf82]

WLW (Reds' flagship) now has an FM translator at 94.5 FM which covers most of Cincinnati, so I guess that'd be sufficient for MLB.

 

[vjm]

The Detroit Tigers' flagship is WXYT FM 97.1, and the Pittsburgh Pirates's flagship is KDKA FM 93.7 (after several years of being on WPGB FM 104.7).

MLB on FM is becoming more and more commonplace as the years go by.

Clear Channel pretty much had to do this, because there was a real chance that if not, 92.3 The Fan would have snatched the Tribe from under them.

 

[Tim]

Let's face it...WMMS is mainly a talk station any way. Evening ratings in 2013 mean far, as most adults watch TV at night. And, I'll bet as soon as CC finds a suitable young/middle-aged male talk host for middays...it'll happen.

Baseball fills most evenings...a time when music formats don't make that much money anyway.

WMMS has already gone down as one of the greatest music stations ever. But, that's the point: that's in the past. Music on MMS today is just filler.

Smart move for WMMS and CC in a number of ways.

 

[vjm]

Music on MMS today is just filler.

Ding-ding-ding-ding!

Thank you...right on the money.

It's something to fill time between talk shows and ballgames.

WMMS has adjusted with the times, mixing in talk and sports with the music for their hybrid "mancave" format.

You want a station that has hasn't budged in a quarter century (except for the AMD carousel brought on by not-their-fault Howard Stern departure) and has stuck with predominently the same format and playlist, go to WNCX.

Should MMS get a talk show to bridge Rover and Cox, It wouldn't shock me to see 106.5 pretty much become the full time "rocker" in the CC Cleveland cluster.