Jim Colony

[toddjammin]

I haven't heard Jim Colony do sport center updates on ESPN in the afternoon since Madden got fired. Joe Destio has been filling in. Does anyone know if Jim Colony still works at ESPN?

 

[pghfmradiosucks]

Yes. He still works there, I heard him on Thursday afternoon. I read that with all the changes there, he at least temporarily, will be reporting from the field. Steeler camp and the like. He takes over for Ken Laird, who for the time being will be working Madden's shift.

 

[FreddyE1977]

They could make much better use of his talents than by setting him up as a buffoonish straight man. He acquitted himself quite well back in the day when he would fill in for Hillgrove with Pitt basketball play-by-play. (oh, wait....the market's leading sports station has no local play-by-play.....)

 

[Parttimer]

Because pro franchises all want to be on FM. The only AMs that have retained play-by-play for the most part are blowtorches like WLW and WTAM. (There are exceptions, of course... the Tampa Bay (don't say Devil any more) Rays are on 1250/WHNZ, but they have to buy the time because no one wanted them.)

 

[sleeper]

A lot of sports play by play is still on the AM dial. Look at South Florida. The Marlins have been on 560 WQAM since the early 90s and are moving to 790 WAXY next season. WQAM also carries the Miami Dolphins. In Los Angeles the Dodgers are on 790 KABC and the Lakers are on 570 KLAC. None of those stations are blowtorches.

 

[Parttimer]

Out of the 100+ major league sports franchises in the US, you cite what, 4 examples? That doesn't constitute "a lot".

 

[sleeper]

I didn't want to take all the time to look up every pro sports team there is and every frequency, but you'll get some more. I randomly picked these teams.

Houston Astros - 740 KTRH
Miami Heat - 610 WIOD
Boston Celtics - 850 WEEI
Chicago White Sox - 670 WSCR
Chicago Bears - 780 WBBM
Chicago Cubs - 720 WGN
Green Bay Packers - 620 WTMJ
St. Louis Cardinals - 550 KTRS (team owns 50% of the station)
Philadelphia Phillies - 1210 WPHT
New York Yankees - 880 WCBS
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - 830 KLAA
Colorado Rockies - 850 KOA
San Francisco Giants - 650 KNBR
Toronto Blue Jays - 590 CJCL
Seattle Mariners - 1000 KOMO

While looking up teams I searched these teams and they are on FM

San Diego Chargers - 105.3 KIOZ
Baltimore Ravens - 97.9 WIYY
New England Patriots - 104.1 WBCN

These teams I found are on AM/FM simulcasts-

Jacksonville Jaguars - WOKV/WOKV-FM
Detroit Lions - WXYT/WXYT-FM
San Diego Padres - XEPRS/XHPRS
Washington Nationals - WWWT/WWWT-FM

 

[Pratte4Life]

Maybe I'm old school but when I'm driving around and looking for a ball game to listen to outside of Pittsburgh- I always check out the AM.

Maybe it will be one of those old 50KWers giving me something from out of town or maybe it will be the local sports station.

But I still think most radio listeners are in the mindset of:

News/talk/sports- AM

Music- FM.

 

[Parttimer]

I didn't want to take all the time to look up every pro sports team there is and every frequency, but you'll get some more. I randomly picked these teams.

Houston Astros - 740 KTRH
Miami Heat - 610 WIOD
Boston Celtics - 850 WEEI
Chicago White Sox - 670 WSCR
Chicago Bears - 780 WBBM
Chicago Cubs - 720 WGN
Green Bay Packers - 620 WTMJ
St. Louis Cardinals - 550 KTRS (team owns 50% of the station)
Philadelphia Phillies - 1210 WPHT
New York Yankees - 880 WCBS
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - 830 KLAA
Colorado Rockies - 850 KOA
San Francisco Giants - 650 KNBR
Toronto Blue Jays - 590 CJCL
Seattle Mariners - 1000 KOMO

While looking up teams I searched these teams and they are on FM

San Diego Chargers - 105.3 KIOZ
Baltimore Ravens - 97.9 WIYY
New England Patriots - 104.1 WBCN

These teams I found are on AM/FM simulcasts-

Jacksonville Jaguars - WOKV/WOKV-FM
Detroit Lions - WXYT/WXYT-FM
San Diego Padres - XEPRS/XHPRS
Washington Nationals - WWWT/WWWT-FM

OK. I'll give you that a lot of baseball is still on AM. Many of those are fairly big signals, on low dial positions (and that makes a huge difference on AM) which was part of my point. I was illustrating the fact that no pro team would want to be on 1250 as a flagship anymore.

The trend is much stronger to FM in the NFL and NBA. Not sure about the NHL. But the migration to FM is definitely there.

Look at this market. The Pirates wanted off of KD with their old demos. They really wanted to be on DVE but somehow Clear Channel spun it that being on any CC FM was good enough because DVE would talk about them more. Not sure I would have bought that line of reasoning personally.

Again, to get back on point, the market's #1 sports station doesn't have the games because it's an AM with a limited signal on 1250.

 

[Boss Radio]

When the Steelers were negotiating their radio contract in the late '70s, Joe Gordon insisted the games had to be simulcast on FM because that's where younger listeners were going to be. Ted Atkins freaked, of course. Hot as the Steelers were, he worried about interrupting the music format on 96.1. But when WWSW was willing to make the AM/FM commitment, WTAE had no choice and matched it. I'm sure Hearst would have overruled Atkins anyway.

Until this last contract, the Pirates were always concerned about leaving KDKA because of its reach. They have network stations, but sometimes the game broadcasts get pre-empted for something local that sells well, like high school football. Ultimately, though, they decided to leave because of KDKA's older demos and the unfulfilled promises from Infinity to promote the team on other, more demographically-desirable stations.

 

[Buehly]

Actually the Pirates deal moving from KDKA was more about money, not about unfulfilled promises about not promoting them on the CBS/Infinity FMs. The Pirates got the airtime from KDKA, but Clear Channel paid big bucks to get the team from KDKA.

 

[Boss Radio]

Really? You'd better call the Pirates and tell them about these "big bucks." The priority was getting on a more desirable flagship and joining a cluster that was willing to promote the team on stations that reach other demographically-desirable listeners. If there had been a significant financial gain, too, the Pirates would have made the CC deal in less than a second.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06256/721380-63.stm