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KIXI to air Tacoma Rainiers baseball in 2024

A

AuxRSS

Well, this should improve the 6+ ratings from 0.0 (or maybe not!). Starting tonight 144 Rainiers games will be carried on 880 KIXI.

www.milb.com

Tacoma Rainiers Return to Airwaves in 2024

For the first time since 2019, the Tacoma Rainiers are set to return to the radio in 2024, as 144 Rainiers game broadcasts can be listened to on KIXI 880 AM. The pre-game show begins 15 minutes prior to first pitch and the post-game show is 15
www.milb.com www.milb.com

For the past four years the Rainiers games were streaming-only. Before that they were on KHHO 850, audible only in Tacoma. When I moved here in the 1990s they were on 1090 and had Bob Robertson in the booth.
 
This is interesting. I’m not sure if there is a huge market for AAA baseball on the radio, but maybe there is. The Seattle thunderbirds air on 950 (last time I checked), so someone must be listening.

I’m not sure that KIXI has that great of a signal in Tacoma during the evening hours, though. 850 worked since it was a local station that sounds clear around pierce county, but 880 may be too far away. I guess there’s always streaming though.
 
Correct, night pattern is not favorable for Tacoma. But for at least May/June/July the majority of games will be on day pattern. At least until the 8th inning LOL.
 
For the record the T-birds are on 1090, and the Everett Silvertips and baseball's Everett Aquasox are on 1380.

I just have no idea why the Rainiers decided to buy the time to go back onto broadcast after a four-year hiatus, and on the godforsaken KIXI signal to boot. Apparently they want reach and Hubbard definitely wants the checks.
 
AuxRSS said:
For the record the T-birds are on 1090, and the Everett Silvertips and baseball's Everett Aquasox are on 1380.

I just have no idea why the Rainiers decided to buy the time to go back onto broadcast after a four-year hiatus, and on the godforsaken KIXI signal to boot. Apparently they want reach and Hubbard definitely wants the checks.
Click to expand...
I’m not sure about 1090. That definitely used to be the case, but now that KJR has shifted their main programming to 93.3, I think all of the secondary programming is on 950. Don’t quote me on that though, since I haven’t desired to listen to a Seattle Thunderbirds game on the radio in a while.

I think that it only makes sense to return to the terrestrial airwaves if you can find a station that’s fairly local, and is interested in a partnership. A good candidate probably would have been the old KLAY 1180, but they’re long gone. KRKO makes perfect sense in the north sound. There’s really not an equivalent in the south sound.
 
Scanning the dial the other night and happened upon the Rainier's broadcast and wasn't aware of the arrangement. Given it's AAA baseball the market might be a bit more than Tacoma. Players are just on the cusp of the show. By the way the Aquasox (Giants) are celebrating their 40 anniversary in Everett. I believe they've been on 1380 the entire time.
 
DMK said:
Scanning the dial the other night and happened upon the Rainier's broadcast and wasn't aware of the arrangement. Given it's AAA baseball the market might be a bit more than Tacoma. Players are just on the cusp of the show. By the way the Aquasox (Giants) are celebrating their 40 anniversary in Everett. I believe they've been on 1380 the entire time.
Click to expand...
Back in the mid-'90s, when they first became the Mariners AAA affiliate, the Tacoma Rainiers were on 1300 KMPS but they were also on KLAY in the Tacoma area.

The Everett team has been on KWYZ when it was still a country station. In the mid-'90s, it was also on 1540 in addition to KWYZ. I think they were also on KSER one or two years when they couldn't find a commercial outlet.
 
tkaye,

Thanks for jogging my memory. I do remember them being on KWYZ (got to tour that station back in the 80s for Cub scouts). As an aside I worked for the then Giants back in 1986 in the concession stand. Fun job. Got to meet Willie McGovey, Hall of Fame player and the San Diego chicken.
 
fordranger797 said:
This is interesting. I’m not sure if there is a huge market for AAA baseball on the radio, but maybe there is. The Seattle thunderbirds air on 950 (last time I checked), so someone must be listening.

I’m not sure that KIXI has that great of a signal in Tacoma during the evening hours, though. 850 worked since it was a local station that sounds clear around pierce county, but 880 may be too far away. I guess there’s always streaming though.
Click to expand...
And for the really dedicated, Warm 106.9's HD3 (KIXI), which actually sounds okay.
 
DMK said:
Scanning the dial the other night and happened upon the Rainier's broadcast and wasn't aware of the arrangement. Given it's AAA baseball the market might be a bit more than Tacoma. Players are just on the cusp of the show. By the way the Aquasox (Giants) are celebrating their 40 anniversary in Everett. I believe they've been on 1380 the entire time.
Click to expand...
They were on KSER for a few years in the 1990s, perhaps the only sports team outside of a college/university I have ever heard on public radio.
 
Bongwater said:
They were on KSER for a few years in the 1990s, perhaps the only sports team outside of a college/university I have ever heard on public radio.
Click to expand...
Over on the other coast, the New York Islanders have had their games on Rutgers University's WRHU since the 2010-11 season.
 
CTListener said:
Over on the other coast, the New York Islanders have had their games on Rutgers University's WRHU since the 2010-11 season.
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That would be Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY on Long Island. "Radio Hofstra University" WRHU 88.7.

WRHU: Home

WRHU-FM is a cornerstone of The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra. In existence longer than any other noncommercial radio station on Long Island, WRHU has thousands of alumni stretching back over 60 years. More than 280 students participate at WRHU each year.
www.hofstra.edu www.hofstra.edu

Underwriting announcements and PSAs appear during "commercial" breaks in Islanders broadcasts.
 
For 2-3 years through the 2022-23 season, Seattle U had its men's basketball games on KXSU-LP, the student radio station. Because of the 102.1 signal, the KXSU stream was the better listening choice for most.

Like the examples mentioned before, underwriting messages and PSAs filled the commercial breaks. The school ended audio game broadcasting and game streaming in 2023-24.

I can confirm that the Thunderbirds have been locked onto 1090 for years if not decades -- must be in the contract. The Huskies women's team also airs on 1090 for the majority of its games (some games get elevated to 950). After iHeart's big KJR FM-AM flips two years ago that allegedly gave up 1090 to political talk, it seems The Patriot still gets its share of sports programming.
 
"They were on KSER for a few years in the 1990s, perhaps the only sports team outside of a college/university I have ever heard on public radio."

Not sure about the 1990s, as that was my decade away from the Puget Sound area, but I know for sure that KSER carried the AquaSox through the end of the 2004 season. According to this, which I just found: Radio Beat: KRKO-AM inks deal to broadcast all AquaSox games, KSER carried the games for seven seasons in all before the team shifted to KRKO.

I know KSER liked carrying those games. I wonder how many people found them easily, however. These days, I'm on the board of KSER's foundation, and our biggest challenge is letting people in Snohomish and Island counties know that the station actually exists.
 
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