Major League Baseball Team TV Networks

[EnbyCee]

With opening day just around the corner, I've been thinking about the old (well, not THAT old) days of televised baseball, before widespread cable penetration when teams would be broadcast on multiple OTA stations within a few hundred miles of their home city. This persisted on a pretty widespread basis almost until the end of the 20th century, when the explosion of regional cable sports networks as well as former indie stations going to Fox/UPN/WB affiliations pretty much put an end to it (but not everywhere, the Detroit Tigers for example still simulcast their limited number of local OTA broadcasts on stations throughout Michigan as well as Toledo).

I spent most of my youth in Chicago so I didn't really experience this stuff firsthand, but I do know that despite being on superstation WGN the Cubs had TV affiliates in Rockford and Fort Wayne, probably among other places, for many years. Not too long ago I found a White Sox game program from 1985 which listed their WFLD Chicago broadcasts as also being aired in Rockford, Springfield, and Peoria. I've also heard that the Milwaukee Brewers may have aired games in Rockford during their early 80's heyday.

If you lived in a non-major league market during these days, what was your experience for televised baseball? Did you get two or three different teams on TV much of the time, or were you limited to NBC and ABC's weekly telecasts?

It would also be interesting to hear about any geographical anomalies.....for example, were Yankees or Mets games ever aired over the air in Florida for the large community of transplanted New Yorkers?

 

[dhett]

Rochester NY only had network coverage until their first indie, WUHF 31, signed on in 1980 and began picking up the WPIX feed of Yankees games.

 

[kirjtc2]

Bangor, Maine....WLBZ (NBC) was on the Red Sox TV network for many many years.

 

[Ultimajock]

I spent most of my youth in Chicago so I didn't really experience this stuff firsthand, but I do know that despite being on superstation WGN the Cubs had TV affiliates in Rockford and Fort Wayne, probably among other places, for many years. Not too long ago I found a White Sox game program from 1985 which listed their WFLD Chicago broadcasts as also being aired in Rockford, Springfield, and Peoria.

...the Sunday Cubs games in the early '70s were run as far north as Escanaba, with WJMN/3 retransmitting Green Bay's WFRV/5 (both stations, at the time NBC affiliates, aired "Game of the Week" on Saturdays). In the '60s, before the Seattle Pilots moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers, both White Sox and Twins games would pop up on WVTV/18 Milwaukee, WKOW/27 Madison and WAOW/9 Wausau. KFIZ-TV/34 Fond du Lac would rebroadcast whatever Brewer games WTMJ/4 Milwaukee would produce...

 

[bhayes1016]

The Astros had a large TV network that reached most of Texas, plus parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi. The Rangers had TV affiliates in Oklahoma. (On a side note, Astros broadcasts could be seen in DFW and Rangers broadcasts could be seen in Houston.)
The Reds and Cardinals had large TV networks that reached most of the midwest (Cardinals still do).

 

[arnoldevns]

The Astros had a large TV network that reached most of Texas, plus parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi. The Rangers had TV affiliates in Oklahoma. (On a side note, Astros broadcasts could be seen in DFW and Rangers broadcasts could be seen in Houston.)
The Reds and Cardinals had large TV networks that reached most of the midwest (Cardinals still do).

The Rangers still have a decent broadcast network going. Their website shows that 80 games are carried on FSN SW(17 in HD) , 65 on My 27 and 10 on Fox 4. The 75 games that are on broadcast TV are also syndicated out of market to either over-the-air stations or local cable systems in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico. (they have a list of the cable systems here: http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/tex/schedule/tex_tv_affiliates.jsp)

I'm fairly certain some low power stations in places like Abilene, Tyler, and Wichita Falls picked up those broadcast games last year. I'm not sure if that's the case this year.

 

[Braves2005]

Until 2008, TBS will be the home of the Atlanta Braves which means that after 17 years that I won't be able to watch Braves baseball. TBS was the flagship home of the Atlanta Braves. And I will miss that a lot.

WGN is still the flagship station of both the Cubs and the White Soxs. So basically that will be the only station on cable that will carry games in a major market.

I wish that a station in San Antonio would carry the San Antonio Missions on TV, but they are a minor league team, so that would possibly be out of the question there.

 

[ixnay]

Having never lived in a non-MLB TV market, the OP's question doesn't directly apply to me. But since it was asked... ;D

I came across a 64-page booklet from 1972 called "Road to Birdland" that served as a guide for Baltimore Orioles fans. Not quite a yearbook, or a media guide (though its inside back cover did show the O's 40-man roster as of 3/15/72), it contained, among other things, information on Memorial Stadium's history and how to get there, and the history of the Birds, then coming off a third straight American League pennant.

"Road to Birdland" also listed the O's radio and TV networks. The Orioles' 1972 TV network consisted of

WJZ-13 Baltimore (then ABC, now CBS O)
WTPA-27 Harrisburg (now WHTM, ABC now, perhaps the same in '72)
WBOC-16 Salisbury (picked from all three of the big 3 then, and I'll talk more about WBOC in a moment)
WLYH-15 (then CBS, later UPN, now CW, listed in "Road to Birdland" as Lebanon, PA, though IIRC its COL is Lancaster)
and WSBA-43 (CBS then, now WPMT Fox 43).

That's 5 stations in 3 markets. Interestingly, no stations in Washington, DC signed up, although the nation's capital had just watched the Senators pull up stakes for DFW.

"Road to Birdland" stated that 52 games would be televised in 1972 (although 3 telecasts look like they were wiped out by the players' strike at the beginning of the season. I don't know if those telecasts were made up. I imagine though, that not every televised game aired on the full Orioles network).

I also came across (in the same antique store btw) a 1985 Orioles media guide (a full fledged mg this time). By 1985, by which time they changed flagships, the O's TV network consisted of 7 stations in 7 markets.

WMAR-2 Baltimore (then NBC, now ABC)
WGAL-8 Lancaster (then as now NBC; the 1985 guide lists WGAL as "York-Lancaster-Harrisburg" although the COL is Lancaster, and I'll talk more about WGAL in a moment)
WDCA-20 Washington, DC (then indie, later UPN, now MY)
WTVZ-33 Norfolk (then indie, later Fox, now MY)
WRLH-35 Richmond (then indie, now Fox, with a brief late-'90s secondary UPN affiliation)
WBOC-16 Salisbury (by then CBS, which it remains; WBOC was the only member of both the O's 1972 and 1985 TV networks)
and WNRW-45 Greensboro, NC (then indie, later Fox, now ABC-affiliated WXLV)

Plus, of course, Home Team Sports on cable.

The 1985 mg promised that WMAR would show 5 Grapefruit League games and 40 regular season games (2 home, 38 road).

Now, I'll talk briefly about the other market I've lived in, Philadelphia.

Growing up in Delaware County in the '70s, I can remember Harry Kalas on WPHL-17 (then indie, later WB, now MY) saying "We'd like to welcome everybody watching on WGAL channel 8 in Lancaster, WLYH channel 15 in Lebanon [I've already talked about those], and WNEP channel 16 in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre [ABC, then as now, and I don't know its COL]." So apparently WLYH back in the day carried a good amount of MLB as part of two teams' networks.

One more baseball tale re WGAL. I stayed at my great aunt's in Riviera (pronounced rih-VEER-uh) Beach, MD (on the Patapsco River estuary south of Baltimore) on Memorial Day weekend 1977. On that Sunday, I watched a bit of a Phillies/Mets game on snowy WGAL.

ixnay

 

[ixnay]

I wish that a station in San Antonio would carry the San Antonio Missions on TV, but they are a minor league team, so that would possibly be out of the question there.

That would be cool for SA if the Missions were televised.

I read last fall that the Lehigh Valley in PA will be getting a Class AAA MiLB team in 2008. They will be the Philadelphia Phillies' top affiliate. I wonder if WFMZ-69 will show any games. Heck, anyone know if WFMZ shows any Class AA Reading Phillies (Phila.'s AA affiliate since 1967) games? WFMZ shows a Berks County-oriented newscast every night (or at least every weeknight).

ixnay

 

[Tim L]

In the 50's and 60's, Cleveland Indians TV Broadcasts were on either WEWS-TV 5 or WXEL/WJW 9/8..The team was on 8 from roughly 1961-1979. WYTV 33 In Youngstown and WSEE-35 Erie were on the Indians TV Network in the 60's and 70's while Youngstown's WKBN 27 had Indians games before that..from 1980-2001 WUAB-43 in Cleveland was team flagship..I am not sure how long WYTV still televised the Indians I believe WUPW-36 Toledo and WWHO-53 Columbus was on the network with 43..SportsChannel/Fox Sports Ohio was the exclusive home of the Tribe from about 2002-2005. Last year The team formed Sports Time Ohio to televise Indians games with a few games on WKYC-TV 3 OTA in Cleveland and WYFX Fox 17/62 in Youngstown.

I was able to see some Pittsburgh Pirates games om WTRF-7 in Wheeling, W. Va when I was younger. For many years Team Flagship was KDKA-2 (WDTV I am sure earlier). I seem to recall the Pirates had a pretty far flung network in Ohio, West Virginia and of course Pennsylvania..

I have a Pittsburgh TV Guide from May 1958 that showed KDKA-2, WJAC-6 Johnstown, Pa, WSTV-9 Steubenville, Oh. and 45-WKST, New Castle, Pa. (Forerunner of today's WYTV-33) showing a Pirates/Phillies game..

 

[ShawnHill1]

With opening day just around the corner, I've been thinking about the old (well, not THAT old) days of televised baseball, before widespread cable penetration when teams would be broadcast on multiple OTA stations within a few hundred miles of their home city. This persisted on a pretty widespread basis almost until the end of the 20th century, when the explosion of regional cable sports networks as well as former indie stations going to Fox/UPN/WB affiliations pretty much put an end to it (but not everywhere, the Detroit Tigers for example still simulcast their limited number of local OTA broadcasts on stations throughout Michigan as well as Toledo).

I spent most of my youth in Chicago so I didn't really experience this stuff firsthand, but I do know that despite being on superstation WGN the Cubs had TV affiliates in Rockford and Fort Wayne, probably among other places, for many years. Not too long ago I found a White Sox game program from 1985 which listed their WFLD Chicago broadcasts as also being aired in Rockford, Springfield, and Peoria. I've also heard that the Milwaukee Brewers may have aired games in Rockford during their early 80's heyday.

If you lived in a non-major league market during these days, what was your experience for televised baseball? Did you get two or three different teams on TV much of the time, or were you limited to NBC and ABC's weekly telecasts?

It would also be interesting to hear about any geographical anomalies.....for example, were Yankees or Mets games ever aired over the air in Florida for the large community of transplanted New Yorkers?

At one point, WQRF did indeed carry both the White Sox and Brewers for a time, while WTVO (and later WIFR) carried many of WGN's Cubs telecasts. In 1987 and 1988 alone, WQRF had the White Sox, Brewers, Cardinals, and the Texas Rangers (don't ask me why; just remembered seeing the Rangers on WQRF).

In Southern California, as far as I know, none of the three teams (Dodgers, Padres, and Angels) had multi-station networks. I do know that the Angels' Spring Training broadcasts (via KTLA) were also on KESQ, the ABC affiliate in Palm Springs (which is where the Angels trained for years before moving to Tempe, Arizona). I also know that the Phoenix market (before the Diamondbacks arrived in 1998) had radio and/or television broadcasts of the Giants (their AAA team used to play there), Athletics, Angels, Padres, and Dodgers.

 

[WMC2006]

The Boston Red Sox, back in the day, broadcast about half their games on WSBK-TV38, then an independent station. TV38 was considered something of a WGN superstation type as people seemed to be able to pick it up all over the place.

Eventually, (sometime around 1986ish), NESN, the New England Sports Network, was created and broadcast about half-ish the games while TV38 aired the other half. I believe the Red Sox were one of the first, if not the first (prob not,though) teams to broadcast all 162 games.

Some time later, while NESN (which is also co-owned by the Sox as well as the Boston Bruins) continued to air half and then maybe 75% of the games, the over-the-air station changed to, in no particular order, WLVI-TV, Channel 56; WABU, Channel 68; WFXT, Fox 25; WBZ4, and TV38 again.

As of last season, NESN now airs the entire season with the exception of 2 or 3 NBC pickups and 2 or 3 ESPN airings.

Current NESN announcers are Jerry "Remdawg" Remy and Don Orsillo.

Previous NESN and over-the-air announcers include Sean McDonough, the late great Ned "Mercy!" Martin, Bob Montgomery, Ken "Hawk" Harrelson, Dick Stockton, and Curt Gowdy.

 

[Charles1]

When the Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta in '66, their TV flagship station was WSB-2 (then it was an NBC station).  Their regional affiliates included: Birmingham: WAPI-13 (CBS/NBC, now WVTM and NBC only); Florence: WOWL-15 (NBC, now WHDF and CW for all of the Tennessee Valley); Huntsville:WMSL-48 (ABC, now WAFF and NBC), and Nashville: WSM-4 (NBC, now WSMV).

I remember those stations from the listings in TV Guide's northern Alabama edition.  It seems to me that they telecast about 20 games a year, with Milo Hamilton and Ernie Johnson, Sr. alternating between the radio booth and the TV booth.

When WTCG-17 (now WTBS) won the rights to the Braves in '76, all the previous affiliates in markets included in the Northern Alabama edition of TV Guide changed.  These were the affiliates in the Northern Alabama edition: Birmingham: WBMG-42 (CBS, now WIAT); Tuscaloosa: WCFT-33 (CBS, now ABC); Anniston: WHMA-40 (CBS, now ABC); Huntsville: WAAY-31 (NBC, now ABC); and Nashville: WNGE-2 (ABC, now WKRN). Milo Hamilton was fired by the Braves after the '75 season, and was replaced by Skip Caray and Pete van Wieren. (Methinks it was an improvement in the broadcast booth for the Braves).

I don't ever recall either WCBI-4 in Columbus, MS or WTWV-9 (now WTVA) in Tupelo being affiliated with the Braves network.

In 1998 or '99, there were a limited number of Braves games, mainly on Thursday nights, that aired in Atlanta on WVEU-69 (now WUPA).  Those games were shown in Birmingham on WABM-68 and in Huntsville/Decatur/Florence on WHDF-15.

 

[Radiofreewill]

..from 1980-2001 WUAB-43 in Cleveland was team flagship..I am not sure how long WYTV still televised the Indians I believe WUPW-36 Toledo and WWHO-53 Columbus was on the network with 43.

I don't recall the Indians on WUPW; I know they had an affiliation with the Tigers network (based out of WDIV and later WKBD/Detroit) from '87 to '95.

After Malrite bought WNWO/Toledo, they started running Indians broadcasts...on Memorial Day and Labor Day. A pleasant alternative to NBC's daytime schedule, IMHO.

 

[MarcB]

WPIX Channel 11 in NYC was the home of the Yankees for many years.
WWOR Channel 9 was the home of the Mets.

22 Yankees Games (produced by the cable network YES - Yankees Entertainment and Sports network) air on MY9 WWOR. (3rd season on WWOR). Used to also be on WNYW, and WCBS.

WPIX now carries the Mets. Most games are also carried on sister station WTXX in Hartford, CT. (COL Waterbury)

In Connecticut The Yankees have bounced around to different OTA stations over the years. Until the station got sold to Bud Paxson and flipped to infomercials the games (from WPIX) were picked up by WTWS Channel 26 in New London. Over the next couple years the games were bounced between WTXX and the new WTVU (later WBNE and now WCTX). One season they were on WTXX along with the Redsox and they sent some of the games to the Infomall Station WPX in New London. When WCBS in NY was the OTA station WFSB in Hartford picked up the games.

In CT WVIT Channel 30 (NBC) picked up some of the Redsox Games from WSBK. (The cable comapny used to coverup WSBK with WVIT). Then for several years the SOX got bounced back and forth between WTXX and WBNE. One year it was on WHCT/18 a station that wasn't on many cable compaies because it had just come back from the dead. The station ran progamming from Shop@Home. Poor Audio on WHCT. WFSB carried the games for a year or two as well.

After WSBK lost the Redsox they ended up on WABU and it's simulcast parters WZBU, and some station in New Hampshire I can't remeber the calls of. They sent the games to WDMR-LP in Springfield (Channel 65 Telemundo) and WLNE-LP (Channel 48 or 49 in Providence) .

Then after the WABU stations got sold to PAXSON the games ended up on a network that included flagship station WLVI (56) in Boston. The network had a really strange name that I can't remember the name of.

 

[KML0224]

Marc, I don't think WFSB-TV ever carried the Red Sox. They did air the WCBS-TV Yankees games for those two seasons (2002 and 2003?). I've also seen videotaped evidence that channel 3 carried a handful of WPIX-TV games back in 1983 or so. No channel 26 or 59 in the market yet. Channel 20 was thriving as a full-fleged independent by then but had their programming commitments. I suspect channel 18 (Hartford) was still airing Doctor Gene Scott round-the-clock at that time.

The Red Sox aired on channel 21 in Concord, NH and channel 58 in Vineyard Haven, MA. The low-power station operated by WLNE-TV was on channel 48.

My guess is that WTXX-TV (CW) channel 20 of Waterbury/Hartford will carry the Mets games from WPIX-TV (CW) channel 11 New York City again. No cable system that I know of north of Wallingford (CT) carries SportsNet NY. If I remember right, then-WHCT-TV channel 18 was slated to air the Mets games from WWOR-TV when they were forced off the air by the FCC in April of 1991. No clue as to who ended up airing those games here, if at all.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

From the '70s to 1986, WMBD-31 in Peoria (CBS) aired some syndicated Cubs games (usually on weekends but sometimes during the week). The games moved to WEEK-25 (NBC) from 1987 to sometime during the mid-90's (can't remember exactly when).

WYZZ-43 Bloomington/Peoria aired syndicated Cardinals games from about 1986 until about 1999 (don't remember the end date). Today Cardinal baseball (usually Sunday games only) airs in Peoria on WAOE-59 (My).

I seem to also recall seeing part of a White Sox game in May 1986 on WYZZ.

In the Quad Cities, WQAD-8 (ABC) had the local rights to syndicated Cubs broadcasts during the '70s and '80s, and the games moved to KLJB-18 (Fox) during the early to mid-90s, IIRC. Cardinal baseball may have also aired on KLJB for a time in the late 80s, and it now airs on KGCW-26 (Cardinal Network games usually on Sundays).

 

[Tim L]

I recall too, for a couple of years KGEB-53 in Tulsa, Okla..(Oral Roberts Univ. religious/family station) carried Kansas City Royals games some weekends. You could even watch the KGEB feed online during games..I am sure MLB put a stop to that eventually..apparently TV 53 is carrying Royals games this year as well..Still not available on the online feed I am sure

 

[KYLEBOOK]

Prior to Channel 30 WVIT-TV picking up Red Sox games in 1982, Channel 3 WFSB in Hartford carried selected Red Sox
games for 3 seasons, 1979 thru 1981, usually on weeknights, and occasionally Sunday afternnoons. Interestingly, Channel 3 used to air the games using the raw feed, without WSBK's
graphics.

Red Sox games also aired in Western New England for many years on Channel 22 WWLP (NBC) in Springfield, MA, through the 1988 season. For several years in the late 70s/early 80s, whenever they couldn't shoehorn a Sox game from WSBK on their schedule, they turned on a low power station, Channel 69, and aired the game with WSBK's commercials, and occasionally with whatever programming came on later, like "Hogan's Heroes"...

Although it was a little before my time, I understand Channel 8, WTNH in New Haven, CT also carried the Sox for a few years in the late 60s, beaming them deep into Yankee territory, and allowing Long Islanders to view their native son Carl Yastrzemski during his greatest seasons.

Marc, I don't think WFSB-TV ever carried the Red Sox. They did air the WCBS-TV Yankees games for those two seasons (2002 and 2003?). I've also seen videotaped evidence that channel 3 carried a handful of WPIX-TV games back in 1983 or so. No channel 26 or 59 in the market yet. Channel 20 was thriving as a full-fleged independent by then but had their programming commitments. I suspect channel 18 (Hartford) was still airing Doctor Gene Scott round-the-clock at that time.

 

[DToTheJ]

WNEP channel 16 in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre [ABC, then as now, and I don't know its COL]

I believe the answer is Moosic.