New home for the Columbus Clippers in 2009 and beyond.....

[Allfirdup]

the Columbus Dispatch is reporting that the Columbus Clippers will move their broadcasts to 920 WMNI starting in 2009. The contract is for 5 years and WMNI will carry all of the teams games and other Triple A events.

 

[V.Riley]

Hmmm, I would have thought TED-FM... Uh, I mean TALK-FM (WTDA) would have been the ideal fit for this since they already have a SPORTS format in the evenings. Wondering if this is an indication that WTDA is not committed to it's current format. :-\

 

[gabigley1]

One of reason WTDA may not have been considered is because of their weak signal in downtown Columbus
and at the new ballpark. That coupled with all the other radio interference to the WTDA signal downtown may be the reason why they weren't considered for the Clippers affiliate. The Columbus Clippers would want their radio affiliate to be easily heard in their new ballpark and WTDA would not able to provide good reception in downtown Columbus. This is all assuming WTDA wanted to be a Clippers affiliate in the first place.

Have you read the Columbus Dispatch article here: http://www.columbusdispatch.com/liv...rs05.ART_ART_12-05-08_C3_78C4TKF.html?sid=101

They call WMNI a "Powerful Signal". WMNI only has 1,000 watts night and 500 watts night. I think this is in relative terms. WVKO-AM, the Clippers previous affiliate has pretty weak audio but their daytime signal is about as strong in downtown Columbus. So, the WMNI signal will be more listenable downtown. WVKO is using
3200 watts in the Daytime compared to WMNI 1,000 watts. Also, the Clippers had a lot of technical glitches
on WVKO-AM last year. The article says they are trying to "reenergize" radio interest in the Columbus Clippers
I don't think they can do this with a lot of technical glitches they had last year on WVKO-AM and that may
be the reason that dropped WVKO-AM after all these many years and went over to WMNI. I'm assuming VKO
wanted the Columbus Clippers back this year. Personally, I think the Clippers would have been good for VKO
this year with all the renewed interest in the ball team. I wish VVO success in the future and enjoy some of
the shows on the station and especially the local talk shows!

 

[willcail]

Well WMNI a strong signal? When did WMNI 1KW is a strong signal?

 

[V.Riley]

I was kind of wondering about the signal strength as well. I live in Reynoldsburg, and when the sun starts setting, the station starts bleeding with other stations or fading out. As for driving by certain areas (nite or day) I pick up static, from bad utility transformers I'm guessing. However, I guess if you are in the Stadium, maybe the signal can be heard loud and clear.

 

[del_griffith]

WMNI has a very strong signal downtown. Their signal is pretty much directional north both day and night which could explain the weakness in part of the city.

 

[gabigley1]

WMNI has a very strong signal downtown. Their signal is pretty much directional north both day and night which could explain the weakness in part of the city.

I would consider WRFD 880 AM as having a very strong signal downtown. WMNI would then have a strong
signal downtown. As far as WMNI having a powerful signal, as stated in the Columbus Dispatch article above,
just try telling that to listeners in Reynoldsburg and other S.E Columbus who won't be able to hear the games
on WMNI but would be able to hear them on WVKO-AM with little/no problem. WMNI dose have a pretty large
advantage in the downtown area over WVKO-AM because their signal is significantly stronger and because they have much better audio quality. To quote a WSOU-AM talk show host, WVKO sound like they are broadcasting from the bottom of a well and is hard to hear.

One of the other reasons the Clippers may have chose WMNI-AM over WVKO-AM this year is that WMNI has much more stable owners. The Columbus Clippers don't want to be yanked off the air in mid season like they
were mid season 2006. Not to mention all the long outages the Columbus Clippers experienced last year on WVKO-AM.
stable owners.

 

[willcail]

When will Fred Andrle stop being a pretentious a-hole and start doing topics that actually matters to people. I wonder how he feels that NPR is laying of people.

I do have one of those WI-FI Radio Receiver that communicates to my Air Port. (AKA wireless router) The WVKO AM stream sound fine coming from the receiver.

 

[gabigley1]

I do have one of those WI-FI Radio Receiver that communicates to my Air Port. (AKA wireless router) The WVKO AM stream sound fine coming from the receiver.

It looks like WVKO-AM is improving their audio quality again. Their audio on the computer sounds pretty good now
and their off-air audio has improved as well. At least we know they are doing their best and that's whats counts.
After all, WVKO is a very small Mom and Pop station.

 

[gabigley1]

During several of the Clippers games I listened to on VKO-AM, there were periods of thirty minutes or more of DEAD AIR. One game had dead air for over an hour.

Who is at fault here? The intern Board Ops or WVKO-AM??

This is from the WVKO forum:

http://www.wvko1580.com/forums/topic.php?id=345

(QUOTE)
Posted 2 days ago #
DougZ
Post Count: 151 Member

I understand that the management of the Clippers made this decision and it was not made directly by the County Commissioners. The Clippers are owned by Franklin County.

Posted 2 days ago #
redsfan1966
Post Count: 25 Member

This is a good development for VKO---having the Clippers was an odd fit for the format...now "progressive" fans can hear Rachel Maddow and Thom Hartmann in the summer without pre-emptions.

Posted 19 hours ago #
RussC
Post Count: 123 Moderator

redsfan1966 wrote 19 minutes earlier »
This is a good development for VKO---having the Clippers was an odd fit for the format...now "progressive" fans can hear Rachel Maddow and Thom Hartmann in the summer without pre-emptions.

Well, it's good and it's not so good.

It's good that Progressive Talk programming will go on without interruption.

...however...

It's not so good that WVKO has lost $$$ paid to the station by the Clippers.

It's not so good that some of the station's "local color" will go missing.

It's not so good that interns will not be able to get their feet wet in radio broadcasting by running the board during ballgames.

In my opinion, this last point was widely overlooked. Those baseball interns were very good at their board-op duties. They had to communicate back and forth with the Clippers' broadcast team. They dropped in commercials per a predetermined schedule. It was an all-manual operation, yet I can't recall hearing dead air or feedback at any time.

Posted 18 hours ago #
DougZ
Post Count: 151 Member

I think everyone who is happy to get Maddow and Hartmann rather than the Clippers should send in a check to help the station make up the lost revenue.
(QUOTE)

 

[willcail]

Well Gary Richards is showing effort running WVKO. Unlike the CC throw away 1230AM. They did improve their CNN feed. Heck I just bought a mattress from Original Mattress Factory. (hey one of two major purchases as my xmas gift to me) I told them I heard their ad on WVKO AM. Plus supporting a local manufacture is better than going to a big box store and buying a mattress.

Plus there is a radio reception dead zone in my apartment so I got a WI FI radio receiver. Plus I can listen to Randi and Mike Live.