I'm sure MTN likes Doo Wop and looks for specialty shows featuring the genre. But for many decades in AM radio, the rule has been "Everything will get preempted by a live sports broadcast." Since the Knicks and Rangers are also on another Beasley station in New Jersey, WCTC New Brunswick, we can see why WMTR is running these teams. The company made a deal to carry the games.
I can remember summers in Northern New England where nearly every AM station in small towns was a Boston Red Sox affiliate. Turn the dial and hear the same game on the station in Rochester NH, Dover NH, Wolfeboro NH, Biddeford ME, Sanford ME, Portland ME, Lewiston ME, Brunswick ME. Each station got to sell the Red Sox to its local advertisers and collect the money (after paying the team its fees). Who cares if the same game can be heard on multiple spots on the dial?
As David says, live major league sports are easy to sell to local advertisers. Sometimes you can tell, the company owner likes the team even if his product doesn't naturally line-up with sports. A major tea brand sponsors the Yankees on WCBS. I associate baseball with many things but not tea. A processed meats company was a decades-long sponsor of LA Dodgers broadcasts, even though it's likely that women, not men, do the grocery shopping in most families. But if the owner likes the team, the salesperson gets their foot in the door and makes the sale... and likely has some luxury box seats for the owner and his family.
As for the title "Knicks Basketball on WMTR? Are You Kidding Me?" Nope, no one is kidding.
I can remember summers in Northern New England where nearly every AM station in small towns was a Boston Red Sox affiliate. Turn the dial and hear the same game on the station in Rochester NH, Dover NH, Wolfeboro NH, Biddeford ME, Sanford ME, Portland ME, Lewiston ME, Brunswick ME. Each station got to sell the Red Sox to its local advertisers and collect the money (after paying the team its fees). Who cares if the same game can be heard on multiple spots on the dial?
As David says, live major league sports are easy to sell to local advertisers. Sometimes you can tell, the company owner likes the team even if his product doesn't naturally line-up with sports. A major tea brand sponsors the Yankees on WCBS. I associate baseball with many things but not tea. A processed meats company was a decades-long sponsor of LA Dodgers broadcasts, even though it's likely that women, not men, do the grocery shopping in most families. But if the owner likes the team, the salesperson gets their foot in the door and makes the sale... and likely has some luxury box seats for the owner and his family.
As for the title "Knicks Basketball on WMTR? Are You Kidding Me?" Nope, no one is kidding.
