No radio broadcast of the NL championship game?

[Billkex]

I found it pretty pathetic that no sports radio station carried the National League championship game 1 (Dodgers-Cubs) on Saturday night.
I checked on both AM & FM, I found Coyotes hockey, college football & a couple of guys yapping.
Pretty pathetic for a major market city.

 

[KeithE4]

I found it pretty pathetic that no sports radio station carried the National League championship game 1 (Dodgers-Cubs) on Saturday night.
I checked on both AM & FM, I found Coyotes hockey, college football & a couple of guys yapping.
Pretty pathetic for a major market city.

KTAR was probably not the only ESPN Radio affiliate that didn't air the game. Any station that has rights to a local team will air that game instead. In our case, it was the Coyotes on AM and ASU on FM. They could have put the game on 860, but that signal is so bad it probably wasn't worth it.

 

[TheBigA]

If the Diamondbacks were playing, it would be on in Phoenix. Otherwise, baseball season is over.

 

[KeithE4]

If the Diamondbacks were playing, it would be on in Phoenix. Otherwise, baseball season is over.

There are probably as many Cubs and Dodgers fans as Diamondbacks fans in Phoenix, if not more. No reason that the NLCS can't be somewhere on radio, even if it is on 860. IIRC, KDUS used to pick up these games that KTAR couldn't air, but their night signal is even worse.

 

[Oscar Madison]

There's this new fangled gadget called "TV." It's like radio but with pictures. The NLCS is on TV, which is where most people get it.
There's also satellite radio and Internet audio. Even newer-fangled.
People don't listen to ballgames on the radio anymore. Just like they don't stand outside newspaper offices to see the play-by-play in lights going around the building.

 

[KeithE4]

There's this new fangled gadget called "TV." It's like radio but with pictures. The NLCS is on TV, which is where most people get it.

Unless, of course, they're driving home from work. Other than in LA, the games start early. There are no televisions in motor vehicles unless they're positioned so the driver cannot see them.

There's also satellite radio and Internet audio. Even newer-fangled.

Yes, but they cost money.

People don't listen to ballgames on the radio anymore. Just like they don't stand outside newspaper offices to see the play-by-play in lights going around the building.

You have no clue what you're talking about. If people didn't listen, then advertisers wouldn't buy time on the stations and networks that air the games. And stations wouldn't pay rights fees to air the games. So I have to guess that there are enough people listening to sports on radio to justify the format and pay the costs of airing the games. Radio stations don't do this as a public service to old geezers like me who enjoy baseball on radio. They make money doing so, or they wouldn't be doing it.

 

[Oscar Madison]

Unless, of course, they're driving home from work. Other than in LA, the games start early. There are no televisions in motor vehicles unless they're positioned so the driver cannot see them.



Yes, but they cost money.



You have no clue what you're talking about. If people didn't listen, then advertisers wouldn't buy time on the stations and networks that air the games. And stations wouldn't pay rights fees to air the games. So I have to guess that there are enough people listening to sports on radio to justify the format and pay the costs of airing the games. Radio stations don't do this as a public service to old geezers like me who enjoy baseball on radio. They make money doing so, or they wouldn't be doing it.

Some advertisers are suckers for sports. They will buy anything, anytime - even the most obscure high school games. I know what I'm talking about. There are stations that stay in the black because of this and I've worked for some.

If you are driving home from work, keep the radio off - don't take any calls or read any texts - and Tivo the game. Start watching when you get home. Fast forward through commercials until you catch up.

 

[KeithE4]

Some advertisers are suckers for sports. They will buy anything, anytime - even the most obscure high school games. I know what I'm talking about. There are stations that stay in the black because of this and I've worked for some.

I'm sure there are those advertisers and stations out there. Are any of them in markets with professional or major college sports? I'm pretty confident that big-market stations like WSCR, WFAN, WEEI, and KTAR don't fall into that category.

If you are driving home from work, keep the radio off - don't take any calls or read any texts - and Tivo the game. Start watching when you get home. Fast forward through commercials until you catch up.

Why in the world would anyone do that?

 

[Oscar Madison]

Why in the world would anyone do that?

To get the actual game experience on their own schedule. If you don't know what's happened, it hasn't happened. And people have been time-shifting sports (and making sure they don't know anything about the game) since the VCR era. It actually improves football by allowing you to remove all the dead time.

 

[DrAkbar]

Just like they don't stand outside newspaper offices to see the play-by-play in lights going around the building.

They don't? That explains why passerby's at 200 E Van Buren are generally clueless, in spite of the presence of McRepublic and the TV station formerly known as Mc12. Guess we'll have to catch the skywave out of Chi-town for the next Cubbies playoff game on 6~Seventy, WSCR.

 

[CTListener]

To get the actual game experience on their own schedule. If you don't know what's happened, it hasn't happened. And people have been time-shifting sports (and making sure they don't know anything about the game) since the VCR era. It actually improves football by allowing you to remove all the dead time.

I used to do that -- or try to do that -- an awful lot in the VCR days. Problem was, I worked at a newspaper and the sports department was within earshot of my desk, meaning that word of victory or defeat in the game I was taping at home would often reach me before I left at around 1 a.m. I'd say I only got to watch half of what I taped.

 

[Sammi Brie]

They don't? That explains why passerby's at 200 E Van Buren are generally clueless, in spite of the presence of McRepublic and the TV station formerly known as Mc12. Guess we'll have to catch the skywave out of Chi-town for the next Cubbies playoff game on 6~Seventy, WSCR.

Generally, I'd try XEPE 17~Hundred...if they're not tied up with the Gulls or USD basketball, of course. I simply cannot resist Mexican PSA Guy (and his new, even worse-sounding friend Mexican PSA Gal).

I've had to listen to World Series games in Spanish because KTAR was thoroughly tied up.