Portland AM observations

[PTBoardOp94]

The teams sometimes make decisions to pull their games off of radio. The Tacoma minor league team used to be on the radio, and now it's all broadcast via app.

You're missing a very important factor: Minor league baseball teams have often (not always) paid the radio station for coverage, instead of the other way around. Moving to streaming eliminates an expense and potentially replaces it with revenue.

Years ago, I board-oped eighty-some minor league baseball games. The club paid us around $100 per game, we refused to air games on weekday afternoons (day games were usually rainout-related twin bills).

 

[CTListener]

You're missing a very important factor: Minor league baseball teams have often (not always) paid the radio station for coverage, instead of the other way around. Moving to streaming eliminates an expense and potentially replaces it with revenue.

Years ago, I board-oped eighty-some minor league baseball games. The club paid us around $100 per game, we refused to air games on weekday afternoons (day games were usually rainout-related twin bills).

Not to mention that minor league teams don't have much in the way of fans who actually care enough about how the team is doing to listen to their games on the radio. Minor league teams promote themselves as a family-friendly entertainment option, with plenty of stuff for kids to watch, do and eat that has nothing at all to do with the home team winning or losing a game.

 

[boombox4]

No content, no listeners. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? If they're not even going to try then the outcome is predictable.

They've had baseball as content for years, and yet they -- and some other teams across the US -- are cutting radio from the mix for whatever reason. I agree with your sentiments in principle, but look at how everything's going: podcast, "get our app", "listen online blah blah blah", etc.

 

[boombox4]

I think the political factor is way overestimated. The biggest problem baseball has is the lack of action on the field, all the strikeouts and easy fly balls by hitters who have been told by analytics geeks that it's better to go 2-for-10 with two homers and eight strikeouts than it is to go 7-for-10 with five singles and two doubles because those three times you don't get a hit might turn into double plays. It's tough to watch even for geezers like me, and it's only slightly better at the college and minor league levels because the players aren't as consistently mechanical as the big leaguers are.

I like hearing the games on the radio now and then -- especially during playoffs -- but I agree with Scott Ferrall when he said "I don't want to see pitchers strike out 20 batters in a row, that's boring.... I want to see hits, singles, doubles, i want to see home runs..." In other words, action.

In the 90's there was a lot of it, unfortunately some of it seemed to be juiced, but it still was an exciting time for baseball.

 

[boombox4]

New Jersey's been a full-service-only state forever. I wish Vermont was. I hate pumping my own gas, especially in the winter. What's your problem with more people being employed?

I have no problem with it. It's an old jab at Oregon. One of the several that WA people can toss their way.

That said, here in WA gas station "service" is getting even more streamlined -- in the 1960's it was full service, then it became self service by 1980 with the clerk inside selling the gas, hitting the button to set the amount delivered by the pump, and maybe taking some more money for a hot dog or some snacks.

Now at night at many stations it's no clerk, no service at all, just use the card at the pump. They've finally outsourced ALL of the work to the customer. The prices, however, amazingly never get reduced correspondingly.

In my region nearly every gas station was open 24/7. Now? Not so much. Some of this was already happening before the pandemic. The pandemic economy only accelerated the 'zero service' trend.

 

[boombox4]

Not to mention that minor league teams don't have much in the way of fans who actually care enough about how the team is doing to listen to their games on the radio. Minor league teams promote themselves as a family-friendly entertainment option, with plenty of stuff for kids to watch, do and eat that has nothing at all to do with the home team winning or losing a game.

In smaller towns it could be the only real 'local' sport going, so some of them might care enough to listen. I hear minor league hockey games nearly every winter night on Canadian (and some American) radio stations. And most of those teams probably have a smaller draw than the Tacoma Rainiers.

One would think that if the team has enough money to maintain an entire stadium, and maintain a fancy website with free prizes and other stuff, they could work something out with a radio station.

But the times they are a-changing. Baseball isn't what it was when I was a kid, and radio isn't, either. In today's media, the subscription model is the way things are going.

 

[davideduardo]

New Jersey's been a full-service-only state forever. I wish Vermont was. I hate pumping my own gas, especially in the winter. What's your problem with more people being employed?

My problem is that I do not like giving my credit card to someone who may run it through a device in their pocket or out of sight while I am waiting in the car. I also don't like waiting in line with the motor running where they are 8 pumps and just two employees. And, mostly, I don't like the added cost per gallon that having a staffed gas station requires.

 

[bobdavcav]

As for minor league ball, I heard plenty of that on the radio when I posted my original message, so clearly the minor league teams still think radio is an important part of their content strategy. With Portland and Seattle as connected as they are though, it does seem odd that the Mariners aren't on the radio down here. If Portland ever gets its own major league team, that's probably going to change though.

 

[semoochie]

KXET 1520 is now tri-plexing from the Oaks Park site, temporarily at 2.5KW.

 

[bobdavcav]

So they're on the air again? I had thought that the rumor was they were on the air back in May, but when I scanned the band looking for them, just KXA.