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REDISCOVERED SPORTS BYLINE.... THERE IS LIFE ON NATIONAL SPORTSTALK OVERNIGHT

L

Leebo65

Jason Smith NO

JT The Brick NO

David Stein NO

Chis Townsend.....HELL YEAH

Good Sports Talk with a National perspective without the silly college stories, or creepy soul searching, or loud, mouthy, annoying New Yorker spewing his nonsense........ Thank You Sports Byline
 
Townsend and his boss, Byline primary host/owner Ron Barr, don't get a lot of clearance because most stations just plug in the three major sports networks for nights/overnights. (Can you call SNR "major" these days, though? :D)
 
I can't think of a single major-market station that carries either show - besides DOA sports talker KTRB/860 San Francisco.

And KTRB is forced to sign off at night because their night tx - which is ONLY powered by propane!!! - essentially bankrupt the station's ownership group. Receivership executor Comerica Bank killed off the night power and dropped every other program on the schedule, so IIRC, both shows only air in tape-delay during the daytime anyway. (KTRB also tabbed Townsend to host their A's postgame show, but after the bankruptcy, the A's paid Townsend's salary for the final month of the season.)
 
Well, there's literally no room for Barr and Townsend elsewhere in their home market. The market's two other sports stations are owned by the same company, Cumulus Media Partners-nee'-Susquehanna, and both are off with two other networks in late night, ESPN (KNBR/680) and Fox Sports Radio (KTCT/1050 aka "KNBR 1050").

Clear Channel won't break from talk to put them on KNEW/910 or liberal talker KKGN/960.

It was the perfect match to put "Byline" on KTRB/860...too bad it was run poorly and ran out of money, literally.
 
OhioMediaWatch said:
Townsend and his boss, Byline primary host/owner Ron Barr, don't get a lot of clearance because most stations just plug in the three major sports networks for nights/overnights. (Can you call SNR "major" these days, though? :D)
Click to expand...


Most sports talkers stay with the 3 major networks because it's easier to keep track of fewer contracts, they're required to take a certain number of hours or it's easier to sell/keep listeners when can connect yourself to places that listeners know, like ESPN or Fox Sports.

And if you're a news/talk with sports at night, go with a network that people know like ESPN or SNR. Sports Byline is nice, but with so many other better options out there (from a radio programming/sales stand point) it gets knocked down a couple notches.
 
The Sports Byline network actually runs some shows, mostly specialty shows, during the day. We had one show, "The Joe Average Poker Show", which was produced for the network out of the local Clear Channel cluster (the host lived here, unfortunately, he passed away recently).

But you're right...ESPN and FSR, with SNR to a lesser extent, are "easy plays" for stations.
 
OhioMediaWatch said:
Townsend and his boss, Byline primary host/owner Ron Barr, don't get a lot of clearance because most stations just plug in the three major sports networks for nights/overnights. (Can you call SNR "major" these days, though? :D)
Click to expand...

Yes you can call them major. With talent like Czabe and Bruce Jacobs they are major.
 
I forgot Czabe was over there now. Good move. One of our local sports outlets dumped SNR for FSR (it's a CC outlet), so I haven't heard him in a while.

They do tend to shuttle some of these bigger names in and out (remember, it's on Tony Bruno's lengthy resume), and I wasn't sure of SNR's current financial condition.
 
The Wikipedia article has a purported affiliate list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_Byline_USA

Of course, the first part of the article looks like it came from a press release, and the list probably has dozens of stations that don't carry the network anymore (shades of Air America's lists!).

I can confirm one no-longer affiliate - WANR/1570 Warren OH, which is not even running sports talk anymore (it's a "Classic Top 40" affiliate).
 
Don't get me wrong. I liked listening to Ron Barr at night when he came on in the mid-90s on a station in Greensboro. That was before there was sports talk all over the radio, and it was barely on ESPN then.

But tonight, I'm listening, and checking out the website. It doesn't seem to have been updated since Ron went to Iraq in August.
Ron promoted an "interview with Dean Smith that's going to happen tomorrow," which sounded pretty interesting, but then he said it was an interview he did two years ago, so....not as interesting.
An interview with Michael Irvin was talking about him being injured like it happened this weekend, so it was probably old too.
Another interview with Monica Seles sounded like it might have been more recent, but it was hard to tell. Apparently it came after she was on Dancing With The Stars, whenever that was.

At least the update was about tonight's NFL score and he's talking about the World Cup location decision, which was also in the news today. :)
 
OhioMediaWatch said:
The Wikipedia article has a purported affiliate list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_Byline_USA

Of course, the first part of the article looks like it came from a press release, and the list probably has dozens of stations that don't carry the network anymore (shades of Air America's lists!).

I can confirm one no-longer affiliate - WANR/1570 Warren OH, which is not even running sports talk anymore (it's a "Classic Top 40" affiliate).
Click to expand...

None of the alleged Ohio affiliates listed carry the program. I could understand if the list is padded to include stations that carry just the weekend specialty shows, but this is REALLY pushing it...
 
Hey, you Radio Directors need to put Sports Byline in lieu of FSR/ESPN/SNR for your over night broadcast. C'mon now show some guts and glory. Cleanup the airwaves of that Brick/Smith/Stein trash
 
I actually found a current affiliate! ;D ;D ;D ;D

Sports Byline is on WHB/810 Kansas City from 11pm-1am CST (12am-2am EST). The show is sandwiched in between ESPN Radio programming.

Do I win a prize? :p
 
Thanks for letting me know Sports Byline is still out there.
I used to really enjoy it back when 1360 in McKeesport, PA carried them.

Of course I then bought a house and moved a whole four miles away,
which put me outside of their nighttime signal pattern. So I lost track
of them after that. Thought they had left the air years ago.
 
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