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So Much for Greater Media Getting Phillies Broadcasts

B

bsquared11

http://www.radio-info.com/news/the-...lphia-phillies-extend-their-broadcast-agreeme

Of course John Fullum said GM wanted the Phillies, but it was never going to happen in the marketplace. There's, unfortunately, rarely any change in Philly in so many aspects of life, and it wasn't going to happen in this broadcasting example either. Too much familiarity, too much comfort for the Phillies to consider abandoning CBS, even though baseball would sound much cleaner on FM as it does on the MLB package on XM than even a 50K AM signal. And, no way GM would likely pony up the dough needed to take it away. They're simply too cheap in general, although company CEO Peter Smyth was incredulously practically bending over backwards in his support of the NAB caving into the $1 billion performance royalty payments sought by the RIAA which would have added some serious numbers to his expense ledger. Don't know where his head was on that one, well, actually I do, but I won't go there, that's another story for another day.
 
I think (as I've said before) both the Phillies and CBS would be well served to have the CBS stations on 1210 and 610 swap frequencies, except for the Phillies. (Then CBS needs to spend some money making the 1210 signal all it can be in terms of strength).

I like how they list Scott Franzke, Larry Andersen, Tom McCarthy, Chris Wheeler and Gary Matthews as the broadcasters. The latter 3 only call games on 1210 during the postseason.
 
aindik, there's simply no future for the AM frequency in the long term. It doesn't make business sense to invest. CBS and other terrestrial radio companies need to invest more of its annual capital on digital and mobile or they will truly become obsolete. Look how far behind CBS is from Pandora, as one small example. Doubt they'll ever catch them before Pandora goes public. No one under 25 is contributing to any SIGNIFICANT TSL on AM radio. They're are listeners, of course, but TSL erodes each year. Terrestrial radio lost the under-25 generation and the one's to follow. FM will be the last bastion of terrestrial radio before towers and transmitters are phased out at the end of this decade for all digital entertainment. Doesn't make sense to keep up the expense needed to maintain towers and transmitters when communications can be done digitally. Sort of like with cashless, electronic toll booths on the way for all toll roads. Doesn't make sense to keep paying workers, maintain the physical structures, and to slow traffic to a halt when there are express EZ pass lanes to automatically bill for tolls.
 
1. Money talks. If CBS was willing to pay more, why would the Phillies change?
2. The Phillies were on wpen a few years ago, and weren't happy. I know the nightime signal was increased since then, but they still might have a bad taste in their mouth about going on that station. I doubt GM was willing to guarantee the Phillies a FM broadcast.
 
aindik brings up a long sore point, however. WPHT's signal is deteriorated, and it's audio quality is comparble to 1935. There is a serious problem with the antenna when I cannot reliably get the station in Somers Point from Moorestown, about 35 air miles. HOWEVER, last week on a trip to Cleveland, it came in crystal as I listened to 1210 air Phils vs Washington on a $10 hotel clock radio...DESPITE 1220 WGAR's towers within sight of my room! In the car too. That was 487 (road) miles. Their 50,000w is going skyward, even during the day. Time for some new copper investment possibly? And for goodness sakes, you're CBS...show some pride in the audio chain. It's not listening to Smirconish that gives people a headache, it's the way he sounds. 1210 has a great heritage, and I'd love to listen. But the signal is weak, and when I can get it, to these old AM ears, it sounds dreadful. And it's not all to be blamed on IBOC. Just an opinion.
 
amfmsw said:
1210 has a great heritage, and I'd love to listen. But the signal is weak, and when I can get it, to these old AM ears, it sounds dreadful. And it's not all to be blamed on IBOC. Just an opinion.
Click to expand...

If WIP were to increase the amount of top loading of its towers (from 7 degrees at present to a rather aggressive 22 degrees), WPHT could diplex into one of WIP's towers. WIP's radiation efficiency would increase, probably necessitating a slight reduction in power. But unless the idea ran afoul of the ratchet rule, it sounds technically feasible. The whole idea would be to enable WPHT to diplex with WIP. With 22 degrees of top loading at 610, those towers would be ~165 degrees (electrically) at 1210. That height should be just enough for WPHT to continue to radiate a minimum Class A signal. The (presumably) better ground system at the WIP site (for certain, way oversized for 1210--but who knows what condition it's in?) would be a minor plus.

Heck, if you want to think on a grand scale, CBS could spend $$$ and do a triplex of WIP, KYW and WPHT, though that would probably require the addition of a tower between the existing pair at the WIP site. Also, adding a tower would be likely to provoke the neighbors. WIP's towers are on the right azimuth for KYW but they are too far apart and they are also too short to make minimum Class A efficiency at 1060, at least with any reasonable amount of top loading.
 
Something is wrong when WPHT's reception is better in Cleveland than in the Philly market. 35 miles would be close to the skip zone where the groundwave and skywave cancel out.
 
aindik said:
I think (as I've said before) both the Phillies and CBS would be well served to have the CBS stations on 1210 and 610 swap frequencies, except for the Phillies. (Then CBS needs to spend some money making the 1210 signal all it can be in terms of strength).

I like how they list Scott Franzke, Larry Andersen, Tom McCarthy, Chris Wheeler and Gary Matthews as the broadcasters. The latter 3 only call games on 1210 during the postseason.
Click to expand...

Sure thought I heard Scott and Larry on 1210 last night.................opening and end of game.
 
jlongstreet said:
aindik said:
I think (as I've said before) both the Phillies and CBS would be well served to have the CBS stations on 1210 and 610 swap frequencies, except for the Phillies. (Then CBS needs to spend some money making the 1210 signal all it can be in terms of strength).

I like how they list Scott Franzke, Larry Andersen, Tom McCarthy, Chris Wheeler and Gary Matthews as the broadcasters. The latter 3 only call games on 1210 during the postseason.
Click to expand...

Sure thought I heard Scott and Larry on 1210 last night.................opening and end of game.
Click to expand...

You sure did. That's why I listed 5 people and said the latter 3 don't do radio.
 
McCarthy and Wheels did the middle innings. I think Sarge was on the field along with Jim Jackson at times.
 
C'mon folks. Surely you've had enough time to figure out the pattern.

When there's local TV, Sarge, Wheels and McCarthy do TV. When there's no local TV, the radio time gets divided up among the bunch of them, with Franzke and L.A. "anchoring" the radio broadcast.

Actually, sometimes during the season, L.A. is given the day off to let Sarge, and/or Wheels fill in on the radio.

During the playoffs and World Series, there's no local TV, so everyone gets a turn at the radio mike.
 
Nick said:
97.5's broadcasting the postseason Phillies games
Click to expand...

That doesn't count. ESPN has the rights to post-season baseball and 97.5 must be the ESPN affiliate so that's why the games are on 97.5 and they're also on 1210 because 1210 is the flagship station.

Here in Hartford and New Haven it doesn't matter because not only are WPOP 1410 and WAVZ 1300 the Yankees Radio Network affiliates in Hartford and New Haven, they're also the ESPN affiliates in Hartford and New Haven. I haven't checked but I think WPOP and WAVZ are running the Yankees Radio Network feed. both are owned by CC.

If you have a good tuner in Central Connecticut (Bristol-area mostly) you can get Post Season baseball on 98.1 FM, which is a low-power Experimentally licensed FM station owned by ESPN. They're 100-something watts Analog and around 13 watts HD.
 
George Brusstar said:
McCarthy and Wheels did the middle innings...
Click to expand...

Don't forget, Chris Wheeler introduces the daily Phillies highlight reel every morning at 7 AM during The Michael Smerconish Show.
 
Nick said:
97.5's broadcasting the postseason Phillies games
Click to expand...
They are airing the ESPN Radio broadcasts of the games. 1210 is airing the local broadcasts of the Phillies games.
 
I vacationed in Portsmouth New Hampshire this summer and could pick up the Phillies on 1210 WPHT at night. I also was in Atlanta and could get 1210 at night.
 
1210 is a clear channel (not Clear Channel owned) AM station. It was interesting to be able to hear the Phillies broadcast on WPHT, the Cincinnati broadcast on WLW 700, and the ESPN national broadcast on 97.5.
 
Nick said:
It was interesting to be able to hear the Phillies broadcast on WPHT, the Cincinnati broadcast on WLW 700, and the ESPN national broadcast on 97.5.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of the day during the 2008 playoffs that I could hear the Eagles/Giants playoff on WDEL (Reese and Quick), the Fan (Giants announcers), and WBAL 1090 Baltimore (WW1 announcers).

ixnay
 
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