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Sox returning to 670 next season

K

KeithE

Guest
They signed a 5-year deal with The Score today, returning them to their long-time home (as WMAQ) from 1967-1991, except for a couple of years each in the early '70s (WTAQ/WEAW) & early '80s (WBBM).

Link: ChicagoSports.com
<a target="_blank" href=http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/cs-050616soxwscr,1,3932483.story?coll=cs-home-headlines>http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/cs-050616soxwscr,1,3932483.story?coll=cs-home-headlines</a>
 
> They signed a 5-year deal with The Score today, returning
> them to their long-time home (as WMAQ) from 1967-1991,
> except for a couple of years each in the early '70s
> (WTAQ/WEAW) & early '80s (WBBM).
>
> Link: ChicagoSports.com
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whit> esox/cs-050616soxwscr,1,3932483.story?coll=cs-home-headlines
>


Bulls are to follow. Does this mean the end of AM1000 sports format? What would be the new format if they flip?
 
> Bulls are to follow. Does this mean the end of AM1000 sports
> format? What would be the new format if they flip?

Unless the rumors are true and Disney is getting out of the radio business entirely, don't expect WMVP to be anything but ESPN Radio 1000. They need their 50 kW blowtorches in NY, LA, and Chicago. Even if they were to sell out and flip to something else, it would be at least a year before it happened.

Wouldn't they have to pay Dan McNeil's big new contract off before switching formats? I couldn't see him doing anything but sports. Of course, stranger things have happened in Chicago radio (Larry Lujack doing elevator music and Fred Winston doing country come to mind).
 
> They signed a 5-year deal with The Score today, returning
> them to their long-time home (as WMAQ) from 1967-1991,
> except for a couple of years each in the early '70s
> (WTAQ/WEAW) & early '80s (WBBM).
>
> Link: ChicagoSports.com
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whit> esox/cs-050616soxwscr,1,3932483.story?coll=cs-home-headlines
>
Lets hope that when they go to the Score they keep the present play by play but get rid of the current pre and post game train wreck.
 
> > Bulls are to follow. Does this mean the end of AM1000
> sports
> > format? What would be the new format if they flip?
>
> Unless the rumors are true and Disney is getting out of the
> radio business entirely, don't expect WMVP to be anything
> but ESPN Radio 1000. They need their 50 kW blowtorches in
> NY, LA, and Chicago. Even if they were to sell out and flip
> to something else, it would be at least a year before it
> happened.
>
> Wouldn't they have to pay Dan McNeil's big new contract off
> before switching formats? I couldn't see him doing anything
> but sports. Of course, stranger things have happened in
> Chicago radio (Larry Lujack doing elevator music and Fred
> Winston doing country come to mind).
>
Doesn't this have more to do with WMVP's pattern to the west at night? I would have to imagine both the Bulls and the Sox would want a better signal. Also aren't they (WMVP) supposed to undergo some kind of major re-build of their transmitter plant, that will force a temporary move to the WLS tower, limiting their nighttime pattern even more.
 
> Doesn't this have more to do with WMVP's pattern to the west
> at night? I would have to imagine both the Bulls and the
> Sox would want a better signal. Also aren't they (WMVP)
> supposed to undergo some kind of major re-build of their
> transmitter plant, that will force a temporary move to the
> WLS tower, limiting their nighttime pattern even more.

Since WLS only has one tower, wouldn't WMVP have to reduce their power to around 25 kW days and 5 kW (at most) at night if they were to share?
 
> They signed a 5-year deal with The Score today, returning
> them to their long-time home (as WMAQ) from 1967-1991,
> except for a couple of years each in the early '70s
> (WTAQ/WEAW) & early '80s (WBBM).
>
> Link: ChicagoSports.com
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whit> esox/cs-050616soxwscr,1,3932483.story?coll=cs-home-headlines
>
Keith - I'm pretty sure they were on WMAQ until 1995, not 1991...hence the total 10-year deal at WMVP is just ending. FYI, Whitey
 
> Keith - I'm pretty sure they were on WMAQ until 1995, not
> 1991...hence the total 10-year deal at WMVP is just ending.
> FYI, Whitey

You're right. My bad. I got the info from the Sox website but read the wrong line.

Here's their whole broadcast history:
<a target="_blank" href=http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/cws/history/broadcasters.jsp>http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/cws/history/broadcasters.jsp</a>
 
> > Keith - I'm pretty sure they were on WMAQ until 1995, not
> > 1991...hence the total 10-year deal at WMVP is just
> ending.
> > FYI, Whitey
>
> You're right. My bad. I got the info from the Sox website
> but read the wrong line.
>
> Here's their whole broadcast history:
http://chic> ago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/cws/history/broadcasters.jsp
>
Thanks for the link! It was very interesting to see the chronology. It makes me wonder where some of the former broadcasters are now like Lorn Brown, Joe McConnell and Frank Messer.
 
Re: Frank Messer, Joe McConnell, Lorn Brown

> Thanks for the link! It was very interesting to see the
> chronology. It makes me wonder where some of the former
> broadcasters are now like Lorn Brown, Joe McConnell and
> Frank Messer.

Messer died in 2001 at age 76. He retired as a broadcaster after his stint with the Sox but did some non-broadcast work with the Yankees until 2000.

Joe McConnell has been the Purdue football broadcaster for the last 10 years. Since leaving the Sox & Bears in 1984, he broadcast the Vikings, Colts, & Oilers in the NFL. He also was the play-by-play man for NBA Radio and did lots of college sports in the midwest before landing in West Lafayette.

Not sure what Lorn Brown is doing nowadays or even if he's still living. 1988 was his last year as a MLB broadcaster, with the Sox.
 
Re: Frank Messer, Joe McConnell, Lorn Brown

Keith,

Thanks for the info!

I last heard Lorn sometime in the 1990's doing voice/over work. They were commercials for something to do with sports medicine that was heard in the Milwaukee area. A few years ago, I heard a rummor that he was living on a farm somewhere in Illinois. I do wonder though, since the Internet wasn't available in 1988 and 1989 just what was going on behind the sceenes with the Whitesox broadcast staff. As indicated, 1988 saw two new TV broadcasters, and a year later, the same thing happened on the radio side. I wonder what the scoop was in that time?
 
> > Bulls are to follow. Does this mean the end of AM1000
> sports
> > format? What would be the new format if they flip?
>
> Unless the rumors are true and Disney is getting out of the
> radio business entirely, don't expect WMVP to be anything
> but ESPN Radio 1000. They need their 50 kW blowtorches in
> NY, LA, and Chicago. Even if they were to sell out and flip
> to something else, it would be at least a year before it
> happened.

If Disney sells the ABC Radio group, I would expect to see Radio Disney go belly-up, since it's a loss leader for other Disney ventures. A new owner would want to keep ESPN Radio going. More likely, 'MVP will be what the Score was before they got the Sox and perhaps the Bulls contracts--a sports talker without local pro team PBP.
 
Re: Changes between 1987 and 1989

> Keith,
>
> Thanks for the info!
>
> I last heard Lorn sometime in the 1990's doing voice/over
> work. They were commercials for something to do with sports
> medicine that was heard in the Milwaukee area. A few years
> ago, I heard a rummor that he was living on a farm somewhere
> in Illinois. I do wonder though, since the Internet wasn't
> available in 1988 and 1989 just what was going on behind the
> sceenes with the Whitesox broadcast staff. As indicated,
> 1988 saw two new TV broadcasters, and a year later, the same
> thing happened on the radio side. I wonder what the scoop
> was in that time?

1987 Broadcasters
TV (WFLD & Sportsvision): Don Drysdale & Frank Messer
Radio (WMAQ): Lorn Brown & Del Crandall

1988 Broadcasters
TV (WFLD & Sportsvision): John Rooney & Tom Paciorek
Radio (WMAQ): Lorn Brown & Del Crandall

1989 Broadcasters
TV (WFLD & Sportschannel): Gary Thorne & Tom Paciorek
Radio (WMAQ): John Rooney & Wayne Hagin

Drysdale returned to the Dodgers & Messer retired as a full-time broadcaster. Drysdale died in 1993.

Rooney came over from TV in '89 and Hagin was hired away from the Brewers.

I can't find anything on Crandall's career after his Sox tenure, but, at age 75, he's probably retired now.

According to a recent interview with Jimmy Piersall, Brown was something of a problem during both his Sox stints. Not that he was a bad guy, but there was apparently some friction.

Thorne lasted a year before Hawk Harrelson returned from his "exile" in New York. Long-time Bulls broadcaster Jim Durham was also in the booth with Hawk & Wimpy that year. Thorne & Durham, of course, are now with ESPN.
 
Re: Changes between 1987 and 1989

> 1987 Broadcasters
> TV (WFLD & Sportsvision): Don Drysdale & Frank Messer
> Radio (WMAQ): Lorn Brown & Del Crandall
>
> 1988 Broadcasters
> TV (WFLD & Sportsvision): John Rooney & Tom Paciorek
> Radio (WMAQ): Lorn Brown & Del Crandall
>
> 1989 Broadcasters
> TV (WFLD & Sportschannel): Gary Thorne & Tom Paciorek
> Radio (WMAQ): John Rooney & Wayne Hagin
>
> Drysdale returned to the Dodgers & Messer retired as a
> full-time broadcaster. Drysdale died in 1993.
>
> Rooney came over from TV in '89 and Hagin was hired away
> from the Brewers.
>
> I can't find anything on Crandall's career after his Sox
> tenure, but, at age 75, he's probably retired now.

Del Crandall did do some TV work with the Milwaukee Brewers (a team he once managed) around 1992-1995, doing analyst work alongside Rory Markus.
 
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