WTIC-AM and FM Sports Question

[KML0224]

As I write this, I'm presently listening to the Rock Cats game with a $50 Insignia HD Radio "Walkman", with an FM tuner only. (Is there a cheap way to get a portable HD radio which has AM as well?) Anyways, I've noticed a sports conflict with WTIC-FM and their HD channels:

96.5-TIC on WTIC-FM 96.5 HD1
Hartford Wolfpack AHL Hockey on WTIC-FM 96.5 HD2
New Britain Rock Cats Baseball on WTIC-FM 96.5 HD3

I notice that most of the time, WTIC-FM 96.5 HD2 is a simulcast of WTIC-AM 1080, while WTIC-FM HD 3 simulcasts 98.5 The Sports Hub from their sister station in Boston.

I still have a question or two here:

Is WTIC-FM 96.5 HD3 really meant as an overflow channel, used for certain instances like this? Also, do the Boston Red Sox ever appear on WTIC-FM HD2 or HD3? Or...will they only be heard on the FM side like last Sunday and Tuesday (April 4th and 6th), when there was the conflict with the Red Sox and the University of Connecticut Women Huskies playing at the same time?

 

[DToTheJ]

I think you answered your own question re: the Red Sox. When 1080 airs a Red Sox game, WTIC airs alternate programming on their Internet stream. The WTIC.com stream has its own top-of-the-hour ID, which states, as follows: "This is WTIC-FM-HD2, Hartford, a simulcast of WTIC News Talk 1080." So, basically by default, WTIC's HD2 channel airs whatever programming is on News Talk 1080's stream, and since the Sawx are a "nyet" on the 'Net, they most likely would not be heard on WTIC's HD2 channel, either.

 

[CTListener]

I think you answered your own question re: the Red Sox. When 1080 airs a Red Sox game, WTIC airs alternate programming on their Internet stream.

I'm pretty sure this is due to an MLB rule. Apparently, the NHL has no such rule, because the Sports Hub's Bruins games have been aired on the HD3 stream all season -- a good thing in a state that has no affiliate on the B's radio network.