The End of Play by Play on Radio?

[LanceyHoward]

I read that organizations are abandoning radio play be play. For example Orlando fired their long time radio broadcasters and will just provide a television feed. In the past NBA and NHL teams would have simulcasts but thy were essentially radio broadcasts with pictures. An announcer like Kevin Calabro would follow the play. But it seems in Orlando the announcers pitch it to television and don't follow the ball.

I guess a couple hockey teams, including Carolina, have done the same thing. In fact, a couple hockey teams no longer have radio contracts but just stream on the web. The reasoning appears to be that ratings for NBA and NHL games on the radio are dismal and that advertisers would prefer spots on signboards in the arena, etc. than buying radio spots.

I am surprised because I would think that a team in one of the four major leagues could always find a station to broadcast a game. Maybe the radio play by play guys no longer need to travel. Evidently, in many arenas the radio booth has been moved to more remote locations in the interest of selling more premium seats so the play by play guy has to watch the monitors anyway. But is it that expensive to have someone sit somewhere and call the game?

Are ratings for baseball and football also declining. Will the same trend affect the radio broadcasts of those sports?

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Decades ahead of its time:

Announcerless game - Wikipedia.

 

[goalmouth]

Decades ahead of its time:

Announcerless game - Wikipedia.

I watched that announcerless Jet game. The only thing I recall is hearing Bruce Harper yell "****!" on a play out of bounds -- the first time I'd heard the word on live TV.

Today any game I watch is with the sound muted.

 

[justgladtobehere]

I'm surprised. I thought live sports would be a better draw for people driving than the nighttime guy. More expensive, but in Boston the radio broadcasts, from the pregame to the postgame, for Celtics and Bruins are packed with sponsorships,

 

[HanSenSE]

Another direction some teams are taking is online. The Oakland Athletics tried to do this, putting gsmes on the TuneIn app in the Bay area and keeping their network of stations in outlying cities, but it proved to be a disaster and they soon found a home on the Bay Area's Bloomberg station. The San Jose Sharks are broadcasting games on their own app (and web page), making what appears to be an amicable split with their 20-year home, KUFX-FM. The LA Kings went online as well after struggling to find a broadcast outlet in LA.

 

[ChrisLong]

Another direction some teams are taking is online. The Oakland Athletics tried to do this, putting gsmes on the TuneIn app in the Bay area and keeping their network of stations in outlying cities, but it proved to be a disaster and they soon found a home on the Bay Area's Bloomberg station. The San Jose Sharks are broadcasting games on their own app (and web page), making what appears to be an amicable split with their 20-year home, KUFX-FM. The LA Kings went online as well after struggling to find a broadcast outlet in LA.

Another sign I'm old.
I asked what radio station the L.A. Kings were on. The answer was I(heart)radio. I asked what number that was.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I would imagine simulcasting radio and TV would be the intermediate step to cutting radio broadcasts entirely. In DFW the only team doing this is the Dallas Stars, but they've been simulcasting since the 1990s when the Stars moved from Minnesota.

But once we put COVID behind us, as long as networks can sell spots and pay the talent, I don't see terrestrial radio PXP going the way of the Studebaker quite yet. Maybe in 10 years or so, the marketplace could change.

 

[wicked]

Second-fiddle teams always have issues getting stations to take their rights. The A’s are one, the Islanders are another. They were shunted off to Hofstra’s student station a few years back.

 

[lakefront]

How the hell am I suppose to do any gardening with out the Red Sox and/or Yankees on my radio?

 

[Octave]

I agree, nothing better to have on while doing manual work.

 

[MTM]

I'm more likely to listen to a random game than watch a random game. Maybe it's a flashback to my youth, but if I'm struck in a car, I'll listen to Jets-Colts, but once I get home, where I have a ton of TV options, I'm done with it. Same thing on a walk, I'll listen the Cardinals-Reds on the MLB app but not follow the game once I get home.

 

[Matt Stephens]

Years ago growing up in Tulsa, KOTV, the local CBS affiliate, simulcast the audio of its broadcast on the radio. Not just the news, but pretty much everything. It was weird, but you could get your nightly local news while driving around town, and you could listen to the NFL game on Sundays -- which I often did driving home from church with the family. But those game broadcasts weren't the same. Even as a kid, I could tell they weren't meant for radio. Good radio play-by-play guys make you see with your ears. TV broadcasters assume you see what they're talking about.

 

[Octave]

Many times I listened to Westwood One's broadcast of the NFL game while driving some back road.

 

[maumann]

What Matt brought up is the biggest problem with trying to simulcast TV for radio. The TV guys aren't describing the play by play for an audience that can't see what's happening. So as a listener, you have no idea what's going on. (Of course, adding a useless color guy has already taken PBP too far down that road for me to care.)

But I can see where a streaming feed will eventually have a bigger audience than terrestrial radio.

 

[HanSenSE]

Years ago growing up in Tulsa, KOTV, the local CBS affiliate, simulcast the audio of its broadcast on the radio. Not just the news, but pretty much everything. It was weird, but you could get your nightly local news while driving around town, and you could listen to the NFL game on Sundays -- which I often did driving home from church with the family. But those game broadcasts weren't the same. Even as a kid, I could tell they weren't meant for radio. Good radio play-by-play guys make you see with your ears. TV broadcasters assume you see what they're talking about.

Flashing back to one Christmas Eve doing the over the river and through the woods thing and, seeking a respite from Christmas carols, found the Hawaii Bowl on the radio. But the WWL went cheap and put the TV commentary on radio instead of sending radio guys over, or, perhaps better, hiring a local crew. Dreadful.

 

[MTM]

What Matt brought up is the biggest problem with trying to simulcast TV for radio. The TV guys aren't describing the play by play for an audience that can't see what's happening. So as a listener, you have no idea what's going on. (Of course, adding a useless color guy has already taken PBP too far down that road for me to care.)

But I can see where a streaming feed will eventually have a bigger audience than terrestrial radio.

There already are enough radio PBP guys who don't give the score often enough and the TV folks rarely do because it's on the screen. That is a big issue with simulcasts.

 

[ChrisLong]

Years ago growing up in Tulsa, KOTV, the local CBS affiliate, simulcast the audio of its broadcast on the radio. Not just the news, but pretty much everything. It was weird, but you could get your nightly local news while driving around town, and you could listen to the NFL game on Sundays -- which I often did driving home from church with the family. But those game broadcasts weren't the same. Even as a kid, I could tell they weren't meant for radio. Good radio play-by-play guys make you see with your ears. TV broadcasters assume you see what they're talking about.

A few years ago, the Dodgers simulcast the first couple of innings. Just before the game started, Vin Scully said they were doing this and added that if you're watching on TV and it seems like he's talking too much, that's the reason.

 

[LanceyHoward]

How the hell am I suppose to do any gardening with out the Red Sox and/or Yankees on my radio?

Do you listen with a cell phone or a transistor radio? One reason for the eventual demise of over the air play by paly on radio is that people listen on a cell phones rather than transistors. It might be cheaper and easier to just distribute a game on the internet rather than building a network of radio stations.

 

[MTM]

Ads are different too. Listen to a game on radio, and everything is sponsored. The first pitch is brought to you by First National Bank, that steal brought to you by Bay Alarm, etc. TV slips in ads during action, but not as often because they can do it with graphics. That's a lot of revenue left on the table for some teams.

 

[LanceyHoward]

A few years ago, the Dodgers simulcast the first couple of innings. Just before the game started, Vin Scully said they were doing this and added that if you're watching on TV and it seems like he's talking too much, that's the reason.

I rarely listened to Scully work a local broadcast because I lived out of range but he worked alone on Dodger broadcasts. When I did listen it seemed to me that he basically did a radio broadcast on television. And he was talented enough to excel.