Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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The Dodgers have been a poor fit on KFWB since they began airing their game broadcasts there. It never made sense to shoehorn the broadcasts into an all-news station, both for Dodger fans who want extensive pregame and postgame sports talk, not to mention live Spring Training broadvasts, and more importantly for news audiences who could never count on there being news at KFWB when they wanted it.
At his Farther Off the Wall blog, Daily News columnist Tom Hoffarth writes of a big sign that 2007 might be the final year for the Dodgers at KFWB. (Thanks to Dodger Thoughts commenter Bhsportsguy for the quick alert).
KFWB-AM (980), which has been losing millions each year on its radio rights deal to carry the Dodgers games as it enters the fifth and final season of its contract with the team, has sent the first nasty indication that the end is approaching after it informed executive producer and key department head Tom Boman that his job has been eliminated for budgetary reasons. ...
Boman said station boss David Hall told him at their meeting Tuesday that it had nothing to do with his performance, it was simply money. And if money's the issue, the Dodgers have to be looking elsewhere now to line up a radio home for beyond 2007.
Also, with local radio rights being effected by MLB deals with XM and MLB.com, I wonder how much stations are willing to pay for the rights.
Personally, I would like to have radio coverage that would have more programming during the off-season and spring training as well as better reception in LA.
But with more and more sports programming going to alternative media outlets, I wonder how long "free" radio will continue to buy rights to broadcast sports.
I wish for the days of KFI and their powerfull transmitter.
as far as homer broadcasters, I'm all for it. I love having Vin, the uber-professional actually doing the game, but an all-Dodger pre- & post- with broadcasts from the parking lot and call-in hours with ridiculously overzealous and uninformed callers is always great entertainment.
The deal between the Cards and their new broadcast network has led to a phalanx of affiliates instead of the mighty voice of KMOX, for many, many years the 50,000-watt, clear-channel station that was audible into Ohio and sometimes New York, and as far south as Alabama.
http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/stl/schedule/tv_radio_affiliates.jsp
They've gone ultra-local, and I expect we can assume the same for the Dodgers. This, as with smaller stadia, will prove a huge long-term marketing mistake.
Look at TV for example. I wouldn't tune into CNN for a baseball game, highlights yes, but not a game. Likewise, I would not tune into ESPN for the latest in the middle east.
I have an idea. Let's put a sports program on a sports radio channel.
That's just my thoughts, I'll return to lurking...
-gruffydd,
ps - I really enjoy "Dodger Thoughts"!
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