Category Archives: Radio/TV

12.06.10
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Avoid the golden sombrero. Buy KTRB.

Over the weekend, Rich Lieberman posted an update on the KTRB sale that doesn’t move the ball forward much. At least he implores the team to buy the station, which I wholeheartedly agree with. For those that need a refresher, the A’s flagship station, KTRB-860 AM, went into receivership a few months ago as its owner, Pappas Broadcasting, continued to endure difficult bankruptcy proceedings. The A’s were a finalist to buy the station, but word was that they weren’t willing to overpay, whatever overpaying meant. Different figures were floated over the price of the station, Big Vinny believes it’s $12 million including debt.

The A’s have been able to forge solid TV and radio deals (CSN California and KTRB respectively), and they’ve gotten their feet wet having to organize programming since the station went into receiver during the last part of the regular season. They should by all rights be able to buy the station and turn it around.

Buying the station should be a complete no-brainer now that Billy Beane has struck out on three potential acquisitions. First it was Lance Berkman, who went to St. Louis. Then it was Adrian Beltre, who has now rejected the A’s twice. Now it’s Japanese pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma, for whom the A’s won the right to sign him by posting $19.1 million to his current team. The A’s had a 30-day negotiation period during which they could sign Iwakuma to a player contract, but the two sides were far apart on the money. That means that Iwakuma goes back to Japan and, if he performs well this upcoming season, will be a highly sought and even more highly paid free agent next winter (hello, Beltre).

Since the A’s are getting their $19.1 million back, why not make the big bid for the radio station? If the number truly is $12 million, it shouldn’t take much more than that to get the station’s transmitter issues resolved. There are scant few free agents worth eight figures per year at this point and possibly fewer who want to play in Oakland. That doesn’t mean giving up the free agent ghost, it just means shifting sights a bit lower with the hope that a few more 2 WAR guys makes up for not having a single 5 WAR guy.

Having a good radio station is part of a team’s media foundation. Owning a station that has good reception and programming will only increase the franchise’s value and revenue opportunities, so the move really is a no-brainer. Do the right thing, owners. Turn the page on this crappy hot stove period and get cracking on the radio station, because it’s a long-term investment that can really pay off. You know this. Buy KTRB.

10.19.10
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A’s might buy KTRB

Big Vinny reports that the A’s may, in fact, be one of the suitors looking into purchasing KTRB, which is currently in receivership. Lieberman guesses that the station’s asking price could be $12 million, though that’s without the debt previous owners Pappas Broadcasting had amassed.

Assuming that the A’s don’t get drawn into some terrible bidding war for the station and then come out winners, they’ll end up spending eight figures on the station, and millions more to get it the way they’d probably want it. For the time being, getting most of its programming from Sports Byline USA makes sense because it’s a sort of turnkey operation. Sports Byline has a national focus, but operates in San Francisco and can afford to give attention to local teams.

Both Lew Wolff and Ken Pries have shown great interest in operating a station should the opportunity arise. It’ll be interesting to see how involved they’d be with it. Would they do the current hands-off approach with some local programming, a la Sports Byline or Fox Sports Radio? Would they get in bed with ESPN, a network that generally demands a great deal of control for new affiliates? How many other teams besides the A’s and Stanford football would they bring in?

Over the years, the A’s have been a foster kid who has bounced around from home to home. KTRB may be the best chance for the A’s to maintain real stability. It’s funny, though, to see what’s happened to the A’s recent former radio homes.

  • KABL (AM 960) became the Bay Area’s progressive talk outlet, and an affiliate of now-defunct Air America Radio. Since that network’s folding, the station has been rebranded Green 960 and has changed its call letters to KKGN.
  • KIFR (FM 106.9) was known as KYouRadio and Free FM, after which parent company CBS decided to make the station simulcast KCBS to improve its North Bay signal. Apparently KCBS has been the focus for years, to make the all news station the dominant station in the region. That finally happened this year.
  • KYCY (AM 1550), also a CBS property, simulcast A’s games with KIFR for a spell. In 2008, it became the home of the reborn KFRC.
  • KNTS (AM 1220), a newstalk station out of Palo Alto, is now KDOW, a reference to its positioning as a “business” station.
  • KEAR (AM 610) continues to be a very religious station, though ironically its broadcast location may be one of the more irreligious places in the world: Berkeley. Interestingly, I haven’t seen a reference to KEAR in any recent Arbitron lists.

How did these stations end up? You’d think that these corporate radio interests, in their infinite wisdom, deigned to shun the A’s because it was bad for business. Then again, perhaps not. First, recent ratings for these and other stations in the SF/Oakland market.

Next, San Jose ratings.

Perhaps the most interesting thing that comes out of this is that KTRB is very competitive with KTCT (a.k.a. KNBR-1050), which when you really think about it, is just a more expensive (to run) version of KTRB. It has two teams that get shifted around thanks to the Giants, a bunch of syndicated shows, and a block of local programming. Is it possible that with a little care and feeding, KTRB could be eating KTCT’s lunch and then gain on the blowtorch? I think it is.

Unfortunately, what may hinder the A’s is the presence of another blowtorch. No, not KGO. KOA. Where’s that, you ask? KOA-850 AM in Denver. It’s a clear channel station, whose signal can be heard as far north as Canada and as far south as the California-Arizona border, as I experienced when I was driving to Phoenix earlier this summer. KTRB is too close to allow for nighttime interference, so it’s forced to have a directional signal. When Pappas owned KTRB, they were looking at several transmitter locations, in the hope that they’d be able to solve the reception problem locally without causing a ruckus. They ran up debt, ran out of money, and ended up losing the station. My biggest hope is that if the A’s do buy KTRB, they’ll renew this effort so that better East Bay and nighttime reception can be achieved. Otherwise, what’s the point of a baseball team owning a station when much of the audience can’t hear it?

Update 6:50 PM: On a side note, I have to say that I’m really sad that Robert Buan has been let go (along with Steve “Soupy” Sayles). Buan was a good producer, a not-so-good play-by-play guy, a company man, and a nice guy. He’s also Filipino, which basically makes him a cousin of mine. I’m a bit surprised at the move, considering he could’ve had a natural role in an A’s-owned KTRB. Here’s hoping he lands on his feet. Salamat, pare!

10.15.10
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Purdy interview on KNBR

Merc columnist and all-around San Jose booster Mark Purdy was on the Fitz and Brooks show today (podcast MP3). After a few minutes of figuring out where the Niners’ season went wrong, Bob Fitzgerald asked Purdy about the ballpark situation. At no point was there a mention of yesterday’s news about the Redevelopment Agency’s funding shortage. What Purdy revealed was no less interesting, and I can provide a small amount of additional back story.

Asked about the state of the MLB panel’s report, Purdy said this:

What I know is that Lew Wolff did have a meeting a couple, three weeks ago. (He) came out of that meeting feeling optimistic that the report was gonna be issued soon, and optimistic that it was gonna come down in favor of the A’s at least being able to explore the ballpark in San Jose. I know that.

I also know that another source close to that… they are proceeding down only one track at the moment… they’re proceeding down the San Jose track… at the moment. That’s what I know.

As I understand it, Wolff met with Selig twice in September, once in LA during an A’s road trip and again in Milwaukee, Selig’s home turf. Some time after that, I started hearing that South Bay advocates were feeling pretty good about things. I didn’t get any info then about what they were feeling good about. Apparently Purdy did get it.

If true, there are some major takeaways, which combined with some info we know about the Giants, makes the picture much, much clearer.

  • Oakland is not under consideration at this stage, only San Jose is. Note that Purdy did not say that Oakland was completely eliminated, only that it isn’t in the running “at the moment.” If San Jose fails, Oakland becomes a factor again. But only if San Jose fails.
  • Something will happen at the owners meetings. Sure, but which owners meetings? The first set is November 17-18 in Orlando. The next set will be December 6-9 at Lake Buena Vista, which is just outside Orlando. As much as the A’s situation continues to linger, the owners will also spend a good deal of time on the lingering fate of the Tampa Bay Rays, who are based only two hours southwest of Orlando.
  • Ruling that the A’s will be able to explore building a ballpark in San Jose. This is the one I’m most curious about, because if it’s true, it represents a sort of softening on MLB’s part. MLB generally won’t allow a city to get a team unless there is a signed deal in place. They even left DC hanging while lawsuits and eminent domain proceedings threatened the prospects of what would eventually become Nationals Park. This news indicates that San Jose will have a chance, but will need to get the rest of its pieces in place (land, referendum). That could give San Jose no more than a 6-9 month window – 6 months if land proceedings go smoothly or 9+ if eminent domain is required. Plus you can never tell what will happen on the legal front (Giants or surrogates).

Purdy spends the rest of the segment theorizing what might be happening behind the scenes. As much as it sucks to be kept in suspense, I’d much rather the panel take this time to work out all of the details, than to have Selig and the owners make a decision and then clean up the mess afterward. Even then, it’s uncertain what the Giants will do, since they are maintaining a “no-negotiation” stance. I guess when it comes to dealing with any Halloween-colored team owned by a lawyer, things tend to get messy.

09.10.10
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KTRB lays off staff

According to the inimitable Rich Lieberman, KTRB just laid off its staff, leaving behind only A’s baseball, Chris Townsend’s pre and postgame shows, and Michael Savage. Head on over to AN for discussion. Who will the next station owner be? More to come.

Update 10:00 PM – According to Carl Steward, Savage has also been dropped.The station has gone into receivership, and the bank will continue to honor existing contracts with the A’s and Stanford football. Chris Townsend will become an employee of the A’s, not the radio station.

Update 9/11 11:08 PM – Susan Slusser is reporting that the auction price may be lower than that fetched via a private sale, which could make KTRB an enticing opportunity for the team to jump in and buy the station. Let’s cross our fingers, shall we?

08.31.10
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It’s That Time Again

Bill King is the greatest broadcaster I have ever listened to. The National Baseball Hall of Fame gives out an award to the best of the best every year and fan voting (to add 3 candidates to an eventual list of 10 that past Ford C. Frick Award winners and a specially appointed panel will use to select the next winner) begins on facebook tomorrow.

It stuns me that we still have to push for him to be posthumously honored with the Ford C. Frick Award. But we do. And we should. I can’t believe the A’s aren’t and haven’t. On this, all of us should agree: Bill King deserves this recognition.

This article says the we can “influence” the outcome. I sort of chuckle and roll my eyes at that. We have made Bill the top fan vote earner on multiple occasions and a lot of good that did us. We need to crash the gates people. My plea to all of you:

  • If you don’t have a facebook account, please get one. You can delete it after the month. All fan voting will be conducted on the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s facebook profile. You can even friend me!
  • Everyday when you vote, post a facebook status that says “I voted for Bill King for the Ford C. Frick Award and you should to.” Or something.
  • Rinse and repeat daily, starting tomorrow and concluding the last day of September.

We fight all the time on this here blog about where the A’s should play. I think we all agree that Bill King deserves this recognition. Let’s unite and form some kind of Voltron thing and make the Hall of Fame’s appointed panel pick him.

And one last reminder of how awesome Bill King is, was and always will be (at about 1:39 in the below video, full disclosure I wrote the song, recorded it and made the crappy video):

Go A’s, Go Bill and thanks for listening to my rant.

08.11.10
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Maury Brown on KNBR-1050

The Biz of Baseball‘s Maury Brown will be on The Ticket KNBR-1050 with Damon Bruce on Thursday at 1:30 PM. Don’t miss it, even though I will. Earlier in the week, Maury tried to make sense of the T-rights situation, covering all of the angles.

Consider this the open thread for whatever is discussed. I’ll try to participate once I hear the podcast version.

Quick aside: As I got into Dallas today, one of the big topics of conversation was a question posed to Rangers’ frontman Nolan Ryan about having a retractable roof on Rangers Ballpark. I tweeted Maury about this, he said he heard little, neither had I until today. Now it appears that the issue has legs, turning into a debate about what’s a more sensible investment: Cliff Lee or a roof? Or is it no Lee without a roof? I was there. In person I saw the seemingly indefatigable Lee run out of gas in the 7th, thanks to the nearly 50,000-person communal sauna enjoyed in Arlington tonight. Both teams’ closers are presumed to be unavailable for tomorrow, both bullpens are taxed. It’s what we’ve come to expect out of Texas in August.

07.26.10
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A’s ratings much better but still terrible?

Today, a report at SportsBusinessJournal shows TV ratings for the 30 clubs. Despite a 46% increase in viewership on CSN California, the A’s have placed last in both ratings (1.23) and viewers (30,792 households). Ratingswise the A’s are actually tied for last with the Angels, but the Angels’ much larger SoCal market nets more than double the eyeballs.

You’ll remember that 2009 was the first season on the new CSN California network, and as expected it encountered growing pains. Many non-Comcast cable systems didn’t carry the network at first, and there’s always that adjustment period for fans as they grow comfortable with the new channel.

Interestingly, the A’s rating at the beginning of the season was 1.6, though that was a small and not properly representative sample. As the A’s continue to improve on the field, the ratings recovery should also continue, perhaps even approaching a 2.0 rating, or roughly 50,000 households. Both the A’s and CSN have to be encouraged by the increase, as the audience should only get stronger over time. The eyebrow-raiser is the Washington Nationals, who have finally emerged from their malaise over the past few years with an initially competitive team and a must-see horse in Stephen Strasburg.

Perhaps even more important is the size of the market. Plenty of small and mid market teams have to perform quite well to get 30,000+ households, which speaks to the Bay Area’s importance. If they were ever to move out of the Bay Area, maxing out in a small market could prove more difficult there than here. Add to that the Bay Area’s affluence, and even in second place it’s a difficult combination to beat.

05.23.10
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So THAT’S Why They Got Chris Townsend

Before the beginning of the season, longtime pre-pre-game radio host and overall nice guy Marty Lurie was unceremoniously dropped by the A’s/KTRB. No reason was given, only an announcement that former KNBR update guy and Sports Byline late night host Chris Townsend would inherit the position. While I liked the direction because of Townsend’s edge and SJSU ballplayer roots, I felt bad for Lurie, who is as congenial and full of history as anyone local gets. I’m glad he was able to continue his work on the other side of the bay.

Townsend came in and didn’t immediately try to set the fanbase on fire. He measured the audience, sought to gain their confidence and a trust, which is not the easiest thing to do – Robert Buan was often vilified by anyone who wasn’t a regular caller to the post game show. Over the first month or so, that edge started to show itself, as Townsend implored callers to “bring it.”

Yesterday, after the Gio gem, we finally got to see that edge fully unleashed, and the callers (as well as this listener) fed off it big time. Was it emperor nobody who had what amounted to a nice, lengthy segment? And did Bleacher Dave seem a bit restrained, yet insightful as usual? Whatever the case, Townsend was in fine form as his San Diego boy roots showed, along with his full and complete hatred of the Giants. He ripped into bandwagon fans, Will Clark not becoming the next Ted Williams, the 51 years of no rings, and I was loving every minute of it for the entertainment value. (If you’re wondering, I don’t hate the Giants myself, I only pity them and their fans.) There was even room for T-rights and Oakland-vs.-San Jose in the discussion, and without the usual vitriol.

What you’re hearing is a changing of the guard. Townsend took over for Buan and Lurie. It’s only a matter of time before Carney Lansford takes over for Ray Fosse. Now, Carney definitely needs more seasoning at the analyst desk before he steps into the broadcast booth full-time, even if it’s the TV role. For the future, especially if it’s in San Jose, Carney’s the bridge to the previous era. He’s from Santa Clara and sent his sons to Bellarmine St. Francis. He also was part of Baseball San Jose, and I fully expect him to pop up in a TV ad here and there prior to the November election. Come 2012 I would love to have Cotroneo/Lansford in the TV booth (where there’s more room for mistakes), and Korach/Hendu in the radio booth. Of course, there is the possibility that newly retired Eric Byrnes could step in, but I suspect he’ll have a national job coming soon enough, perhaps with MLB Network.

As I write this over Sunday brunch, washing it down with a Sierra Nevada, I have to say the future is bright.