Inside Minor League Sports Media

by Walter L. Johnson II
Published on July 1, 2003 under New York-Penn League (NYPL)

A GROWING TREND, OR JUST ANOTHER FAD? With the short-season minor leagues now in full swing, many franchises are turning their radio dials to the left, between 88.1 and 91.9 on the FM dial. Several minor league baseball teams throughout the nation are using non-commercial radio stations to broadcast to their respective communities, either because no commercial stations were willing to sacrifice their bottom line or format for a sporting event, because their previous station had a poor signal, or because non-commercial stations provide a viable training ground for future sportscasters.

Stations that carry such games range in format from college to Christian, and even an NPR station. Some stations broadcast all of the games live, while others only broadcast a select number of games. In New York City, for example, while the Mets have their games broadcast all over the Eastern Seaboard on 50,000-watt AM powerhouse WFAN, the games of their short-season class A affiliate, the Brooklyn Cyclones, are carried on WKRB, a college station that runs with just ten watts of power, and covers most of Brooklyn. Other examples of non-commercial stations broadcasting games include:

Bangor Lumberjacks - WHCF - 88.5 FM
Bridgeport Bluefish - WVOF - 88.5 FM
Evansville Otters - WUEV - 91.5 FM
Everett Aqua Sox - KSER - 90.7 FM
Inland Empire 66ers - KVCR - 91.9 FM*
Schaumburg Flyers - WONC - 89.3 FM
Williamsport Crosscutters - WRLC - 91.7 FM
*--NPR station

As one can see, there is a wide diversity of non-commercial stations that broadcast minor league baseball nationwide. With many radio stations across the US owned by major media conglomerates that care more about the bottom line than about quality programming, the question is this: Will the migration of minor league baseball to non-commercial radio continue to be a growing trend, or will it be another fad that comes and goes? Only time will tell.

OH, CANADA! The Arena Football League season might be over, and the start of the NFL exhibition season is still weeks away, but the football action is still coming on strong north of the border. Many of the teams in the Canadian Football League are not only broadcasting their games from Prince Edward Island to the Northwest Territories, but also deep into the States, thanks to Internet radio. One of the better broadcasts of CFL action is carried on Team 1200 in Ottawa, the flagship station of the Ottawa Roughriders. You can hear the broadcast of the Roughrider games at www.team1200.com and on the Netcasts page of OurSports Central. Other notable CFL radio broadcasts include CJOB in Winnipeg, the flagship station for the Blue Bombers, CHED in Edmonton, the home of the Eskimos, and CHQR in Calgary, which carries the Stampeders games. All you need is either a Real One player or a Windows Media player, depending upon how the broadcast is streamed.

SOCCER/WNBA ON TV: If you're a soccer fan, and are going to be stuck at home this Fourth of July weekend, you may want to consider delaying your cookout an extra day so you can watch a game or two. On ESPN2, the MetroStars will travel to the nation's capital to face the D.C. United in a key Eastern Conference match-up. On PAX TV, the San Jose Cyber Rays will travel cross country to New York to take on the Power in a critical WUSA contest. As for the WNBA, most of the games will be on NBA TV depending upon what part of the nation you're in this Saturday night, with Sacramento taking on Charlotte at 6 p.m. Eastern, followed by Phoenix at San Antonio at 8:30 p.m. On Sunday, NBA TV will carry the New York Liberty/Connecticut Sun game live from Connecticut. Those viewers who are without NBA TV must wait until Thursday, July 10th to see more WNBA action, when the New York Liberty will meet the Indiana Fever. Tip off is set for 8 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2.

New York-Penn League Stories from July 1, 2003

• Inside Minor League Sports Media - OSC Original by Walter L. Johnson II
• SI Yankees fall to Cyclones, 7-3 - Staten Island Yankees
• Third Inning is the Charm; Renegades Beat Cardinals 5-2 - Hudson Valley Renegades
• Dugout, Loss Column Filling Up - Vermont Lake Monsters
• Ripken Baseball Partners with Comcast Corporation - Aberdeen IronBirds
• Staten Island Yankees and WSIA Reach Agreement for Radio Broadcasts - Staten Island Yankees
• Curve Rebound for a Shutout of Their Own - Williamsport Crosscutters

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.