KIRO may have won next M’s radio contract
Thanks to Henry for the link to blatherWatch:
You can take it to the bank: KIRO has won back the Mariners’ play-by-play broadcast contract they lost to KOMO in 2002.
And they picked it up for less than half the $10 million that KOMO paid.
When KOMO paid tons for the last radio contract as part of a set of larger moves, the team was coming off a long run of success. Their reward was largely to be mired in horribleness. The M’s still do draw listeners, though, and if/when their fortunes improve, KIRO may have done well buying (relatively) low.
For the M’s, though, it’s another disturbing indication that their failure on the field is undermining the team financially. Ticket sales keep declining, they just got creamed on the radio negotiations, and at the very least we should assume that they’re not able to crank up advertising rates every year like they once could.
So get to winning again, team.
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How many more signs do they need that they have to try something new? They have always been able to pull in money from radio/tv but that can’t continue if they suck eggs.
So, I’m crossing my fingers that they fully understand the performance of the team dictates this stuff, not knitting nights and bobbleheads.
Here’s to hope.
I’m curious if pther MLB teams’ deals are declining a bit in value anyway as they renew. That’s what I’d guess, given everything I hear about TV networks losing market share with the proliferation of cable channels and other diversions. I’m sure the average is nowhere near this severe (50%+), though.
Does anyone know what this means on days when the Seahawks and Mariners are both playing? That was a huge bone of contention when the two teams were both on KIRO during the 80’s and 90’s. KIRO has a wonderful signal, but it’s sister stations, not so much so.
I think it would be a pretty easy decision with the current makeup of both franchises.
Lets hope this is just the kick in the pants the Ms need to buckle down and stop losing 😐
Actually, for me, this is a “duh” observation. And not even Armstrong and Lincoln are dumb enough not to make the connection (or are dumb enough not to have seen the connection in advance).
No, where their “dumbness” lies is in trying to put together a winning baseball team. They certainly don’t have the know-how of how to do it, and they should stop pretending that they do and give it to someone who does.
The Seahawks have pretty much always taken priority, I would expect that to continue. When you only have 16 games a year as opposed to 162, an individual broadcast is much more important to the overall revenue stream. I seem to recall that KOMO did this with Husky games, too. Regular baseball listeners are also more understanding of the occasional disruptions in the schedule that happen when you have rain delays and the like.
Like observing that it’s a ‘duh’ observation?
It’s a fact I’m stating, not a piece of analysis. Jeez, cut me some slack.
Ah, sorry.
(On the other hand, it occurs to me that some people could think Lincoln and Armstrong ARE foolish enough not to connect the two, speculating that they thought Lincoln and Armstrong thought their efforts to make Safeco Field and the team to be family friendly would cushion the team from the effects of losing.)
Maybe the team being undermined financially by their own mismanagement is ultimately a good thing. Okay, tough sell, but at this point I would take a complete crash/burn over the eternal toil of mediocrity in which we’re currently mired. Even stuck with Lincoln and Armstrong, at least then we’d have to bass ackwards our way into another couple top picks, right?
Most of us believe the gross mismanagement of the baseball operations has been facilitated by the healthy revenue stream, i.e. the team sucks more each year but they’re still making money, hence no much-needed improvement upon methodology or philosophy. Let them see their whole model is breaking and we may finally get the change in personnel and philosophy we’ve needed for so long.
Oh, I thought it was clear that Lincoln and Armstrong were worried about the financial impact of losing a year ago with the whole “hotseat” bit. But the M’s defiance of Pythagoras lulled them into a false sense of security. They really thought they’d turned it around last year.
Pure results-based analysis on their part, and they blew it. A brief run of luck convinced them to double down on a bad strategy, and last year’s ruinous offseason will haunt them for a while.
God I hated the move to KOMO. Was it just me or was the amount of product plugging and commercials doubled in that move?
Does this mean my mariner broadcast will no longer be interrupted by a traffic report. I like that as much as someone getting out of there seat and blocking my view in the middle of an inning.
To cover the cost of the rights, I think…
Not that I think it’ll go down that much next year….
12: That’s how I felt. It seemed to me like the KOMO move is what precipitated Dave shilling a different product in between every pitch. I don’t remember it being nearly that bad before.
I was actually hoping that the bidding would give the Ms a chance to appear on the FM dial. I looked at some different Big and Medium market teams, and it appears there are quite a few on FM. I would love the better reception.
Been hearing rumors out of KJR that kevin calabro is looking for a job within the Seattle sports ‘sphere’. Maybe he will sign on to the Mariners broadcast. Glad to see they are back to 710 on my dial. Even to this day I still mess up trying to tune into ball games on KOMO 1000.
From the reports I heard at the time, KOMO paid way, way more than could be justified based on revenue from the broadcasts, but thought it was important to help with their overall rebranding. So, the broadcast became the major avenue of the rebranding efforts. To the detriment of the broadcasts. Way too many innings started off with Rizzs doing a recreation of the first AB, which was clearly not going on live as he called it because the crowd reaction was already over.
Last night I was driving back from the coast and listened to the first part of the game on XM. They pick up the home broadcast – I like it because I get to listen to lots of other broadcast crews and, complaints here and there aside, I’m pretty sure the M’s have one of the better crews in MLB. However, one think I noticed last night, whenever KOMO cut away to do traffic or a station promo in the middle of the action, XM would cut to a Bugs Bunny clip (“Wham! another homer!”). I’ve never heard that on any of the broadcasts for other teams.
17-
Yeah, I understand why, but it sure made baseball that much less pleasant to listen to when every pitch was brought to me by a company, and every hit was in honor of an RV park. I thought it was the players, but no. The awful thing is that this is now the standard, and it’s up to KIRO to take it down a notch. Which they have no reason to do.
I hope KIRO has a good morning show. The only reason I have my alarm radio set to KOMO News is so I can flip on the game at home without having to change the station (the radio has a manual tune dial, which makes it a pain to flip back and forth).
Either way, there was far too much pandering on the KOMO pre/postgame shows, and while I’m sure there will be more of the same on KIRO, I can only hope that part of the ‘cut back’ deal is that the new broadcast is less obnoxious.
Man, I would love nothing more than to have Calabro doing M’s games. His cameos have been really entertaining–he’s a natural. Maybe KIRO can take some of the money they saved buying low and throw it to a Seattle icon.
I don’t know that there’s any particular reason to think the broadcast crew will change. They may continue cycling through former players providing color commentary, just as the Sonics did with Calabro’s partners, but I wouldn’t expect this to involve any play-by-play shakeup.
Although I wouldn’t mind a scenario where Dave gracefully retires soon and Calabro takes over to stay busy until an NBA team returns to town. While doing that, they could set Rizzs loose and give Calabro a younger partner who can be groomed as the next voice of the Mariners, taking the lead when Calabro goes back to basketball.
Somehow, I get the feeling that ownership feels the same way about Rizzs that they do about Raul and Willie. And that makes me very sad.
19 –
It may be that I was just younger and a little (a lot) stupider, but I seem to remember that the Post and Pre Game shows were both much better on Kiro. On Kiro, things were structured a little better and they tried a little harder to cover the charades of “broadcasting” after the game that was really only serving as filler before the commercials.
Does anyone else remember these things?
How much of the drop in the price that KIRO had to pay, though, too, comes from the fact that Internet- and Satellite Radio have become tons more popular, making revenue streams smaller overall for radio in general?
Yeah, the M’s waning popularity hasn’t exactly helped them. But I’m sure people’s interest in AM radio hasn’t exactly blossomed, either.
AS much as I like Calabro doing basketball, I would much prefer to see Mike Curto brought up to do radio play by play.
Since baseball is the only reason on earth you could get me to listen to AM radio, I don’t really care what station they’re on, as long as I know the number. 710, right?
I think it is also symptomatic of most broadcasts these days; not just here, and not just baseball.
I think that is just Rizzs, not the move to KOMO
nope, the broadcast crew is hired by the team. It would just be the pre/post game personnel, and the station’s baseball reporter, which means we could lose Drayer.
Rizzs is invaluable to them– he loves to do the meets & greets for ticket holders and sponsers, to do charity events, host events, visit hospitals, other parts of the state, etc etc etc. He remembers people who’ve been at fantasy camp or the spring training tours, he’s happy to mention birthdays or occasions … all things that Dave hasn’t done in years.
Yeah #13: I’m glad I’m not alone regarding KOMO. I thought I was becoming an old curmudgeon but I HATE the traffic reports and missed atbats. They could have been done at every 1/2 inning, pitching change, etc.
I like Shannon Dreyer, though.
Also, I had the same thought of Calabro. I’d squeeze him in anywhere I could. (perhaps Calabro/Mike Curto are the voice of the future?)
What does SABR say about Rizzs output?
Instead of interrupting M’s games with traffic reports, the Mariners should do the opposite and broadcast traffic reports, with periodic reports of M’s games during commercial breaks.
That would be more entertaining.
I have a feeling that Drayer and those associated with the M’s broadcast will be brought back over to KIRO and that they’ll play a part of the station’s role with the rumored Sports Talk being either on the old KBSG or the KIRO AM slot.
I wonder if Calabro won’t team with the M’s Broadcast. Seems like a ‘win-win’ for them, even if it pushes Rizzs or Sims out the door.
This isn’t that surprising given the terrestrial radio industry is in secular and cyclical decline. Radio stations and networks derive revenues from advertising. As the number of listeners has declined due to competition from satellite / internet / ipods / etc, and as advertisers have increasingly allocated spend away from radio and toward other media like the internet / digital bilbboards / cable television, radio revenues have plummeted. As well, we’re in (or facing) a recession, and overall ad spending is declining. In May, radio advertising revenues were down something like 8%. Since almost all costs are fixed, that lost revenue hits the bottom line directly and thus, it’s increasingly difficult (assuming you’re rational) to justify spending significant amounts on content (e.g. M’s games). And since 2002, when KOMO signed the last deal, radio stocks (e.g. CDL, CMLS, etc) have fallen by >90%. The industry is struggling.
It’s in a free-from-religion decline? I don’t understand.
Actually, on the occasions that he’s filled in for someone on the M’s broadcast team (i.e. during Dave N.’s vacation breaks, mostly), I’ve thought KC has done a pretty good job. You can tell that he’s definitely more than a “one-sport guy.”
And as for being back on KIRO, all I can say is thank heavens. At least maybe we’ll no longer have traffic updates jammed down our throats every time we around during the game…as well as those annoying (and totally unnecessary) news “updates” during the pre and post-game shows.
23: Yes, I do as a matter of fact. I, too, thought KIRO’s production of the weekend Mariner Magazine was much better, as well as both the pre and post-game shows.
And though New York Vinnie wasn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea, the one thing I always liked about him was his passion for the game. Not to mention, that when the team was playing like crap and deserved to be given a collective headshake, he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind about it — unlike those company “yes men” like Huttyler and Blowers.
The Mariner braintrust reminds me a lot of the Cleveland Indians.
Unfortunately, it is the Indians of the 1970’s that they have chosen to emulate.
[Niehaus]
whoops, only the top portion of the previous comment should be in italics. From the moment I address Redapple, that’s all me of course.
It’s in a free-from-religion decline? I don’t understand.
Maybe secular was supposed to mean that religious radio stations and those with a Christian music format are doing well, but other radio isn’t. I have no idea how that kind of programming is doing in the ratings.
I’m surprised, in a way, that AM radio hasn’t already gone the way of analog TV or 8-track tapes. After all, besides sports, there’s very little of value left on that band in most areas of the country these days.
um, possibly because Huytler & Blowers ARE employed by the Mariners, which Vinnie was not?
40: Vinnie wasn’t, no…didn’t know Huytler was, though (always assumed he was officially an employee of Fisher…probably ’cause I actually heard him filling in one night on Star 101.5 a while back!). As for Blow, he doesn’t annoy me quite as much doing the in-game color these days as he did doing that wretched weekend post-game show a few years ago.
possibly both; he’s done radio all over town for years, but has also been employed by the Ms for 21 years as the PA announcer
Niehaus, Rizzs, Sims and Blowers are employed by the M’s. Hutyler and Drayer are employed by KOMO. Blowers used to be employed by KOMO, but has been working for the M’s since last season. And as has been noted, Huytler has been the PA announcer for the M’s since 1987.
I also think that Kevin Calabro would be a good hire. When he’s subbed for Niehaus, I thought he did a pretty good job.
And, to be fair, I’ve always thought that Huytler had a great voice for a PA announcer. He simply wouldn’t have been my first pick to do the post-game show, however.
and it seems to have happened by accident, with him filling in for Tom Glasgow on weekends, and then more and more, as Glasgow takes more games off.
Ah, secular meaning continuing through the ages, or simply meaning “constant, this industry is screwed” decline. Secular used to differentiate from cyclical.
AFAIK, Drayer is employed by KOMO, so there’s no certainty she’d make the jump to a new station just because the team did (granted, unless KIRO had another desirable job for her I don’t why they’d keep her or why she’d want to stay; but even then, we can’t be certain KIRO would pick her up). And I’d hate to see her go. Between her blog posts and her cliché-free comments/interviews she provides real value; and her voice is a pleasant alternative to the otherwise omnipresent jock-drawls.
It seemed to me like the KOMO move is what precipitated Dave shilling a different product in between every pitch. I don’t remember it being nearly that bad before.
Watching the Blue Jays’ TV broadcast the other day, I was a little surprised/horrified to see mini-commercials between batters. And then surprised the M’s weren’t already doing that too, and horrified to think they would be soon.
Curious…it wasn’t on Sportnet by chance, was it? If that’s the case it wouldn’t surprise me, since I’ve noticed they do the same thing at face-off whistles during hockey games (i.e. the little 15-second Canadian Tire “rafter shot”).
BTW, I’m with you on Drayer, too. Unlike some of the other clowns on that KOMO post-game show, I think she does an excellent job — and hope that she’ll get a chance to follow the team over to KIRO after this season.