The Hagerstown Suns are proud to announce that WICL Cool 95.9FM, a Prettyman Broadcasting station, will serve as the new flagship station for Suns’ radio broadcasts. The two year deal covers all baseball games during the Suns 2007 and 2008 seasons. All 140 games each season will air live on Cool 95.9FM, marking the club’s first foray into FM radio in the tri-state community. In addition, all games are available over the Internet at www.hagerstownsuns.com.
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Wooden U. Lykteneau | 17-Feb-07 at 9:38 am | Permalink
Broadcasting over the internet isn’t really something to get excited about — most teams do it, even at the independent level, which quite frankly is usually ahead of the broadcasting curve compared to most affiliated teams.
Getting a local FM broadcast is a big deal because a lot of teams are opting out of over-the-air broadcasts as a (short-sighted) cost-cutting measure. It’s sad when you consider that Potomac has no local broadcast despite being so close to DC — are they really so dumb as to think that will prevent folks from coming out to the ballpark?
tdb | 17-Feb-07 at 12:41 pm | Permalink
No, the folks in Potomac aren’t dumb, they probably can’t get a radio deal with a station there. Teams pay radio stations to air there games, and with Potomac so close to DC, they probably can’t find a radio station to carry there games for a reasonable cost.
FYI, the Bowie Baysox of the AA Eastern League don’t have a radio deal either.
And furthermore, teams from Low A to AAA, I would guess less than 10 of them total aren’t on the radio. So most teams, yes affiliated teams, are indeed on the radio.
Bill | 17-Feb-07 at 1:24 pm | Permalink
If you look at the fact that Savannah only did home games and some of the low A teams don’t broadcast at all…it is a pretty good thing to get excited about if you want to follow a team or player. I think the number might be higher than 10, but haven’t done a total.
Sam | 17-Feb-07 at 3:56 pm | Permalink
I’m afraid, Wood, you seriously underestimate the things that Brian can manage to get excited about.
Wooden U. Lykteneau | 18-Feb-07 at 2:48 pm | Permalink
tdb - I think the problem is opportunity, not cost. Did a little research and found there are just a handful of stations in the Woodbridge area, and two of them are chain owned (read: nobody to negotiate with). The rest are either too small or the format is too disparate.
As for cost, if the independent North Shore Spirit can afford to broadcast on the #2 sports talk radio station in Boston — it’s actually 12 miles closer to Boston than Woodbridge is to DC — I would think that the Silbers would be able to as well.
Sam - Point taken ;-)