Braves radio | Braves | ajc.com
The Braves have now sold their radio rights to Clear Channel. The monopolist’s Atlanta affiliate will probably be WGST, with an FM station coming in after dark. It’s a typical penny-wise, pound-foolish decision by the current owners; they might make more money in the short term, but WSB’s signal made for a lot of listeners throughout the region that might get cut off.
Hell, forget just the region. I was able to listen to WSB after dark last year here in northern Indiana. Sigh. This sucks.
I don’t think they realize where they got a lot of their most loyal fans. This is a bad business move.
Yeah, this is ridiculous. WSB was perfect; one of the biggest signals I’ve ever heard — at night, you could pick it up five, six states away.
If AOL was really worried about saving money they wouldn’t send me 3 CD-ROM’s per week offering me 1500 “free hours”. They probably could’ve afforded to keep Shef if they would’ve realized five years ago that I didn’t want to switch over to their subpar internet service.
Typically stupid move by the Braves since the merger. Maybe the Braves will eventually go the way of the Hawks and Thrashers and be bought out by some ownership group that will care.
On a nicer note, the Chicago Tribune’s annual baseball supplement (3/29/04) had a feature on the best managers of all time. Number one, by a wide margin, is Bobby Cox! Cox scored a +38 (using the manager’s record against the team’s Pythagorean expected wins and losses). The closest to Cox was Bill McKechnie, who managed between the ’20s and the ’40s, who scored a +29. Modern managers’ scores include Bobby Valentine +25, Billy Martin +23, Dusty Baker +18, Felipe Alou +13,Frank Robinson +12, Joe Torre +11, and Tony LaRussa +11. On the negative side are Hall-of-Famer Bucky Harris -36, former Braves manager Bobby Bragan -21, and the “great” Tommy Lasorda at -15. Modern negative managers include Jimy Willimas -23, Jim Riggleman -23, Larry Dierker -16, Larry Bowa -7, and, interestingly, Mike Scioscia -6.
John Schuerholz, in a companion article, attributed Bobby Cox’s high rating to his respect for his players and his ability to interact with those who play for him.
I actually picked up 750 WSB w/Skip Carey doing a Hawks game in November 1978 while going to college in IDAHO, honestly.
While I can pick up WGST in Charleston if the atmospherics are right, this bites. I can pick up WSB clearer where I live than I can the Charlestobn SC station that carries it w/their tower not more than 10 miles from my home.
If you’re in a smaller market, like me, WSB was pretty much the only way to pick up a night game on the radio. In the day, the Birmingham signal reaches me fine, but when they cut power they’re gone. Unless somebody in Tuscaloosa decides to start broadcasting the games again, I won’t be able to hear them.
I think it is pretty harsh to call this a bad business move at this point. If Clear Channel is actually going to reach less people, they would not have been willing to pay more than WSB for the rights to the games. I think WSB has some weaknesses. When I lived in Dahlonega (an hour north of the Perimeter) I could not get a clear signal from WSB. I had to listen on an FM station, I think it was 93.3, and that was spotty. I live in TN 45 minutes west of Chattanooga, and I can’t get WSB. Maybe Clear Channel has a better model for distributing the games via many smaller stations. We will see.
You’re right, we will see. But AOL/Time Warner hasn’t exactly made the most brilliant business moves lately. I’m willing to bet this flops.
Such negativity. I see no reason to be so pessimistic, Clear Channel is top quality as far as I’m concerned.
And the first time Skip Carey makes a joke about a well-endowed woman in the crowd, Clear Channel can slap him with a fine for being a bad boy.
JC – when you say you can’t pick up WSB 45 minutes west of Chattanooga, that astounds me. We are talking just after dark, right? Are you right on the other side of a mountain? Because I swear I’ve been able to listen to the channel all the way from ATL to Columbus, OH, plus from Columbus to Indiana, with breaks only when I passed through cities with lots of interference.
Sorry to go off subject, but what is the talk of Almanza making the bullpen? Because I was at the Dodger game yesterday and he is awful, just awful. Please tell me he is starting in Richmond.
Feel free to go off the subject any time you want. I could start putting up open threads if people want.
Almanza almost has to make the pen because Pratt and Bong are gone. The Braves aren’t going to start the season with only one lefty in the pen.
bobby was saying this morning that he doesn’t know if almanza’s arm is healthy enough to pitch at the beginning of the season, which sounds like code for “he sucks so we’re gonna put him on the dl and see if it’s his arm or if he just sucks”.
mac – isn’t nitkowski a lefty? he’s made the team and looked pretty good against the expos at space coast stadium monday night. fwiw – cruz looked awful on saturday against the mets but i’m hoping it was just nerves since it was his first game with the tomahawk across his chest.
Nitkowski’s a lefty, but he’s the only one in the pen.
Rumor has it the Braves just picked up Wayne Franklin from the Brewers…
With the way things have been going lately they probably gave the Brewers Andy Marte for him,
The Giants just traded for Wayne Franklin and Leo Estrella.
I’d think the Braves will be eagerly watching the waiver wire with final cuts coming soon. Something tells me at least one more move will be made before the season starts…
I live on top of Monteagle mountain. I don’t doubt that you can hear WSB in Ohio and not some places in the south. Radio waves are wierd.
Gary Matthews was released. Details coming…
Radio signals ARE weird. I could never pick up WSB an hour north in Dalton, but I could get St. Louis Cardinals games when I lived in Athens.
Ah, Monteagle. Just dorve through there on my way down to GA last month. Pretty enough part of the drive, but some people drive like crazy on the way down that mountain.