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Why You Can Only Hear Half The World Series On Toronto Radio
I'm not sure how many are following it after this year's Blue Jays disappointment, but it's been an exciting World Series so far.
Milwaukee and Tampa Bay are pretty evenly matched, and the first game ended on a re-do in the ninth inning, after a botched call, while the second game involved an unlikely Brewers comeback from a 4-0 deficit. And because neither has ever won the ultimate championship, there will be a first time World Series winner when it's all decided.
It's fine if you're watching it on either Sportsnet or Fox. But trying to find it on a close-by GTA radio station has been nearly impossible. That's because Rogers has the rights and by sheer coincidence, a Leafs or a Raptors game has been on opposite it every night so far. So The Fan 590 is forced to take the local game - as it should.
But it means anyone looking for the balls and strikes when they're out has to go hunting for it. When I'm out walking the dog at night and want to listen to the game, it's a real challenge to find it. All the regular ESPN radio outlets are carrying their own local teams and the only one I can get - if the conditions are right - is WMVP AM 1000 from Chicago. And with CFRB right beside it, it can be a real hassle.
I'm not sure what else they could do, but the World Series isn't some minor league deal. It's called the "Fall Classic" for a reason. The Fan airs the final innings most nights, but only after local hockey or hoops coverage has wrapped - complete with seemingly endless (and sponsored) post game shows. So if you're lucky, you can hear maybe the last three innings.
I've never seen a major league sports finale treated as such an afterthought. But somehow, in Toronto this year, it is. And that's a shame.
- Shorty Wave
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The one option would be for Rogers to let Bell’s 1050 air the Leafs or Raptors games while the World series game is on. This would free up 590 to carry baseball. Having said that, I don’t think Rogers would go for that as they wouldn’t cash in on it, although it would keep sports fans like RA happy!
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Shorty Wave wrote:
The one option would be for Rogers to let Bell’s 1050 air the Leafs or Raptors games while the World series game is on. This would free up 590 to carry baseball. Having said that, I don’t think Rogers would go for that as they wouldn’t cash in on it, although it would keep sports fans like RA happy!
Turning anything over to Bell would be unthinakble for Big Red, and in this case, I don't blame them. The problem is they've gobbled up the rights to everything, and they don't have enough outlets to air them without breaking all the formats. So listeners like me are forced to go DXing.
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Thread Starter- Ale Ont
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Re: Why You Can Only Hear Half The World Series On Toronto Radio
880 New York carries E-S-P-N radio. However, they also carry the Knicks and Rangers.
- RadioAaron
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880 New York carries E-S-P-N radio. However, they also carry the Knicks and Rangers.
ESPN actually has two AMs in NYC, and even then some of the games haven't been on. The ones that have been can't be heard here though, the other signal's at 1050.
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880 New York carries E-S-P-N radio. However, they also carry the Knicks and Rangers.
I tried 880. While it came in OK, they were always covering some other sporting event, like the Knicks. So that didn't work well, either.
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Thread Starter- mace
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Re: Why You Can Only Hear Half The World Series On Toronto Radio
I listened to some of the 5-4 comeback win in my car on WMVP. No splatter at all from CFRB. No splatter on KDKA either.
- RadioActive
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I listened to some of the 5-4 comeback win in my car on WMVP. No splatter at all from CFRB. No splatter on KDKA either.
Depends on the night and conditions, I guess. Mostly WMVP is good, but occasionally, it gets wiped out by the adjacent stations and electrical noise in my area.
This is probably why I remember so much about WLS and so little about WCFL, the landmark rock station that preceded WMVP.
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Thread Starter- mace
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Re: Why You Can Only Hear Half The World Series On Toronto Radio
I listened to some of the 5-4 comeback win in my car on WMVP. No splatter at all from CFRB. No splatter on KDKA either.
Depends on the night and conditions, I guess. Mostly WMVP is good, but occasionally, it gets wiped out by the adjacent stations and electrical noise in my area.
This is probably why I remember so much about WLS and so little about WCFL, the landmark rock station that preceded WMVP.
It was pretty chilly that night. I have found that the colder the weather, the better the reception. During the summer on those horrible HHH [Hot, humid, hazy] nights, even the 50K blowtorches like WBZ and WABC are weak with constant fading.
- RadioActive
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Finally! The whole game appeared on the Fan Tuesday night, as all the other Toronto teams were idle.
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
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As if things weren't already confusing enough, Wednesday presents a special challenge for those searching for play-by-play coverage of what could be the final game of a very exciting 2026 World Series on radio.
The Fan 590 has the Raptors vs. the Magic at 8 PM, while TSN1050 brings the Leafs at the Kraken beginning at 10 o'clock, with a pregame show a half hour earlier. (Frankly, with Rogers now in complete control of the NHL team, I'm surprised TSN Radio gets any live Leaf game coverage at all.)
So what happens to baseball? It gets left for the final few innings on the Fan once the NBA game and the post mortem is over. If you're lucky, you may get to hear how it ends. If not, it's back to WMVP Chicago through the static.
I've never seen a marquee event like The World Series treated as such an afterthought by radio stations here, even if the Jays are long out of it. It's a shame but I get it - the local teams have to come first.
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
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And now that it's all over (I think the Fan got in the last two innings), here's an interesting question: what happens if there's a baseball lockout next year and there is no season?
What does 590 fill all that empty summer airtime with? It could be a very long time until we hear from Dan or Ben Shulman on a baseball broadcast again. And that would be a shame. (But hey, at least I won't have to put up with fill-ins by Eric Smith!)
Hopefully, next season starts on time.
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Thread Starter- Shorty Wave
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And now that it's all over (I think the Fan got in the last two innings), here's an interesting question: what happens if there's a baseball lockout next year and there is no season?
What does 590 fill all that empty summer airtime with? It could be a very long time until we hear from Dan or Ben Shulman on a baseball broadcast again. And that would be a shame. (But hey, at least I won't have to put up with fill-ins by Eric Smith!)
Hopefully, next season starts on time.
I know the threat of a lockout looms but I read a piece that suggested that there is too much money now involved in most pro sports, and even a half season lockout could put some clubs out of biz or at least fiscally jammed. I hope they don’t have a lockout as even with a lame season, I still enjoyed watching the Jays this year, for the most part!
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And then comes this from a guy named David Samson, a former executive witrh the Miami Marlins. He believes there's no longer any room on the radio for baseball broadcasts. And also that there's no longer any room for radio, either.
“The difference between TV and radio is disappearing before our very eyes. We don’t need baseball on radio anymore. The only reason we have baseball on radio is so people can feel better about what baseball means to them...
“Here’s the thing about radio today. It’s totally changed. There’s no money in radio. If you’re on AM radio right now, well, let’s just say that you ought to be simulcasting. You ought to be on YouTube. You ought to be a podcast because money in AM radio has pretty much disappeared."
I understand what he's saying - things aren't the same as they used to be, when baseball on the radio was like mom and apple pie. But we've all heard TV audio being used for an entire game. And after all the "as you can see"s and the "take another look at that play," it's pretty obvious that's no home run, either.
Personally, I like baseball on radio. Some of the announcers who've done it are legends. (Too bad Bob Uecker wasn't here to see the Brewers finally win it all.) And in Canada, at least, it's a lot better than another hour of syndficated ESPN Radio droning on and on and on about U.S. College Football.
MLB Urged To Get Rid Of Radio Broadcasts, ‘We Don’t Need It’
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