O's Move to WHFS- A GOOD MOVE!

O’s moving to WHFS FM benefits everyone
Jim Williams, The Examiner
Jan 10, 2007 3:00 AM (4 hrs ago)
Current rank: # 5 of 12,438 articles

BALTIMORE - As discussed in this space before Christmas, the Baltimore Orioles have left their partner of 19 years, WBAL-AM, for WHFS-FM, a move that was announced Monday.

Turn the dial to 105.7 FM for all things Orioles for many years to come. In less than two months, all 162 regular season games and more than a dozen spring training broadcasts will air live on the FM powerhouse. Also, the broadcast team of Jim Hunter, Fred Manfra and Joe Angel will be back in 2007.

Radio has become one of the best and most important ways for baseball teams to promote their product. The team made a very smart business move by switching to WHFS for games and making ESPN 1300 AM part of the package. The duo offers the team great promotional options that it hasn’t had in years past.

WBAL is Maryland’s most successful station due, in large part, because of its popular and very tight talk/news format, which generates millions of dollars a year for the station. Airing the O’s games would not be a problem, but adding O’s-related programming would not only be difficult, it would not be profitable.

Meanwhile, WHFS offers a clear signal and a more flexible format, and ESPN 1300 offers hours of sports talk that will allow the O’s players, coaches and management to be on the air promoting the team all year round.

Let’s not forget the relationship that the O’s new TV home, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, has with ESPN 1300. The synergy between the team’s two broadcast partners is a stroke of broadcasting genius. With the radio and the TV sides working together, they have the best of both worlds, giving fans a lot of easy access to the team.

Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. E-mail him at jwilliamsexaminer@gmail.com.


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