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Thursday, April 06, 2006
Radio Free St. Louis
Like most Cardinals fans, I was shocked and appalled when the Cardinals announced that they were ending their 51-year relationship with KMOX, a station that can be heard all the way from Iowa to Mississippi, in favor of KTRS, a station that doesn't have the power to cover the entire St. Louis metro area. The Cardinals and the station (of which the team now owns 50 percent) assured the frazzled masses that they would address the situation by adding affilliates to their radio network.
This much is clear: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch isn't buying what the Cardinals are trying to sell. Post-Dispatch sports media critic Dan Caesar wrote an excellent article on Sunday detailing the problems that have resulted from the move. Two days later, the paper ran an article titled "Can't hear the game? Tell us about it," and now the people have spoken.
"I had static until it started getting dark, and now I have nothing." This from a man who lives about 18 miles outside of St. Louis.
"I'm 12 miles from the Arch," (one listener) said. "The signal I get is what you'd expect to hear tuning in Chicago."
There are few things that please me more than seeing the poor planning of rich and powerful people blow up in their faces. I'm not even mad that the Cardinals left KMOX; I understand that if you can get a better deal, you take it. But when you go into a deal with a radio station that doesn't cover as much area as a baby blanket, you deserve what you get.
On the brighter side, I'm enjoying the addition of John Rooney to the booth, another offseason move made by the Cardinals. Wayne Hagin always seemed like too much of a Ned Flanders, so it's fitting that he's now paired with Rick Horton on WB11's weekend broadcasts.
And then there's Mike Shannon, who's already in midseason form. He's not the most accurate play-by-play man, he doesn't know how to pronounce a lot of the players' names (he still calls Greg Maddux "Greg Mad-ox"), his stories tend to wander aimlessly, his jokes seldom have punchlines, at times it's hard to even figure out what the hell he's talking about, and sometimes you wonder if he's fallen asleep at the microphone. But he's got the best laugh in the business, and you can tell that he loves the Redbirds. That's all I ask for, really. If you're a Cardinals fan, you can tell that he's on your side.
If only I could say the same thing about the Cardinals ownership.
This much is clear: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch isn't buying what the Cardinals are trying to sell. Post-Dispatch sports media critic Dan Caesar wrote an excellent article on Sunday detailing the problems that have resulted from the move. Two days later, the paper ran an article titled "Can't hear the game? Tell us about it," and now the people have spoken.
"I had static until it started getting dark, and now I have nothing." This from a man who lives about 18 miles outside of St. Louis.
"I'm 12 miles from the Arch," (one listener) said. "The signal I get is what you'd expect to hear tuning in Chicago."
There are few things that please me more than seeing the poor planning of rich and powerful people blow up in their faces. I'm not even mad that the Cardinals left KMOX; I understand that if you can get a better deal, you take it. But when you go into a deal with a radio station that doesn't cover as much area as a baby blanket, you deserve what you get.
On the brighter side, I'm enjoying the addition of John Rooney to the booth, another offseason move made by the Cardinals. Wayne Hagin always seemed like too much of a Ned Flanders, so it's fitting that he's now paired with Rick Horton on WB11's weekend broadcasts.
And then there's Mike Shannon, who's already in midseason form. He's not the most accurate play-by-play man, he doesn't know how to pronounce a lot of the players' names (he still calls Greg Maddux "Greg Mad-ox"), his stories tend to wander aimlessly, his jokes seldom have punchlines, at times it's hard to even figure out what the hell he's talking about, and sometimes you wonder if he's fallen asleep at the microphone. But he's got the best laugh in the business, and you can tell that he loves the Redbirds. That's all I ask for, really. If you're a Cardinals fan, you can tell that he's on your side.
If only I could say the same thing about the Cardinals ownership.
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