Reds Broadcast in Jeopardy

Here we go again.

Rick Redding, a local media critic and journalist has reveled that the Louisville affiliate for Reds broadcasts will be pulling the plug on their sports-talk format.  A move that could leave the Louisville market without any radio broadcast of Reds games.

A dispute has developed between 93.9 The Ticket (Reds affiliate) and 790 WKRD, the latter of which is operated by the University of Louisville Clear Channel.  Each station has poached talent and has taken pot shots at each other for one reason or another.

For the purposes of full disclosure, I am a University of Louisville fan, but the programming on WKRD has been controlled and manipulated by the University, almost to the point of censorship, which totally disgusts me.

I have posted on this blog before about the difficulties of finding a reliable affiliate that had a clear signal around town for me and others to enjoy the Reds down here in Louisville, but this is getting a bit out of hand.  Of course, if I had the money (any donations?) I would have bought a 50,000 watt station and broadcast Reds games and other national programming (Fox Sports has gotten the shaft here locally as well) since I like it much more than most radio shows around the area.

I guess I will have to make another call to Joe Zerhusen, the Reds affiliate coordinator, to make sure that fans in Louisville can hear Marty, Jeff, and Thom next season.  Joel was very helpful the last time around and I have no reason think that he won’t work his hardest to make sure fans are satisfied.

EDIT: Clear Channel operates the station, not the University of Louisville.  Sorry for the error.

Week Wrap-up

You Know What Grinds My Gears? In a critical situation, Mike Lincoln makes a terrific stand on the mound versus David Wright and Carlos Beltran and gets no help from the crowd.  Cincinnati fans can be passionate about wanting to run Adam Dunn out of town, but they can’t get behind thier pitchers (or hitters) in critical situations.  Not one person in the crowd on Saturday night got up to cheer on Lincoln during the two crucial at-bats.  Are Cincinnati fans really that great?

Jeff Brantley, please stop: How much hyperbole does this guy speak?  The plays by Brandon Phillips and Jeff Keppinger are amazing, but their is no reason to go on and on about how they are the best at what they do.  Brantley is starting to grate on me a bit.  It is almost as if he is projecting himself onto the field as a player.   Jeff makes Chris Welch seem tame in this regard.  There is homerism and then there is Jeff Brantley.

Triple A All-Star game: This was a lot of fun.  It was a great game that was supported very well by the Louisville fans (reportedly sold out), despite the Pacific Coast League pulling out the win in the ninth.  There were even pockets of PCL fans (mostly displaced St. Louis Cardinal fans rooting for the Memphis All-Stars) that traveled to Louisville to see the game.  Did anyone see this on ESPN?  I was curious as to how well Louisville Slugger Field looked on television and what they said about Louisville during the broadcast since I don’t have access to a recording device.

Triple A Home Run Derby: This was not fun.  Again, it was well attended but definitely was not worth the $14 spent.  Even with the microphone problems they had with the MC, it was a pretty boring event due to the lack of power these supposed power hitters seemed to have.  Apparently the PCL guys were having trouble with the thick humidity that was present that night and the fact that Slugger Field is one of the largest parks in both leagues.  Fortuntely I got home in time to see the big boys (including Hobbs) do it right at Yankee Stadium.

Reds on Radio Problems, sorta: Apparently the 93.9 “The Ticket” website has been marked as a harmful website.  As I told you before, the Louisville Reds on Radio affiliate is run by about 5 people and they are pretty horrbile.  Only one Reds game has not aired on the station or its sister station since the move from WKRD, but if they want to be around, they need to get their act together.  I really wouldn’t be surprised if they folded.  Everyday I hear them begging asking for advertising, despite being the ESPN affiliate in town.

David Ross Interview On Country Fastball.  A program that is webcast and blends country music with interviews of baseball players and musicians from the country music scene is featuring the Reds catcher this week.  Hopefully they will have some sort of archive since I posted about this too late.

Still Staying Positive: About the Reds season.  They dropped two games versus the Mets and thus lost 2 games in the wild card which puts the deficit at 9 games behind the Cardinals.  From here on out, they don’t have any more west coast games (going to Arizona but not the coast) so that is a positive thing.  With games against the Padres and Rockies at home and then going on the road to Houston and Washington, this should be a time for the team to pick up several wins without having to suffer too many losses.  We shall see.