Major League Baseball on the radio
Major League Baseball on the radio has been a tradition for over 100 years,
History
Early period
1920s
The first baseball game ever broadcast on radio was a
During the 1923 World Series, Rice was the main broadcaster, but during the fourth inning of Game 3, he turned the microphone over to McNamee.[5][7] This was the start of McNamee's career, and McNamee became the first color commentator.[8] Although frequently criticized for his lack of expertise, McNamee helped popularize baseball.[3][7][9][10]
By 1924-1925, baseball broadcasts were occurring sporadically in other cities. For example, in Chicago in early October 1924, station WGN (AM) broadcast a "city series" between the White Sox and the Cubs. [11] WGN also broadcast the Chicago Cubs' home opener in April 1925. [12] And in Boston, WBZ (AM) broadcast the opening day game for the Boston Braves, who played against the New York Giants. Newspapers said this was the first time either Boston team (the Braves or the Red Sox) had been on the air. [13] Throughout the rest of the 1925 season, Boston station WNAC broadcast some of the Braves' home games. [14] The Boston Red Sox, however, did not get on the air in Boston until 1926, also on WNAC, beginning with the opening day game against the Yankees. [15]
Meanwhile, the establishment of the National Broadcasting Company (later known as NBC) and the Columbia Broadcasting System (later called CBS) meant that by October 1927, two coast-to-coast networks were able to broadcast the World Series for the first time. Graham McNamee was chosen to announce the games for NBC and Major J. Andrew White was the announcer for CBS. [16] In that first year, the commissioner of baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, gave permission for both networks to air the games. [17]
1930s
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Many owners were still wary. By the 1930s, the two-team cities of Boston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Chicago had reached an agreement not to broadcast away games. In other words, if the
In 1935,
Though radio grew quickly as a medium for baseball, many teams were still apprehensive about it, fearing negative effects on attendance. Nevertheless, each team was allowed to reach its own policy by
By the end of this period, radio had become increasingly commercialized. Wheaties started its long relationship with baseball in 1933,[20] and in 1934, sponsorship rights to the World Series were first sold.[21][22]
Golden age
During the Golden Age of Radio, television sports broadcasting was in its infancy, and radio was still the main form of broadcasting baseball.[19] Many notable broadcasters, such as Mel Allen, Red Barber, Harry Caray, Russ Hodges, Ernie Harwell, and Vin Scully, started in this period.
However, broadcasting still did not look like the way it does today—recreations of games based on telegrams, the original means of broadcasting, were still widely used.
Modern period
However, as the Golden Era wound down, radio was gradually eclipsed by television.
Beginning in
In 1998, national radio broadcasts moved to ESPN Radio.[29] ESPN Radio currently broadcasts Sunday Night Baseball games during the regular season, as well as Saturday and occasional weekday games, along with the All-Star Game and all postseason contests.[30] Since 2021, TUDN Radio airs Spanish-language coverage of select regular season and postseason games, including the World Series.[31]
Since 2005, Major League Baseball has a partnership with
While all teams maintain a network of stations carrying their games in English, many teams also maintain a Spanish-language network as well. In addition, when the Washington Nationals were based in Montreal as the Montreal Expos, their games were broadcast in both English and French. Selected games of the Los Angeles Dodgers are broadcast in Korean by KMPC.[35]
See also
Notes
- ^ Detroit's WWJ also claimed to have broadcast the first baseball game, as well as the 1920 World Series.[36]
References
- ^ Walker and Hughes, James R. and Pat (1 May 2015). Crack of the Bat: A History of Baseball on the Radio. U of Nebraska Press. p. 2.
Crack of the Bat: A History of Baseball on the Radio.
- ^ KDKA Firsts
- ^ a b c d e f g On the Air
- ^ a b c TSB Heritage Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e f Radio and its Impact on the Sports World
- ^ First Radio Broadcast of a Baseball Game
- ^ a b c RW Special Report[usurped]
- ^ Frick winner to be announced[permanent dead link]
- ^ Book Review
- TIME, October 3, 1927
- ^ "Interest Keen as Cubs and Sox Open City Series Today," Chicago Tribune, October 1, 1924, p. 21.
- ^ Tune in on W-G-N." Chicago Tribune, April 14, 1925, p. 21.
- ^ "WBZ Broadcasts Baseball Game," Worcester (MA) Evening Gazette, April 14, 1925, p. 15.
- ^ "Baseball Broadcasts," Boston Globe, July 7, 1925, p. 17.
- ^ “Gus Rooney’s Larynx Gets a Workout.” Boston Traveler, April 14, 1926: 16.
- ^ "Big Hook-Up Planned for World Series." Birmingham (AL) News, September 29, 1927, p. 20.
- ^ "Radio Hook-Ups to Set Records." Charlotte (NC) News, September 29, 1927, p. 15.
- ^ A look back at the Q. Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Baseball, Radio, and Jackie Robinson Archived 2007-07-03 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ General Mills: History of Innovation Archived 2010-02-15 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ISBN 0-670-82141-1
- ^ Summer 1997: 75 Years of National Baseball Broadcasts Archived 2007-06-25 at archive.today
- ^ Radio Baseball That Never Was...
- ^ "Gordon McLendon". Archived from the original on 2008-01-27. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
- ^ The Liberty Broadcasting System
- TIME, June 9, 1952
- ^ Flashing Back...
- ^ "Voices of the World Series: Television and Radio". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
- ^ a b Major League Baseball CBS Radio History
- ^ MLB on ESPN Radio
- ^ "TUDN Adds National Spanish Language Rights To MLB". RadioInsight. 5 October 2021. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ^ JOSE CANSECO CLAIMS SAMMY SOSA AND MARK McGWIRE TOOK STEROIDS DURING 1998 HOME RUN CHASE ON XM SATELLITE RADIO'S MLB HOME PLATE CHANNEL; PETE ROSE TELLS XM HE SUSPECTS CANSECO MOTIVATED BY MONEY Archived 2007-10-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ MLB Home Plate FAQs Archived 2007-09-26 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Gameday Audio
- ^ "Radio Network". MLB.com.
- TIME, September 3, 1945