For baseball fans, there is only one certainty when it comes to locating the broadcast of a Mets or Yankees game this season, writes Bob Raissman in his latest New York Daily News column. “You can always find it on the radio.”
According to Raissman, baseball fans can count on 162 dates to hear Mets games on WCBS-AM and Yankees games on WFAN AM/FM. Listening to baseball on the radio is easy and free. By contrast, watching on television has become pricy and complicated.
As Major League baseball has found new markets for TV rights, it has also found “new ways to gouge fans,” writes Raissman. Due to MLB deals with multiple streaming services, checking your local baseball TV listings “is now akin to reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace,” Raissman says. “On any given night or day, Yankees or Mets games could air on YES, SNY, Fox (Ch.5), WPIX-TV (Ch. 11), FS1, ESPN, TBS, MLBN, Amazon, AppleTV+, Peacock, YES app, SNY app. So, baseball fans, already paying through the nose for cable subscriptions, are also being asked to pay more monthly to subscribe to the streaming services. Then, they have to deal with the technology it takes to access those services and pray that it all works.”
Radio offers baseball fans a simpler, more affordable option.
“Radio games are easy to find and free,” writes Raissman. “You can even listen without a password, night or day. Guess what? It’s always on the same stations. It’s anxiety — and glitch — free. Most of the time, baseball on the radio is a beautiful thing.”
Bob Leonard, SMI’s Director of Client Development, agrees, “Nothing like listening to your local sports station all summer while at the beach or in the yard.”
Advertisers, do you want to catch baseball fans listening to radio this summer? To hear your brand’s message on radio or podcasts, contact SMI today.