[HCDX] Tigers, Red Wings move to WXYT

["Mike Brooker" <aum108@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

After decades on WJR-760, the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings are moving to
WXYT-1270.  WXYT will begin airing Red Wings hockey immediately, and will
become the Tigers new flagship for the 2001 baseball season.


>From the Detroit News http://www.detnews.com/2000/sports/0009/21/-123417.htm

Tigers, Red Wings to move broadcasts to WXYT


By Tim Kiska and Lynn Henning / The Detroit News

    Detroit's sports-radio landscape shifted dramatically Thursday when the
Detroit Tigers and Red Wings informed WJR-AM (760) that the teams will be
moving to WXYT (1270) in a six-year deal worth up to $50 million.
   The announcement was to be made formally at a news conference today. But
Steve Stewart, operations chief for WJR, said Thursday that the station had
been told it had lost the two teams' play-by-play rights.
Announcers for the two teams are expected to shift to WXYT.
   WJR had been the flagship station for the Tigers since 1961, and for Red
Wings games since the early '70s, but it could not match the money or
promotional promise WXYT's owner, CBS/Infinity Broadcasting, offered in its
package.
   WXYT will begin airing Wings games as early as next week and will assume
Tigers broadcasts next season. The station already is the originating
station for Detroit Lions broadcasts.
   In opting for WXYT as a flagship station, the Tigers and Red Wings must
at least temporarily live with WXYT's weak (5,000-watt) signal, which
requires a string of affiliate stations to reach a statewide audience. WXYT
is expected to petition the Federal Communications Commission for a boost to
50,000 watts, matching WJR's signal.
   WXYT also is expected to turn to an all-sports format that would pit it
against all-sports WDFN-AM (1130).
   The Tigers-Red Wings switch from WJR to WXYT raises numerous questions.
For example:
   Q: How will the Tigers-Wings deal affect listeners?
   A: Fans will have to change a decades-long habit of punching 760 when
they're looking for Detroit Tigers and Wings games. Also, listeners in
outstate Michigan -- the ones who got WJR's powerful, 50,000- watt signal at
night -- may have to scramble to get games if their local stations do not
sign on with WXYT's network.
   Q: What happens to the Tigers and Wings announcers?
   A: Although nobody has said anything officially, the announcers will
likely stay the same. Ernie Harwell and Ken Kal work for the Tigers and
Wings, respectively, not WJR.
   Q: Why was the switch made?
   A: It's all about money and marketing. Infinity Broadcasting, part of the
massive Viacom communications conglomerate, made a pitch that would market
the Tigers throughout Infinity's six Detroit radio stations and the two
television stations owned by the CBS Stations Group. (A majority of Infinity
is owned by Viacom, the CBS Stations Group is entirely owned by Viacom.) The
deal is said to be worth anywhere between $40 million and $50 million for
Mike Ilitch's organization, which owns the Wings and the Tigers.
   Q: What happens to WJR-AM?
   A: The station will be forced to create a new slate of night-time
programing. The station's daytime programing will remain unchanged, at least
for the time being.
   Q: And what happens to WXYT-AM?
   A: The talk station will likely go all-sports, putting it in competition
with all-sports WDFN-AM (1130). Officials at WDFN say they aren't worried
because their station takes a different look at sports -- a mostly
irreverent look. They say they wouldn't be able to poke fun at the teams if
they were in business with them. The future of nationally syndicated talk
host Rush Limbaugh at WXYT is also in question. But even if WXYT chooses to
let Limbaugh go, he will no doubt quickly find a new radio home in Metro
Detroit.

73
********************************************************************
Mike Brooker
99 Wychcrest Ave.,
Toronto, ON  M6G 3X8
CANADA
(416) 536-7406
********************************************************************



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