IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT, KNBR and the Giants don't extend their broadcast radio marriage --it's been a 42-year association--I'VE LEARNED, 95,7 FM's "The Game" is actively pursuing the Bay Area's #1 MLB team and its legacy status here and beyond.
That's the headline, no doubt, but as something as complex as this is, there's a boatload of complications. And all affect all the parties involved which in and of itself is, yes, complicated, that's a good term.
THIS MUCH IS CERTAIN: the Giants current radio deal expires after next season, 2021 to be exact. Normally, and these are abnormal times, a deal is negotiated now because both parties want and expect an extension to be consummated ; the Giants and KNBR are like blood brothers; they both need each other, right? Well, not so much now.
KNBR has built a wildly popular, money-making operation around its talk show hosts; more like NFL and NFL is king mandate which the talkers have pretty much stuck too; notice how the Giants have been all but buried in the various KNBR hosts' platforms? Yes, it's football season, but the Giants enjoy a vast, communications reservoir with their radio partner, yes, even in the winter when hot-stove league conversation makes its presence. The Giants have been losing the past few years but even so, the whole KNBR relationship and Larry Baer PR machine would be non-stop bravado --that's even when the team sucks and they've been sucking.
Which is where all the various complications and entanglements begin. KNBR is more a 49ers-centric stations now; the Warriors are second and the Giants are now, third. Hard to believe but true. KNBR pretty much has been held radio hostage when it comes to Giants and Larry Baer; not now.
The Cumulus money machine has discovered that sports-talk radio is quite lucrative even if overall radio ratings are down. But overall ratings don't pay the bills; its; the all-important men/A-25/54 that advertisers buy time and it is there where KNBR has transformed a relative benign programming concept into a massive dollars and sense empire.
Quite simply, the business model of emphasizing their talk machine around pro football and personality-driven, sports radio is MAKING KNBR globs of dough. The Giants? Who are they? Yeah, don't all parties know it, including Larry Baer.
Enter 95.7 The Game. Or is there a bit of leverage taking place? Well, the Giants really don't want their games on FM, for one, and even if they were to be numero uno, it's not the path they seek either real or imagined. They enjoy KNBR and its 50K-watt blowtorch and the talk shows that build around them.
But lately, that's not so profitable. KNBR is gung-ho NFL and The Game continues to flail way down the depth chart. Need proof?
OK. Yeah, beauty contest numbers the ad folks aren't driven too but The Game is a mess.
They could use a jolt. And the Giants might be tempted to jump ship even though they really don't eant to go there, not now, not in the past but in today's Covid-19 entangled reality check on sports, the Giants may not have a choice. They understand KNBR's position (and even if they didn't, they are beginning to discover it now).
A deal that should have been done months ago is on the back burner. Cumulus and KNBR don't know what to do. Which is why talks aren't really in any serious status. Yet. Again, the 2021 window is slowly disappearing. But nobody has taken the initiative; not the Giants; not KNBR. What gives?
Entercom's The Game has all the money in the world to pay for Giants and their six-month PR volley. But again, the Giants don't really want to go there. KNBR/Cumulus knows that. And even if the Cumulus clouds were to lose the Giants, KNBR could continue to allow its talk personalities more time to discuss the 49ers and NBA, although its really Niners/NFL All that.
The Game would love the Giants. And the Giants love the possibilities. But in the end, they desperately want to remain at Knibber. Then again, KNBR has control of the proceedings and are in no hurry to fight back The Game's genuine interest. Remember, there's still a year left on the current deal but given the '21/pandemic, "who-the-hell-knows-what's going-on: world, all sorts of things could happen and put the nail in the coffin. Hell, there might not even be a baseball season but that's a whole different topic.
Stay tuned.
Also...knbr is part of giants ownersi...5 pct I recall...more complicated for Hammer
ReplyDeleteThats true but if the $$$ is right Cunulus could sell that 5% stake and pay off their debt too and that would make the Giants broadcasts more leverage in contract extension talks with KNBR or jump ship to another...say like KGO and Cumulus would love to sell it off...
DeleteFor someone who used to go to 30+ games a year back in the eighties I just cant deal with baseball anymore. Its all swing for the fences or strikeout. I'll take base hits, double plays, and steals any day over todays slow terrible game. So for me, KNBR would gain a listener because when the Giants are on or sleepy Marty Laurie is droning on about a game in 1952 I turn them off.
ReplyDeleteWhen Marty L comes on, it's like a warm bath. Right to sleep. The best naps. I really sleep well to Marty on a Saturday afternoon.
DeleteI, too, went to that many games back in the '80s and early '90s. And I agree with your assessment, Marc.
DeleteThe direction that MLB is taking, with regard to rule changes, is compounding the problem. A friend of mine said that today's game has become a "baseball variant." I can only imagine what some of the old crafty managers, from back in the day, would have thought/are thinking about the current nature of the game.
I think the majority of viewers have left because MLB has shifted from Major League Baseball to Mostly Latino Ballplayers. People have fewer and fewer players they can connect with. Like it or not, it's common in their culture to show other players up, showboat, etc. and that turns off alot of viewers. While huge in Latin America, the vast majority here don't care for that bs.
DeleteIs Marty still alive? What a dinosaur
DeleteIsn't the broadcast ownership coming from KTVU being brought in as a minority partner when Lurie sold the club, with their interest being diluted over time by the Giants investment in Sportschannel Bay Area which morphed over time through as a Fox RSN, eventually becoming NBCSN?
ReplyDeleteI was unaware of the KNBR investment, but it would have made sense a while back.
Is there a model of a team owning a radio station? I still think KGO is the untapped jewel with as many night games as baseball has and the multi-state reach of KGO.
I'm afraid john rothmann would pull out whatever little hair he had left if his time was preempted by baseball games..
DeleteRich, you keep referring to Baer like he is still calling all the shots. He isn't.
ReplyDeleteKNBR is now on FM too.
ReplyDelete95.7 doesn't have a clear signal 20 miles from SF at night. Be careful in what you wish for,
ReplyDeleteI've lost interest since the league turned predominantly latino.
ReplyDeleteHahahahahahahaha! That's not a racist statement, now is it?
DeleteKSFO is on FM, too!!
ReplyDeleteMaybe The Game may simulcast on an AM Frquency, that could make a move more enticing.
95.7 has a terrible signal, the Giants market is north to Oregon/So. Washington, south down the Central Valley, and east through northern and central Nevada. You need a blowtorch like KNBR. The best alternative for them would be powerful KGO.
ReplyDeleteSports is dead, didn't you notice? Kneel and we peel, flash! because of kaperdink any sports that support this idiot and anti America will lose fans and viewers; check the stats, blm? why would anyone support this marxist group? don't forget the newer generations do give a crab's ass about sports!
ReplyDeleteThat's right.
DeleteAs a mellinial, I don't care about sports. Plus its expensive.
For me, its online video games.
Screw sports.
Marty, there are a lot of bases to consider. But if I had to name my favorite, it would be second base. Now I would like to talk for 17 minutes about why that is.
ReplyDeleteThe Game has a signal as bad as you can be and still be called a radio station. When you cannot get games in Pleasanton at night - that's a problem.
ReplyDelete