A's finally have a radio home

KTRB, 860 AM will broadcast all 162 Regular Season games and 17 Spring Training games on their 50,000 watt tower. Looks like this Modesto-based station wants to make a splash in the Bay Area, and what better way to do this than the Oakland A's. I'm glad to be able to catch a game on AM radio, especially one that can be heard beyond Northern California. 50,000 watts means its a clear channel station and that on a clear summer night you'll be able to hear your A's in Seattle or San Diego possibly.

10 months ago eshock 13 comments 0 recs |

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No mention of Marty Lurie's show.

This is good news. No more hunting around the dial while driving out to Stockton or Modesto.

Root for the Giants? Not even if they're playing al-Qaeda!

by Monday Fan on Jan 5, 2009 12:54 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

This is good news...

and so needed !

by IM4Oakgal on Jan 6, 2009 12:23 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Awesome

Unfortunately, I live in Modesto, so I’m not sure if the changes will apply out here. I guess I’ll have to find out. I love listening to Ken Korach on the radio. He’s my favorite broadcaster.

The Ultimate Opportunist

by Rated-R Superstar on Jan 6, 2009 3:44 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

KTRB Left Modesto Almost Two Years Ago

My first choice to cover the A’s was KCBS-AM 740, which has both sportscaster Steve Bitker, who has worked minor league baseball and has filled in on A’s broadcasts, and an outstanding coverage area. During my last trip to San Diego, I was able to hear KCBS from northern San Diego County (Ramona) an hour or two before sunset!

Unfortunately, I learned several months ago that the ratings formulas would make it impossible for KCBS to turn a profit on the A’s… they’d lose more in advertising dollars from changing their simulcast with FM 106.9 from full-time to part-time than they’d be able to gain from rights fees and advertising on A’s games.

Since KCBS was not in a position to put in a bid, I expected that the A’s would end up on KTRB instead, and they have.

One final point… KTRB packed up its bags and moved both its studios and transmitter from Modesto to the Bay Area on February 1, 2007. They don’t have any remaining ties to Modesto.

by muscatel on Jan 6, 2009 7:24 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

KCBS is addicted to its format

I would’ve loved to hear the A’s were going to KCBS, but we should remember that this is the station that gave up broadcasting the 49ers years ago in order to be a full-time news station (of course, if the format pays the bills, then more power to them).

"However, at Elias, I think they keep track of the amount of sunflower seeds spit in a dugout each night." - Brad Ziegler, 8/7/08

by doctorK on Jan 6, 2009 9:26 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Simulcast Ratings

I wanted to add a little more detail to my previous post.

When two stations in the same market carry the same broadcasts full time, they can add the two stations’ ratings together to determine their place in the market pecking order, which drives how much they can charge… the higher the place, the higher their rates… and adding two lower ratings does not yield the same amount of money as one higher rating… fairly or not.

If one station in a simulcast has strong ratings and the other has weak ratings, running alternate programming on the station with weak ratings probably will bring in more money than a full-time simulcast… and that’s what CBS did when they broke the KFRC-FM 99.7 and AM 610 simulcast to carry the A’s on AM 610. Unfortunately, selling the station with weak ratings brings in even more money… and that’s what CBS ultimately did.

Neither of the current KCBS stations… AM 740 and FM 106.9… have weak ratings and the A’s would want to be on AM 740, which (at least for now) has stronger ratings. The A’s would have to be the Giants… or the Yankees… to be able to make up for that, and they’re not.

by muscatel on Jan 7, 2009 1:22 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

This should be a good change for bay area listeners

I got a nice strong signal on KTRB driving home from Santa Clara to Sunnyvale this evening. Last season, the AM station was only audible during the daytime, and while I usually could hear KFRC-FM, it wasn’t uncommon to hear static there as well.

"However, at Elias, I think they keep track of the amount of sunflower seeds spit in a dugout each night." - Brad Ziegler, 8/7/08

by doctorK on Jan 6, 2009 9:24 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Awesome..

The A’s need a big f**k-off radio station to compete with the Giants. The lack of one has historically hurt the team.

by Bitter Fan on Jan 6, 2009 11:25 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I needed this a few years ago when I was in Santa Barbara

Last season, I loved having them on FM, but I’ll take the trade off for a bigger sphere of influence.

by A'sian on Jan 9, 2009 3:35 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Not Clear Channel station

KTRB is not a clear channel station. While they do braodcast at 50K watts the signal is directional and doesn’t go all that far. It does cover most of the bay area which is definitely an improvement over the previous stations the A’s have had. See http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?sr=Y&call=KTRB for more information.

KNBR is a Class A 50K watt clear channel station. The KNBR coverage map is at http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KNBR&service=AM&status=L&hours=U And is much larger than the KRTB coverage map.

by skwid on Jan 11, 2009 8:10 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Interesting, I thought 860 and 50k watts meant clear channel

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/amclasses.html shows that although 860 is a clear channel freq. it does not have a class a station broadcasting. Interesting, I wonder if KTRB wants to upgrade their license. Is it worth it?

"We're Menudo," -BB

by eshock on Jan 17, 2009 8:18 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Static in Richmond

KTRB is very static-y here in Richmond. As such, this isn’t a positive move. An FM complement, if possible, would be welcome.

Tony

by tedwar on Jan 12, 2009 10:57 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

No more FM?

Does this mean we no longer get to enjoy Korach in FM? Because that was some good listening. Too bad on that one front. Would of been nice if they had kept both the FM and AM format.

by jasonlbe on Jan 14, 2009 3:38 PM PST reply actions 0 recs