Dear Oakland Athletics and Associated Baseball Gods (OAABG),

Thank you for your acknowledging that East Bay fans and those Non-Resident A's Fans (NRAFs) occasionally cannot attend games live, and may enjoy taking in the occasional contest via radio. We recognize that certain other ballclubs, particularly those sporting orange and black uniforms, have had an incestuous relationship with their own radio station empire for several decades now, and in the meantime, your own approach to the audio dial has been confusing and scattered. We know that practically every season, we have grown accustomed to learning not just of a new roster of players, but which station will carry our green and gold. We understood that when you were part of KGOD, we understood that when you switched to an FM frequency, and we understand it now that you are on KTRB, which bills itself as XTRA Sports 860. 860 may not exactly be 680, but at least the numbers are the same, right?

So... yes. About why I am writing...

With the deepest amount of respect and kindness, I ask simply, are you confused? Or more directly, what the heck are you thinking by muddling up a "sports station" with five hours of political dreck from one of the most divisive characters possible? (You know... this guy. http://www.michaelsavage.com/)

If I listen to your A's broadcast at night, and it is the last thing I hear on the radio, odds are the next morning, when I start the car, I am going to hear the unique "take" from Mr. Savage, in which he specifically takes a viewpoint that runs contrary to practically all of the A's community, if you assume polls and voting records are accurate. For the record, even if this gentleman were to share my political views in totality, I do not believe that this show belongs on a channel dedicated to sports. It makes no sense to have Mr. Savage provided with five (FIVE!) high profile hours of your airtime on a channel which we turn to in the hopes of hearing sports.

KNBR may not be my favorite station, but they haven't given up even a single hour of their precious airtime to Mr. Limbaugh or Mr. Hannity or Mr. Beck or Mr. O'Reilly or Mr. Franken or Michael Moore. They are a sports station and they broadcast sports - or something resembling. So are you. You broadcast sports. ESPN doesn't run politics on any of its multitude of channels. Do you know why? Because they are a sports network.

So why are you so confused? Why do you want to insult your listeners and the community by poisoning the airwaves with anything other than the purity of sports? I recognize maybe it's about money and ratings, and all that... but what I am learning is that I cannot trust you with my radio dial, and I must turn on your channel when the games begin, and turn it off when the games end. The non-sports content is hurting the ratings of all your other shows, period. I don't even want to check and see who they are most days, by the chance I may bump into Mr. Savage or any of the nutty off-topic promotions for his show.

I won't muddy up this beautiful sports-related Web site with details around your show's content. I think you know what they are, and I also think you know that the vast majority of A's fans are opposed to the tone and content. But that's not the point. The point is that you are presenting one of the first real alternatives to the KNBR duopoly (680 + 1050) in the San Francisco Bay Area, and yet, you are killing it before it has a chance to grow. I love the A's, but I don't love this.

Please find another way to fill your airtime with something resembling sports. We would be very grateful.

Thank you from a life-long A's fan.