FanPost

What does Hank Hill, Chris Townsend and A's baseball have in common?


Every season, Las Vegas Odds-Makers post an under-over on the number of radio stations the A's will use to broadcast in Northern California. When I used to live in the Chico area, I kept the radio schedule taped to my sun visor so I could tune in the game as I traveled around the area.

 

Lame.

 

But I was so happy when the A's finally got on a station with some juice....KTRB.

 

Um, yeah.

Your 2011 Oakland A's look like they are poised to make some noise this season, and I don't want to miss a game. There are a myriad of ways to watch/listen to a game these days, but I still prefer the good ol' family radio as I am driving down the road, working in the stores or putting around the house. But we all know that something terrible happened this off-season: KTRB went bankrupt. The bank took it back from the owners and has been letting it broadcast during the day. Know why? Because the transmitter, located in the hills of Livermore, runs on propane. And someone would have to drive up there and fill the propane tank to keep the show going at night.

I'm not making this shit up.

I wonder if the Gnats have this problem? I wonder if the 50k watt flamethrower that is KNBR, home of the Gnats and some of the biggest Gnat ass-kissers in the world have to drive up a hill and put propane in the tank to keep the ol' radio station going. Hank Hill would be proud to be an A's fan.

While we all wonder where we will be playing our games in the next 4-5 years, personally, I would like to have a real radio station where I can tune in to hear my boys play, or hear Townsend talk to Emperor about chopping down the light standards. Are we so unappealing that no real station would have us?

Perhaps we can set up a system, where we can go up and fill the tank at night in exchange for really good tickets to the games, or drinks with Kara and Stomper? Honestly, I would really like to just be able to hear the game from Oakland when I am at Nico's house in Berkeley, which is about 10 miles? Must be that huge mountain range that stands in between the two cities.

What is the point of this post? Sorry, I did not read in the TOS that posts needed a point. This is more of a rambling diatribe. Honestly though, 37 years ago, if you told me that my team played in front of 12k a night in a football stadium with tarps on half the seats, with beer that is both large and small at the same time, with no FanFest, and a radio station the runs on charcoal briquettes, I don't think it would make that much of a difference. I would still love my A's.

Sometimes, you just have to vent to those who can commiserate.

I hear through the grapevine that the A's are probably going to spring for the propane. I guess that is why we did not get Beltran. That extra money it would have taken to sign him had to go to the propane fund.

 

ps. I am making french toast for dinner.