Ken Korach, I'm Back, Baby!

by Blez on Dec 27, 2007 10:28 AM PST in News Comment 33 comments

I just wanted to say that I will be able to hear Ken Korach again this year. For Christmas, my wife got me an XM-playing radio. I was pretty despondent when I moved to Southern California because the audio quality through my computer has always been really poor through MLB.com. Sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't.

But now I will be able to have XM in my car and won't be away from Korach and company. There is something inherently beautiful about baseball on the radio. I'm not really sure why that is, but I remember there were so many times during spring training that I would pop on my headset and listen to the A's while doing yardwork. It was one of the only things that made yardwork actually a little fun.

Any way, so I'm wondering if you wound up getting anything that will improve your A's experience this year? I'm excited about my first Ken Korach radio broadcast over XM.

Hope everyone had a great holiday and that Santa was good to you.

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I got a knit hat.

Not A's-specific, but it's green. Not A's-green, but green enough. And if I can stand to have it on my head, it could definitely improve my A's experience on April-May nights.

"It is almost impossible to exaggerate the complete unimportance of almost everything."

by Poppy on Dec 27, 2007 10:24 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Lol...

Wondeful gift. I love it, seems exotic, you see from Asiatic southeast countries.

by pollutighb889 on Dec 27, 2007 10:45 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I got a couple A's shirts

From my Secret Santa in my fake online baseball league

One long sleeve, one short.

Oh, and Blez? SoCal? For shame.

by mikev on Dec 27, 2007 10:31 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Sorry to half-burst your bubble

But on XM (unless something has changed since last year), you'll only get the A's broadcast team during home games.

If you want to hear Korach more than 81 times a year, you're stuck with the mlb.com package ... which kind of precludes the listening-while-driving thing, but such are the vagaries of living away from the Bay Area, I suppose.

by 74mk on Dec 27, 2007 10:33 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Thats what I thought

Whenever I've had rental cars with XM, you only got the A's feed half the time.

by Zonis on Dec 27, 2007 10:38 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm hoping that

if the XM-Sirius merger is completed (scheduled for 1st quarter of 2008 but still pending FCC and DOJ approval) the expanded channel capacity will allow them to carry both the home and away broadcasts of all games, at some future time if not immediately.

Regardless, I love being able to stay in contact with the A's when I'm traveling during the summer. I've had XM since they starting carrying baseball in 2005 and the sports plus the commercial-free music channels are definitely worth the money.

by Soaker on Dec 27, 2007 12:32 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

XM is great for A's radio...

and the great thing is, it starts during Spring Training.

When I drive to Phoenix, I can listen to a baseball game of my choosing, on XM radio. And, of course, when the season starts, I'm never far away from Korach/Cotroneo/Fosse.

T.V. announcing for the A's sucks. Sorry, Ray.

by catattack on Dec 27, 2007 10:38 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Someone should do a count sometime

of how many sentences Glen Kuiper starts with the word "So" in a game.

cardinalprecepts.blogspot.com

by PaulThomas on Dec 27, 2007 10:53 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Part of me died

when Greg Papa was fired.

And Fosse's going senile.

by BWH on Dec 27, 2007 12:13 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

So, when Greg, I mean, Roy Fosse

went senile, and the big shock came into effect then you got over it, and a part of you died, how did you feel?

by Zonis on Dec 27, 2007 2:08 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Felt good.

Just wanted to get a W for the team, Glen.

by BWH on Dec 27, 2007 4:05 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

"But exactly how good

did it feel? And how happy are you that it felt good?" - Ray

I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal

by Nico on Dec 27, 2007 7:13 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Classic dude

That is totally Fosse........

by mrod on Dec 27, 2007 7:13 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

radio

Baseball and radio are truly a great match. Maybe it's because so much hinges on the ball moving rather than on players moving. In football, there are complex blocking schemes, the motions of 22 guys to describe at once independent of the ball. In basketball, it's the positioning of players and jostling for position that makes it all happen, but in baseball, a sport with much less contact, everything revolves around the ball. Sure, you have positioning of the fielders, but in most cases that can be conveyed with a few carefully chosen words (e.g. "double play depth" or "playing the lines") and the rest is mostly a single narrative centering on what's happening with the ball.

For whatever reason, it just really does WORK! Congrats on your great present Blez, and enjoy- as much as you can with this team this year! :P

by BerkeleyDawg on Dec 27, 2007 11:54 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I hope that XM-Serius deal

goes through. Where I live you can get Serius but you can't get XM very well. So when the peanut butter and chocolate merge happens, I can get serious about sat radio. Till then it is the mlb audio for any A's radio.

count-down to ST.

by ak_A on Dec 27, 2007 4:02 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Well, you can say that...

"If Sirius and XM merge, I'll be able to get XM!", but you can also look at it as "If Sirius and XM merge, I won't be able to get either."

You assume that them merging will take the best of both companies, but in my experience, it usually ends up being the worst of both worlds.

by Zonis on Dec 27, 2007 4:16 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I pray it goes through....

I got Sirius because it has Stern and I have MLB.com to hear all the out of area games, but would love to have the best of both these worlds.

Gotta say - totally unsolicited - I love satellite radio!! With the exception of the A's broadcasts and to get the traffic, I have rarely listened to terrestrial radio over the last two years. Great music, hysterical shows. It's a blast.

by WannaBeGM on Dec 27, 2007 4:35 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm sure the MLB broadcast will be worth it

but XM blows.

by ChrisCEIT on Dec 27, 2007 5:33 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

With xm they don't do each broadcast

they do each game. For example if you are listening to an A's rangers game you might get the Rangers broadcast team instead of the A's brodacast team.

Go A's!!!! Mike Scioscia is a fat tub of lard

by 3Chavy3 on Dec 27, 2007 5:54 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

No "might" about which broadcast you get

They stream the home-team broadcast. The only time this isn't the case is during the LCS and WS (where they have both home and away feeds) and the random game that's also being broadcasted by ESPN Radio (meaning you'd get home team and ESPN announcers to flip between).

Why they don't allow both feeds on a slow day - like the days where there are only 2 games being played, and at completely different time slots - is beyond me, however.

by Kaiser99 on Dec 27, 2007 10:11 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

You're gonna love it man!

I've always loved listening to baseball on the radio, and XM made it better by giving me every game! My dad and I try to listen to as many games a week as we can, just me and him on the porch with the radio. Its really nice.
I'm normally on the road at the start of the games (10pm, my time) because of my job, so its fantastic to have to broadcast team keeping me awake on the ride. You'll learn fast who has good broadcasters and who has REALLY bad ones.

If you want results, press the red button. The rest are useless.

by Katie on Dec 27, 2007 7:08 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Congrats on the great X-mas gift!

That's awesome, Blez!!!!

One of the gifts I received was from my fiancee'. It was a 14' x 10' frame of my poem of Bill King w/ a stencil of him behind the microphone (ala "Holy Toledo" t-shirt).

http://www.athleticsnation.com/story...

Pretty sweet and really touched my heart. Just a truly thoughtful gift . I'd like to make a personal copy for the boys in the booth so they can have one, too.

Merry Christmas everyone! MRod

by mrod on Dec 27, 2007 7:08 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Terrible X-Mas:

NO PONY for the third year in a row. Grrrr... :-(

I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal

by Nico on Dec 27, 2007 7:13 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

they know what you do with them.

count-down to ST.

by ak_A on Dec 28, 2007 11:16 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Fair 'nuff

I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal

by Nico on Dec 28, 2007 8:48 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Brilliant gift

For our first Christmas together, my brand-new fiance gave me season tickets (the 5-game plan) for the two of us. Having found someone who really enjoys going to games with me (even if she is a White Sox fan first, A's fan second), and having her give me tickets put a big smile on my face.

by el generico on Dec 27, 2007 7:49 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

very nice indeed

Happy New Year!!!!!!

by mrod on Dec 27, 2007 8:02 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Hurry up and marry this one!

"If he raced his pregnant wife, he'd finish 3rd." -Lasorda on Mike Scioscia

by ohtobe21likehuston on Dec 27, 2007 9:42 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Speaking of Radio Stations

check out this link about KNBR
$29 million in Revenues last year

http://www.bayarearadio.org/blog/200...

It kills me that the A's don't buy an excellent radio station and slowly build up East Bay Sport Content, I think it would be profitable and enhance the value of the franchise.

by connie mack on Dec 27, 2007 9:05 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I love the XM and am glad you are on board.

It's not perfect but technology today still amazes me. Who could have dreamed that every one of your team's broadcasts would ever be on radio? My poor parents used to sit in front of a big ass radio and act like it was a television. Why were they watching the speakers?

Nothing better than the early East coast games being on radio on your way home from work. You'll enjoy it very much Blez. I still use my mlbradio whenever I'm on a PC but I like to have all of my bases covered.

"If he raced his pregnant wife, he'd finish 3rd." -Lasorda on Mike Scioscia

by ohtobe21likehuston on Dec 27, 2007 9:41 PM PST reply actions 0 recs