I watch maybe 10 complete games on TV the entire year. The rest, for me, is on radio. I love baseball on radio.

I watch maybe 10 complete games on TV the entire year. The rest, for me, is on radio. I love baseball on radio.

Ditto. With 3 infants and a preschooler in the house it's nearly impossible for me to watch a complete game. Radio is my most important connection to the Cubs.

I wonder if it's an age thing, and dependent a lot on how your 'dad' (or whomever was your baseball mentor) took in the games. I know a guy, a big sports fan, who doesn't listen to any sports via radio because he's that little bit younger than me. Do we know any 25 year-olds getting their baseball largely on the radio? And liking it that way?

Do we know any 25 year-olds getting their baseball largely on the radio? And liking it that way?
I'm pretty sure my 22 yo son prefers baseball on the tube, but living down in VA, sometimes he'll drive around to catch the Phillies games on his car radio. 1210 AM is one of the old clear-channel stations and can be heard (so they claim) in parts of 38 states and Canada. I occasionally could catch a very static-y Phils broadcast when we lived in Kansas.

A lot of this is an AM vs. FM thing as much as it is radio vs. television.

The arguable heyday of baseball on radio was from the '40s through the '80s because 1) AM was either predominant or coexisting with FM; and 2) the rising popularity of night baseball enabled one to hear more games, more announcers from outlying places. Indeed, many 50,000-waters became synonymous with the teams they carried -- WJR with the Tigers, KDKA the Pirates, WLW the Reds, WGN the Cubs (although due to Wrigley's lack of lights until 1988, its nighttime effect was limited), KMOX the Cardinals, WCAU (then the call letters of 1210 AM) the Phillies. Some teams also built large networks as well. I would guess that from the '60s through the '80s, I could hear up to a dozen MLB teams on the radio (unless I was living in an area like metropolitan New York, where its multitude of 50,000-watters made it difficult to pick up many out-of-town stations).

But the rise of FM led many teams to change their philosophy about flagships. It started out in football, which has never really been as reliant on radio, but you began to see changes in baseball too. Atlanta left WSB for an FM, Pittsburgh similarly abandoned KDKA; Baltimore left WBAL for an FM. Some franchises like St. Louis bought their own stations (goodbye KMOX).

How many teams still broadcast on 50,000-watters? Let's see, there's both New York teams, both Chicago teams, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Washington (whose 1500 AM has a directional signal) and Boston (through WTIC in Hartford). I know the Twins left WCCO, but I'm not sure if it was for another 50,000-watter, and I'm not certain whether the Rockies are still on KOA.

Oh, and to you people in the Pacific Time Zone, I'm not slighting you, but DXing baseball tends to be largely east of the continental divide. I know San Francisco's KNBR is a 50,000-watter -- I recall picking it up on my car radio one night after a Padres game 20 years ago -- but I'm not sure what other West Coast teams have similarly booming flagships.

Of course, with a computer and subscription today you can pick up Vin Scully or Jon Miller or Marty Brenneman or Charlie Slowes from just about anywhere.

Do we know any 25 year-olds getting their baseball largely on the radio? And liking it that way?

I'm 27 and I love it. It's great to drive home from a minor league game and pop on a west coast game. And no arcane blackout rules!

I'm not certain whether the Rockies are still on KOA.

They are.

I grew up on radio baseball, augmented by a job at a local AM Cardinals affiliate when I was in high school. Now, living in Chicago, I still prefer radio broadcasts; MLB.com's audio feeds have been one of the joys of my life for a decade now. Even the Cubs I tend to listen to on the radio rather than watch, simply because I can cook, clean, jog, etc. while listening. I can imagine my life without most of its pleasures, but I really don't know that I could picture it without baseball on the radio.

R.I.P., Jack Buck. Keep it coming, Mike Shannon.

El Hijo del Ron Santo (Alan Keiper) Posted: June 28, 2009 at 03:07 PM (#3235860)

Do we know any 25 year-olds getting their baseball largely on the radio? And liking it that way?


I'm 27 and I love it.

- i'm 29 and i absolutely refuse to listen to the game on the radio because milo hamilton is senile and the 2 clowns on with him are lower than replacement announcers. they don't know a DAMM thing about baseball and would rather talk about anything than the SCORE, the inning, stuff like who is pitching, who is hitting, THE COUNT, i mean, meaningless pointless stats like that. MUCH better to talk about some opposing player's grandfather's hardware store or something. i just can't listen to the morons because they BAD for my blood pressure and they put me in a bad BAD mood. and my husband and kidz and Dogsss and friends they don't deserve that

i used to enjoy the astros broadcasts back when alan ashby was there.

i guess milo had him thrown out because listeners liked him a LOT more. and milo will be there until he dies. and if drayton doesn't hire someone actually decent, i STILL won't listen

besides, the tv broadcasters, bill brown and jim deshaes are AWESOME.

Baseball on the radio is only good because the vast majority of TV people are annoying. Unless it's Len Kasper and Bob Brenly on, I turn on the radio for Cubs games.