It’s finally official. The New York Mets have signed an agreement with Clear Channel Media
, making AM station 710 WOR the new radio home of the Mets. This officially means that after over a quarter century, the Mets will no longer air games on WFAN.
Is this a big deal or not a big deal? I think the answer is both:
Why It Matters
Of course it matters. According to the Daily News, The Yankees had a chance several times over the years to move to WFAN – George Steinbrenner’s relationship with Fred Wilpon was the only thing stopping the Yankees from booting the Mets. Mets fans feel a sense of pride about being at 660, and Yankees fans feel envy, even though we agree on how awful the station is most of the time. WFAN is the top sports radio station in the country, and being there gives credibility to the franchise even when there is no other reason for the Mets to have credibility. Even in seasons when the Mets lose 100 games, 162 of Mets games are covered. The Mets can never be forgotten when four hours out of 24 of the schedule is dedicated to the Mets.
Much has been made of the report that WFAN was losing money on the Mets deal. Well guess what, Mets radio ratings are higher than Yankees ratings, and WFAN is paying more for the rights to Yankees games than they were for Mets games. So, WFAN will lose even more money on the Yankees deal than they were on the Mets. Why would they do such a thing? Part of the reason is that this point is irrelevant. It is the same reason networks lose money to carry NFL games. NFL games draw enormous ratings, and networks overpay for the right to carry these games, because the games cause a halo over the rest of the schedule, and provide an opportunity to promote the rest of the schedule. Even 60 Minutes owes a large part of their ratings to the lead in from Sunday football games. So WFAN and WOR sign these baseball deals for the same reason. The other part of it is, to some extent, an act of desperation on WFAN’s part. WFAN, like all radio, has been losing listeners year after year. Even though WFAN is benefitted greatly over the long term by having them Mets – yes, if you have long enough memory you realize the Mets actually gave credibility to the experimental format – now WFAN is logically betting that over the next few years the Yankees will have more postseason activity than the Mets, and will infuse some excitement (and advertisers) to the station. And WFAN has had ample opportunity to convert Mets advertisers into WFAN advertisers, now they will attempt to do the same with companies like W.B. Mason.
Why It Doesn’t Matter
But really, Mets fans, it doesn’t matter that our games will now be 50 Amplitude Modulated frequencies up the dial to 710. I’ve already programmed 710 into the auto program in my car, and I suspect of you are reading this blog you have as well. You have also already realized that 710 comes in just fine (it broadcasts at 50,000 watts, same as WFAN). And other than the 4 hours a day the Mets are actually on, if you used to listen to WFAN a lot, you still will, and if you didn’t, you still won’t.
One benefit to the move is that we no longer have to worry about a 100% migration to the FM dial. WFAN is simulcasting on AM and FM, for now, but many believe it is only a matter of time before they exclusively move to FM and cede the AM frequency to a national sports station. For those of us on the outer fringes of 101.9’s coverage, this would have been bad news. My cousin grew up in Western Pennsylvania and was able to listen to the broadcasts, and grew up a Mets fan. No FM station can travel that far, and so the Pirates would have no further worries about the competition.
Longer term, it really won’t matter. As I said, radio listenership is on the decline. People increasingly are listening to satellite radio, or podcasts, or streaming music on their ipods or smartphones. This year more than one new outlet reported that auto manufacturers are considering phasing out AM/FM radios in new cars altogether. According to one source, AM and FM are being eliminated from the dash of two car companies within two years and will be eliminated from the dash of all cars within five years. Young people simply just don’t listen to AM/FM. The growing reality is that AM/FM radio doesn’t work as well as it used to in the car. It’s not your imagination – for reasons including less metal and more electronics in the car – audio quality has suffered.
And the Wilpons give us plenty of reasons to mock them, but this new deal with Clear Channel may actually be pretty good for the franchise. You and I may not like Z100 or KTU very much, but promoting the Mets on these stations is not the worst idea in the world. The best part about it is that these stations won’t have to give equal time to the Yankees. Think about it, even in the Mets best years, WFAN gave equal or greater air time to the American League baseball team. I don’t think WOR is going to be having Yankees “Box Office Blitzes” anytime soon.
And hey, if you need one reason to get excited about the move to WOR, it is for the potential retirement of Mets game jingle. The 80’s WFAN version of Meet The Mets is getting tired. I was hoping that when Citi Field opened, they would a record a new song to replace the outdated “hot dogs green grass all out at Shea,” but instead the intro was abruptly cut off after “…greet the Mets”. Let’s all hope for some production value from the partners who bring you the Z-Morning Zoo.
Forgive me if I missed this in your post, Mike, but there’s one thing I think that was missed.
Let’s use a common advertiser. Peerless Boilers.
Peerless sponsored the radio booth.
The Yankees, just because they’re the Yankees, can bill much higher than the Mets can for that very same sponsorship. The billing ability is much more significant these days than ratings are.
So if, let’s say, WFAN can bill Peerless $100,000 a year to sponsor the radio booth for the Mets, they’ll now be able to bill $250,000 for the same sponsorship of the Yankees booth. (I am using random figures — I have no idea what the cost of such sponsorship would be).
But the point is, despite perhaps having lower ratings, they’ll still make back more of their investment simply because the Yankees are the Yankees, and they bill better than any other team in baseball, let alone just the Mets.
Good point, Kevin. I am sure that WFAN will generate more revenue from the Yankees deal than the Mets deal. I don’t know if they will make enough more to completely offset the increase in the fee for the games. But, that’s their business, not mine. I’m sure they are excited to have landed the Yankees. I bet The Pope is ecstatic.
They still are stuck with the worst broadcast people in the history of radio Thank God for Howie and Josh
The benefit of being on WFAN is that it is the Sports Station and by being broadcast on a sports station the daily shows on that station are almost obligated to focus a large portion of their show on the mets. Now the focus will be even more on the Yankees. For those of us who are sports nuts and listen to sports radio often, having the Mets off WFAN will be felt. The game broadcast itself won’t matter, it is just the other 20 hours a day.
I’m actually ok with the move to WOR.
Mike — forgive me.
In my original response, I forgot to say that this is a great piece overall. My apologies.
KC
My only issue will be losing the FM WFAN signal while I’m on the LIRR. I have a hard time getting a good 660 AM signal on my 1980s Walkman when I’m on the train but the 101.9 comes in clearly, even out east in Ronkonkoma. I’m assuming 710 AM won’t be clear, especially once you hit Suffolk.