You'll excuse me if I vent a little.

[ZeroGravitas]

640 am in Grand Rapids has dropped Tigers games in the middle of the season. First no broadcast TV deal and now this.

Needless to say I am livid. <img src=/forums/images/smiles/kiss.gif>

So now the second largest market in the state is without an affiliate. I mean, my god, if you don't want to broadcast the games, freakin' do it before the season starts so a program director with a head on his shoulders can pick it up.

And what's worse is that they changed their format to some adult comtemperary music drek that no one in their right mind would listen to. If I want music, I'll go FM.

All right. I'm calm now.

(*&%$#*&)

[moochman]

Seems to be one more sign of the top-to-bottom mis-management that our Tigers have been saddled with under Illitch.
Now rays of sunlight are starting to trickle down on the Motor City Kitties and they don't have their business affairs in order enough to prevent the collapse of local coverage.

You would think that the same guy who issues a full page newspaper apology to the fans for the hockey strike would think of the fans when it comes to his other team. But obviously he doesn't. The Tigers' braintrust, if it can be called that, needs to stop looking at radio and free TV coverage as a unprofitable and start looking at them as smart advertising.

Okay, now I'm done venting too.

Stoopid Tigers.

[Dannomyte]

Moochman you're making it sound like the Tigers pulled their games from WMFN 640 AM when in fact it was the station that dropped the games. I have heard the Tigers are looking in to possible legal action against the station for breach of contract to get the games back on.

Here is 1 article about it.

http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/ ... press?SPGS

There is a better article that I read but I can't seem to find it atm. I'll keep looking and post it if I end up finding it.

[ZeroGravitas]

First of all, what's with that stupid smiley? I suppose it could be me telling them to kiss my a-

Ahem. Anyway.

Thanks for the article. Can't help but notice that they'll still broadcast Division II college games. Yippee.

I'll have to see if I can pick up the Kalamazoo station.

[moochman]

Moochman you're making it sound like the Tigers pulled their games from WMFN 640 AM when in fact it was the station that dropped the games.

Lets understand that WFMN dropped the games becuase they weren't making money on them. The had to pay the Tiger flagship station for the rights to broadcast the games and decided it cost too much.

There's the rub. While the Tigers were in the midst of their 7th or 8th losing season in a row they sold broadcast rights at an exorbinate fee to the idiots at 1270 am. Thus moving from the powerhouse station, WJR, they had been on forever to move to a station with poorer signal quality and range. They took the money like bandits, never pausing to consider that fans wouldn't suffer through the poorer signal quality. Plus the fees 1270 charges sattilites in efforts to recoup their foolishly spent $$$ is causing smaller stations to pull out of covering the games. So even less fans can listen to games causing advertisers to want lower rates.

A downward spiral has been created. All becuase the dolts in the Tiger front office decided that money today was better than lost revenues of tomorrow. I just wish someone would get a clue that the business of running a franchise is a long term endevoure, not a get rich quick scheme.

Well Tigers it's tomorrow. Staticy, limited radio broadcasts and no free TV coverage. Was this what you had in mind, Mr Illitch & Co.?

[mcqfesijiba]

Hey, 1270 payed the price for the broadcasts, what did you want the Tigers to do, say "No you would be paying too much, let's lower the price."? 1270 was overly desperate to get the rights to the Tigers and probably did pay more than they should have, so they probably deserve as much or more blame than the Tigers if these broadcasts aren't profitable enough. The Tigers themselves are a business and they sold broadcast rights to the highest bidder. Sounds like normal business practice to me, whether we all like it or not.

All of this is probably irrelevant though if the Grand Rapids station had some kind of contract. You usually can't just quit in the middle of a contract unless there are special out clauses, which lawyers will probably review here, but who knows how long that could take.

By the way, negotiations for a free TV deal are still ongoing. I heard Fox 2 is trying to get the TV rights, but we'll see.

[Dannomyte]

Station does turnabout: Tigers return to local airwaves
Thursday, May 19, 2005
By Brian Vanochten
The Grand Rapids Press
The Detroit Tigers returned to local radio Wednesday night.

WMFN-AM (640), which dropped the Tigers from its programming lineup May 9 following a format change instituted by new general manager Tyrone Bynum, have put the state's major-league baseball franchise back on the air.

The change of heart is permanent, Bynum said.

"I think we're both happy," Bynum said of WMFN's affiliate contract with flagship station WXYT-AM (1270) in Detroit. "I hope we carry the Tigers forever."

A week ago, Bynum took a much different position.

He told The Press he was "under no contractual obligation" to broadcast the Tigers and he didn't "care if the Tigers go to the World Series, I'm not paying" for the right to air their games.

He cited the lack of advertising and listener support as reasons for dumping the team.

"The Tigers are no longer costing me money," Bynum said. "It is a profit-making venture for us in every aspect. The agreement will continue as long as we both mutually benefit from it and the community benefits from it."

Its affiliate contract runs through the 2006 season.

Bynum claims the Tigers' return to the station is based upon a groundswell of support from local baseball fans and advertisers in the West Michigan community.

He insists it's still not costing him anything to air the games.

"I'm not paying," Bynum said. "I wanted to put them on in the first place, but I'm trying not to go broke. This is a business. We've got sponsors who are deferring that cost, and we've got more sponsors coming on board."

An official from WXYT told The Press that it was made clear to Bynum that he must honor the current three-year agreement or face potential litigation.

The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Press that Infinity Broadcasting, WXYT's parent company, sent a formal request to Bynum last Friday calling for the Tigers' immediate return to WMFN's lineup. If not, Infinity pledged to pursue legal action to enforce terms of the contract.

"The Grand Rapids market is critical to us," WXYT general manager Rich Homberg said. "Hopefully, the people of Grand Rapids will be listening to the Tigers all the way through the World Series."

Bynum declined to comment on terms of the settlement.

He promised the Tigers would remain a fixture in WMFN's programming lineup for the duration of its agreement with the flagship station. The ballclub returned to the local airwaves Wednesday, and it's regularly scheduled game against the Tampa Devil Rays this afternoon also was supposed to air at 1:05 p.m.

"WXYT has been supportive, our advertisers have been supportive and the community has been supportive," Bynum said. "Everyone has been very supportive."


http://www.mlive.com/tigers/grpress/ind ... 102670.xml