On the Radio
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by user Harold Friend
It was probably 1960. The Yankees had lost a critical game and it was late at night, but sleeping was difficult. I moved the radio dial to the right and heard a baseball game. It was the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees main rival for the pennant that year. The Orioles’ announcer, quite objectively and without any glee, simply told the Baltimore fans that “Its all over in New York. The Indians have beaten the Yankees.”
The announcer was Bob Murphy, who was in his first season with Baltimore after having spent six seasons in Boston doing Red Sox games. It was at that instant I realized that there was more to the Yankees' game than whether or not they won or lost. If the second place team lost, then a Yankees’ loss mattered less that day. I had become spoiled because I was so used to the Yankees winning the pennant that I never thought of rooting against any team except the one the Yankees were playing, and I was not rooting AGAINST them---I was rooting FOR the Yankees.
Of greater significance was the discovery that I could actually listen to games that were being played elsewhere. Speak about opening a case full of worms.
At about dusk, it becomes possible to receive clear channel, 50,000 watt AM radio stations. Clear channel simply means that at sunset, less powerful stations must sign off the air, leaving the frequency to the most powerful stations. The Orioles’ game was on WBAL, 1090.
Radio waves bounce off the ionosphere and are reflected back to the earth. Sunlight pushes the ionosphere closer to the earth but when the sun sets, the ionosphere moves hundreds of additional miles away from the surface, creating a larger angle when a transmitted radio wave bounces off the ionosphere and returns to earth, giving the radio wave a much greater range.
In 1960, the Yankees were the only team in New York. The Brooklyn Dodgers had been stolen from their fans after the 1957 season and since it was too costly for the National League to have only team on the west coast, New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham was convinced by Brooklyn owner Walter O’Malley and others that the place for his team was San Francisco. Fans who were used to getting three games most days now were down to one. But not me and others who had made my discovery well before I did.
I soon found that it was possible to get the Red Sox (WTIC, 1080), and the Phillies (WCAU, 1210), two cities that were so near to New York that they could be picked up even during the day. Then there were other pleasant surprises.
If one went into the country, and not even too far into the country, other games came in at night. The Yankees games were on 1010 WINS, which was a powerful 50,000 watt station, but the Pirates games were on KDKA, 1020, another 50,000 watt station. The problem was that most AM radio tuners were not sensitive enough to pick up KDKA because it so close to WINS. Going fifty or sixty miles away from New York City solved that problem. The Tigers (WJR, 760), the Cubs (WGN, 720), the Reds (WLW, 700), and the White Sox (670) all could be heard.
Since 1960, teams have been created, teams have moved, and teams’ flagship radio stations have changed. The Mets started play in 1962 and were broadcast on WABC, 770. As the years passed, it was possible to listen to the Braves on WSB, 750, the Twins on WCCO, 830, the Indians on WWWE, 1100, the Senators on WTOP, 1500, and the Blue Jays on CHML, 900.
It was a different America in the second half of the twentieth century. There was more stability and structure, or at least it seemed that way, and there was less homogenization. WBAL took the listener to Baltimore and putting on WGN took one to Chicago, each with its unique characteristics. There were no commercials for Maryland crab cakes on a White Sox broadcast and Chuck Thompson never mentioned the stock yards when he told fans that Boog Powell had hit yet another home run.
Each city had its own identity and the radio stations were different rom each other. New York fans could not get “EssKay quality meats” in New York, could not go to an Eckerd pharmacy, and could not listen to Baltimore disk jockeys, except at night. That no longer is the case.
Today, if one listens to the radio at night, one can still get the baseball games, but that too is changing despite having been one of baseball’s great attractions. Listening to the Orioles on WBAL or the Cubs on WGN in 2006, just as one listened to them on the same stations in 1960. produces a sense of comfort and stability, as false as that sense might be. But if one listens to the radio at night, the same programs (Art Bell, high school graduate Sean Hannity etc.) can be heard on many stations located hundreds of miles apart.
Most commercials are homogenized fare for drugs, health aids, insurance, and automobiles. Except for baseball games, it makes no difference if one listens to any one of the 50,000 watt stations. They are owned by a small number of large corporations and are all basically the same. If you’ve seen one fast food restaurant, you’ve seen them all.
Even baseball on the radio has changed, thanks to ESPN. The White Sox have not been on WMAQ for quite a while. Their flagship station became ESPN radio Chicago, 1000, which is part of an international radio network that broadcasts baseball games. On a Sunday night, the same broadcast can be heard on literally hundreds of stations. But even that has changed. The White Sox are no longer on 1000 AM. They are carried by weak, local stations, the Cardinals are no longer on KMOX, and in a few days, the Pirates will no longer be broadcast on KDKA. Can't get them around here.
Most younger fans are not even aware that they could have listened to so many games for free and they if they knew, they wouldn’t care because in the twenty first century, you don’t LISTEN to baseball games, you WATCH baseball games. And if you really want to listen to baseball games, why, they are all available on satellite radio. They cost money? Don’t we have to pay for everything?
How much has been lost. Why, yesterday I bought some vitamins at Eckerd, and I was not even in Baltimore.
Date
Wed 09/27/06, 7:41 am EST
