Reds on Radio in Lexington, KY

[Red White]

The Reds are on the radio in Lexington on 1580 AM, which is otherwise a spanish-language radio station. However, the Reds also get pre-empted when the University of Kentucky baseball team is playing at the same time (as was the case this afternoon (Sunday.)) So today a fan like myself, less than 80 miles away from Cincinnati, can't hear the game without purchasing the radio package from MLB because it is difficult to get the signal from 700 during the daytime.

I think this is indicative of one of the biggest mistakes that the Reds have made in recent years: the lack of attention to the regional market. Reds Country used to extend to Indianapolis, Columbus, Huntington, Charleston, Lexington, Louisville, and beyond. Now the organization seems to have given up on this regional appeal. The Cardinals are an example of how to keep attendance and local revenues up by appealing to a regional audience. Keeping the fans tuned-in, so to speak, in these regional areas could help bring attendance up by encouraging more people to come to the ballpark for a game or two more each season. The fact that the Reds are out-of-sight makes them increasingly out-of-mind in these markets.

[KronoRed]

Poor marketing..sad

[RadioWink]

Try 1400 AM out of Cynthiana.

[TeamBoone]

You should write to the Reds, to Rob Butcher (PR manager), and to anyone else in the organization that you think might have some clout.

Anybody know who is actually responsible for choosing the stations that carry the radio broadcasts?

Columbus is a little over 100 miles away... do they get Reds games? Indy's roughly the same distance... do they? I don't know, but if not, they should.

You'd think the organization would be able to figure it out on its own, but obviously not.

[KittyDuran]

The Reds 2006 Media Guide is now online at the website [under fan forum]

OHIO (19)
Athens WATH-AM 970
Canton WTIG-AM 990
Celina WKKI-FM 94.3
Chillicothe WBEX-AM 1490
Cincinnati WLW-AM 700
Columbus WTPG-AM 1230
Dayton WONE-AM 980
Findlay WBVI-FM 96.7
Gallopolis WJEH-AM 990
Hillsboro WSRW-AM 1590
Ironton WIRO-AM 1230
Lima WIMA-AM 1150
Logan WLGN-AM 1510
Marietta WMOA-AM 1490
Middleport WMPO-AM 1390
Portsmouth WNXT-AM 1260
Springfield WIZE-AM 1340
Wash. CH WCHO-AM 1250
Zanesville WHIZ-AM 1240

INDIANA (8)
Batesville WRBI-FM 103.9
Indianapolis WNDE-AM 1260
Madison WXGO-AM 1270
Muncie WXFN-AM 1340
Portland WPGW-AM 1440
WPGW-FM 100.9
Sullivan WNDI-FM 95.3
Washington WAMW-FM 107.9

KENTUCKY (12)
Burnside WKEQ-AM 910
Columbia WAIN-AM 1270
Corbin WCTT-AM 680
Cynthania WCYN-AM 1400
Grayson WUGO-FM 102.3
Lexington WXRA-AM 1580
London WFTG-AM 1400
Louisville WKRD-AM 790
Martin WMDJ-FM 100.1
Market Station Freq.
Maysville WFTM-AM 1240
Paintsville WKYH-AM 600
Pikeville WLSI-AM 900

MISSISSIPPI (1)
Tupelo WKMQ-AM 1060

VIRGINIA (1)
Gate City WGAT-AM 1050

WEST VIRGINIA (4)
Charleston WCHS-AM 580
Huntington WVHU-AM 800
Logan WVOW-FM 101.9
Parkersburg WHNK-AM 1450

[Blimpie]

A few years ago, Lexington had nearly all Reds games covered by 1300 AM. When 1580 AM switched formats to all sports, they also won the local rights to the Reds (albeit not as many games per year as 1300 had previously).

Then, almost two years ago, 1580 AM went "Eric Estrada 24/7" and still somehow managed to keep the local rights to the Reds? I don't get it. There is absolutely no continuity between the normal programming and the Reds. Even during the Reds games, they still do many of the commercials in Espanol.

I don't find it a huge problem. So many of the games are on TV now, radio is only a fallback option for me. When that happens on clear days, I don't have any problem getting 700 WLW; but in a pinch, the Cynthiana station does okay.

[Red White]

Beyond being personally inconvenienced, my point was more to the fact that the Reds as an organization do not seem to be paying attention to these large surrounding cities. When you don't make the efforts to be seen as the local team, the kids grow up as fans of the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Cubs, and the Braves.

All of my friends in Lexington who grew up in western Kentucky are huge Cardinals fans.

How can you not be sure that whatever affiliate you choose in a locale as big and as close as Lexington plays all of your games without pre-emption. In years past, when 1580 was a FoxSports Radio affiliated station, the games would be pre-empted by NASCAR . . . on the radio!

How can you bury yourself at the end of the dial on the spanish-speaking radio station? No one but the most die-hard fans will seek out the local affiliate on the Reds homepage. No english-speaking person in the city has 1580 on their presets, where they might stumble upon the game.

Whether they make any money off of it or not, the Reds need to force their way onto 590 (think 550 in Cincinnati) or 630 (think 700.) In my opinion, even if they just break even or lose a little on the deal, the long-term benefit of establishing the Reds brand in all of these cities would be recognized in better home attendance, apparel sales, and (perhaps) the NEXT affiliate contract.

[Blimpie]

If you think listening to NASCAR on the radio is bananas, you should have heard their gripping coverage today of...The Masters! Yes, golf on the radio.

You are absolutely correct about how the Reds do a terrible job of marketing themselves regionally. Other than the Winter Caravan (which, by the way, has bypassed Lexington the last two years in favor of Nicholasville), the Reds completely ignore Lexington.

The local paper here doesn't do the fans any favors either. Unless it is the occasional Kearns-angled column, there are sparse mentions of the Reds at all. Bascially, we get box scores and the recycled AP Wire report from Joe Kay. Every once in a while, they will syndicate Hal McCoy from the Dayton Daily News...but Lexington hasn't had a Reds' beat writer since the days of the Big Red Machine.

[Joseph]

I'm down in Bowling Green, KY and I agree that they have overlooked the expanding of the market greatly. Yeah we are 3 hours away, but the Reds are the closest team to us and there is little or no marketing around but I know there are Reds fans in the are who might be drawn to Cincy once in a while. I know for a fact they would love, as would I, to hear the games on the radio more often than they get to do so.

In short, I'd be willing to get in on an email Jihad [to use a Tony Kornheiser term] to get the Reds to expand the marketing.

[WMR]

Yeah, the Reds exposure in Lex is pitiful... hopefully these new marketing people will realize that.

[George Foster]

The Reds are on the radio in Lexington on 1580 AM, which is otherwise a spanish-language radio station. However, the Reds also get pre-empted when the University of Kentucky baseball team is playing at the same time (as was the case this afternoon (Sunday.)) So today a fan like myself, less than 80 miles away from Cincinnati, can't hear the game without purchasing the radio package from MLB because it is difficult to get the signal from 700 during the daytime.

I think this is indicative of one of the biggest mistakes that the Reds have made in recent years: the lack of attention to the regional market. Reds Country used to extend to Indianapolis, Columbus, Huntington, Charleston, Lexington, Louisville, and beyond. Now the organization seems to have given up on this regional appeal. The Cardinals are an example of how to keep attendance and local revenues up by appealing to a regional audience. Keeping the fans tuned-in, so to speak, in these regional areas could help bring attendance up by encouraging more people to come to the ballpark for a game or two more each season. The fact that the Reds are out-of-sight makes them increasingly out-of-mind in these markets.

I live in central KY, to bad you can't pick up 1580am, more than 3 miles past the station.

[BCubb2003]

Unfortunately I think the trend among teams is going to be to concentrate on the main local market close in, and drive the outer audiences to cable, satellite, MLB, and XM. It doesn't seem like the team or the radio people are motivated to make sure the games can make it to the edges of Redsland because that's not where the money is now. It's a shame, because growing up, I always lived over the hills from Cincinnati. A local smalltown radio station that carried Reds games was a big deal to me and my little transistor radio with the dying battery.

[Blimpie]

Unfortunately I think the trend among teams is going to be to concentrate on the main local market close in, and drive the outer audiences to cable, satellite, MLB, and XM. It doesn't seem like the team or the radio people are motivated to make sure the games can make it to the edges of Redsland because that's not where the money is now. It's a shame, because growing up, I always lived over the hills from Cincinnati. A local smalltown radio station that carried Reds games was a big deal to me and my little transistor radio with the dying battery.

I agree with your assumption, but I have a problem with that from a fan standpoint...because it lies but 75 miles from Cincinnati, MLB (and the NFL) considers Lexington a "local market"--not a regional one.

Lexington is subject to the same blackout laws and is treated the same way as towns like Erlanger, Newport or Covington. So if it assumed that we are close enough to Cincy to simply pack up the car after work and catch a Wednesday evening home game versus the Brewers, why are we not supported by adequate radio options for all 162 games? When the Reds travel to, say Colorado, and the game is not covered by FSN, we have no local radio stations to fall back on for listening to that game.

I am sure that all of the greedy MLB owners would like to wait for the mother of all satellite deals to secure it's regional markets. However, until Sirius and XM eventually merge (which they will), I will not subscribe to either.

[WMR]

I agree with your assumption, but I have a problem with that from a fan standpoint...because it lies but 75 miles from Cincinnati, MLB (and the NFL) considers Lexington a "local market"--not a regional one.

Lexington is subject to the same blackout laws and is treated the same way as towns like Erlanger, Newport or Covington. So if it assumed that we are close enough to Cincy to simply pack up the car after work and catch a Wednesday evening home game versus the Brewers, why are we not supported by adequate radio options for all 162 games? When the Reds travel to, say Colorado, and the game is not covered by FSN, we have no local radio stations to fall back on for listening to that game.

I am sure that all of the greedy MLB owners would like to wait for the mother of all satellite deals to secure it's regional markets. However, until Sirius and XM eventually merge (which they will), I will not subscribe to either.

The way things are going for XM right now, they won't be merging, XM will be getting swallowed by Sirius. HOWEVER: I prefer to see XM remain separate. Two competing services will only prove beneficial for the consumer.

I agree 100% with your point. I think Bcubb makes some good points, but that is such a pathetic attitude for the Reds to be taking. I guarantee you that that's not the approach the Cards take with their fanbase and I really hope that Castellini won't settle for anything less. The radio coverage of the Reds in Lex/Gtown is less than pathetic... MEXICAN RADIO??? Sheesh. Is there a bigger market closer to Cincy than Lex? Not Columbus...

Most of the big Reds fans I know in GTown and Lex are older. I think the reason why could not be more clear... Reds Marketing needs to WAKE UP

[BCubb2003]

I think it's a baseball-wide trend and not just the Reds. And St. Louis got some attention for going smaller with their newest radio deal. They said they would support the smaller stations in the regional network, but I remember fans in the Champaigne, Ill., area worrying about not getting the games like they used to. If baseball is going to drive fans to cable, satellite, MLB.com, etc., the commissioner's office ought to sit down and reform the whole blackout geography situation. It makes no sense and is aggravating the customers.