Thread: Twins radio broadcasts moving to KTWN

No surprise here:

Report: Minnesota Twins Moving To KTWN | AllAccess.com

As much as I hate change, if it gets Mackey off the air I'm for it.

David Brauer has more - http://www.minnpost.com/braublog/201...-sports-format

http://www.startribune.com/sports/16...=y&c=n&refer=y

Looks like the speculation was right nd I was wrong. I wonder what ESPN1500 does now?

Originally Posted by DPJ

As much as I hate change, if it gets Mackey off the air I'm for it.

He'll still be on the air, he just won't be obligated to butter up the Twins organization at every opportunity.

I really like 1500's format from 9am until 3pm. I wonder what they will do also. I am guessing some of them might be recruited. Unfortunately, KTWN hosts probably will not be very critical/objective about the Twins.

Originally Posted by John Bonnes

Looks like the speculation was right nd I was wrong. I wonder what ESPN1500 does now?

It should be interesting, the ESPN connection might help and keep them afloat, or like I said in the other thread I doubt the local programming will survive now that they just have gopher hockey and basketball, and they go all ESPN national, but who knows, time will tell.

Originally Posted by nokomismod

I really like 1500's format from 9am until 3pm. I wonder what they will do also. I am guessing some of them might be recruited. Unfortunately, KTWN hosts probably will not be very critical/objective about the Twins.

Depends on what their format will be. They were ghetto rap at once time, not sure what format that are in right now. I think Perkins was/is on the morning show...

^Call up the Pohlad family and offer to buy their station.

Originally Posted by DPJ

As much as I hate change, if it gets Mackey off the air I'm for it.

R&M were abrasively joking how Samuel Deduno doesn't belong with the Twins and should host the new morning show on KTWIN next year, and that their program will soon be coming to end during today's show

Too early to tell how this will affect the pre and post-game shows. We will have to see how the talent gets distributed.

Maybe they can finally get rid of Gladden through this process...

I'll be very interested to see if they switch formats. The Twins have had their own "radio network" for several years now, though it had very limited programming - mostly just Sunday afternoons and Twins games. I wonder if they kick that up a notch now.

I see a couple of possibilities at work here.

Certainly, this could be an indicator that Twins ownership is dipping their toes back in the waters of owning/controlling their own media distribution channel. It didn't work for them the first time with TV, but it certainly has worked for other teams since then. If they can make the radio thing work, maybe by the next time their TV rights are up for bid, they'll be in a position to at least partner with a distributor and give FSN some competition for those rights.

Another... and perhaps, unfortunately, more likely... scenario is that after two consecutive very poor seasons, they realized the money they might be able to command from 1500 or anyone else for their radio rights was tanking along with the Twins' W-L record and now might be the time to see if they can use Twins programming to at least make the radio station profitable.

I suppose the good news for ESPN 1500 is now they have a million dollars to spend on...I'm not sure exactly what they would spend it on. I'm very interested in that announcement tomorrow.

This just in.....

Media Advisory: Twins to Host VIP Breakfast at Target Field
Live broadcast from the Carew Atrium will be followed by a special announcement regarding team’s future radio broadcast plans

What: The Twins and Northern Lights Broadcasting will host a live broadcast between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. followed by a special announcement. The live broadcast will feature guest appearances by Twins personalities.

When: 7-9 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 15 (Announcement made at 9 a.m.) Where: Target Field Delta SKY 360° Legends Club – Carew Atrium

Who: Dave St. Peter – President, Minnesota Twins Sam Elliot – Vice President, Northern Lights Broadcasting and General Manager, FM 96.3 K-TWIN Eric Perkins – Broadcaster, FM 96.3 K-TWIN Kent Hrbek – Minnesota Twins Legend Cory Provus – Broadcaster, Minnesota Twins Dan Gladden – Broadcaster, Minnesota Twins Ron Gardenhire – Manager, Minnesota Twins

There are two main reasons why radio stations purchase the broadcast rights.

1. Money
2. Ratings

Pretty obvious I know but the Pohlads are in position to determine if they will make more money from the selling the broadcast rights to another station or keeping the advertising revenue themselves with their own signal. I think that determination has been made based upon the switch.

From a ratings standpoint. This is the tricky part... The Twins can actually bolster a radio station's ratings overall in standard 6a to 12m Mon-Sun measurement by bringing in unique cume during games and therefore improve the overall ratings. It doesn't matter what format they offer outside of Twins broadcasts... as a matter of fact.... A different format from a sports broadcast would be preferable. Nights are low in-tab timeslots and the Twins will bring in listeners from demographic's young to old seperate from normal audience. This unique cume is added to the overall cume(non-Twins listeners) throughout the day and it increases cume overall.

Simply... Listening numbers can be down during the actual Twins broadcast times(I don't think they will but they could) and overall station numbers will go up because the Twins Audience will be different audience and added to the normal format listener cume... Therefore increasing cume overall. Cume is one half the formula for determining audience share.

In short... Smart move by the Pohlads and KTWN programming staff. The worst thing that they can do at this point is go to Sports format during non Twins Hours because it seems to align with being the Twins station... By keeping a music format and the Twins... They will draw cume from two sets of audience and ratings will increase and therefore revenue for both the Twins and their radio station. This is a no brainer!!!

Riverbrian, with ESPN1500 the Twins actually had the best of both worlds. They were paid $1M/yr for the broadcast rights plus the got the in game ad revenue.

What they are hoping to do by switching is to increase the audience for their own station.

Originally Posted by BrentMpls

Originally Posted by nokomismod

I really like 1500's format from 9am until 3pm. I wonder what they will do also. I am guessing some of them might be recruited. Unfortunately, KTWN hosts probably will not be very critical/objective about the Twins.

Depends on what their format will be. They were ghetto rap at once time, not sure what format that are in right now. I think Perkins was/is on the morning show...

Sorry Brent - are you able to fit a few more qualifiers into that post?

When the Polads bought the station they played "urban" music which competed with KDWB playing mainstream rap and R&B. Since the purchase in 2007, they have changed formats twice landing on "modern adult contemporary" - basically they play a little of everything now. They have also moved their transmitter to New Hope in 2009 to increase the metro reach.

The Perkins you are referring to is Eric Perkins (also KARE-11 Sports Director).

Originally Posted by davidjcampbell

Sorry Brent - are you able to fit a few more qualifiers into that post?

Terrible, horrible, unlistenable come to mind.

Originally Posted by davidjcampbell

The Perkins you are referring to is Eric Perkins (also KARE-11 Sports Director).

Correct

Originally Posted by SweetOne69

Riverbrian, with ESPN1500 the Twins actually had the best of both worlds. They were paid $1M/yr for the broadcast rights plus the got the in game ad revenue.

What they are hoping to do by switching is to increase the audience for their own station.

I know... The Pohlads have obviously determined that this better for them.

They could have made this move a couple of years ago I believe and chose not to. Times have changed.

The Twins will increase the ratings on KTWN... That is what I'm saying. They have 30 year old Barbara who listens during non twins broadcast times and now they can add 55 year old Bob during the games. This increases the overall ratings even if the ratings during Twins Dayparts are down. However, according to Arbitron, the Twins are doing fairly well with audience levels.

With Bob and Barbara working together. They have increased their overall cume from Monday to Sunday and those increased ratings can turn around and be pitched for more money and now you have a radio station that is billing higher and that goes into the Pohlads Pocket. Therefore the Pohlads have determined that they will make more cash this way as opposed to selling the rights and keeping the in game ad revenue.

It's a smart move because KTWN has been struggling a bit lately. The worst thing they can try to do... Is try to put together a format that Twins Fans will enjoy all day long. They will be better off playing a different format and collecting new cume during Twins Broadcast Hours.