Radio "Network" on critical list

A few years ago, we fired our longtime radio announcer in favor of the new thing....a radio network. The deal was made with Clear Channel, and all kinds of promises were made.

• A major presence in Lima! (a new market) with the flagship station.
• Higher technical sophistication.
• Solid coverage into the BG through stations licensed in Detroit and North Baltimore.

Clear Channel brought in their own announcer, etc. At the time, I posted in strong terms on AZZ.com that this was a bad deal, that Lima was a poor place to try and generate attendance, because it is Buckeye Central. Also, that Clear Channel could not be trusted, that it was stupid to have the flagship station in Lima, and, finally, that BG fans would end up getting the worse end of the deal, to the detriment of the majority of the fans.

Just before I move on, I believe Todd Walker has done a fine job. He is a good announcer, and I have often felt sorry for him while he was in a far MAC outpost doing another basketball blowout. He's a quality announcer. Some of our ex-jock talent has been a little sketchy, but that's not Clear Channel's fault.

Note: Todd Walker has his opportunity to explain in today's Sentinel.

Well, the Lima thing didn't even make it through the first season. You can have Coach Brandon and Dakich on the morning shows till you turn blue, those people are Buckeye fans. And today, we see in the game notes, that the station in North Baltimore, the one that had strong signal into Bowling Green, will not carry the games because it is in "transition."

Whatever. That leaves BG fans listening to 1230 AM out of Toledo, which has poor signal coverage to the south. Of course, you can always listen on the Internet....which works only some of the time and is not good if you are in the car.

I think its unfortunate for the program. There was never much upside to any radio network....you can't tell me anyone is going to form an attraction to a team over the radio in today's world. And, we've now isolated ourselves with a partner that is slowly bleeding away. I'm not sure we could get WFOB back if we wanted (without buying the time).

Anyway, I think its a good example of what you have to watch for when you're looking at shiny new objects. Because home fans are now worse served than they were before, and nothing gained.