New radio home for the Cleveland Browns

[80sTalkRadioFan]

I was in the Cleveland area last weekend and noticed the Cleveland Browns radio broadcasts moved from Good Carma Brands WKNR 850/ESPN, to Audacy's 98.5 fm WNCS, a classic rock station. Probably a good thing they're on fm now, considering all the interest in their quarterbacks, especially Sanders. I wonder if any Toledo stations will pick them up this year.

[MWmetalhead]

The deal consists of a simulcast between 850, Audacy's 92.3 and Audacy's 98.5. That deal has been in place for multiple years already.

[80sTalkRadioFan]

Ok, thanks for the clarification.

[edj]

Is there a reason why the Browns are on two FM signals? Are the towers that far apart? Both are Class Bs.

[schmave]

My understanding is the Browns wanted 98.5 because they have one of the best FM signals in the market, far superior to 92.3. I think 98.5 carries the games and that is pretty much it. None of those co-flagships carry the entire network broadcast from start to finish. 850 handles the network pre-game and 92.3 stays local until close to kickoff, and vice-versa for the postgame.

[edj]

850 has the daily Browns show and of course 92.3 is the FM sports station so that makes sense.

Still, simulcasting on two FMs sounds like a waste.

[MWmetalhead]

I respectfully disagree.

I suspect rock and classic rock stations that play music while a local NFL team is playing football have crappy ratings. Why? Most of their target audience is either watching the game on TV or listening to the game on the radio.

Similarly, I suspect an All Sports station airing something other than the game itself will have crappy ratings.

Although the pie is being split three ways, each of these stations is drawing a larger audience airing Browns broadcasts than if they were to air something else while the Browns were playing.

The Browns benefit by making their radio broadcast easy to find. P1s of 850 WKNR, 92.3 the Fan and 98.5 WNCX don't have to search for the game.

The Packers have aired on multiple stations in Green Bay & Appleton for many years, too.

[CurlyHoward]

WYSP in Philly also aired the Eagles for many years with a rock format.

As for Toledo, checking both teams' websites looks like no Browns OR Lions radio here again this year. Closest Browns affiliate remains WFOB in Fostoria/Fosghanistan, closest Lions' affiliate is WLEN in Adrian although if you're not far enough north to just get WXYT you're probably better off with WTKA.

[MegaHertz]

How the fuck does Toledo not have an affiliate for either team? WIOT can 86 the Motley Crue and Boston for one of the teams.

[edj]

Toledo really suffers during prime time games. WTKA is only 500 watts at night and WFOB is a bit noisy unless you're in say Bowling Green or maybe Rossford.

WLEN is scratchy if memory serves, and WXYT suffers from 96.9 bring adjacent.

WKNR might actually be the best option for the Browns after sundown, depending on how KOA is behaving.

[80sTalkRadioFan]

The good news for Lions fans is 97.1 The Ticket streams the games throughout the Toledo area. As for the Browns, last year 850 WKNR did not stream the games in the Toledo area. I haven't tried to stream via 98.5 or 92.3's websites. The Tunein website/app has a good list of NFL games which can be streamed in a particular area by going to "Sports," then "Pro Football."

[ftballfan]

I respectfully disagree.

I suspect rock and classic rock stations that play music while a local NFL team is playing football have crappy ratings. Why? Most of their target audience is either watching the game on TV or listening to the game on the radio.

Similarly, I suspect an All Sports station airing something other than the game itself will have crappy ratings.

Although the pie is being split three ways, each of these stations is drawing a larger audience airing Browns broadcasts than if they were to air something else while the Browns were playing.

The Browns benefit by making their radio broadcast easy to find. P1s of 850 WKNR, 92.3 the Fan and 98.5 WNCX don't have to search for the game.

The Packers have aired on multiple stations in Green Bay & Appleton for many years, too.

At one point, the Packers were on three FMs broadcasting from within a few miles of each other (97.5 WTAQ, 101.1 WIXX, and 105.7 WAPL). WTAQ and WAPL have since dropped the Packers, but even with co-flagship WIXX's Class C0 signal, the Pack still have radio affiliates in Appleton (94.3 WYDR - incidentally a sister station to WIXX) and Manitowoc (1240/107.9 WOMT), cities in which WIXX puts a city grade signal into.

[AMFMTV]

How the fuck does Toledo not have an affiliate for either team? WIOT can 86 the Motley Crue and Boston for one of the teams.

Costs $$$ to be an affiliate.

it's been a number of years (15) since I was privy to affiliate rates for Browns. Then it was $5K.

[MWmetalhead]

The crappiness of Toledo radio serves as a great case for a Sirius XM subscription.

Even in a radio market as awful as Toledo, it is surprising neither of the NFL teams within a two hour drive (DET being only an hour's drive tops) has a local affiliate.

Cumulus is run by lazy people who simply don't give a f*ck.

107.7 is just weird.

iHM is butt hurt by the fact WMMS and WTAM were left on the sidelines with respect to the Browns. If one of their Cleveland stations were flagship or co-flagship for Browns football, there is no doubt either 1230 or 104.7 (or both) would be airing Browns games in Toledo.

[radioandtventhusiast]

The crappiness of Toledo radio serves as a great case for a Sirius XM subscription.

Even in a radio market as awful as Toledo, it is surprising neither of the NFL teams within a two hour drive (DET being only an hour's drive tops) has a local affiliate.

The Browns were last on Toledo airwaves in 2023. They've been off and on Toledo radio since their return in 2019. The Lions were last on Toledo radio when WJR had them for the very short while and that was because Cumulus had a station that was sister to WJR.

To make matters worse, the only team in the 4 big leagues to have a Toledo affiliate are the Guardians!, which is because WSPD is a sister to flagship WTAM. The Tigers and WMTR don't count as the station targets Fulton County and has a spotty signal. 97.1 the Ticket's signal is also spotty.