WJPA, Wild Things end broadcast partnership
 |
WJPA-FM (95.3) had been the home radio station for the Wild Things since their inaugural season, broadcasting home and away games. The station opted not to continue with the partnership.
“It has been a good relationship with the Wild Things and we enjoyed the 14 years,” WJPA sports director Bob Gregg said, “but we have baseball on the AM (1450) with the Pittsburgh Pirates. That’s a lot of baseball. It was decided that we should concentrate our summer evenings with music on the FM side. We put a lot of time and resources into developing our music and regular programming, and we felt that it was best to concentrate on that instead of baseball.”
To access the games this season, Wild Things fans will have to visit washingtonwildthings.com and click on a link that will be embedded on the website. According to Chris Blaine, the Wild Things’ director of marketing and communications, broadcasts of all home and away games will have audio and video. The video streaming feature is a first for Wild Things games. Washington opens the season May 13 in Sauget, Ill., against the Gateway Grizzlies.
“We decided that we wanted to be more cutting edge and utilize technology, and be a leader in the league in this area. So there will be live streaming of both home and away games,” Blaine said.
Washington will not be the first Frontier League or independent team to offer video streaming of games. The Southern Illinois Miners have been video streaming their home games for several years. The independent American Association and Can-Am Leagues offer webcasts of selected games.
The loss of WJPA and the move to internet broadcasting leaves uncertain the status of Randy Gore, who has been the voice of the Wild Things since 2005. When WJPA dropped the Wild Things from their programming plans, Gore hoped to remain involved in the team’s broadcasts. Gore owns the PAC Sports Network, which provides webcasts of Presidents’ Athletic Conference games in various sports, and had made an offer to the Wild Things for his company to stream Washington’s 96 regular-season games.
Gore said he had made an offer for webcasting to the Wild Things but the deadline he set for a deal has passed. The Wild Things said the production of the webcasts will be done in-house and they have not yet chosen a broadcaster for the 2016 season.
posted by Chris Dugan at
8:34 PM
6 Comments:
Looks like potential for more revenue for the O-R. Now that WJPA will no longer broadcast, what other method do they have of advertising their games?
WV here they come!
One more sign that the WTs will NOT be playing in Washington next year. Here's my prediction based on what I see ...... The WTs will play their last game in Washington on Aug. 28. With the CEP name gone and no support from the local radio station, shrinking attendance and no support from the local buisness community the bulldozer will be at the stadium formerly known as CEP and Falconi Field in September. Trinity will play its high school games at W and J next year and California U will play at California. One last season so enjoy it while you can. The Parkersburg Wild Things will probably begin play in 2017.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who will miss the great play by play, analysis and interviews that Randy has so skillfully presented to us. I'm also sure he will land squarely on his feet and move onward and upward. Thanks Randy.
Bozzuto isn't doing anything with Wild Things.
WJPA isn't doing anything with Wild Things.
Randy Gore isn't doing anything with Wild Things.
MSA site doesn't have anything current with Wild Things.
Can't find a Live Stream link anywhere for Wild Things.
All of this follows the last seven years where fans, numbers growing by the hundreds, haven't been doing anything with Wild Things.
Sooner/later date for Wild Things sale/collapse: Nov. 1 2016
I see two "Watch Live" links on the team's website. I assume this is what you click for the live video and audio streaming.
That Watch Live link didn't work.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home