It's time for Dodgers baseball ... on another network
KFWB-AM (980), which has been losing millions each year on its radio rights deal to carry the Dodgers games as it enters the fifth and final season of its contract with the team, has sent the first nasty indication that the end is approaching after it informed executive producer and key department head Tom Boman that his job has been eliminated for budgetary reasons. The station has decided to trudge ahead without anyone really in charge of the broadcast.
"I'm stunned, more than anything," Boman, who practically runs the entire Dodger radio network and oversees all programming, said Wednesday morning. "There's no logical reasoning behind this."
Boman had been running everything involved with the Dodgers' radio broadcast for the last four years, and the prior three years when the team was at 1150-AM.
Boman's involvement went beyond just getting the show on the air every night -- he coordinated many sales deals for the station and was generally the unsung player who'd smooth out all the rough edges that listeners would have otherwise not noticed. While Dodgers radio broadcasters Charley Steiner and Rick Monday are Dodgers employees, Boman was in charge of the team's radio booth, making all calls on what went out on the air. Any change in the broadcast teams over the last seven years started with Boman.
Boman said station boss David Hall told him at their meeting Tuesday that it had nothing to do with his performance, it was simply money. And if money's the issue, the Dodgers have to be looking elsewhere now to line up a radio home for beyond 2007.
Comments
i could see arte taking his angels to his own radio station wehn the contract with 710 is up, and i believe that is soon. in that case, they should really jump on the dodgers. 980 has a terrible signal and putting baseball on an all-news station doesn't feel right
Posted by: Matt | October 25, 2006 12:01 PM
710 AM would be a great signal to carry Dodger baseball. For as bad a signal as 980 AM is, 1150 AM was even worse. I remember driving down to San Diego to watch the Dodgers at Jack Murphy stadium and we were able to listen to the game on 790 AM down there.
Posted by: Josh Jacobs | October 27, 2006 01:57 AM