The Padres will return to XEPRS-AM next season, and former MLBer Bob Scanlan "will join the play-by-play tandem of Ted Leitner and Andy Masur in the booth," according to Bill Center of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. HOF analyst Jerry Coleman "will also return with a limited schedule." Scanlan has been an analyst for the Padres pre- and postgame shows on Cox Channel 4. Center noted Padres President & COO Tom Garfinkel is "trying to retool the Padres' radio package, which is why the new contract with [XEPRS]-AM is for one season with a club option for beyond the 2012 contract." Leitner "signed a two-year contract with the Padres; the three returning members of the radio team all took pay cuts." The '12 season "will be the ninth straight" that XEPRS-AM carries Padres' radio broadcasts. Garfinkel said that the Padres "will review their radio future and options during the 2012 season" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 11/24). In California, John Maffei noted the XEPRS-AM pre- and postgame shows "will remain the same under the new one-year deal." Garfinkel said, "To the listeners, the broadcasts won't feel any different. A lot of the things the listeners like about the broadcasts will stay the same" (NORTH COUNTY TIMES, 11/24).
PLENTY OF OPTIONS DEBATED: Maffei cited sources as saying that the Padres "tried everything from buying a station, going to an FM station, taking the broadcasts in-house, to carrying games only on the internet." But in the end, the team went back to XERPS, where the "station pays no rights fees, the team picks up much of the expenses, but keeps the majority of the ad revenues." Meanwhile, Maffei noted the Padres as of Friday "still haven't announced a TV deal." KSWB-TV "will be the destination, but nothing has been announced." Garfinkel said, "While we continue to move along, [nothing] is imminent." Sources said that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig "would like to approve the Padres' deal, but is holding off, pending the outcome of the Dodgers' case." Cox Channel 4 sources have said that Fox execs "have inquired about renting Channel 4's studios near Petco Park." Maffei noted several "key members of the Padres' TV production crew have been contacted about working games for Fox." Additionally, Fox has "asked Cox if it can open a channel for Padres' telecasts" (NORTH COUNTY TIMES, 11/25).
