KRON-TV's launch of "A's Interactive" during last Saturday
night's A's telecast was a great success, according to KRON Exec
Producer Mark Wolfson. The station gave an e-mail address once
during the bottom of the first inning with the hopes of garnering
30 or 40 "game specific" questions for announcers Dick Stockton
and Ray Fosse. Instead, they got 39 in the first two minutes and
a total of over 200 for the game. Wolfson said any questions not
answered on the air received personal responses from him later,
meaning everyone who participated got some answer. In an
interview with THE SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY, Wolfson gave credit for
the success to the fact that allowing in-program questions "gives
a stage to the fans." Wolfson: "It is a chance for them to ask
questions and get answers whereas on talk radio you are often on
hold for long periods of time or never get through." Wolfson
said baseball broadcasts offer "a perfect marriage" with this
type of interactivity since there are often "dead" times that
could easily be filled with audience cyber-participation.
Wolfson said "A's Interactive" will continue through the season
and KRON's sales department has had discussions with Sprint about
promotions (THE DAILY).
