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White Sox Talking About Terms Of New Radio
Deal When Current One Expires After Season |
In Chicago, Lewis Lazare reports negotiations are "under way to determine which Chicago radio station" will air White Sox games, "probably for at least the next five years." Incumbent flagship station WSCR-AM is "interested in keeping" the contract when it expires after the '10 season, but it "looks as if the White Sox and owner Jerry Reinsdorf might want something more than just another five years with an AM radio outlet." The team might consider a deal "that offers the team an FM outlet" as well and an AM affiliate. WSCR parent CBS Radio Market Manager Rod Zimmerman: "We're happy with our partnership with the White Sox and enthusiastic about it going forward" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/21).
THREE STARS: The GLOBE & MAIL's Bruce Dowbiggin reviews the various studio panels for the NHL Playoffs on Canadian television. The CBC's Kelly Hrudey has "become the Jackson Pollock of the telestrator," and his partnership with Mike Milbury has "spawned the go-to 2010 playoff panel." Dowbiggin awards the CBC a "B+." Meanwhile, TSN's panels "change so rapidly during the playoffs, it’s a wonder they don’t get a too-many-men-on-the-set penalty," creating a "sum-of-the-parts situation where good elements don’t produce the impact they should." TSN earns a "C+," while Dowbiggin gives Sportsnet a "C," noting a "mutating cast of characters dulls its edge" and with "no playoff games on the network, they’ve also lost the quick-response advantage of CBC and TSN" (GLOBESPORTS.com, 5/21).
COVERING A TRAGEDY: SI.com's Richard Deitsch noted ESPNU's coverage of last week's Univ. of Virginia men's and women's lacrosse games "presented a unique challenge for the network: how to tell the story of the killing of women's lacrosse player Yeardley Love within the confines of its game coverage." ESPNU Senior Coordinating Producer John Vassallo: "We realized that we had a number of viewers who could have been watching their first lacrosse game because they had some peripheral interest in the game through the events that had gone on in Charlottesville. We also knew we had our hardcore lacrosse viewers." Deitsch wrote the "broadcast was handled well" (SI.com, 5/20).
BETTING ON THE PONIES: In Houston, David Barron reports ESPN on the night of the Heisman Trophy presentation in December will air "Pony Excess," a documentary about the "SMU football pay-for-play scandal of the 1980s that resulted in the first and only application of the NCAA’s death penalty in 1987." The film, directed by SMU film school graduate Thaddeus Matula, will be part of ESPN's "30 for 30" series. Matula and his crew are "still gathering material on the film" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 5/21).
