A contract with KMOX means the Blues only bump the Cardinals when they are in the Stanley Cup FinalGETTY IMAGES
The Blues will soon be leaving KMOX-AM in part because they are "weary of being subservient to the Cardinals on the station's priority list," but now in a "strange twist," the Blues' Stanley Cup Final broadcasts will bump some Cardinals games from the station, according to Dan Caesar of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. There will be "as few as two and a maximum of four overlapping games" during the Blues' Stanley Cup Final run. Cardinals games will be sent to KYKY-FM, where the Blues have been "shuffled to in recent seasons when the teams have played simultaneously." KMOX has been the Blues' radio home for 43 of the 52 years they have been in the NHL. KMOX' contracts with the teams "call for the Blues to take priority only during the Stanley Cup Final." KMOX Programming Dir Steve Moore said that the station will "provide expanded pregame and postgame coverage" of the Blues during the Final (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 5/24).
PLENTY OF STORIES TO TELL: The POST-DISPATCH's Caesar notes this year's Blues-Bruins Cup Final matchup "provides plenty of storylines for NBC's telecasts." NBC Sports Exec Producer Sam Flood said that he is "expecting strong ratings." Monday's Game 1 will be shown on NBC, the next two games on cable's NBCSN, and the "remainder of the series on NBC." The Blues have not been to the Final since '70 -- which the Bruins swept -- so "expect NBC to have flashbacks to that series." Flood said, "We had so many camera ideas that we're still working with the league to see if we can get permission to put them where we want, we think that they could bring some unique angles to the game." Meanwhile, St. Louis-based KSDK-NBC "plans to send" news anchor Mike Bush, Sports Dir Frank Cusumano and reporter Ahmad Hicks to Boston for the first two games, and "have a half-hour local pregame show ... leading into the network's telecast" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 5/24).
BIG BLUE: Caesar notes the Blues enter the Cup Final "on a television ratings roll," after their series-clinching win over the Sharks "generated the team's best rating ever for a contest shown on cable TV." Game 6 of the Blues-Sharks Western Conference Finals drew a 20.8 in the St. Louis market, topping the previous high of a 19.6 for Game 7 of a first-round playoff series against the Blackhawks in '16 (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 5/24).
