Sharks "radio" going digital (for EC roadtrip)

[LadyStanley]

Only available via app (or streaming).

Will be interesting to see how fans react and respond.

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[JMCx4]

Some old hockey folks like me will grumble ("Darn Gen-who-sies have ruined everything!" ... "What's a 'app'?" ... "I thought 'streaming' was a new-fangled way to fish." ). But I find it hard to believe there are enough Sharks fans left who rely on OTA broadcasts for following their team to make a ripple beyond the first or maybe second social media news cycle among the Bay Area fanbase. Thus making it easy for the team to justify the switch for cost savings & no doubt use it to reach a larger demographic with more sales opportunities for advertisers. Also more options to tie in with other 21st C media products. Smart move in my estimation, and likely the start of a quiet trend across the League. But it'll be old news by the time the Sharks are on the Back 9.

 

[LadyStanley]

The Sharks do (re)broadcast the (live) radio feed in the arena on radio. And they have had around a dozen radio stations in Central and Northern California that carry the games.

As a fan out of the area, I do depend on the "radio" feed (and sync to TV, especially when national/opponent feed comes up on CI).

I think this is a chance to count the folks that follow the game on the radio. They are expanding the pregame show to an hour (from 30 minutes), plus doing interactive (with questions).

 

[royals119]

Looks like this will be the trend of the future. The Reading Royals, and a lot of ECHL teams, went to digital "broadcasts" over the last few years. For minor league teams they were often paying for air time, or trading in arena advertising for a discount, so it is a cost savings, but also being on a low watt AM station the coverage wasn't good. Getting a cell connection or wi-fi is probably more reliable vs radio reception in a lot of areas, so fans are mostly happy with the improved sound quality. Plus the app offers a chat function so fans can interact with each other and with the broadcaster during the game. Makes for a much more interactive experience. On this level we often get players family on the chat also, along with the radio guy's mom, so that makes it even better. Sometimes front office staff will be in the chat answering questions too. Plus, as LadyStanley said, the team can see how many people are listening and get feedback directly. Lots of opportunities for marketing beyond passive advertising and even a way to survey your most avid fans.

 

[tony d]

Going to see more of this as time goes on. I bet there's more people that use digital radio these days than the traditional radio.

 

[crimsonace]

The Los Angeles Kings have been streaming-only with their audio/radio broadcasts for a couple of seasons now. The Oakland A's will be next year.

As noted, several minor pro teams are already streaming-only, including most of the 26 ECHL teams. It's going to be the wave of the future, because there's more content control.

One real issue the West Coast teams run into is their EST & CST road games are on in afternoon drive, which is a *big* moneymaker for the terrestrial stations and not real estate they want to give up (even though live sports draws an audience, local radio PDs don't want to give up their prime-time real estate - and have to provide make-goods for their advertisers - to break format).

 

[sh724]

On the rare chance I am listening to a game I much prefer to stream it through the NHL app than listen on the actual radio

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Always listen to the Ducks games on the App. Their abysmal performance last season and this season made me cancel my NHLTV package.

 

[Bandit]

Yeah, the Kings moved from AM to iHeart radio a couple years ago. It annoys me because the only time I listed to the radio was on my commute home in the car, and I don’t have unlimited data so it killed it for me.