Cincinnati Reds on Radio: Don’t Be In a Rush on a Weekday

Jun 10, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; A general view of the fog at Wrigley Field during the first inning of a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds during the second inning. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY SportsI definitely enjoy watching the Reds on TV. Sometimes if I am away from the house I like to listen to the game on the radio. There is something about hearing Marty Brennaman calling a Reds’ game that makes distractions run away and sends your mind’s eye to the ballpark.

According to my mini-bio I have been following the Reds since 1960. Growing up in the ‘other’ tri-state area in Huntington, WV all we essentially had was Waite Hoyt bringing us the colorful play-by-play, albeit in past tense. For example, if Marty would say, “Here comes the pitch”, Hoyt would probably have said, “There was the pitch.” His reasoning was that by the time you heard it, it wasn’t there anymore.

The further the game progressed, the more Berger Beers were downed by Hoyt and he would recount the days of yore.

It takes much more from a broadcaster do work on radio than television. Marty, Cowboy or any other radio man doesn’t have the time to debate whether a pitch was a two-seamer or a four-seamer. They are not just your ears, they are attempting to be your eyes too.

I believe back then WSAZ was the station that carried them on the radio. Now that Clear Channel has gobbled most of the stations up, one of their ‘talk’ radio stations, WVHU is the Huntington area’s voice for the Reds. That is, of course at night, and on weekends.

I had been wondering why I could not hear a game on the radio when the Reds played a day game. I was ready to pull the plug on my car radio’s life support system when I heard Rush Limbaugh crushing (I borrowed that from the Mayor)some democrats. If you are not a conservative Republican you can tire of his hyperbole in short fashion.

Then on Saturday I read this article by Chuck Landon in the Herald-Dispatch, Huntington’s daily newspaper. It was such a good read, it took me back to my own youth.

As mentioned above Clear Channel owns WVHU as well as countless other stations across the fruited plain. I know Limbaugh has oodles of ‘dittoheads’ who can’t seem to get enough of his trashing of the democrat party. Say what you will, that takes up 95 percent of his airtime. If the democrat party disbanded, he would be out of work in a hearbeat.

Money, you know the filthy lucre, controls everything including what we hear on the radio. Apparently Limbaugh, and Limbaugh wannabe Sean Hannity dominate my tri-state area from noon till 6:00 pm.

I thought it judicious that Landon called the station manager to inquire about this. The manager, Jim Davis told him that they do broadcast the Reds day games, although not in Huntington.

As Landon says in the article,

"So, it appears WVHU wants to eat the cakeof its Reds affiliation and have it, too,by refusing to pre-empt the Limbaugh or Hannity showsfor Cincinnati day games.And that includes National LeagueDivisional Series playoff contests.”"

Which prompts a contractual question. When is a Reds affiliate not a Reds affiliate? When Limbaugh sits in front of his golden microphone.

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