There is some news on broadcast agreements to pass along from the Lake County Captains (Low A; Midwest League) and the Birmingham Barons (Class AA; Southern League).
In Lake County, the Captains will partner with Ohio Media School to stream all 140 games online at www.allsportscleveland.net and handle distribution the games to the other members of the Broadcast Network. Ohio Media School joins WINT 101.5 FM/1330 AM and ESPN 970 WFUN on the Captains Media Broadcast Network.
Ohio Media School will become the Flagship home for Captains baseball. Ohio Media School students will provide in-depth, behind-the-scenes coverage of Captains baseball throughout the season. The students will have the chance to interview players, join the Voice of the Captains, Andrew Luftglass, on-air for select home games and provide a consistent pre-game show 20 minutes prior to each game.
“We here at the Ohio Media School, All Sports Cleveland and NEO Sports Insiders are excited and thrilled about our new partnership with the Lake County Captains” said Matt Loede, instructor at Ohio Media School, and Program Director for www.allsportscleveland.net. Loede continued with “We are excited to be part of what will be the future of the Indians and will be providing wall-to-wall coverage of the team including live-streaming all games and providing multimedia coverage. The Captains bring an exciting brand of baseball to Lake County and we are excited to be part of it” said Loede.
“The addition of the Ohio Media School students is exciting for us,” said Tim O’Brien the Captains manager of media relations. “This arrangement will provide Captains fans with more in-depth coverage of the ball club and is a great opportunity for the Ohio Media School students to gain real-world experience covering Minor League Baseball,” said O’Brien. The Captains are also pleased to announce the launch of the team’s new blog titled “Captains Everywhere” named in honor of long-time, legendary public address announcer Ray Milavec.
WINT 1330 AM and 101.5 FM will be back for its 15th season being part of the Captains Media Network. WINT will cover Friday and Saturday night games during the regular season. Ray Somich, WINT president said, “The WINT family is very pleased and proud to have brought Lake County Captains gameday broadcasts to our community beginning with the very first game, and continuing for the last 15 seasons. The Captains are a locally-owned, audience-focused operation, like we are. We can also identify with these talented young athletes in pursuit of their dreams. Our WINT family hopes Lake County and all of Northeast Ohio will continue to support the Captains by attending home games, and listening every Friday and Saturday on 101.5FM, 1330AM and at wintradio.com.”
ESPN 970 WFUN will be the Sunday home for Captains baseball and carry the 2017 season opener on April 6th as the Captains travel to Dayton with game time at 7 PM. WFUN will also cover most weekday day games over the airwaves at 970 AM. Dana Schulte, president of Media One Group, said “We value our long-time partnership with the Captains and are thrilled to be part of the Broadcast Network again for the 2017 season.”
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In Birmingham, the Barons will continue their partnership with iHeartMedia, making WERC-FM News Radio their exclusive broadcast home for 2017.
All 140 regular season games plus any additional postseason games will be heard exclusively over the air on WERC and streamed online across the country.
“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with iHeartMedia and provide the Barons fans two great ways to follow all Barons baseball games throughout the 2017 season,” said Barons general manager Jonathan Nelson. “We value our relationship with all their radio stations in the market and look forward to another fun season of Barons baseball.”
Broadcaster Curt Bloom will return for his 26th season behind the microphone as the voice of the Barons, starting with the Coca-Cola pregame show 10 minutes prior to first pitch.
“iHeartMedia Birmingham and 105.5 WERC are so pleased in our continued partnership for the 2017 season,” Ray Quinn, area president for iHeartMedia said. “We have enjoyed a long relationship and look forward to continued success together.”