Pirates, KDKA end long radio broadcast marriage

Demographics powered move to 104.7 FM
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
By Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pirates' decision to end a more than 50-year radio relationship with KDKA and take their broadcasts to WPGB, which is part of the Clear Channel Communications empire, was strictly business, a point emphasized time and again by Tim Schuldt, the team's vice president of marketing, sales and broadcasting.

Mr. Schuldt, who brokered the deal, had a long list of reasons for the move and all dealt with the advantages of Clear Channel and the large platform of opportunities it presents to enhance the business of the team.

The move, officially announced yesterday, was based on an abundance of studies made by the Pirates and a close watch on the regional market. The team scrutinized the ratings power of the stations involved and, in particular, their demographics.

It was well-known from the start that Clear Channel, which owns about 1,200 stations across the country, would provide the Pirates with a larger audience and younger demographics. KDKA, one of five stations in the region owned by CBS, skewed older and its sister stations did not provide the ratings clout to make up for that.

At the same time, the Pirates announced that all five of their broadcasters, whose contracts expire at the end of this season, will be back next year. Play-by-play announcers Lanny Frattare and Greg Brown and analyst Bob Walk have agreed to three-year contracts. The team exercised the one-year options it had on the services of analysts Steve Blass and John Wehner. Their contracts will expire after the 2007 season.

The Pirates will continue to have total control of the broadcasts and the announcers will remain in their employ.

The Pirates and KDKA had been together almost since baseball games have been on the air. The first radio broadcast was on KDKA in 1921 between the Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies. Records do not detail exactly how long the two were partners, but the current relationship dates to 1955.

Pirates CEO Kevin McClatchy said, "KDKA has been synonymous with the Pirates for more than 50 years. We are extremely thankful to everyone at KDKA, both past and present, for the impact they have had on our organization and the many generations of fans. We have a lot of good friends at KDKA, therefore this was not an easy decision."

KDKA, which was runner-up earlier this year to Clear Channel in bidding for the radio rights of the Steelers, put its best offer on the table, but it wasn't enough.

"We presented them with an offer that was good for us and we thought was good for them,'' said KDKA general manager Michael Young. "It's an amicable parting. We wish the Pirates the best.''
It was as much the Clear Channel stable of stations as it was WPGB (104.7 FM) that won the contract.

"What we really wanted and needed,'' said Mr. Schuldt, "was a firm contractual commitment on secondary and ancillary programming and a cluster of stations that would deliver other audiences that maybe a flagship couldn't."

In signing on with WPGB, the Pirates also join five other Clear Channel stations. Most importantly, they are involved with WDVE (102.5), the rock station that is the ratings leader in the region, WXDX (105.9), which delivers a young male demographic, and WKST (96.1), which has a strong female demographic. The Pirates have found that 40 percent of their fans are females.

John Rohm, regional vice president for Clear Channel, said, "As the single largest media organization in the Pittsburgh market, no other medium can match our market penetration and ability to reach fans. Our years of experience with the Steelers, Penguins and Pitt football and basketball have helped us fine-tune our broadcasts, our delivery system and our talent.''

WPGB will carry all 162 Pirates games, 12 exhibition games, pre- and postgame shows and the Dave Littlefield Show. All advertising revenue derived from those shows will go to the Pirates.
Clear Channel will realize the advertising revenue from auxiliary programming, which is slated to include a call-in show, expected to be an hour in length, after every game. The call-in show, Mr. Schuldt said, is something KDKA could not provide.

But it was the audience and the demographics that won the day for Clear Channel.

"People who have the most propensity to buy a season ticket from us are men in the 25- to 54-year-old age group,'' Mr. Schuldt said. "WDVE is the 800-pound gorilla in that demographic.
"Written in the agreement is heavy cross-promotion on all of the Clear Channel stations. Not only will that recognize 104.7 as our new flagship, but it will detail game times and how to buy tickets. The weight of this is massive.''

Some of the demographic statistics cited by Mr. Schuldt:

* WPGB's audience is 116 percent more likely than the mean to have an advanced college degree; KDKA's audience is 10 percent more likely.

* WPGB's audience is 112 percent more likely than the mean to have a household income of between $100,000 and $149,000; KDKA's is 7 percent more likely.

As for ratings, Clear Channel clearly outranked the CBS Group in all the key demographics, in many cases by more than 2 to 1.

Plans already have been formulated to have the team's announcers regularly appear on highly rated Clear Channel shows. Mr. Blass will make guest appearances on the No. 1-rated "WDVE Morning Show with Jim Krenn and Randy Baughman." Mr. Walk and Mr. Brown will alternate appearances in the morning on WXDX with Tim Benz.

Pirates games will take away a large part of the high-rated "Ellis Cannon Show," which airs from 6 to 8 p.m. on WPGB. Nothing definite has been formulated, but Mr. Cannon is expected to be part of the pregame show.

Unlike those of other Clear Channel sports properties, the Pirates' games are not yet scheduled to be simulcast on WBGG-AM (Fox Sports Radio 970).

Mr. Schuldt, whose primary job is to sell tickets, clearly was a happy man.

"Between WPGB and WDVE, in men 25 to 54, we've got an incredible powerhouse.''

(Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com. )