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Cumulus Loses Lions, Where Will They Land In GR?

Discussion pertaining to Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Battle Creek, Big Rapids, and Michiana
Freqman
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:20 pm
Location: Watervliet

Cumulus Loses Lions, Where Will They Land In GR?

Post by Freqman » Fri Dec 18, 2020 12:00 pm

Cumulus has lost the rights to be the network home for Lions football in Detroit. My guess is that they didn't even bid. Now that they reside with Entercom, what is the likely scenario for Grand Rapids?

Will Cumulus pay to keep them on LAV or will iHeart make a play for WOOD/ESPN? Any chance Townsquare enters the fray with WGRD?



Trophyhead
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Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 6:36 am

Re: Cumulus Loses Lions, Where Will They Land In GR?

Post by Trophyhead » Fri Dec 18, 2020 2:17 pm

I remember interviewing for a job at WOOD near 30 years ago, which would entail a little tune spinning up to Lions pregame, then, running the board during the yelping of Mark Champion, at that time. Nice audible at the line of scrimmage to suggest GRD.



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MWmetalhead
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Re: Cumulus Loses Lions, Where Will They Land In GR?

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Dec 19, 2020 8:33 am

Was the GR affiliation deal bundled with the WJR deal? I suspect it is not.

I know the Lions were on 101.3 briefly, but I want to say they moved to Cumulus locally before the switch to WJR in Detroit occurred.

Sunday afternoon is such an irrelevant daypart for generating ad dollars that in my opinion it makes no sense for any local group to bend over backwards to land Lions football broadcast rights. It only makes sense if the rights can be landed for an inexpensive price. There are some local avails during the broadcasts that might allow stations to bill more coin than what might otherwise be possible if running "normal" programming but the differential is hardly transformative.



Freqman
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:20 pm
Location: Watervliet

Re: Cumulus Loses Lions, Where Will They Land In GR?

Post by Freqman » Wed Jan 27, 2021 8:51 am

Sales teams love major sports, they can make big dollars putting packages together and associating the station with the NFL.

I don't believe that Cumulus local was paying as it was part of the WJR deal, that's why I was wondering where they might land.



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