Time to set your presets in your car to 1340 AM and 98.9 FM, cause they are the new home of the Golden Knights on the radio. That’s Fox Sports Radio in Las Vegas and they are owned by Lotus Broadcasting, the same company that owns ESPN Radio and NBC Sports Radio in Vegas (Yes, it’s weird, but it’s true).
The plan is to have the Knights on Fox Sports Radio, which has signals on AM (1340) and FM (98.9). There will be no pre-empting of the broadcasts, which was a key element for the hockey team. Lotus’ inventory of stations allowed it to guarantee a permanent home for the NHL, and with the FM signal will guarantee reaching all parts of the valley. -Steve Carp, LVRJ
Lotus broadcasts UNLV Rebel football and basketball, and carry Las Vegas 51s games for the 11 people that listen to AAA Baseball on the radio. Lotus is also the home of the most local sports talk shows with hosts including Mitch Moss, Michael Pritchard, Steve Cofield, and Seat Williams. There’s no debating, Lotus is the undisputed sports radio powerhouse in the valley. So from that perspective, this is the right place for the Golden Knights, and it’s obviously a great add for Lotus.
We do have our questions however about how great of a choice this really is for the Golden Knights?
Luckily, there’s a press conference this afternoon that may give us some of the answers. So, rather than go on and on about it now, only to find out the reasons for our reservations have been solved, we shall wait. But believe you me, we’ll have much more on the impact of this decision later tonight or tomorrow, and odds are, it’s not going to be pretty.
There is other positive news from the Lotus announcement though…
The team also is expected to announce its games will be broadcast in Spanish on ESPN Deportes, a Lotus station located at 1460 on the AM dial. -Carp
How many people will actually listen? Who knows, but honestly, who cares. This is an excellent move for the Golden Knights. 25% of the Las Vegas population primarily speak Spanish. Reaching that quarter of valley residents is crucial. It was a clear priority for the Golden Knights, and ESPN Deportes offers it.
The press conference is scheduled for 3:00 PM.
Phisig150
Does this mean Fox Sports for tv as well? Radio’s cute but tv is what I’m more concerned about. I’m not usually in my car at 8pm and don’t typically break out my transitor radio when I’m at home.
Ken Boehlke
This is completely separate from TV. That announcement should be coming soon, but this one has zero effect on that one.
Phisig150
Out of curiosity what other radio options could they have persued? I’m thinking CBS or ESPN. For TV it’s got to be either NBC sports or Fox right?
Ken Boehlke
The other options for radio were CBS (KXNT/CBS Sports 1140/one of their FM stations) and Beasley Broadcasting (KDWN/one of their FM stations).
TV – The options appear to be MyLV TV, Cox, Fox Sports. But it wouldn’t shock me if there’s another way they go.
Phisig150
Which option would you have preferred? If they go Cox does that cut out direct tv subscribers (like my Dodgers and the damn Time Warner deal)? I like the idea of an over the air channel like MYLV but I can’t imagine they could afford much for exclusive rights. l also like the idea of Fox Sports good synergy with the radio rights, available on Cox, Direct TV, Dish, even cord cutters if they’re willing to get Sling. Any chance something gets done prior to the drafts? Seems like a good starting point for Knights broadcast coverage.
Ken Boehlke
Let me get through this press conference before I make any rash judgements on Lotus/Fox Sports.
Phisig150
Just listened to the podcast. CBS makes a lot sense. Their losing my afternoon drive time guy Gotlieb who I think is going to Fox so I guess I’ll have to switch over to 1340. Im starting to think that 10 million figure might not be far off. Is it possible that Foley will actually lose 30 mil a season? I still can’t believe that could even possible be true. If so how does this change the hockey side of things? I can see a much bigger onus on winning right now and over paying for a star player. Not sure I like that. Should we start to worry?
RJ
Just like everyone else I prefer to watch on TV (well, I prefer in person, that’s a different conversation), but I’ll probably be listening on radio much more than watching.
I suspect whoever our TV network is will be subject to regular blackouts, even if you do have the channel. If you don’t have cable of dish or whatever the correct service is we definitely won’t be able to stream it on NHL.tv due to in market blackouts on that service.
Radio, I can stream where ever and whenever.
PhiSig 150
When the Dodgers were on Fox I don’t remember games getting blacked out unless the game that night was nationally broadcast like ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. Same with the Lakers on Fox and TNT games. If the Knights go to Fox Sports I think we should be able to get most of the 82 game schedule. I’m pulling for a Fox tv deal.
Phisig150
Wait so is 98.9 for the Spannish radio cast or will that be in English? Putting the English radio cast on the Spannish station and then putting the Spannish radio play by play of the games on a different station makes no sense to me. ESPN 1100 and 100.9 is so much better for broadcast. Stop knocking the Rebels so much. Sanchez and Armani are the real deal. I think you guys underestimate our love for UNLV and I’m only transplant but I did get my master’s there. Go Rebels!
Ken Boehlke
In the case of Lotus, I’m not knocking the Rebels in the least bit. The decision to be placed on FOX in my opinion is a misstep by the Golden Knights. The FM signal is garbage (I’ve emailed the proof to all parties involved), there are very few listeners to that station, and even the AM signal isn’t great compared to one like KDWN 720AM in Vegas. The Rebels did nothing wrong, they were big winners in this in the fact that they didn’t get bumped off the flagship station. VGK going to a secondary station in a sports cluster seems like a classic NHL move, and we all know how NBC vs. ESPN has worked out for the league.