One of the primary reasons why Los Angeles was awarded an American League expansion franchise for the 1961 season was because actor/singer turned broadcast mogul Gene Autry wanted to secure radio broadcast rights for the newly planned Los Angeles American League franchise. His KMPC (710 AM, now KSPN) was the radio home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, from the time they arrived from Brooklyn, New York in time for the 1958 baseball season, and actually came away from the 1960 Winter Meetings with his own baseball team.
Naturally, KMPC became the longtime radio outlet for Angels games throughout Southern California, although there was a period from 1997 that KRLA/1110 and 1998 to 2002 that KLAC (570 AM) became the team's flagship radio home. However, the Angels returned to their ancestral radio home at KSPN 710 AM, now since rebranded 710 ESPN, Los Angeles's ESPN Radio-operated outlet from the 2003 through 2007 seasons.
In 2006 team owner Arte Moreno purchased his own radio station, KMXE (830 AM), an Orange County-licensed Spanish-language formatted station. By mid-2006, 830 AM's programming was mostly in English (the principal exception being Angels games in Spanish), and the station's call sign was changed to KLAA. In October 2007, the Angels announced that KWKW "ESPN Deportes 1330" would carry games in Spanish, and AM 830 will carry Angels games in English, although games that conflict with Anaheim Ducks games will be transferred to another station.[1]
In time for the 2008 baseball season AM 830 became the English-language outlet for Angels games, when their contract with KSPN expired.
In 2009, former Dodger radio flagship KFWB joined the Angels radio network, serving as a co-flagship of sorts alongside KLAA, carrying Monday through Friday games. It provided fans who live in certain parts of the Los Angeles market with a secondary outlet to listen to games.
In 2010, KSPN-AM AM 710 simulcast at least 60 games with KLAA to reach areas of the northwest area of the Los Angeles radio market. The deal returns the Angels to their old radio station from 2007. For 2011 KSPN will simulcast with KLAA for 25–30 weekend games.[2]
On May 15, 2012, the Angels signed a radio rights deal with syndicator Compass Media to distribute 25 games to a nationwide audience, in a game-of-the-week format.[3] These games would be produced separately from the KLAA broadcasts, and will feature veteran play-by-play men Chris Carrino and Steve Quis, with former New York Mets general manager and current SiriusXM sports talk show host Steve Phillips and former MLB player Darryl Hamilton as color commentators.[4] Many of the games, if not all, will air on such stations as WFAN New York City (radio flagship of the Mets), WTEM Washington, D.C. (a Baltimore Orioles affiliate), WQXI Atlanta, WYGM Orlando, and KFNC Houston.
Television
On the television side, the then-KHJ-TV (Channel 9) was the team's original home, until the start of the 1964 season, when Autry moved the Angels to his then-newly purchased KTLA (Channel 5). KTLA remained the Angels' home for 32 seasons (while also carrying Dodgers games from 1993 to 2001). The team returned to Channel 9, by this time renamed KCAL-TV, because The Walt Disney Company bought a stake of the team and eventually became the full owner after Gene Autry's death in 1998. At the time the broadcast rights were secured before the 1996 season, Disney had owned KCAL-TV, until they were forced to sell the station when it bought ABC. Due to FCC regulations at the time, Disney could not own two television stations in the same city, as ABC owns KABC-TV.
KCAL-TV remained the home of Angels baseball for 10 seasons, until the 2005 season. The station began broadcasting Dodgers games, starting in the 2006 season. When Moreno took over as owner, starting in the 2004 season, he made sure more games were available for fans. Most Angels fans were accustomed to seeing probably more than 100 games annually, but the Angels televised more than 140 games, the most in franchise history. In addition to the 50 telecasts each on KCAL-TV and FSN West, the remaining telecasts were spread between UHF outlets KPXN-TV (Channel 30, a Pax/i O&O) and the hometown-based independent station KDOC-TV (Channel 56). In 2005, just KCAL-TV and FSN West combined to televise about 140 games.
On April 3, 2006, the Angels and its cable broadcaster partner, Fox Sports West, finalized a 10-year, $500million deal. This deal voids the previous one in which Fox Sports West would only televise a minimum of 50 games annually until 2008. In this current deal, Fox Sports West would own the rights to 150 locally televised games annually, with 100 airing on West, while its sister over-the-air station, KCOP-TV (Channel 13) will televise 50 contests. The remaining games would either air exclusively on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball or on Fox Television's Saturday Baseball Game of the Week package.
In 2009, Fox Sports West began broadcasting 25 additional games to its schedule, subtracting those from the KCOP package, bringing their total to 125 games. KCOP-TV's current schedule of 25 games will mostly consist of Sunday afternoon contests, and selected Saturday night games.
In December 2011—the same day news broke of the Angels signing a 10-year, $240 million contract with Albert Pujols—it was announced that the Angels also finalized a new 17-year television deal with Fox Sports West for $2.5 billion. Like the 2006 deal, this deal voided the previous one. As part of this new deal, the Angels also obtained a 25% equity stake in Fox Sports West.[5]
On March 31, 2021, all Fox Sports Networks besides two would continue operating, however under the name Bally Sports, consequently, the Angels' home network, Fox Sports West would become Bally Sports West. This happened due to the Acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, which forced Disney to sell the regional sports networks to Sinclair Broadcast Group's sports subsidiary, Diamond Sports Group, due to Disney's ownership of ESPN, and the United States Department of Justice determined the acquisition of the networks would cause Disney to create an anti-competitive pricing space. Sinclair then sold the naming rights of the networks to Bally's Corporation. Fox Sports West ended its coverage on March 31, 2021, with MLB Opening Day taking place on the Bally Sports West's launch.[6]
On March 14, 2023, Diamond Sports Group filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, following a missed $140 million interest payment 30 days prior. This bankruptcy caused missed payments to some teams, as well as two teams' broadcast rights being returned to the MLB.[7][8][9][10]
Other Angels announcers have included Al Wisk, Joe Buttitta, Ron Fairly, Bob Starr, Paul Olden, Larry Kahn and Al Conin. Wisk, Starr and Olden, along with Enberg, Drysdale and Steve Physioc, were also Los Angeles Rams football announcers concurrent with their Angels duties; in fact, Physioc was the last radio play-by-play man of the Rams in their final season in Southern California (1994). Al Conin broadcast during the 1986 ALCS pennant race against the Red Sox. His broadcasting style was very similar to that of Dodgers' Hall of Famer Vin Scully. Longtime San Diego Padres and New York Yankees legend Jerry Coleman had a brief stint with the Angels in the early 1970s before joining the Padres.
A shake-up in the Angels’ broadcast team for the 2010 season was announced in November 2009. Rory Markas and Mark Gubicza were designated to take over the TV broadcasts in 2010, with Terry Smith and José Mota on radio. The contracts of Steve Physioc and former Major League player Rex Hudler were not renewed after 14 and 11 years' service, respectively, to long suffering viewers relief..[11]
Markas died on January 4, 2010, of an apparent heart attack at his home in Palmdale, California.[12]
The 2009 lineup of Angels broadcasters had been[13] Physioc (TV and radio play-by-play), Rex Hudler (TV and radio analyst), Gubicza (TV analyst), José Mota (lead analyst on the Spanish radio broadcasts), Markas (radio and TV play-by-play), and Smith (radio play-by-play).
During the 2008 Major League Baseball season,[14] Markas worked 75 games on television with Gubicza as analyst; Physioc and Hudler worked the remaining games on TV, but moved to the radio side whenever Markas and Gubicza worked on TV. Markas continued as the lead radio play-by-play announcer for the games Physioc and Hudler did for TV. Terry Smith continued his role as the No. 2 radio play-by-play man, while José Mota returned to his role as in-game reporter on TV and Spanish radio analyst.
In 2007, Mota and Fox Sports West/Prime Ticket analyst Gubicza had worked 50 telecasts (mostly road) for FSN West and KCOP, while Physioc and Hudler continued as the lead TV broadcast team for the Angels, working the remaining 100 local broadcasts. Veteran Spanish sportscaster Amaury Pi-Gonzalez joined the team for Spanish radio play-by-play for the 2007 season, replacing Ivan Lara.
Terry Smith, who handles mostly the middle innings on radio, has been referred to by some as this generation's Harry Kalas because Smith often uses Kalas' famous phrases as "that ball is out-ta here" on an Angels home run, or "struck him out" when the Angels strike out an opposing batter. Smith’s signature phrase to end games that the Angels win is "You can put a halo over this one!"
KCAL-TV is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV. The two stations share studios at the Radford Studio Center on Radford Avenue in the Studio City section of Los Angeles; KCAL-TV's transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.
Matt Vasgersian is an American sportscaster and television host. Vasgersian is a play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Angels, as well as a studio host for MLB Network and FOX Sports. In the past, he has served as an announcer for Fox Sports' National Football League and Major League Baseball coverage, ESPN's coverage of Major League Baseball, NBC Sports' coverage of the Olympic Games, NBC Sports' coverage of the original XFL, and was a commentator for the MLB: The Show video game series. He formerly called play-by-play for the Milwaukee Brewers and the San Diego Padres.
KSPN is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, and serving the Greater Los Angeles Area. Owned by Good Karma Brands, the station airs a sports radio format as the market's ESPN Radio affiliate. KSPN's studios are located at the ESPN Los Angeles Studios at L.A. Live in Downtown Los Angeles, while its transmitter is located in Irwindale.
Mark Steven Gubicza, nicknamed "Gubie", is an American former professional baseball pitcher and sportscaster. Gubicza played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals (1984–96) and Anaheim Angels (1997). He is a color commentator for Los Angeles Angels games on Bally Sports West.
Rex Allen Hudler is an American former Major League Baseball utility player and color commentator for the Kansas City Royals. He played a total of 14 seasons after being a first round draft pick of the New York Yankees in 1978.
Steve Physioc is a retired American sportscaster who has called play-by-play for various baseball, basketball, and football teams. He retired while working with the Kansas City Royals, whom he had worked with since February 2012.
Victor Manuel Rojas is an American broadcaster, current college baseball coach, and former baseball executive. He formerly served as general manager of the Newark Bears prior to embarking on his MLB broadcasting career and later as president and general manager of the Frisco RoughRiders. Rojas is best known for his time with the Los Angeles Angels as their play-by-play broadcaster from 2010 to 2020.
KCOP-TV, branded Fox 11 Plus, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet KTTV. The two stations share studios at the Fox Television Center located in West Los Angeles; KCOP-TV's transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.
Mario Impemba is an American sportscaster, best known as the television play-by-play announcer for the Detroit Tigers from 2002 to 2018. Before working for the Tigers, he announced for the Los Angeles Angels on both television and radio and several minor league teams.
FanDuel Sports Network West is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operated as part of FanDuel Sports Network, along with its sister network FanDuel Sports Network SoCal. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events in California, focusing primarily on teams based in the Greater Los Angeles area. FanDuel Sports Network West is available on cable providers throughout Southern California, the Las Vegas Valley and Hawaii; it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.
KLAA is a commercial AM radio station licensed to the city of Orange, California, and broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles Area. The station is owned by LAA 1, LLC, composed of the owners and executives of the Los Angeles Angels baseball team, and is held separately from the baseball club. KLAA's studios and offices are located on the grounds of Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California.
José Manuel Mota Matos is a Dominican baseball broadcaster. He currently covers the Los Angeles Dodgers on Spectrum SportsNet LA. He formerly covered the Los Angeles Angels with Bally Sports West from 2002 until his departure in 2022. He began on the Angels Spanish broadcast in 2002 and took on various roles on the English television broadcast starting in 2007. He worked alongside Amaury Pi-Gonzalez in the broadcast booth in Spanish and alongside Mark Gubicza in English. Fully bilingual, he conducts postgame interviews and often doubles as the translator for Spanish-speaking players. He served as a pre-and-postgame analyst on Angels Live and occasionally filled in as a backup play-by-play announcer for English broadcasts. He is the son of former baseball player and long-time Dodgers coach Manny Mota.
Rory Markas was an American sportscaster best known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim's play-by-play broadcaster for eight seasons and as the radio voice of the University of Southern California men's basketball team for 11 seasons. He also worked as a field reporter and part-time sports anchor for KTTV.
FanDuel Sports Network SoCal is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operated as part of FanDuel Sports Network, along with its sister network FanDuel Sports Network West. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events in California, focusing primarily on teams based in the Greater Los Angeles area. Bally Sports SoCal is available on cable providers throughout Southern California, the Las Vegas Valley and Hawaii; it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.
Bally Sports San Diego was an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. Prior to the team parting ways with the network in 2023, the San Diego Padres owned a 20% stake. It was launched on March 17, 2012. The network was liquidated in April 2024.
Major League Baseball (MLB) games aired on the predecessor networks for the American pay television channel Freeform. These began in 2000, when the channel was known as Fox Family Channel, co-owned by News Corporation and Haim Saban, as a replacement for Thursday night games that had aired on Fox Sports Net in prior seasons. The package also included some games in the postseason Division Series. After The Walt Disney Company bought the channel in 2001, renaming it to ABC Family, the games were moved to the Disney-owned ESPN channels, although the 2002 Division Series games that had been acquired as part of the purchase remained on ABC Family because of existing contractual obligations. Those games moved to ESPN the following year as well.
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