Tampa Bay Rays Radio Network

Last updated

The Tampa Bay Rays Radio Network is a radio network in the southeastern United States that broadcasts baseball games and related programming for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball. Additionally, there is a 2-station Spanish language network. Since 2009, WDAE/620 in St. Petersburg, Florida, has served as the flagship station for the network. [1]

Contents

In addition, WGES/680 in St. Petersburg, Florida airs games in Spanish but is not part of the network. [2]

Announcers

Andy Freed has been part of the Rays Radio Network since 2005 after spending time with the Pawsox Radio Network as an announcer there as well as the Trenton Thunder.

Dave Wills also started with the Rays Radio Network in 2005 after 11 years with the Chicago White Sox. He has been broadcasting sports since 1991 when he was the first announcer for the Kane County Cougars.

Neil Solondz joined the Rays Radio Network for the 2012 season as pregame and postgame show host. He spent the last eight years as play-by-play broadcaster for the Durham Bulls, the Rays' Triple-A affiliate. Solondz also had several stints filling in as Rays pregame and postgame show host the previous two seasons.

On the Spanish broadcasts, Ricardo Tavaras does play-by-play and Enrique Oliu provides color commentary.

Stations

Map of radio affiliates Tampa Bay Rays radio affiliates.png
Map of radio affiliates

Stations are current as of the 2021 season. [3]

CityCallsignFrequency
St. Petersburg WDAE 620 AM
Arcadia WCXS 1480 AM
Bradenton WWPR 1490 AM
Brooksville WWJB 1450 AM
Dade City WDCF 1350 AM
Daytona Beach WELE 1380 AM
Englewood WENG 1530 AM
North Fort Myers WBCN 770 AM
Gainesville WRUF 850 AM
Homosassa WWJB 99.9 FM
Fernandina Beach WYKB 105.3 FM
Orlando WYGM 740 AM
Pascagoula, Mississippi WPMO 1580 AM
Pensacola, Florida/Mobile, Alabama WJNZ 1000 AM
Port Charlotte W251CU 98.1 FM
Spring Hill W280DK 103.9 FM
St. Petersburg WGES 680 AM (Spanish)
Zephyrhills WZHR 1400 AM

Former affiliates

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bally Sports Sun</span> American regional sports network

Bally Sports Sun is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local coverage of professional, collegiate and sporting events in the state of Florida, with a focus on professional sports teams based in Miami, Tampa and Orlando. Bally Sports Sun and sister regional sports network Bally Sports Florida are headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with studios located in Tampa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WDAE</span> Sports radio station in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States

WDAE is a commercial radio station licensed to St. Petersburg, Florida and serving the Tampa Bay area. It is owned by iHeartMedia and airs a sports radio format. WDAE is one of the oldest radio stations in Florida still broadcasting today, going on the air in 1922. The studios and offices are on West Gandy Boulevard in South Tampa. The transmitter site is located near the Gandy Bridge in St. Petersburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WYGM</span> Sports radio station in Orlando, Florida

WYGM is a commercial radio station in Orlando, Florida, United States. It is owned by iHeartMedia and airs an all sports radio format. Programming is simulcast on FM translator station W245CL at 96.9 MHz in nearby Deltona, Florida, and uses its FM dial position in its moniker, "96.9 The Game." It is also heard on the HD2 channel of co-owned WJRR 101.1.

Daniel William Sileo is an American former football player and current sports radio host. He played college football at Maryland before transferring to Miami (FL). He was drafted in the third round of the 1987 NFL supplemental draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was the host of The Dan Sileo Show in San Diego on KWFN 97.3 FM "The Fan" until April 2019. He had been hired in August 2019 by IHeartMedia to host afternoons on Fox Sports 910 KGME in Phoenix, Arizona, but the program was discontinued the following week due to pressure from the Arizona Coyotes hockey team. KGME has a broadcast agreement with the Coyotes and team management felt Sileo's past controversial remarks on sexuality and race were not a good fit with the team's flagship radio station.

Whit Watson is an American sportscaster. He currently works for Golf Channel, hired in August 2010. At Golf Channel, Watson is primarily assigned to Golf Central as a studio anchor, but also reports from the field at PGA Tour events, LPGA Tour events, and USGA events. He has also appeared on Golf Channel's Morning Drive program, and has acted as a play-by-play announcer for Golf Channel's European Tour coverage.

WHOO is a non-commercial listener-supported Catholic talk radio station licensed to Winter Park, Florida, and serving Greater Orlando. It is an owned and operated network affiliate of Relevant Radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bally Sports Florida</span> Regional sports network serving Florida, United States

Bally Sports Florida is an American regional sports network owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local sports coverage in the state of Florida, with a focus on professional sports teams based in Miami, Tampa and Orlando.

WHNZ is a commercial radio station licensed to Tampa, Florida. The station's broadcast license is held by iHM Licenses, LLC, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia. The station airs a Spanish news/talk format. WHNZ is one of the eight stations in the Tampa Bay radio market owned by iHeartMedia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York Yankees Radio Network</span> Official radio network of MLBs New York Yankees

The New York Yankees Radio Network is an Audacy-owned radio network that broadcasts New York Yankees baseball games to 52 stations across 14 states. The network's flagship station is WFAN, which succeeded sister station WCBS as the flagship in 2014; WCBS had aired Yankees broadcasts since the network was founded in 2002 while WFAN had been the flagship station for the Yankees' crosstown rivals, the New York Mets, since the station's founding. The full on-air name of the broadcasts is the WFAN Yankees Radio Network Driven by Jeep, with the Chrysler LLC subsidiary continuing its sponsorship of the network while games are broadcast from the "Duck Duck Go broadcast booth."

WHBO is a commercial radio station licensed to Pinellas Park, Florida, and serving the Tampa Bay area. The station is currently owned by Genesis Communications and it airs a conservative talk radio format, branded as "News Talk 1040". Much of the programming comes from Westwood One and Fox News Talk.

The Tampa Bay media market is Florida's second-largest metropolitan area with a variety of print, online and broadcast media outlets serving the region. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the population for the Tampa-St. Petersburg Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) at 3,194,831 according to the 2019 est. The Tampa Bay media market also includes Citrus, Manatee, Sarasota and Polk counties which is over 5,000,000 when combined with the Tampa Bay (MSA). Polk County is also served by media from Orlando.

The Atlanta Braves Radio Network is a 171-station network with terrestrial coverage in eleven states Southeastern United States that airs Major League Baseball games of the Atlanta Braves. The flagship station is WCNN in Atlanta, Georgia. The primary booth announcers are Ben Ingram and Joe Simpson, who alternate between play-by-play and color commentary on most game broadcasts, with Jim Powell also calling select games. Chris Dimino and Kevin McAlpin host the pregame and postgame shows. The engineer and game producer for Braves Network broadcasts is Jonathan Chadwick. Network producers include Chris Culwell, Cullen Madden, David Holloway, Brody King, and Brett Barney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd Kalas</span> American sportscaster

Todd Harry Kalas is an American sportscaster, employed since 2017 as a television play-by-play announcer for Houston Astros baseball.

The Cleveland Guardians Radio Network is an American radio network composed of 39 radio stations for the Cleveland Guardians, a professional baseball team in Major League Baseball (MLB). Cleveland sister stations WTAM and WMMS serve as the network's two flagships; WTAM also relays its signal over a low-power FM translator. The network also includes 26 affiliates in the U.S. states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York: seventeen AM stations, eleven of which supplement their signals with low-power FM translators, eight full-power FM stations and one HD Radio subchannel that supplements its signal with a low-power FM translator.

Rich Herrera is an American sports announcer. Herrera is the only radio announcer in MLB or the NFL of Mexican–American Heritage without a playing background. He was the first nationally syndicated Hispanic sports radio personality in the United States working first at Sports Fan Radio, and later at Fox Sports Radio.

Major League Baseball on Compass Media Networks was a weekly presentation of Major League Baseball games on the Compass Media radio network. For the 2013 season, Compass acquired rights to select Tampa Bay Rays home games to increase their MLB coverage.

References

  1. tbnweekly.com January 20, 2009 Rays move radio broadcasts to WDAE
  2. Tampa Bay Rays Official Site - Rays Radio Network Affiliates with coverage map
  3. "Rays Radio - Tampa Bay Rays". RaysBaseball.com. MLB Advanced Meida. Archived from the original on 2021-09-04. Retrieved 2021-10-04.