Detroit Radio: Pistons Partner With Greater Media

PD Jason Dixon, Piston's Dennis Mannion, Grater Media Market Manager Steve Chessare

Palace Sports and Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Dennis Mannion and Steve Chessare, Market Manager of Greater Media Detroit, have announced that the team has signed a multi-year agreement with the radio broadcasting company for all Pistons games to be aired on the FM dial on Detroit Sports WMGC 105.1FM beginning immediately.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Greater Media Detroit and look forward collaborating on innovative ways to enhance coverage of Detroit Basketball for our fans,” said Mannion. “Detroit Sports 105.1’s alignment with ESPN Radio is a natural fit for our organization given its extensive coverage of the NBA. We are also pleased to have the ability to partner with Greater Media sister stations like WRIF 101.1 FM and WCSX-FM 94.7 FM to provide ancillary Pistons programming as well as PS&E concert and event promotions.”

“We are delighted that fans will find themselves tuning to Detroit Sports 105.1 to hear all the excitement of Pistons games,” said Greater Media’s Chessare. “We are thrilled to have the ability to deliver a thoughtful, passionate and progressive listening experience for our fans. Adding NBA play-by-play to Detroit Sports 105.1 is yet another significant step forward in fulfilling our commitment to offer fans the finest in consistent sports programming like they’ve never had before.”Chessare, Market Manager of Greater Media Detroit.

Chessare added, “Advertisers who have been part of the Pistons broadcast have an improved and consistent platform to have their message shared with fans like they’ve never had before.”

Under the new agreement, Detroit Sports 105.1 will provide around the clock coverage of the team, including daily Pistons’ Minutes on the stations, talking about all aspects of the team throughout the broadcast week. In addition, Detroit Sports 105.1 will serve as the flagship station for the Pistons Radio Network which includes stations throughout Michigan and northwest Ohio.

Detroit Sports 105.1′s HD2 signal will also carry additional content throughout the day, including expanded game day coverage, Pistons features, game replays and more.   This content will be distributed on digital platforms such as the Pistons and Detroit Sports 105.1 mobile apps as well as each entity’s web site.

The agreement also calls for Pistons game broadcasts to be streamed on the station and team websites as well as their mobile apps.

WMGC 1051. FM (50Kw) 54dBu Coverage

Pistons broadcasters George Blaha, Mark Champion and Rick Mahorn will continue their play-by-play and analyst roles under the new agreement.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Palace Sports and Entertainment,” said Detroit Sports 105.1 Program Director Jason Dixon.  “This agreement is more than a standard rights agreement; it’s a content creation agreement.  The Pistons and Detroit Sports 105.1 will be generating an unprecedented amount of team related content that will be distributed over multiple platforms.  The structure of this deal allows for creativity and innovation that we intend to take advantage of.   I truly believe it could become a model for future professional sports rights agreements.”