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Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Bay Area Radio: MLB A's Games To Be Streamed, No Radio

A’s Cast, the Oakland A’s 24/7 audio streaming station on TuneIn, is now the official audio home of A’s content, including all 2020 game broadcasts, podcasts, and daily sports shows. Every Spring Training and regular season game in 2020 can be heard exclusively on A’s Cast throughout the Bay Area for free on TuneIn, the leading live global streaming and on-demand audio service. The A’s will also be the first Club to offer a commercial-free broadcast once a homestand. Fans can access the A’s TuneIn station at athletics.com/ascast.

Ken Korach
Ken Korach will return for his 25th season with the A’s and his 15th as the team’s lead radio announcer, pairing with Vince Cotroneo, who will begin his 15th season with the Club. Ray Fosse will also make special appearances in the booth throughout the season. The A’s daily live sports talk show, A’s Cast Live, hosted by Chris Townsend, will air before or after every weekday A’s game, including live shows from the field.

The A’s are also expanding their Spanish-language broadcasts on TuneIn to include coverage of every regular season home game. Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday home game Spanish-lanugauge broadcast will also air on KIQI 1010 AM, San Francisco and KATD 990 AM, Pittsburg. Amaury Pi-González will return for his 27th season with the A’s and 43rd season overall in MLB. González will be joined by Manolo Hernández-Douen, who will begin his 12th season as an A’s analyst.

In addition to game broadcasts, A’s Cast features a daily live sports talk show, A’s Cast Live, and special programming, including, The David Forst Show, a regular sit-down with the A’s general manager; The Bob Melvin Show, a weekly interview with the A’s manager; The Build with Dave Kaval, a podcast on the vision, characters, and stories about the team’s new ballpark project; Taking Effect, a feature hosted by Ken Korach which includes long-form interviews on a number of baseball topics; A Season on the Road, a segment where Vince Cotroneo takes listeners on the road with the team; The Farm; a segment featuring the A’s Minor League affiliates; A’s Unfiltered, a podcast with stories from the A’s scouting, business operations, and baseball operations teams; Green and Gold History, a recurring series focusing on the colorful and engaging history of the A’s franchise; The Path: Building the MLB dream, which profiles a player’s journey to the Majors; A’s All Night; a recap of each A’s game; and High and Tight, up-to-the-minute news and stories from around MLB.

In 2019, A’s Cast eclipsed all other MLB teams to become the No. 1 MLB team podcast, marking the first time the A’s have had the league’s most popular and downloaded property.

The A’s Cast station on TuneIn features 24/7 coverage of the A’s and is free for fans in most of Northern California. The A’s station can be accessed at athletics.com/ascast. A’s fans outside the Bay Area can continue to catch games on the A’s Radio Network, which includes KHTK–AM 1140 in Sacramento and 11 other radio affiliates throughout Northern California and can listen to A’s Cast on-demand material for free at athletics.com/podcasts.

The A’s say they are betting on a more tech-savvy generation. They planned to pursue an all-digital approach last season before the KTRB deal emerged . Salem Media Group's KTRB 860 AM was the team’s 12th radio home since its arrival in 1968, and the fifth since 2000.

The Mercury News reports Mike Shields, the general manager of Salem Media Group, which owns the station, said the A’s gave notice last week that they would not be renewing their contract. Shields said the broadcast partnership was productive from his view and the station was planning for another season of broadcasting games.

“We certainly had hoped it would continue. We enjoyed the relationship quite a bit,” Shields said. “We did not know it was coming. But in this day and age, things change. We wish them the best.”

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