Richmond, Va. radio station adds Red Sox by vote

• There's never too much baseball on radio, so perhaps other stations will follow Richmond's lead:

Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 27, 2009: "If you've heard the Boston Red Sox on the radio in Richmond, this isn't some long-range frequency pick-up.

• Red Sox games are commonly broadcast this season by Sports Radio 910. The Atlanta Braves also periodically pop up on that station. When there is a conflict, the station determines which team will be broadcast by listeners' responses.

Michael Clifford, program director for Sports Radio 910, considered last winter how the station would fill the void created by the departure of the Richmond Braves, whose games Sports Radio 910 carried during 2008. He decided to ask listeners, via the station's Web site.

• Games of the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles already were scheduled for broadcast on other Richmond radio stations.

• Clifford gave listeners a choice of any other major-league club.

Clifford said Sports Radio 910 received roughly 1,000 responses, and "When the voting ended, we had a tie, so I actually extended it for another week of voting. The tie remained, even at the end of that."

• The Red Sox and Braves finished even,

• with the New York Yankees a distant third, according to Clifford.

When there isn't a broadcast conflict involving the Red Sox and Braves, Sports Radio 910 airs both. When there is a conflict -- and there are many through the remainder of the season -- the station leaves it up to listeners. They pick the game they'd prefer through Web site voting. In this competition, the Red Sox have been big winners....

• Having two clubs as broadcast options doesn't cost the station twice as much, said Clifford.
• There is a fee he described as "minimal" that the Red Sox charge stations outside New England, and the Braves require no rights fee.

Clifford said he is not aware of any other radio station that determines its sports programming in this manner. The process might last just one season. Sports Radio 910 is interested in broadcasting the games of the next Richmond professional baseball club." via Dave Kohl's column on Radio Daily News

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