They still don’t have a radio affiliate in Lancaster.
WLPA-AM 1490, the Phillies longtime local affiliate, has dropped the Phillies in lieu of carrying broadcasts of all 126 Lancaster Barnstormers games.
Rob Brooks, the Phillies’ manager of broadcasting, said the club is talking to local radio stations and will have a Lancaster affiliate.
“We’ll have one before the start of the season,’’ Brooks said Friday.
“I’d like to have one before the start of spring training [games]. We just can’t announce it yet.’’
WLPA had carried the Phillies for more than 40 years. It aired 55 Barnstormers games last year, when they did not conflict with Phillies broadcasts.
“Lancaster is a difficult market, in that there are not a lot of AM stations,’’ Brooks said.
“We have an affiliate in Harrisburg, and one in York, and one in Reading. It’s hard to find somebody [in Lancaster] that doesn’t step on somebody else.’’
Phillies games can be heard in Lancaster on network affiliates in surrounding towns, including WLBR-AM 1270 in Lebanon, WEEU-AM 930 in Reading, WOYK-AM 1350 in York and WTKT-AM 1460 in Harrisburg.
Robert Etter, general manager of WLBR, said Phillies’ affiliates pay a rights fee to be part of the network. About 50 percent of the ads on the broadcast are sold by the Phillies, with the other half being sold by the affiliate.
“It’s a very good source of revenue,’’ Etter said. “But we also consider it very good programming. Baseball is a radio sport, probably the best radio sport. There’s just something about listening to a ball game on the radio.’’ Etter added, however, that he can understand WLPA’s thinking.
“Local programming is always better,’’ he said. WLPA will not pay a rights fee to the Barnstormers. About half of the advertising will be sold by the station, with the other half going to regular sponsors of the Barnstormers.
“It’s big for us,’’ Joe Pinto, the Barnstormers’ general manager, said Friday. “I’d say close to 90 percent of minor league baseball [teams] have their games on radio.’’
WLPA General Manager Bill Baldwin Sr. could not be reached for comment.
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