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Radio Contract


bincitysioux

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Forum Communications, whose cash bid in previous years exceeded $100,000, bid $55,000 for each of the next two years.

This is the part that I find perplexing. Forum Communications has been the voice of the Bison for how many years and now offer less than 55% of what they had been bidding. ;)?

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What channel do you listen to? I am in the middle of the state when I come home and I can't find a channel that has them on.

Sorry for not replying for so long...I have not checked this thread for a while. Both hockey and football games are on 1390AM from Minot, though they don't broadcast very powerfully. They are religious with hockey games, pretty much everyone (I do recall a late night Alaska-Anchorage game being interupted though); I am not sure about fooball though. Out of Bismarck, hockey is suppose to be on 710AM but I recall it not being on there earlier this year for at least one game (local sports instead). I never used to folow fooball so I am not sure what the coverage is like from Bismarck.

And thanks bincitysioux for answering the question.

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This is the part that I find perplexing. Forum Communications has been the voice of the Bison for how many years and now offer less than 55% of what they had been bidding. ;)?

I'm perplexed as well, but like the man in the best position to know said,

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Sorry for not replying for so long...I have not checked this thread for a while. Both hockey and football games are on 1390AM from Minot, though they don't broadcast very powerfully. They are religious with hockey games, pretty much everyone (I do recall a late night Alaska-Anchorage game being interupted though); I am not sure about fooball though. Out of Bismarck, hockey is suppose to be on 710AM but I recall it not being on there earlier this year for at least one game (local sports instead). I never used to folow fooball so I am not sure what the coverage is like from Bismarck.

And thanks bincitysioux for answering the question.

Thanks for the info.

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I wondered if the

- Bison football PA announcer being half of the KFGO morning team, and

- the former PA announcer for Sioux hockey being the prime local host for WDAY-AM

would come into play sooner or later.

I would suspect if (somehow, I don't expect it) Clear Channel got NDSU and Leighton got UND that Leighton would enter into an agreement with Forum Communications to put UND games on WDAY.

I say that because I expect either no changes from current or Clear Channel to end up with both.

If WDAY did actually lose the rights to NDSU broadcasts, I'd imagine that Scott Hennan, also being the operations manager, would make a big push to get UND on WDAY.

Sidenote: Steve Hallstrom could possibly drink himself into oblivion if WDAY lost NDSU sports.

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Interesting innuendo from Fargo Forum writer Jeff Kolpack in his blog under the heading of "And let's talk about commitment":

... I can speak to the commitment the newspaper and the television and the radio has brought to NDSU athletics over the years. ...

That may not change with newspaper and TV; I don't know. Then again, I suppose it could.

That bold part, that's some, how shall we say, interesting language from Kolpack. It's clearly an indication that if NDSU left WDAY-AM Radio the rest of ForumComm (The Forum, WDAY-TV) coverage might "change" also.

What's more fun is Kolpack's blog just above that one (no coincidence?) titled "Siouxper news:

In response to the often-repeated question on why The Forum covers UND athletics: There are thousands of UND graduates in the Fargo-Moorhead area ....
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Anyone know how profitable WDAZ-TV's broadcast of UND hockey games are? If the WDAY TV/radio loses NDSU sports, could Forum Communications be looking at adding UND hockey broadcasts to WDAY-TV and KBMY-TV (Bismarck) / KMCY-TV (Minot)? The WDAZ connection to WDAY/Forum Communications/NDSU was never ideal for UND, as it limited broadcast TV options to NE North Dakota.

IMO, UND either needs to dump WDAZ for NBC or Fox affiliates, or get all Forum stations on board.

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IMO, UND either needs to dump WDAZ for NBC or Fox affiliates, or get all Forum stations on board.

I don't know if I agree with that. All the other affiliates are based in Fargo, just like Clear Channel. And unless it is game day, Clear Channel's radio coverage of UND is poor at best. I like the way WDAZ covers the Sioux.

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I don't know if I agree with that. All the other affiliates are based in Fargo, just like Clear Channel. And unless it is game day, Clear Channel's radio coverage of UND is poor at best. I like the way WDAZ covers the Sioux.

If another TV station had Sioux broadcast rights, there would need to be stipulations about coverage. Whether WDAZ has TV broadcast rights or not, they would, without question, cover the Sioux, or their news ratings would go way down.

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Surprised this hasn' been talked about:

Forum Communications owns WDAY radio, WDAY-TV and The Forum. It has held the NDSU contract for the last 43 years with the exception of a three-year period from 1979-82, when KQWB had it.

The latest contract, an eight-year deal worth an estimated $5.1 million at the date of signing, expired on April 30.

Neither Forum Communications nor Clear Channel met NDSU
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Anyone know how profitable WDAZ-TV's broadcast of UND hockey games are? If the WDAY TV/radio loses NDSU sports, could Forum Communications be looking at adding UND hockey broadcasts to WDAY-TV and KBMY-TV (Bismarck) / KMCY-TV (Minot)? The WDAZ connection to WDAY/Forum Communications/NDSU was never ideal for UND, as it limited broadcast TV options to NE North Dakota.

It would be sweet to be able to watch hockey on broadcast TV out of Minot. The last game on KMCY-TV that I know of was the inagural game at the new Ralph between UND and UofM.

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Anyone know how profitable WDAZ-TV's broadcast of UND hockey games are? If the WDAY TV/radio loses NDSU sports, could Forum Communications be looking at adding UND hockey broadcasts to WDAY-TV and KBMY-TV (Bismarck) / KMCY-TV (Minot)? The WDAZ connection to WDAY/Forum Communications/NDSU was never ideal for UND, as it limited broadcast TV options to NE North Dakota.

IMO, UND either needs to dump WDAZ for NBC or Fox affiliates, or get all Forum stations on board.

Yikes ;) This is a pretty scary notion. WDAZ, REA, and Midcontinent partner to form one of the most formidable sports broadcasting entities in the Midwest. Outside of FSN in Minneapolis, who cover college athletics to the degree of FSSN? The D-1 school to the south would die, die, die to have this current arrangement. FSSN covers a hell of a lot more than "NE North Dakota" as you put it. "Dump WDAZ"? I don't think so.

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Yikes ;) This is a pretty scary notion. WDAZ, REA, and Midcontinent partner to form one of the most formidable sports broadcasting entities in the Midwest. Outside of FSN in Minneapolis, who cover college athletics to the degree of FSSN? The D-1 school to the south would die, die, die to have this current arrangement. FSSN covers a hell of a lot more than "NE North Dakota" as you put it. "Dump WDAZ"? I don't think so.

WDAZ's parent is currently in bed with NDSU. That makes the relationship inherently unstable. Either get WDAY & company to join WDAZ, or get another partner (KVLY ?) for the REA/MidContinent/FSSN partnership. Why have a partner (WDAZ) who's parent (Forum Communications) has vested interests opposing UND?

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If ForumComm and/or Leighton got the contract would people outside of the Valley still be able to get radio broadcasts? We would still have the internet but radio would sure be nice. Here in central NoDak it is kinda nice to know that pretty much every Fri and Sat (when there is a game) 1390AM (Clear Chanel) has Sioux hockey on.

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Does anyone think that it could be a good thing if Clear Channel got both the UND and NDSU contracts? I wonder if it could lead to some more local sports coverage/talk shows during the off-season and non-gamedays. They'd have to have something for all those play-by-play guys to do (Hennessey, Hammer, Miller, Swygman), if they were all under one roof.

I'm still pulling for Leighton to get the bid, though.

Sidenote: Does anyone else think Scott Miller is the most overworked sports announcer in the area? Bison football, basketball, Primetime Sports, Redhawks baseball. He's a busy guy.

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Does anyone think that it could be a good thing if Clear Channel got both the UND and NDSU contracts? I wonder if it could lead to some more local sports coverage/talk shows during the off-season and non-gamedays. They'd have to have something for all those play-by-play guys to do (Hennessey, Hammer, Miller, Swygman), if they were all under one roof.

I'm still pulling for Leighton to get the bid, though.

Sidenote: Does anyone else think Scott Miller is the most overworked sports announcer in the area? Bison football, basketball, Primetime Sports, Redhawks baseball. He's a busy guy.

Way would they give a bid to a station that may not be able to get the games to the smaller ND towns.I am sure that their is alot of money that comes from alum and supporters in the small towns of ND and MN . And if I was one of those people I might just stop giving which is something UND sports can not afford to do at this point since they are in the red as much as they are. Rumor has it , both stations are putting their case infront of Buning and his staff today , so we may hear something soon. I feel clear channel does a great job and Tim and Swig do great at what they do. BUT it has been all about MONEY with Buning :D

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