Posted by chicagomedia.org on April 30, 2008 at 10:54:41:
Blackhawks skating over to WGN-AM
Phil Rosenthal | Media
April 30, 2008
Here come the Hawks … to WGN-AM 720.
After eight years with CBS Radio's WSCR-AM 670 as their radio home, the Chicago Blackhawks are skating over to Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s WGN, sources said Tuesday.
It's expected the formal announcement will come in an on-air 7 a.m. Wednesday news conference in Pioneer Court, next to WGN's Tribune Tower studios. The station last week alerted media outlets it planned "a major programming-related announcement."
In recent years with WSCR, the Hawks have bought their airtime. But it's believed WGN-AM's three-year deal includes a rights fee.
The radio move is the second major broadcasting line change the Blackhawks have made this month under Chairman Rocky Wirtz and President John McDonough, who had a longstanding relationship with WGN as an executive with the Tribune Co.-owned Chicago Cubs.
The Hawks, in a reversal of past policy, began televising a handful of home games this past season and on April 1 formally announced that all 82 regular-season games will be on TV in high definition next season on Comcast SportsNet and Tribune Co.'s WGN-Ch. 9, which last carried Hawks road games in the 1960s and early 1970s.