Baseball, Radio and Generations of Tuning In – Radio World

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of watching the Los Angeles Dodgers mop the floor with the Atlanta Braves — final score: 9–2. It was a much-needed win after an unfortunate start to the four-game series.

Although I am a Los Angeles native (hence my love for Los Doyers), I currently reside in Atlanta, Ga., where you can find the heart of Braves country at Truist Park.

I attended the game with my brother Alex, his wife, Crystal, and my fiancé, Matt — the lone Braves fan of the group. Despite it being a night game on a Sunday, with the ever-dreaded Monday wakeup call looming, it was a lovely evening full of hamburgers, peanuts and, of course, radio.

When visiting baseball stadiums outside of my home team’s in Elysian Park, I’m always on the lookout for station advertising promoting the best way to listen to the live broadcast. For the Braves, their flagship station is WCNN(AM), otherwise known as 680 The Fan. Owned by Dickey Broadcasting Company, the station first went on air in 1965 under the call letters WRNG.

WCNN broadcasts with a power of 50 kW during the day and 10 kW at night, and can alternatively be heard on 93.7 MHz via its FM translator.

The station’s banner could prominently be seen wrapped around the stadium. Naturally I had to tune in.

While the station does have a livestream on its website, I decided to opt for the TuneIn app, already downloaded on my phone. While the audio quality was good — and the voice of commentator Joe Simpson soothing — the lag made the feed effectively unlistenable.

My deduction skills estimated that the live commentary was delayed by 1.5 minutes by the time it reached my ears, which is unideal to say the least.

It reminded me of a recent conversation Radio World had with Australian sports media company Sports Entertainment Network (SEN). Together with its partner RIOT Broadcast, the company created a new form of radio streaming dubbed “5G Radio.” The technology provides fans’ mobile phones with real-time audio commentary in-stadium — a tool that would have been enthusiastically welcomed on Sunday night.

Family Traditions

Baseball has been in my blood since a very young age, from working the snack shack for my local little league to attending countless Dodgers (and sometimes Angels) games with my brother and Dad.

This is a tradition that precedes my birth, starting with my grandpa (otherwise known as Papa) Rudy. It is also a tradition that can be traced back to Crystal’s grandpa, Ed.

Outside of the fact the Papa lived in L.A., perhaps it’s no surprise that he often tuned in to the game. Many Mexican-Americans have claimed the Dodgers for their own, and Papa — legally named Rudolpho Gonzalez — and his family hailed from Chihuahua, Mexico.

Besides that fact, Rudy and Ed were longtime friends. And annual camping trips to Bass Lake, Calif., (where our families have been camping for the last 63 years) did not stop the duo from tuning in to hear the voice of Vin Scully as he called the games.

While we were seated together on Sunday, Crystal recalled how Ed and Rudy would hunker down at the lake, listening to the game via a little silver radio amidst the trees and dirt. I now hold that image dear in my mind.

Naturally, my heart ached following Scully’s death in 2022, which I reported on here. Scully’s tenure with the Dodgers was the longest of any broadcaster with a single team in professional sports history. To say he was beloved is an understatement.

New Ties

Now, the family tradition lives on with the addition my fiancé, Matt. Although we root for opposite teams in most every regard, we keep our trash talking to a minimum and hold hands through it all.

We also have a certain ballplayer that ties us together. The Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman was a prominent figure for the Braves for 12 years, having made his MLB debut with the Atlanta team. To much chagrin, he was traded to the Dodgers in 2022.

As fate would have it, before we even met, Matt and I both purchased Freeman jerseys — albeit for two different teams.

Sunday was the first time we got to attend a Braves v. Dodgers matchup, and take the long-awaited “jersey photo.”

Matt’s love for the game can also be traced back to his grandparents, with his “granny” Joyce an avid supporter. While she sometimes attended an in-person game, Matt said Joyce mostly “watched” the game on the radio, even tuning in on Sundays while she cooked the family meal.

Matt told me about how Joyce would sometimes watch the Braves play on TBS; however, she was sure to tune in to 680 The Fan for its recap the following morning.

Now, attending games is a family affair. It’s a love that we’re now indoctrinating into the younger generation, starting with my niece Chloe.

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