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Packers Radio Network

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Green Bay Packers Radio Network
TypeRadio network
Country
HeadquartersGreen Bay, Wisconsin
Broadcast area
Wisconsin
Michigan
Minnesota
Illinois (limited)
South Dakota (limited)
North Dakota (limited)
OwnerGreen Bay Packers
Affiliation(s)NFL
Affiliates50
Official website
Packers Radio Network

The Packers Radio Network is a broadcast radio network and the official radio broadcaster of the Green Bay Packers, fully under the team's control in regards to technical productions and on-air personnel. The network's flagship is iHeartMedia's WRNW in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and its coverage is also heard nationwide through NFL Game Pass, Sirius XM, and TuneIn.

The team's play-by-play announcer is Wayne Larrivee, with former Packer center Larry McCarren providing color commentary since 1995. Former Packers fullback John Kuhn serves as the network's sideline reporter.

History

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The Packers radio network was previously with WTMJ, which has broadcast the games since November 24, 1929, and was the former flagship station of Journal Communications until the E. W. Scripps Company and Journal completed their broadcast merger and publishing spin-off on April 1, 2015 (Good Karma took over WTMJ's operations on November 1, 2018 upon Scripps' second withdrawal from radio).[1] It was one of the few arrangements where a team's flagship radio station was not based in their home market and the local station served as a network affiliate only; WTMJ can be heard at city-grade strength in most of eastern Wisconsin, including Green Bay. Meanwhile, the rights for Packers games in the Green Bay are held by Midwest Communications's WIXX, with Midwest Communications acquiring the Fox Cities rights to the team in 2022 for WYDR, resolving an oddity in the network where former Fox Cities affiliate WAPL transmits from the same tower site as WIXX.[2]

In situations where Milwaukee Brewers baseball playoff games conflicted with Packers games (WTMJ and Good Karma Brands originate that team's broadcasts as the Brewers Radio Network) in September and October, WTMJ's FM sister station WKTI (94.5) originated the games in Milwaukee, with other stations in the Packers Radio Network continuing to determine how to carry both games, depending on whether they have a sister station to broadcast both games.

Though its broadcasts began in 1929, WTMJ did not begin paying the Packers for broadcast rights until 1943; it paid the team $7500 to broadcast the season. In the early 1930s, there was no exclusive right given to broadcast games, and WHBY, then based in Green Bay, often sent its own announcers to call the game. From 1933 to 1936, three additional stations carried WTMJ's radio broadcasts of Packer games: WLBL in Stevens Point (a non-commercial station owned by the state commerce department decades before the creation of Wisconsin Public Radio), WTAQ in Green Bay and WKBH in La Crosse. WSAW in Wausau and WJMS in Ironwood, Michigan started carrying the feed in 1937.[3]

On October 27, 2021, the Packers announced that its longtime association with WTMJ would end at the end of the season, and that it had signed a deal with iHeartMedia to make sports radio station "The Game", WRNW (97.3), the team's new Milwaukee radio affiliate in 2022. Packers broadcasts already aired on iHeartMedia stations in Madison, Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Moline, Illinois. Production of the Packers Radio Network had been transferred from WTMJ to the team in 2018.[4]

Extended technical details

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Two internal radio stations are operated within the area surrounding Lambeau Field during Packers home games. The first features the Packers Radio Network play-by-play, along with public address and scoreboard announcements, providing the game call to those in attendance without the delay experienced by the uploading of the network feed via satellite. Another station carries the game's television network audio, also in sync with the PA/scoreboard.

Both feeds are located within VHF television channel 5 (76–82 MHz) and operated by the external vendor Live Sports Radio, LLC.[5][6] They are FM broadcasts on frequencies below the standard American FM band, intended to require the purchase of a purpose-built Live Sports Radio tuner from the team's pro shop. However, any radio capable of receiving the extended Japanese FM band below 87.7 FM can be tuned to these frequencies.

WIXX is considered an additional "primary" station in the network. This designation only truly comes to use in the later stages of the NFL Playoffs if the Packers make it to the NFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl, where WIXX is allowed to carry the Packers Radio Network local call. All other network stations, including those licensed to communities in the Fox Cities, must carry the national Westwood One call instead in line with NFL rules, which included WAPL in the past, despite transmitting from the same tower site as WIXX.

Programming format and announcers

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Its primary programming consists of broadcasts of Packer home and away games to a network of 56 stations in Wisconsin, the U.P., Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota, along with a two-hour pre-game show and three-hour postgame show which allows listeners to call, email, or text in a sports talk format about the finished game. Wayne Larrivee has been the play-by-play announcer since 1999, while former Packer center Larry McCarren has worked as the color commentator since 1995. Both Larrivee and McCarren contribute to the team's television programs, in addition to work with Spectrum News 1 statewide, WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee and WGBA-TV in Green Bay, where McCarren was sports director from 2013 until 2015 when he began to focus exclusively on his Packers network duties.

WRNW is the current Milwaukee station airing Learfield coverage of Wisconsin Badgers sports, and its sister stations WOKY (920) and WRIT-FM (95.7) already handle conflict situations between the Badger football and men's basketball teams, giving the Packers contractually-steady coverage throughout the season on WRNW on a full-market FM signal (through full-market stations and FM translators of AM stations and migration of AM stations over to full-power FM stations, Packers play-by-play has shifted to that band throughout the network, as with most of the league's teams). The shift away from WTMJ (whose transmitter is based in the Racine County community of Union Grove, de facto giving Racine and Kenosha a very strong signal) also compelled the team to add a Racine/Kenosha station to the network for the first time in WRJN to make up for WRNW's transmitter position being stronger to the north in the market than the south.[2]

Announcers

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Map of radio affiliates as of 2015, including WTMJ, thus WRNW's transmitter site on the north side of Milwaukee is not shown.

Station list

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Network stations as of the 2022 Packers season[9]
Callsign Frequency Band City State Network status
WRNW 97.3 FM Milwaukee Wisconsin Co-Flagship
WRLO-FM 105.3 FM Antigo Wisconsin Affiliate
WATW 1400 AM Ashland Wisconsin Affiliate
W267CS 101.3 FM Ashland Wisconsin WATW relay
WBSZ 93.3 FM Ashland Wisconsin Affiliate
WBOO 102.9 FM Baraboo Wisconsin Affiliate
WBEV-FM 95.3 FM Beaver Dam Wisconsin Affiliate
WJMQ 92.3 FM Clintonville Wisconsin Affiliate
WBIZ-FM 100.7 FM Eau Claire Wisconsin Affiliate
WGLQ 97.1 FM Escanaba Michigan Affiliate
KFIZ 1450 AM Fond du Lac Wisconsin Affiliate
W264DN 100.7 FM Fond du Lac Wisconsin KFIZ relay
WFON 107.1 FM Fond du Lac Wisconsin Affiliate
WFAW 940 AM Fort Atkinson Wisconsin Affiliate
WIXX 101.1 FM Green Bay Wisconsin Co-Flagship
WRLS-FM 92.3 FM Hayward Wisconsin Affiliate
WCUP 105.7 FM Houghton Michigan Affiliate
WOBE 100.7 FM Iron Mountain Michigan Affiliate
WIMI 99.7 FM Ironwood Michigan Affiliate
WCLO 1230 AM Janesville Wisconsin Affiliate
W224DE 92.7 FM Janesville Wisconsin WCLO relay
WJVL 99.9 FM Janesville Wisconsin Affiliate
W277DV 101.1 FM Janesville Wisconsin WFAW relay
W251BU 98.1 FM Kenosha Wisconsin WRJN relay
WKTY 580 AM La Crosse Wisconsin Affiliate
K244FM 96.7 FM La Crosse Wisconsin WKTY relay
WGLR-FM 97.7 FM Lancaster Wisconsin Affiliate
WIBA 1310 AM Madison Wisconsin Affiliate
WIBA-FM 101.5 FM Madison Wisconsin Affiliate
WOMT 1240 AM ManitowocTwo Rivers Wisconsin Affiliate
W300EE 107.9 FM ManitowocTwo Rivers Wisconsin WOMT relay
WLST 95.1 FM Marinette Wisconsin Affiliate
WUPZ 94.9 FM Marquette Michigan Affiliate
WKEB 99.3 FM Medford Wisconsin Affiliate
WFXN 1230 AM Moline Illinois Affiliate
WYDR 94.3 FM NeenahMenashaFox Cities Wisconsin Affiliate
WCCN 1370 AM Neillsville Wisconsin Affiliate
W253CN 98.5 FM Neillsville Wisconsin WCCN relay
WCCN-FM 107.5 FM Neillsville Wisconsin Affiliate
WCQM 98.3 FM Park Falls Wisconsin Affiliate
WCMP 1350 AM Pine City Minnesota Affiliate
W293DA 106.5 FM Pine City Minnesota WCMP relay
WQPC 94.3 FM Prairie du Chien Wisconsin Affiliate
WRJN 1400 AM Racine Wisconsin Affiliate
W260CV 99.9 FM Racine Wisconsin WRJN relay
WCYE 93.7 FM Rhinelander Wisconsin Affiliate
WJMC-FM 96.1 FM Rice Lake Wisconsin Affiliate
WRCO-FM 100.9 FM Richland Center Wisconsin Affiliate
WEVR 1550 AM River Falls Wisconsin Affiliate
W226CK 93.1 FM River Falls Wisconsin WEVR relay
WEVR-FM 106.3 FM River Falls Wisconsin Affiliate
WTCH 960 AM Shawano Wisconsin Affiliate
W241CJ 96.1 FM Shawano Wisconsin WTCH relay
WHBL 1330 AM Sheboygan Wisconsin Affiliate
W268BR 101.5 FM Sheboygan Wisconsin WHBL relay
KSOO 99.1 FM Sioux Falls South Dakota Affiliate
WXCX 105.7 FM Siren Wisconsin Affiliate
WCOW 97.1 FM Sparta Wisconsin Affiliate
WSAU-FM 99.9 FM Stevens Point Wisconsin Affiliate
WQDC 97.7 FM Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin Affiliate
WDSM 710 AM Superior Wisconsin Affiliate
WDUX-FM 92.7 FM Waupaca Wisconsin Affiliate
WSAU 550 AM Wausau Wisconsin Affiliate
W236CO 95.1 FM Wausau Wisconsin WSAU relay
WAUH 102.3 FM Wautoma Wisconsin Affiliate
WHTL-FM 102.3 FM Whitehall Wisconsin Affiliate
Blue background indicates low-power FM translator.

References

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  1. ^ Packers, WTMJ Sign Long-Term Extension Of Radio Rights Agreement Archived 2008-07-24 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b Ellis, Jon (24 April 2022). "Packers Network Adds Affiliates as Milwaukee Flagship Changes". Northpine. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  3. ^ Randall Davidson, 9XM Talking: WHA Radio and the Wisconsin Idea. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006. 222-223
  4. ^ Kirchen, Rich. "Green Bay Packers switch Milwaukee radio home from WTMJ-AM to iHeartMedia sports station". Milwaukee Business Journal. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  5. ^ Ellis, Jon (9 May 2021). "FCC Monitor: Iowa TV Station Upgrades". Northpine. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  6. ^ "LPTV Experimental STA Application (LMS File No. 250245)". FCC LMS.
  7. ^ Gary D'Amato, Irwin closes in on retirement after 30 years, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 13, 1998.
  8. ^ Russell G. Winnie - Sports Announcer - Assistant General Manager of Radio
  9. ^ "Packers Radio Station Listing". The Official Website of the Green Bay Packers.