Milwaukeehockey.com

All we hear is Radio Ga Ga

June 19, 2007

Radio blah blah
Radio what's new?
Radio, someone still loves you!

Those who have visited my site over the years have read my moaning and complaining of not being able to tune into Admirals radio broadcasts when I am unable to listen to the games online. I live in the far southern corner of the state in Pleasant Prairie (south of Kenosha). Not very far from Milwaukee, but too far for many of the city's AM radio signals.

Several years ago, the games were on WISN 1130AM, which came in clear in the daytime, but the signal was turned way down after sunset, at which time St. Louis Blues games (1120AM) would bleed all over Doug Pettit's call of the Admirals. Kinda funny actually, hearing parts of two games at once. Sometimes they would finish each other's sentences.

The team switched to a Christian music station (WJYI 1340AM) three(?) years ago. Weak signal. I could maybe catch every third or fourth word from Kyle Schultz. I rarely bothered to tune in if I was south of highway 20.

Two years ago, the team was added to ESPN Radio's lineup. "1510 days, 1290 nights". At the time, I thought that announcement was pretty cool. ESPN Radio... had a nice ring to it, as if the Admirals finally found a perfect home.

It turned out to be a little less than perfect. I still couldn't hear the games at night, and even if I was travelling where the signal was available, the games were often tape-delayed due to conflicts with other sports events. Once again, I rarely bothered to try to tune in the games when I was away from my computer. But it was a positive step for the Admirals. 1290 hosted a weekly call-in show, and the station exposed and promoted the Admirals throughout the day to other sports fans.

Last week, the team announced a change to Sports Radio 1250 (WSSP). According to radio-locator.com, 1250's nighttime signal should reach me. I've been too lazy to actually turn off my newly-acquired XM radio and test out the 1250 signal on my car stereo to see how much static I'll have to endure, but for now, I'm trusting the web site telling me it's a stronger signal than previous Admiral radio outlets.

The call-in show will also be carried on 1250. It will be interesting to see how often the Admirals are tape-delayed, as 1250 is the alternative station for Brewers and Bucks games, when they cannot be heard live on 620AM. UW hockey and basketball is also carried by 1250.

A few people sent me messages asking for my opinion on the radio switch. I'm taking a wait-and-see stance. A stronger signal is a good start... now we'll have to see if they get preempted by other events. But whether it works out great or not, it can not be considerably worse than I've dealt with in the past. A thumbs up to the Admirals for trying to "right the ship" on this one.

Hopefully, most of you realize the thinking behind most of my recent blog entry titles. I try to pick a song lyric pertaining to the topic at hand (changing words when needed). Most of you younger fans probably do not realize this, as my taste in music often goes back to when MTV actually played music videos (and earlier).

The title to this post is from a 1984 Queen song... scrolling down, you'll see references to Van Halen, Pink Floyd, Frankie Valli, and David Bowie. And I will include subsequent lines to the song in italics at the beginning of the blog entry if they are relevant.

Why do I do this? Thinking of catchy blog titles isn't always easy, and this way it adds a little quirky fun to the site.

posted by Todd # 1:36 PM

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