Athletics Considering a Return to Bay Area Radio As 2020 Season Gets Going

The Oakland Athletics had planned to go with a streaming-only service, TuneIn, this season, rather than a standard radio broadcast. But as the delayed season begins to take shape for a July return, there is a report that the club is looking for an over-the-air radio partner.

There was some interesting news out of the Oakland A’s Friday via the San Francisco Chronicle.

The A’s, who made waves earlier this year when they said they would not have a radio station in the San Francisco Bay Area this year, apparently are having second thoughts.

After announcing that they’d be the first Major League Baseball team to go to streaming-only in their home area via TuneIn, which the club has used to augment their radio broadcasts in 2019, the A’s have been exploring a return to Bay Area radio for the 60-game season, which is expected to begin the weekend of July 23.

The A’s Sacramento-area station, KHTK-1140, can be heard in some parts of Alameda County, but not in the area close to Oakland and the Coliseum.

To get a deal done, the A’s will have to negotiate a separate deal with TuneIn, which calls for the streaming site to have the Bay Area to itself.

According to the newspaper, KTRB-860, the station that carried A’s games last year, has not been contacted by the club.

KTRB’s regular diet of right-wing talk shows have led A’s fans to complain to the club. The flip side of that is the dumping of radio as a whole got tremendous blowback from both fans and media.

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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