You've GOT to be kidding me...
No, AK1984, I don't mean Paul Pierce. I mean this:
SONICS SELECT ENTERCOM SEATTLE AS NEW RADIO PARTNER Seattle, WA (January 24th, 2006) - The Seattle SuperSonics organization today announced its signing of a multi-year agreement with Entercom Seattle. All Sonics games will be broadcast on 770KTTH starting in the 2006-07 season.
read the whole release here
Talk about culture clash. "KTTH - The Truth 770" boasts a broadcast lineup of conservative media giants--Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Medved and others who pine for the days of "traditional values." What those are, I have no idea, but I think it was last practiced in the 1950s. Anyway, from what I gather, The Truth is targeted at what is commonly known as a "Red State" audience.
Meanwhile, the Sonics are a professional basketball team in the National Basketball Association. You know, that sports league where "all" the players wear tattoos and corn-rows, smoke pot and star in hip-hop videos with big-booty women--things that definitely play better to a "Blue State" crowd (yes, lawd!). Traditional values are about as relevant to modern b-ball culture as short-shorts and the two-handed set shot.
So it's safe to say that these two cultures and their values don't overlap in too many places--well, except for when Danny Fortson is talking about homosexuality or something. But you can't tell me that shacking up with Rush was the Sonics' best option.
Some of KTTH's sister stations--710 KIRO, 99.9 KISW, 103.7 The Mountain and 107.7 The End--attract that core, prototypically-Seattle crowd of upper-middle class liberal-weenies (ahem) who form the bulk of the Supes' following. Why not relocate to one of those stations? Key Arena is packed with the yuppies, butt-rockers, modern-rockers, and aging hippies that listen to these stations... all that's missing are the baggy-pants KUBE 93 types (KJR's sister station).
My only guess is that, just like Commissioner Stern's dress code, the Sonics' foray into Bush-league radio is some kind of attempt to broaden their appeal to Red-Staters. Or conversely, KTTH could be trying to pull some of those heathen Sonics fans into their righteous flock. Good luck with that, guys. If that works, maybe they'll start playing Young Jeezy at NASCAR races and having Big & Rich sing at the NBA All-Star Ga--oh wait.
But whatever. At least I won't have to turn my AM dial, or turn my radio on at all, to get my KC fix. Kevin Calabro is still in the picture (har):
Nineteen-year-veteran Sonics play-by-play announcer Kevin Calabro will continue to handle the television play-by-play duties on Sonics television partner FSN Northwest. The Sonics will add broadcast talent to handle the radio responsibilities. Calabro will remain the primary play-by-play broadcast talent for radio-only regular-season games and Sonics playoff games.
"The Sonics will add broadcast talent to handle the radio responsibilities," eh? May I be the first to suggest, then, a dynamic duo of Rush and Dennis Miller? If folks like me aren't tuning in, then hell, take this right-wing radio thing all the way.
2. Should be an interesting matchup tonight, as the Blazers take a 4-15 road record into Key Arena. Juan Dixon has really come on strong in the last month, regularly scoring 20 points and putting up a 43% 3-pt mark for the month of January, as well as a 50% mark overall. Obviously, he’s not going to keep up that rate, but I’m not expecting Ray Allen to put an end to it. One other item to note: Steve Blake and Luke Ridnour will stage a “World’s Grittiest Man” competition at halftime. Celebrity judges include Chris Corchiani and John Stockton.
