If you are a Blackhawks' fan, get used to hearing John Wiedemann, Troy Murray & Judd Sirott call the games on WGN 720 for quite sometime to come. According to the Sun-Times' Lewis Lazare, the Hawks and the Tribune-owned news/talk station are very close to an extension of the team's radio deal. Lazare reports that the Hawks & WGN are close to an extension that'll keep the games on the news/talker through the 2013-14 season.

Although the Blackhawks and 720 AM are in the second year of a three-year contract, the decision to talk extension is because the two sides have already developed an extremely good working relationship. Getting such an extension done before the Stanley Cup Playoffs could allow WGN Radio to negotiate a more attractive contract than if the Hawks end up going on to win the Cup for the first time since 1961, likely raising rights' fees for arguably this city's hottest pro sports team.

Maybe I'm the only person who listens to Blackhawks games on the radio, but I thought the Score produced the games better than WGN does, in some respects. Judd Sirott is a huge upgrade over Jesse Rogers or no pre/int/post host at all (they tried this for a few months, the less said the better), and John Wiedeman is one of the best in the biz, but I have gripes with some of WGN's imaging.

I miss bumper music, which the Cubs have no trouble using in the summer, and the Hawks used on the Score. When Zawaski was producing games, you'd get some decent Springsteen tracks and so forth coming out of the breaks, and I was fine with that. That's how you produce a sporting event for the radio. Now, we have

HI I'M GARRY MEYER. VAGUE VEILED DISDAIN FOR HOCKEY. LISTEN TO ME AFTERNOONS ON WGN.
or
I'VE BEEN INSTRUCTED TO RECORD A LINER! GREG JARRETT, MORNINGS ON WGN.
then there's a bunch of ice-skating noises and various low-pitched sound effects, maybe some stock music. Music is awesome. Use music instead. Maybe not totally fair, because they do use a couple songs, namely that crappy "Woman" song by that stupid Wolfmother band, and a remix of the insufferable "Chelsea Dagger" with players saying "one goal" over and over, until it's just "goal-goal-goal-goal-g-g-g-g TIME FOR BLACKHAWKS INTERMISSION" or something. (What's worrisome is that this scissorhanded approach to production is seeping into Cubs radio, too, with every game opening with hackery like Pat Hughes saying "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT-BELIEVE IT-BELIEVE IT-BELIEVE IT-BELIEVE IT" or something.) Seeing as my knuckles do not drag and I know how to breathe through my nose, I generally support John McDonough, but here's a place where I'm really starting to get One Goaled out after a year and a half. I'll begrudgingly deal with the half-assed liners promoting the hosts, but a nice rotation of songs would liven up this aspect of the broadcast quite a bit. Maybe even "Here Come The Hawks." They have their own song, the team; it's a neat little thing sports teams do.

Just a minor complaint. It probably doesn't bother anyone else. Not even SHARK.

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As you all know I am a HUGE HAWKS fan!

Judd is a good listen!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I think the problem 670 The SCORE had the Blackhawks' rights had a lot to do with the fact that they inherited the contract from the defunct WMAQ Radio when they signed off for good about a decade ago. The Hawks weren't nearly the marquee team they are now, and WSCR had a lot of trouble trying to get another radio station to carry their games before WGN 720 took over last year as the team's radio home.

I remember one time where former SCORE host Mike North thought the Hawks/WSCR contract was a "bad deal", and I think it came at a point where SportsRadio 670 also had the local radio rights to University of Illinois basketball & football. The Hawks/WSCR deal was so bad, that before WGN Radio took over, their radio deal was similar to the one for DePaul basketball. Much like DePaul pays 'SCR for the airtime & announcers for their games, it was a similar arrangement for the Blackhawks before 'GN took over a year ago.

You'd be surprised how many teams around the country buy the airtime these days. Paying for the rights has become the exception in a lot of markets. The Score still paid for the White Sox, though. haha.

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Curious, I know they suck right now, but ESPN Radio 1000 doesn't pay a rights fee as flagship of the Chicago Bulls Radio Network. Since the Bulls were on the former 105.9 WCKG that 1 season before they "Fresh"-ened their format about 2 years ago, the team has been producing the games themselves.

As for the Chicago White Sox, 670 The SCORE pays only $2.5 million a year to carry the games. It's a fraction what it cost when ESPN 1000 aired both the Sox & Bulls when ABC Radio (now known as Citadel Broadcasting) bought the station and the radio rights in 1998 for $21 million. It was about $7.5 million a year to carry the Sox & Bulls on ESPN Radio, and it's my understanding that WMVP was swimming in the red financially on the two teams until 2005.