One of the primary reasons why Los Angeles was awarded an American League expansion franchise for the 1961 season was because actor/singer turned broadcast mogul Gene Autry wanted to secure radio broadcast rights for the newly planned Los Angeles American League franchise. His KMPC (710 AM, now KSPN) was the radio home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, from the time they arrived from Brooklyn, New York in time for the 1958 baseball season, and actually came away from the 1960 Winter Meetings with his own baseball team.
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Naturally, KMPC became the longtime radio outlet for Angels games throughout Southern California, although there was a period from 1998 to 2002 that KLAC (570 AM) became the team's flagship radio home. However, the Angels returned to their ancestral radio home at 710 AM, now since rebranded 710 ESPN, Los Angeles's ESPN Radio-operated outlet from the 2003 through 2007 seasons.
In 2006 team owner Arte Moreno purchased his own radio station, KMXE (830 AM), an Orange County, California-licensed Spanish-language formatted station. By mid-2006, 830 AM's programming was mostly in English (the principal exception being Angels games in Spanish), and the station's call was changed to AM 830. In October 2007, the Angels announced that ESPN Deportes 710 would carry games in Spanish, and AM 830 will carry Angels games in English, although games that conflict with Anaheim Ducks games will be transferred to another station. [1]
In time for the 2008 baseball season AM 730 became the English-language outlet for Angels games, when their contract with KSPN expired.
In 2009, former Dodger radio flagship KFWB joined the Angels radio network, serving as a co-flagship of sorts alongside KLAA, carrying Monday through Friday games. It provided fans who live in certain parts of the Los Angeles market with a secondary outlet to listen to games.
In 2010, KSPN-AM AM 710 simulcast at least 60 games with KLAA to reach areas of the northwest area of the Los Angeles radio market. The deal returns the Angels to their old radio station from 2007. For 2011 KSPN will simulcast with KLAA for 25-30 weekend games. [2]
On the television side, the then-KHJ-TV (Channel 9) was the team's original home, until the start of the 1964 season, when Autry moved the Angels to his then-newly purchased KTLA (Channel 5). KTLA remained the Angels' home for 32 seasons (while also carrying Dodgers games from 1993 to 2001). The team returned to Channel 9, by this time renamed KCAL-TV, because The Walt Disney Company bought a stake of the team and eventually became the full owner after Gene Autry's death in 1998. At the time the broadcast rights were secured before the 1996 season, Disney had owned KCAL, until they were forced to sell the station when it bought ABC. Due to FCC regulations at the time, Disney could not own two television stations in the same city, as ABC owns KABC-TV.
KCAL remained the home of Angels baseball for 10 seasons, until the 2005 season. The station began broadcasting Dodgers games, starting in the 2006 season. When Moreno took over as owner, starting in the 2004 season, he made sure more games were available for fans. Most Angels fans were accustomed to seeing probably more than 100 games annually, but the Angels televised more than 140 games, the most in franchise history. In addition to the 50 telecasts each on KCAL and FSN West, the remaining telecasts were spread between UHF outlets KPXN (Channel 30, a Pax/i O&O) and the hometown-based independent station KDOC (Channel 56). In 2005, just KCAL and FSN West combined to televise about 140 games.
On April 3, 2006, the Angels and its cable broadcaster partner, Fox Sports West, finalized a 10-year, $500 million deal. This deal voids the previous one in which Fox Sports West would only televise a minimum of 50 games annually until 2008. In this current deal, Fox Sports West would own the rights to 150 locally-televised games annually, with 100 airing on West, while its sister over-the-air station, KCOP (Channel 13) will televise 50 contests. The remaining games would either air exclusively on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball or on Fox Television's Saturday Baseball Game of the Week package.
In 2009, Fox Sports West began broadcasting 25 additional games to its schedule, subtracting those from the KCOP package, bringing their total to 125 games. KCOP's current schedule of 25 games will mostly consist of Sunday afternoon contests, and selected Saturday night games.
Many broadcasters have come and gone over the years, as with any other sports franchise, and the Angels are no exception. Many notable voices have included former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre, legendary voice of the Seattle Mariners, Dave Niehaus, legendary broadcasters Dick Enberg and Joe Garagiola, late Hall of Fame pitcher Don Drysdale, Hall of Fame outfielder Reggie Jackson, current Detroit Tigers TV voice Mario Impemba, current Arizona Diamondbacks TV announcer Daron Sutton (son of Hall of Famer Don Sutton), and Hall of Famer manager Sparky Anderson. Enberg is the broadcaster most associated with the Angels, famous for his pet phrases "Oh, My!" and "And the halo shines tonight!". He used both of these phrases during the World Series' victory celebration of the Angels in 2002 while addressing the crowd.
Others such as Bob Starr, Paul Olden, Larry Kahn and Al Conin served as Angel broadcasters. Starr and Olden, along with Dick Enberg and Steve Physioc, were former Los Angeles Rams play-by-play announcers concurrent with their Angels duties; in fact, Physioc was the last radio play-by-play man of the Rams in their final season in Southern California (1994). Elconin's broadcasting style was very similar to that of Dodgers' Hall of Famer Vin Scully. Longtime San Diego Padres and New York Yankees legend Jerry Coleman had a brief stint with the Angels in the early-1970s before joining the Padres.
A shake-up in the Angels’ broadcast team for the 2010 season was announced in November 2009. Rory Markas and Mark Gubicza were designated to take over the TV broadcasts in 2010, with Terry Smith and José Mota on radio. The contracts of Steve Physioc and former Major League player Rex Hudler were not renewed after 14 and 11 years' service, respectively.[3]
Markas died on January 4, 2010 of an apparent heart attack at his home in Palmdale, California.[4]
The 2009 lineup of Angels broadcasters had been[5] Physioc (TV and radio play-by-play), Rex Hudler (TV and radio analyst), Gubicza (TV analyst), José Mota (lead analyst on the Spanish radio broadcasts), Markas (radio and TV play-by-play), and Smith (radio play-by-play).
During the 2008 Major League Baseball season,[6] Markas worked 75 games on television with Gubicza as analyst; Physioc and Hudler worked the remaining games on TV, but moved to the radio side whenever Markas and Gubicza worked on TV. Markas continued as the lead radio play-by-play announcer for the games Physioc and Hudler did for TV. Terry Smith continued his role as the #2 radio play-by-play man, while José Mota returned to his role as in-game reporter on TV and Spanish radio analyst.
In 2007, Mota and Fox Sports West/Prime Ticket analyst Gubicza had worked 50 telecasts (mostly road) for FSN West and KCOP, while Physioc and Hudler continued as the lead TV broadcast team for the Angels, working the remaining 100 local broadcasts. Veteran Spanish sportscaster Amaury Pi-Gonzalez joined the team for Spanish radio play-by-play for the 2007 season, replacing Ivan Lara.
Markas and Gubicza had previously worked a three-game series for FSN West between the Angels and Blue Jays at Rogers Centre in Toronto, on August 13-15, 2007.
Terry Smith, who handles mostly the middle innings on radio, has been referred to by some as this generation's Harry Kalas because Smith often uses Kalas' famous phrases as "that ball is out-ta here" on an Angels home run, or "struck him out" when the Angels strike out an opposing batter. Markas, who used his famous phrase Just another Halo victory! after Angel wins, was also a broadcaster for the USC Basketball team.
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| Station | Frequency | City |
|---|---|---|
| KLAA | 830 AM | Orange (English flagship) |
| KSPN | 710 AM | Los Angeles (English Affiliate) |
| KWKW | 1330 AM | Los Angeles (Spanish flagship) |
| KGEO | 1230 AM | Bakersfield, California |
| KGAM | 1450 AM | Palm Springs, California |
| XEPE | 1700 AM | San Diego–Tijuana |
| KVTA | 1520 AM | Ventura, California |
| KKZZ | 1400 AM | Ventura, California |
| KLOA | 1240 AM | Ridgecrest, California |
| KELY | 1230 AM | Ely, Nevada |
| KVFG | 103.1 FM | Victorville, California |