The New York Yankees Radio Network is a CBS-owned broadcast radio network that broadcasts New York Yankees baseball games. The network is made up of 52 AM and FM stations in fourteen states.[1] The network's flagship station for the network is WCBS in New York City, which produces each broadcast in association with the team.
All-sports-radio sister station WFAN has also served as the team's radio flagship station. In a rare move, WFAN carried the live broadcast of the Yankees day / night doubleheader at the Baltimore Orioles on August 28, 2011, so WCBS could remain within its usual news format for live, continuing coverage of Hurricane Irene.[2]
The YES Network provides some technical support for each broadcast, and XM Satellite Radio carries the network's feed for every home game the Yankees play as per their contract. A separate, Spanish-language broadcast airs on New York's WADO, 1280 AM.
The network was formed in 2002 after WCBS outbid former Yankees radio flagship WABC for the radio rights to the team.
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Since 2005, John Sterling (play-by-play) and Suzyn Waldman (color commentary) have been the Yankees Radio Network broadcast team. Waldman is currently the first and (so far) only woman to hold a full-time position with a major league team, and had previously served as a Yankees beat reporter for the YES Network before moving to the broadcast booth. Waldman was also one of the original personalities at WFAN upon its 1986 launch, where she served as a studio host for various teams (including the New York Knicks, for whom she hosted the pregame show) including the Yankees.[3]
Sterling joined the Yankees in 1989 (or more accurately rejoined; he had previously done work for the Yankees in the 1970s) after calling games for Turner Sports for the previous decade and has been at the mic for every Yankee game since, having never missed one game in his 22 years as Yankees play-by-play man. Prior to the Yankee broadcasts moving from WABC to WCBS, Sterling worked with Jay Johnstone, Joe Angel, and Michael Kay. He is widely known (and perhaps infamous) for his home run calls, which often involve one of his player nicknames or catchphrases and for saying Ballgame over! Yankees win! Theeeeeee Yankees win! after a Yankee victory. Sterling will often stretch out "the" for dramatic victories as well as say "Yankees win" in a more excited voice. (Naturally then, if the team loses, Sterling will end with a more subdued Ballgame over, (opposing team) wins)
The original Yankees Radio Network broadcast booth continued the practice that WABC and various other Yankee flagship stations had by having two play-by-play announcers share the booth and alternate as the game went on. After Michael Kay was promoted to the team's lead television voice, the Yankees hired ESPN's Charley Steiner away from the network to share the booth with Sterling. The two stayed together until Game 7 of the 2004 American League Championship Series. After the season, to make room for Suzyn Waldman's move to the broadcast booth, Steiner was to become the YES Network's studio host for Yankee games as well as for its coverage of the New Jersey Nets, a spot that opened after Fred Hickman left YES for ESPN. However, Steiner elected to join the Los Angeles Dodgers Radio Network instead after the team decided to fire longtime radio voice Ross Porter.
The broadcast begins with the pregame show, referred to on air as the "Tri-State BMW Pregame Show" for 2010, which begins approximately thirty-five minutes prior to first pitch and runs for approximately twenty-five minutes. John Sterling begins by welcoming the fans to the broadcast, reviewing the game's pitching matchup, gives the pregame show's rundown, and introduces the broadcast team in the booth.
"The Manager's Show" is first on the pregame show and features a pre-recorded interview between Sterling and Yankees manager Joe Girardi, where the two discuss the team and the upcoming game. Following this the pregame show returns live for "Diamond Notes", where Suzyn Waldman reports on the baseball news of the day. "The Leadoff Spot" is the last item on the pregame show where Waldman usually interviews a Yankee player but will occasionally speak to opposing players or other broadcasters. Sterling then returns live to wrap up the pregame show.
The game broadcast begins after a short commercial break, and Waldman returns to give the starting lineups and the pitching matchup. Sterling rejoins the broadcast as the game's leadoff hitter steps into the batter's box.
The fifth inning is dubbed "The Daily News Fifth", carrying on a tradition started when the Yankees called WABC home. A reporter from the New York Daily News (almost always team beat writer Mark Feinsand) joins the broadcast team during the opponent's half of the fifth and discusses news in and around the team in between pitches.
For the last inning or so, depending on how long the game continues, Sterling will announce the game by himself to allow Waldman enough time to get to the clubhouse for the postgame. If the Yankees win the game, Waldman will choose a player for her "Star of the Game" interview and then head into the clubhouse; if not, Sterling will recap the totals and reveal the player of the game (which he does anyway, regardless) and close the game broadcast.
After another commercial break the postgame show, which for 2010 is called the "Mini Cooper Postgame Show", begins. The postgame begins with the highlights from the game, which include the top defensive play of the game (referred to as the "Good Hands" Defensive Play and sponsored by Allstate) and the "Land Rover Drive of the Game" (which often is a home run but also can show a hard hit that drove in multiple runs). There is also one play dubbed the "WCBS NewsRadio 880 Turning Point of the Game", and listeners can win a prize by correctly remembering the play during the next morning's newscast. Waldman's clubhouse report then follows the highlight show.
After a commercial break the broadcast shifts to WCBS' newsroom where the sports anchor on duty runs down the scores from around the major leagues and hosts the "Sounds of the Game" segment, where a snippet of the postgame news conferences provided by the YES Network is played. Sterling then returns to give one final postgame award (the "Cut Above The Rest", a Supercuts-sponsored award given to the player or players who had the highest on base percentage), review the next game's pitching matchup and start time, and close the broadcast.
The current affiliates are: [4]
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