Bills vs Bengals / WEBN

On Sunday we headed down to Cincinnati to watch the Buffalo Bills play the Cincinnati Bengals. Last year Buffalo was losing by three touchdowns but came back to win in a crazy 49-31 victory. This time the Bills weren't so lucky as they lost 23-20 on a gut-wrenching field goal as time expired. Despite the loss, it was a beautiful day for football and you couldn't ask for a closer game.

A shot of WEBN's remote truck located on the plaza outside Paul Brown Stadium. Unfortunately the guy manning the WEBN tent had zero promotional stuff (any stickers given away would have been plastered all over the stadium.)

WEBN handed out these Mike Brown Bags a few years ago complete with eyeholes to cut out and wear over your head in shame. Mike Brown is one of the worst owners in all of professional sports and any success the Bengals enjoy come in spite of his colossally idiotic decisions.

WEBN has been a Rock station in Cincinnati, Ohio since 1967.

WKRC

550 AM WKRC (W Kodel Radio Company--the original owners) is a News/Talk station from Cincinnati, Ohio.  They are one of the oldest radio stations in the state having gone on the air in 1924.

Opening Day!

It's opening day of the 2011 Major League Baseball season. The Reds will begin to defend their National League Central title against the Milwaukee Brewers at 2:10 this afternoon. It's odd to start the season on a Thursday instead of the traditional Monday but least MLB stopped the Sunday "opening night" nonsense.

WLW is a News/Talk station from Cincinnati, Ohio. They've carried Reds games since just after World War II.

WTMJ (W The Milwaukee Journal) is a News/Talk outlet from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the flagship station of the Brewers. The sticker sports the team logo in use from 1978 until 1993. The ball and mitt which also form the letters M(ilwaukee) and B(rewers) is much better than their current logo but not nearly as cool as their original 1970s-era swinging beer barrel man. Coincidentally, at the Dayton International Airport earlier this week I saw this cool Brewers-themed airplane:

UPDATE: HOLY CRAP! The Reds win on a home run in the bottom of the ninth after trailing since the first batter of the first inning. GO REDS!! Woo Hoo!!

Bills vs Bengals

Went down to Paul Brown Stadium today to watch The Buffalo Bills play the Cincinnati Bengals. Lowly Buffalo finally managed to get their first win last Sunday while Cincinnati went into the game with a 2-7 record. Despite this crappy matchup, SuckBowl 2010 turned out to be a very entertaining game. After trailing 28-7 at one point in the second quarter and down 31-14 at the half, Buffalo scored 35 unanswered points in the second half to destroy the Bungles 49-31. It was the 10th straight time Buffalo has beaten Cincy dating back to 1989. Go Bills!!

Me and the boy enjoying the rout in a nearly-empty stadium as the Cincy fans hit the exits.

I saw this billboard while walking out of the stadium. WEBN has been a Rock station in Cincinnati since 1967 when they pioneered the album rock format. They are, in fact, the longest running AOR station in the country. EBN's mascot has been a frog since the early 1970s and is so ubiquitous and deeply rooted within the branding of the station that lately their stickers have foregone call letter and frequency and are simply a froghead. WEBN is also the flagship of the Cincinnati Bengals along with WLW and WCKY.







WHAM is a News/Talk station from Rochester, New York.

Reds vs Cardinals

Spent a fun evening at Great American Ballpark for the 2010 Civil Rights game. Quite a few big names were in attendance this year for an extensive pregame ceremony including Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Billie Jean King, Harry Belafonte, Roberta Flack and Laila Ali. I was also overly excited to see the superhot Sage Steele from ESPN. With all these celebrities on hand the game was sure to be a letdown, right? Wrong! With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, the Cards were only down by one and had the tying run on first when Joe Mather shot a double into the left field corner. Skip Schumaker tried to score from first but was nailed at home by a diving Ramon Hernandez in a very close play to end the game. It was probably the most exciting game-ending play I've ever witnessed and screamed myself hoarse along with the rest of the sellout crowd. This brings the Reds to only a half game back of St. Louis in the National League Central Division.
Both teams wore 1947 throwback uniforms who's retro coolness were negated by most players insistence on wearing long, bunch-bottomed "pajama pants." Attention Major League Baseball: It is within your power to force players to wear their baseball uniform correctly. Nobody in 1947 wore these ridiculously long pants which often cover the cleats and reach the ground. This is how one wears not only a throwback uni but their everyday game pants as well. Thank you.


KZIM is a News/Talk station from Cape Girardeau, Missouri. A previous KZIM sticker can be seen here.

WLW is a News/Talk station from Cincinnati, Ohio and has carried Reds games since 1948. A previous WLW decal can be seen here.

Merry Christmas!!

This tough-to-see white-on-clear decal (click it to barely see it better) is from WAKW in Cincinnati, Ohio. "Star 93.3 FM" was the first station in the country to go to an all-Christmas format this year which they did way back on October 27th. WAKW is normally a Christian Contemporary station but they mixed secular tunes together with religious holiday songs in their two-month slog towards the Big Day. The 24/7 Xmas music is usually a ratings booster for stations across the country.

A few older WAKW stickers:

WKRP Goes On The Air

On this date back in 1978 the first episode of "WKRP In Cincinnati" aired on CBS. My interest in radio is tied directly to watching it as a kid after it went into syndication in the 1980s. I loved everything about WKRP from the oddball characters to the rock posters plastered everywhere and the radio stickers in Andy's office.

This sticker was apparently a promotional item for The New WKRP In Cincinnati which ran in syndication from 1991-1993. Many of the characters reprised their roles but the show just wasn't as good as the original.

WKRP's frequency was never revealed on the original series but The New WKRP In Cincinnati placed the station at 1530 AM (which is the home of real life Cincy station WCKY.)

This sticker is from KRPN, an 80s-era Oldies station in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their top-of-the-hour legal ID actually read "W KRPN Salt Lake City" which purposefully sounded like "WKRP in Salt Lake City." Brilliant!

Reds Opening Day

The Cincinnati Reds host their 128th Opening Day at 1:00 this afternoon. With a forecast high of 39 degrees and a chance of snow showers it should be a delightful time at the old ballpark. As the oldest franchise in the sport -dating back to 1869- Major League Baseball decreed that the first pitch of every season would be thrown in Cincinnati. This changed in the past decade as ESPN has been carrying opening games on Sunday night. The Reds are the only team to always start the season in their home ballpark and their first game is still considered the traditional Opening Day.
If I was honest with myself I would admit that the Reds have slowly become my favorite baseball team and not these guys.

WLW (World's Largest Wireless) has been the Reds flagship station for over 60 years. "The Nation's Station" is a 50,000 watt clear channel signal which can be heard across 38 states at night. The father/son duo of Marty and Thom Brennaman do the play-by-play on about 50 affiliates of the Reds Radio Network.