Cleveland Indians Signs New Radio Partner for Five-Years
January 29, 2013
Major League Baseball (MLB) team Cleveland Indians and WTAM AM/1100 have reached agreement on a five-year deal that allows the Clear Channel station to carry the team’s games.
Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus will remain as announcers.
The team also announced that WMMS FM/100.7 will simulcast an estimated 144 of its games per season over the length of the contract.
WTAM has carried Indians games on the radio since 1998. This will be Tom Hamilton’s 24th season as the voice of the Indians. Rosenhaus is entering his second year as Hamilton’s full-time partner and seventh season as part of the broadcast team.
In December, the Indians announced that they sold SportsTime Ohio to FOX for an estimated $230 million, guaranteeing an estimated $400 million in rights fees for at least the next 10 years. STO had televised Tribe games since 2006.
The Indians start Cactus League play on Feb. 22 against Cincinnati. They open the regular season April 2 in Toronto.
Under terms of the new deal, WTAM will broadcast all regular season Tribe games. WTAM will carry 15 games from spring training every year and will distribute all games to the 26 stations on the Indians radio network throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania.
“The Cleveland Indians are proud and excited to continue our 15-year partnership with Clear Channel Media and Entertainment,” said Indians President Mark Shapiro in a prepared statement. “We are fortunate that this parnership continues our consistent broadcast on WTAM, while expanding our radio presence to a new FM audience through WMMS.”