MLB radio and TV history

Major league baseball and how we follow it keeps changing. When major league baseball first started in the early 1900’s, you had to buy a ticket to attend the game. But where is a will, there is a way. Fans that didn’t have the money for a ticket would sometimes go downtown and gather in front of the offices of the local newspaper, where they eagerly awaited the latest scores. When the newspaper received the latest scores from a telegrapher at the ballpark, a newsboy would write the information on a bulletin board, updating it every inning, some newspapers even had someone with a megaphone calling out the updates. It became a place for fans to socialize, as everyone stood on the street in front of their favorite publication, hoping for good news about the game.

For many baseball fans it was not possible to wait around at a newspaper building, which meant their only other option was buying a copy of the newspaper itself. Back in 1915, newspapers published morning, midday, afternoon, and evening editions; and if there was a big sports event (like a World’s Series), there was even a late-night edition with the very latest scores, and when there was what we today call “breaking news” about a major story, there might be a special edition called an “extra.”

But in the period from 1912 onward, there was one other option, although it still wasn’t widely known or widely utilized. There was a growing number of amateur wireless operators (what we today would call ham radio operators), most of whom still communicated by Morse code, but a few were experimenting with voice. And some of these wireless enthusiasts were also baseball fans. They got to know the telegraphers who transmitted the game reports from local ballparks, and whenever there was information to share, they sent it out to their friends.

Students on college campuses also joined in, amateurs were becoming an information conduit for their fellow sports fans. For example, at Tufts College in Medford, Massachusetts, the Tufts Wireless Society, which made its debut in January 1912, soon became known for transmitting the latest football and baseball scores. During the 1912 World’s Series between the Red Sox and the New York Giants, the scores and updates were received and then posted.

In that decade before commercial radio came along, the majority of the fans relied on print journalism to keep up with their favorite team; most major cities had more than one newspaper (Boston in the 1910’s had eight), and every city had its own popular local sportswriters who not only discussed wins and losses; they interviewed local players and gave fans more insight into their favorite team.

This was still a time before air travel, when ballplayers, writers, and fans relied on trains to get from point A to point B. Driving was not always practical for a variety of reasons. The newspaper writers also made good use of the information they received by wireless That is why the telegraphers who sent the game reports to affiliated newspapers were a lifeline for the baseball writers, helping them to keep up with the pennant races and find out how teams in distant cities were doing, and making it possible to provide the readers with reports from all over the major and minor leagues.

First there was radio

That brings us to 1920’s. But before commercial radio made its debut that year, in Detroit (8MK), Medford Hillside, Massachusetts (1XE), and Pittsburgh (8XK, soon to be known as KDKA), amateur stations and college stations continued to provide scores and updates. In May 2020, the University of Pittsburgh’s 8YI was sending out baseball scores every evening. In fact, several months before KDKA became the first station to provide a live baseball broadcast by radio, the pioneering Pittsburgh station had already been broadcasting scores and updates. But broadcasting a live baseball game changed everything for the fans. Hearing scores and updates was one thing, but hearing actual play-by-play, voiced by an announcer who was at the ballpark, was something else entirely.

On August 5, 1921, KDKA became the first radio station to broadcast a major league professional baseball game, when announcer Harold Arlin called the Pittsburgh Pirates-Philadelphia Phillies game from Forbes Field. Later that year, KDKA and WJZ of Newark broadcast the first World Series on the radio, between the New York Giants and the New York Yankees, with Grantland Rice and Tommy Cowan calling the games for KDKA and WJZ, respectively. However, the broadcasters were not actually present at the game, but simply gave reports from a telegraph wire. That changed the following season.

By 1924-1925, baseball broadcasts were occurring sporadically in other cities because some owners were skeptical and were of the opinion that if you gave the game away on the radio, fans would not buy tickets. But some owners like Larry MacPhail who took over the Cincinnati Reds in 1933 and sold a controlling interest in the club to Powel Crosley, owner of two Cincinnati radio stations saw things differently. It was a match made in economic heaven: MacPhail knew that broadcasting games would promote the team and Crosley could now boost his radio ratings. St. Louis beer-garden magnate Chris von der Ahe’s bought the St. Louis baseball team in order to sell more beer. 1939 was the first year that all the major league teams broadcast their games. Prophetically, it was also the year of the first televised baseball game.

During the Golden Age of Radio (1920’s-1950’s), television sports broadcasting was in its infancy, and radio was still the main form of broadcasting baseball. Many notable broadcasters, such as Mel Allen, Red Barber, Harry Caray, Russ Hodges, Ernie Harwell, and Vin Scully, started in this period. However, broadcasting still did not look like the way it does today—recreations of games based on telegrams, the original means of broadcasting, were still widely used. The Mutual Broadcasting System also broadcast a Game of the Day in the 1950s.

However, as the Golden Era wound down, radio was gradually eclipsed by television. The World Series and All-Star Game continued to be broadcast nationally on the radio, with NBC Radio covering the Fall Classic from 1960–1975, and CBS Radio from 1976–1997; CBS added League Championship Series (and, later, Division Series) coverage as baseball’s postseason expanded. However, after Mutual’s Game of the Day ended in 1960, there would not be regular-season baseball broadcast nationally on the radio for 25 years. It wasn’t until 1985, that CBS Radio started a Saturday Game of the Week. In 1998, national radio broadcasts moved to ESPN Radio. ESPN Radio currently broadcasts Sunday Night Baseball games during the regular season, as well as Saturday and occasional weekday games, along with the All-Star Game and all postseason contests.

In 2005, Major League Baseball hooked up with XM Satellite Radio, launching a 24/7 channel MLB Home Plate which carries every major league game. Games are also carried on MLB Gameday Audio.

Then television comes along

After the 1939 World’s Fair showed the new technology called television, experimental station W2XBS aired the first televised major league baseball games, a double header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers on August 26, 1939.

In 1953, ABC-TV executive Edgar J. Scherick (who would later go on to create Wide World of Sports) approached MLB with a Saturday Game of the Week. At first, ABC hesitated at the idea of a nationally televised regular season baseball program, but Scherick prevailed and got the the green light to sign up teams; unfortunately, only three (the Philadelphia Athletics, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago White Sox^[were interested. To make matters worse, Major League Baseball banned the Game of the Week from airing within fifty miles of any big-league city. According to Scherick, Major League Baseball insisted on protecting local coverage and didn’t care about national appeal.

On July 17, 1964, a game out of Los Angeles between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers contest became the first Pay TV baseball game. Subscription television offered the cablecast to subscribers for money.

The 1970’s brought us the cable revolution. The Atlanta Braves became a power contender with greater revenues generated by WTBS. Ted Turner‘s Atlanta-based station obtained first local rights to the Braves in the early 1970’s. Turner would buy the team a few years later and then greatly expand the reach of WTBS by up-linking it to satellite. WTBS became the first Superstation, and starting with the 1977 season “America’s Team” was broadcast to cable households nationwide. WGN in Chicago soon joined in broadcasting Chicago Cubs games.

MLB games became major attractions for American television networks, and each of the Big Three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) would air packages of baseball games at various times until the year 2000. Fox would rise to major network status, partially on its acquisition of MLB rights in 1996; Fox has been MLB’s primary broadcast television partner ever since. MLB itself launched its own cable network in 2009, MLB Network, which would also air several live games a week and still does.

MLB began streaming games via the internet in 2017, with Twitter and Facebook initially acquiring the rights to some games. YouTube and Peacock have since streamed games, and as of 2024, Apple TV+ and The Roku Channel currently hold packages of MLB games. Games not picked up by one of the national outlets are instead broadcast by local broadcast stations and regional sports networks, televising their respective local team within their respective region. 

The long-lucrative regional sports network is collapsing under the shift of television viewing away from mass cable packages, through which non-sports viewers subsidized some portion of the high cost of carrying live sports that teams charged distributors.

Major League Baseball announced in October of 2024 that it will handle production and distribution for three franchises previously inked to deals with Diamond Sports Group, owner and operator of the Bally Sports RSNs. Local broadcasts for the Cleveland Guardians, Milwaukee Brewers, and Minnesota Twins will be available on a direct-to-consumer streaming service operated by the league in 2025 but prices have not yet been announced. MLB also plans to negotiate cable and satellite distribution agreements for the teams, similar to how the league approached its production and distribution for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, and San Diego Padres in 2024.

MLB TV broadcasts and the future

What does the future hold for MLB TV broadcasts and its fans? No one knows the answer to that questions but it sounds like Rob Manfred and MLB think they know what they want based on this article by Evan Drellich in his article “MLB plans new national TV packages for 2028; changes to revenue sharing, CBA crucial” published in The Athletic on November 19, 1924. Predicting something like this is like predicting how are favorite baseball teams will do next year, we will have to wait and see.