Reds to chase affiliates after signing WLW deal

By Dan Monk

The Cincinnati Reds are beefing up their recruitment of broadcast affiliates on the Reds Radio Network, as front-office staffers try to capitalize on a new rights deal with WLW AM-700.

“We’re going to do a better job of building Reds country,” said Bill Reinberger, vice president of corporate sales for the team, which announced a new five-year rights agreement with WLW on Nov. 6.

The Reds hope to grow their network of affiliates so they can use ticket giveaways to cultivate new fans in outlying markets. At its peak in 1975, the Reds network had 110 stations. Now, it’s at 46. The team recently named its public address announcer, Joe Zerhusen, as its first full-time director of affiliate relations.

“He’s already visited 30 affiliates,” Reinberger said. “We’re going to do a lot more promotions. We’re building out an auxiliary press box to make it a suite for affiliates and clients.”

Affiliate growth could give the Reds insulation against a risky element of their new rights deal with WLW.

The team is trading a guaranteed rights fee of about $4 million in exchange for nearly all the revenue from in-game commercials. That lets the Reds cross-sell in-stadium ads and promotional packages to advertisers – but it will force them to compete against WLW for advertising contracts.

“Most advertisers are going to be buying one or the other,” predicted Rob Riggsbee, a Newtown-based media buyer who estimates Reds programming draws between $5 million and $7 million in annual revenue. Riggsbee expects WLW to sell packages of Reds-related content that let advertisers reach more listeners per ad dollar spent, while the Reds will emphasize advertisers’ access to “the real Reds fan base,” the people who listen or go to the game.

According to numbers compiled by Riggsbee, Reds ratings hit a four-year low this summer, but remained the No. 1 program in its day part, with a 16 percent share of all radios in use and an average quarter-hour listener base of 18,900 people.