With Bulls, Hawks broadcasts, finally some common sense

Geez! Go fishing for a week, and the entire Chicago sports media winter landscape changes.

I come home to find the Bulls back where they belong on WMVP 1000-AM, and the Blackhawks at long last deciding to put their home games on local television.

What, has a sudden epidemic of common sense broken out?

The Bulls' move back to WMVP was prompted by an upcoming shift of formats at WCKG 105.9-FM. They wouldn't have gelled with the contemporary-music play list aimed at young-adult women WCKG is reportedly set to unveil next week, not that they had so much in common with the so-called personality talk at the station before.

"We were more or less an afterthought on WCKG," admitted Steve Schanwald, the Bulls' executive vice president of business operations. "We won't be that on WMVP. We will be an integral part of their winter programming."

I'll say. WMVP's local hosts could barely contain their elation at getting the Bulls back. And why should they? With or without Kobe Bryant (and I say without, let's see how this young talent develops), the Bulls are a team on the upswing sure to bring listeners to the station.

It levels the playing field with WSCR 670-AM and its White Sox contract and gives WMVP a distinct edge in the winter months. The Score couldn't provide a home for the Bulls because of its previous commitment to the Blackhawks.

CBS Radio no doubt would rather have moved the Bulls to one of its other sibling stations, but shifting listeners to a second new station in two years couldn't have been attractive to the Bulls. They'll continue to do the production and sell the ads. WMVP, like WCKG, will simply be the conduit, but it's a symbiotic relationship that benefits WMVP a lot more than it ever would have benefited WCKG.

"Being on an all-sports station makes all the sense in the world," Schanwald said. "We will be reaching our core audience on a regular basis."

The homecoming should minimize any confusion about where to find the Bulls. "We will be promoting the move hard in-arena," Schanwald added, through signage and public-address and scoreboard announcements at the United Center, "and in all our publications and on our Web site. And the station will be promoting it hard all day long throughout the season. Fans will know where to find us in short order."

Yeah, it's easy, right back where they belong.

The Blackhawks' move to televise home games was even more of a seismic shift, although it was less of a surprise and had been expected since the death of owner Bill Wirtz. Son Peter Wirtz had long been rumored to be a proponent of televising home games, but when Rocky Wirtz stepped forward as chairman he turned out to be even more decisive about leaving the old ways behind.

"It's time to share the energy and excitement of the Blackhawks with all of our fans," Rocky Wirtz said this week in announcing the Nov. 11 game at the UC against the hated Detroit Red Wings would be the first home game televised on Comcast SportsNet Chicago under the new, more-open policy. "We are entering a new era and putting home games back on TV is the first step to supporting our great players and fans."

CSNC president Jim Corno has long been champing at the bit to present the whole Blackhawk experience, even if "the roar" of the old Chicago Stadium is a distant memory, saying, "In addition to home games being presented in crystal-clear high definition, we will deliver the experience of what it's like to be at a Blackhawk game at the United Center with live, on-site coverage during the pre- and postgame show, locker-room access and player interviews, on-ice, in-game player access, along with a number of additional in-game elements fans will certainly appreciate."

CSNC can't just pitch its schedule in the trash and start running all Hawks home games. "A lot of logistics need to be worked out," Corno added. But the Detroit game is a perfect start, and look for CSNC to make room for them whenever possible -- and more in years to come.

"We're going to put together a schedule and make an announcement early next week," Corno said. "And that will be a stepping stone for next year."

There appears to be a limit to common sense, however. The Hawks have hired Jim Blaney as their director of public relations and community outreach. Now, I know he's been the Hawks' TV studio host for years, but now that's he's an actual team employee I would think his objectivity as an analyst would be compromised.

"The postgame is not like the news. It's really part of the telecast," Corno said, drawing parallels with Dan Kelly and Eddie Olczyk, who if not actual Hawks employees are OK'd by the team. "It would be a big problem if he were doing a story on the Blackhawks, but he really just presents the game."

Even so, not that Blaney was ever so cutting-edge insightful to begin with, but a PR guy also doing the team's TV or radio is the sort of shortcut bush-league baseball teams resort to. It just ain't big-league, and it's about time the Hawks, in stepping into the new century and putting their home games on TV, start acting big-league in all ways.