A month before the Major League Baseball season would get underway; Rogers Communications decided to simulcast the television call of Toronto Blue Jays games on Sportsnet 590 The Fan.
While fans of other teams tune into their favorite radio station or pull up an available stream of the broadcast for that different voice from their television broadcast, Blue Jays fans will no longer have that option.
The decision to simulcast doesn’t sit well with one of Canada’s most famous musicians, Geddy Lee of Rush, as Inside Radio relayed his comments.
“Some of my most memorable baseball memories were not from sitting in the stands or watching the game on the tube, but listening to the radio,” Lee stated to The Globe and Mail.
“There are nuances and descriptors that radio broadcasters share with their audiences that are simply not the same as a cabal of TV announcers, no matter how good they are. It is a time-honored craft that requires a special ability to bring to life what we at home simply cannot see. This is a bad and regrettable decision.”
Lee is a die-hard Blue Jays and a radio fan, so he’s put a megaphone on the issue that fans might have on this issue of the team no longer having a radio voice. It will be interesting to see whether Rogers sticks with this simulcast for all 162 games or perhaps makes a u-turn on the decision.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
