OKC Thunder and Sports Animal agree on new contract

[Tydude]

Thunder, Sports Animal Renew Partnership | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER

Oklahoma City, Thursday July 18, 2013 - The Oklahoma City Thunder and Cumulus Media have signed a multi-year agreement that allows WWLS 98.1 FM (The Sports Animal) in Oklahoma City to continue as the flagship radio station of the Oklahoma City Thunder Radio Network, the Thunder and Cumulus announced today. As they have been since 2008, all Thunder preseason, regular-season and postseason games will be carried live on The Sports Animal.
All Thunder games will also be broadcast on The Sports Animal's sister station KWPN-ESPN Radio 640 AM, in addition to a dozen other stations across the state and region that make up the Thunder Radio Network. Veteran NBA broadcaster Matt Pinto will return for his sixth season as the radio play-by-play voice of the Thunder.

"We are proud and excited to continue our strong relationship with Cumulus and The Sports Animal," said Thunder Vice President of Corporate Communications and Community Relations Dan Mahoney. "They are the leaders in sports radio in Oklahoma, with passion and excitement for Thunder Basketball."

"When Cumulus Media acquired these stations back in 2011, our then-pre-existing Thunder alliance was one of the first things the company identified as most exciting. Consequently, the extension of our Thunder relationship was enthusiastically supported, especially when considering the partnership’s significant impacts on both listenership and advertising revenues, not to mention the thrill provided to our employees from being associated with a brand recognized worldwide!” said Cumulus Media Market Manager Larry Bastida.

In addition to game broadcasts and pre- and postgame shows, The Sports Animal will continue to carry “Thunder Insider,” a weekly program devoted to the team. Beginning this season, Matt Pinto will host a weekly call-in Thunder talk show and the station will provide a live stream of Thunder games via its website thesportsanimal.com. That stream will be limited to a 75-mile radius around Oklahoma City.

Thunder coverage on The Sports Animal also includes daily reports from Thunder practices, player interviews and regular on-air appearances by Pinto and the team's FOX Sports Oklahoma TV broadcast team of Brian Davis and Grant Long.

Live Spanish-language broadcasts of Thunder home games will continue on Cumulus station WKY 930 AM (La Indomable) in Oklahoma City. Veteran broadcaster Eleno Ornelas will return to provide play-by-play. Ornelas also serves as the Spanish-language announcer for the Texas Rangers.

[Laramie]

Best thing for any station to do is get rid of/not pick up Jim Trabor. He is overly critical of the Thunder from management to players. This is why I stop watching KOKH 25, Trabor's dress and his demeanor needs a remake.

Trabor is at the top of his game when he's talking about baseball...

He has a good relationship with Craig Humphreys.

When the contract is up the Thunder needs to get with a wide-area broadcast station like KOKC, I believe that this was once KOMA. This is one of the last wide-area broadcast stations left in the country. KOKC (AM) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They do the OU Sooners broadcasts.

Is this station's broadcast range still at 50,000 watts?

Would KOKC be an excellent 'Flagship station" for the Oklahoma City Thunder? Thoughts from those in the know.

[nighttrain12]

When the contract is up the Thunder needs to get with a wide-area broadcast station like KOKC, I believe that this was once KOMA. This is one of the last wide-area broadcast stations left in the country. KOKC (AM) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They do the OU Sooners broadcasts.

Is this station's broadcast range still at 50,000 watts?

Would KOKC be an excellent 'Flagship station" for the Oklahoma City Thunder? Thoughts from those in the know.

An AM radio station being the main broadcaster of the Thunder? In a word, no.

[Laramie]

An AM radio station being the main broadcaster of the Thunder? In a word, no.

Nighttrain:

Could a combination of thess FM sister stations be worked in with a KOKC Flagship(?):

KOMA 92.5
KRXO 107.7
KMGL 104.1
KJKW 93.3
KTUZ 106.7

Just not familiar with how this broadcasting mechinism work...

I am tired of hearing Trabor trash the team after a loss with very little said when there is a win. Mark Rodgers & Bob Barry Jr., does give a better perspective on post-game diagnosis (win or lose).