The Phillies’ recent (and upcoming) struggles have already knocked them out of many fans’ nighttime plans, as attendance will continue to decline this year. They’ll undoubtedly draw fewer TV viewers as well, as people would rather spend three-hours watching something that matters or BBC series on Netflix. And they’re about to lose the ever-important Harrisburg market (…) because the Phillies’ affiliate out there is gonna broadcast Nationals games instead.
According to PennLive, Sports Radio 96.5 FM will carry the Nationals instead of the Phillies as part of a one-year deal. Ron Giovanniello, regional VP of Cumulus Media Pennsylvania, told PennLive:
“Our agreement was up and we made the decision last week to part ways with the Phillies and flip to the Nationals. Nothing against the Phillies, but clearly the Nationals are a team on the rise. They won the NL East last year and are picked to win it again this year.
Obviously [a winning team] helps in all ways, and they certainly will be a postseason contender that makes a deeper run in the playoffs this year. Unfortunately, I don’t see that in the Phillies’ immediate future.”
Switching from Phillies to Nats makes sense. Kind of. For one, Harrisburg is home to the Nationals’ Double-A affiliate, the Harrisburg Senators. Secondly, the difference in distance to Philadelphia compared to D.C. is about a dozen miles. It’s totally negligible. But there is one thing:
At least according to that Facebook fan map from a while back, Harrisburg is straight-up Phillies territory. In all of the zip codes surrounding the capital, the Phillies are the number one team, followed up by some combination of Red Sox/Yankees/Pirates. But those teams are all way lower on the fandom totem pole. And knowing how difficult it is to listen to Phillies games online, this sucks for Harrisburg-area Phillies fans. It’s great for bandwagon jumpers, though.
22 Responses
Makes perfect sense.
How difficult is it to listen to Phillies games? For $35 you get the audio of MLB At-Bat and you can listen to ANY game on your phone or computer. Even Phillies games. No blackouts for the audio.
People from Harrisburg unite on how much they hate Philly. It is a fact. They hate all Philly teams, which is why they like the Steelers and the Penguins, because so many of them are hicks and bigots. Geographically, Harrisburg is closer to Philly and Baltimore than they are to Pittsburgh. But they identify with the rest of Pennsyltucky. Which is totally fine except that they only reason the rest of PA exists is because of the taxes and fees paid in Philly, which is what allows them to have roads and schools and jobs is rural and semi-rural areas.
If you want to scare someone from Harrisburg who pays attention to things, just tell him that we are keeping everything that we pay in income tax, sales tax, gas tax and Turnpike tolls here in the Philly area. They can go tie themselves to Pittsburgh or Erie or Johnstown or Allentown for all I care – enjoy breeding rabbits for food because I’m tired of paying for their roads.
This is an outstanding post.
Clear, articulate, and to the point.
+1
Truth, 100%
Have you ever actually been to Harrisburg?
They like the Steelers because the Steelers have 6 Super Bowls. And the Eagles are still working on the first 1. It’s like baseball fans in New York City, you only root for the Mets if your dad forces you to. In central PA, you only root for the Eagles if your dad forces you to.
The Washington Capitals are bigger than the Penguins there because of the Caps affiliation with the Hershey Bears. Flyers are bigger than the Penguins. Tends to be a generational split with Flyers-Caps fans there. Older people are Flyers fans, younger are Capitals.
And they are mostly Phillies fans.
Actually, this isn’t correct. You’re right about the Pensyltucky part, but you’re slightly off geographically. The Harrisburg area is 50/50 Philly/Pittsburgh. Carlisle and everything west of there is where you’d find the bigots and hicks you speak of. You could find TONS of people in this area wearing Phillies gear from 2007-2012. Since then, they’ve all jumped off the Phillies’ and onto the Pirates’ bandwagon. Still, there are no Nationals fans here. On top of the [likely] payday that Cumulus received, the only reason for this affiliation is because of the Senators.
Also, I know Giovanniello through a few family friends who are coworkers for Cumulus media. He’s the kind of guy who eats unmarked food in the company fridge, even if he knows whose it is. This sellout doesn’t surprise me at all.
Try going to a Senators game sometime. You’ll see more people in the crowds sporting Phils gear than Senators or even Nats. The Susquehanna Valley is solid Phillies country.
Does anyone actually go to Senators game? I went like 3 or 4 years ago to see Stevie Strasboner pitch and maybe 2,000 people showed up.
I can remember Riverside being pretty full in the late ’90s when the team was winning all those championships. These days, not so much.
Wait, so you claim that nobody goes. And that you only went to see Strasburg pitch, but then you call him a childish nickname?
Let me guess, you were just there to boo him, right?
considering this is a philly sports site, and I am a Phillies fan, yes I booed him as he mowed down the entire Reading Phillies roster
And dumb CBS puts the Phils games on both WIP and PHT because the old Phillies owners can’t get the games on WIP at their summer places in New England. Double torture.
Jimbo pinning his argument on a facebook “fan” map developed over a year ago and which assuredly in no way fluctuates from year to year depending on a team’s chronic suck-iness.
Sounds reasonable to me.
Its like the weather / snow predictions posted on Friday mornings in reference to a Sunday storm. What’s your problem with that? Seems reasonable to me.
That’s wrong. While it might change a little from year to year, it’s way more than a large enough sample size to say, yeah, it’s a majority Phillies fans there. That doesn’t change in one year.
I guess they will just have to listen to Phillies games on the two stations in Harrisburg that broadcast the games. 95.3 and 1400.
Or they can just use a Gettysburg or Lancaster station.
Everything west of Downingtown is a complete waste of time.
I like visiting Harrisburg because I feel worldly and well-educated there.
Also, isn’t Harrisburg home to a Nationals affiliate, the Harrisburg Senators?
While the quote from the regional VP is accurate, it also has “frontrunner” written all over it.
Thought Harrisburg was Orioles country anyway.
Maybe they can also give away the book that the big piece of fucking monkey shit and his whore white wife wrote.
Fuck off.
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