The Philadelphia Phillies will have no AM radio broadcasts in the 2016 season for the first time since the introduction of the medium.
Under the terms of a new contract reached with CBS Radio earlier this week, any 2016 Philadelphia Phillies games over radio, whether from spring training, during the regular season, or any possible postseason action, will be broadcast by sports talk station WIP at 94.1 FM.
Phillies games began broadcasting over the radio in 1936, and in those early days it was only road games that were heard by local fans.
Those early owners, not only with the Phillies but all around baseball, were concerned that radio broadcasts of home games would reduce attendance.
The Phillies actually took part in the first Major League Baseball game ever broadcast over the radio, as the visiting team.
That game took place on August 5th, 1921 when the Phils dropped an 8-5 decision to the host Pirates in Pittsburgh. The game was broadcast over KDKA and featured announcer Harold Arlin.
That fall, Grantland Rice and Tommy Cowan called the first-ever World Series broadcast over radio.
