Baltimore – Carolina on tonight. Ravens announce a new preseason network

Published August 12, 2010 4:00am ET



Before talking about the new RAVE TV Network let’s talk about tonight’s game.

Ravens fans in the mid Atlantic tonight kicks off the 2010 preseason with an 8pm home game against Carolina. The game will be telecast nationally on ESPN and that means of course the Monday Night Football crew of Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden in the booth and on the sidelines it will be Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya.

The game will be broadcast locally on WJZ-TV 13 in Baltimore and they will have a pregame show starting at 7:30pm.

As always the 98Rock/WBAL Ravens Radio Network will have the live radio call of the game starting with their Ravens Game Day which can be heard on both 98 Rock as well as WBAL 1090AM three hours before kickoff.

WBAL’s Keith Mills and Ravens Great, Jonathan Ogden anchor the stations coverage. They will be joined by Gerry Sandusky, Stan White, USA Today’s Jarrett Bell, Pete Gilbert and Peter Schmuck.

Sandusky will have the call of the game join by analysts Stan White and new to the group a fine broadcaster as well as a former player Qadry Ismal.  Starting next week the trio will also be heard as part of the simulcast on RAVE TV as well. 

The postgame coverage starts with reports from the Ravens locker-room with reaction from Coach John Harbaugh and the players.

Keith Mills takes calls and anchors the Ravens post game duties on the network.

Tonight WJZ Radio 105.7FM Baltimore GameDay Uncensored will feature Jeremy Conn, Damon Bull Dog Yaffe and Jen Royle who will be turning her baseball glove in for a football helmet. They will air live from LOT O at the Stadium. Tonight the GAMEDAY UNCENSORED CAN BE HEARD ON 1300AM AT 6PM  

Starting next week the Ravens preseason telecast will be seen on WBAL TV 11 their local flagship channel as well a brand new over the air broadcast network of stations.

The Ravens have reached agreements with WDCW-TV (DC50) in D.C. and WHTM-TV (ABC27) in Harrisburg to carry the Ravens’ final three preseason games: at the Washington Redskins on Aug. 21, against the New York Giants on Aug. 28 and at the St. Louis Rams on Sept. 2. WBAL’s coverage through cable systems includes the Eastern Shore and Sussex County, Delaware (including Rehoboth and Lewes).

 “It’s important to us that our fans throughout Maryland, in south central Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., northern Virginia and the Delaware shore be able to see our games. These agreements allow that to happen,” Ravens president Dick Cass announced.

Mark Burdett, the Ravens’ vice president of corporate sales and development, is encouraged by the response from regional broadcasters: “All of our broadcast friends and partners have shown an enthusiasm for Ravens broadcasts. They wanted to make sure our local and regional fans can watch and listen to Ravens programming.”

Burdett noted that the team has added Washington D.C., Annapolis, Md. and Newcastle, Del. affiliates to the 14-station Ravens radio network. WTOP-AM/WFED-AM in D.C. will carry all Ravens games, as will WNAV-AM in Annapolis and WWTX-AM in Newcastle, Del.

The team cut ties with MASN their former regional cable partner over a contract extension dispute and was able quickly move to make sure they were on the air for the preseason throughout the region without missing a beat.

The other shows that RAVE TV produces the award winning shows “1 Winning Drive,” “The John Harbaugh Show,” “Ravens Game Plan,” “Ravens Report,” and “Purple Passion” will be available but look for an official announcement to come as soon as next week about where fans can catch those programs. Broadcast wise they are likely to end up on WBAL digital 11-2 as well as on the teams website when they can be accessed on demand as in the past.

As I reported last week CSN is likely to workout a deal with the team to help them distribute Ravens related program with the possibility of expanding their already extensive coverage of the team.

Presently Ravens fans can follow the team every night on CSN’s SportsNite broadcasts at 6:30pm, 10pm 11pm and 1am. Plus there is Training Camp Daily as well as CSNBaltimore where there is also a wealth of video content for Ravens fans to watch.

The Ravens brand remains a strong throughout the region and one that is sought after by a number of media outlets.