What’s your favorite part of the online Seattle Times Sports section? For me it’s not the pages devoted to the Seahawks or the Mariners or the main Sports section page. The page I look at most often is the TV & Radio page (see screen capture showing a small portion of it), which has the listings for just about every sport you can think of. If a sporting event is on TV or radio, chances are it will be listed here.
“Sports on TV & radio,” as the page is officially named, is easy to find. There’s always a link to it in the second tier of links at the top of the Sports section page. It’s updated daily, covers a week at a time, and includes the starting times and TV stations that are showing the games. Both local and national sports are included. If a game is on the radio, it’s there too. It’s compiled by the Seattle Times sports staff.
While I mainly refer to the TV & Radio page for radio listings, I marvel at the dozens and dozens of TV sporting events listed there. OK, it’s no surprise that sports with the biggest fan bases dominate TV listings, but how about skiing, martial arts, horse racing, volleyball, and lacrosse? I mean, who watches those events and how do we have enough cable and broadcast stations to show them? We truly are a nation with extra time to fill by watching sports.
With so few radio stations in Seattle broadcasting live sports, I should be able to find a particular game without referring to a guide. However, I still find the radio listings useful. Sometimes the Sunday NFL games aren’t on the radio, and it’s good to know that. For example, this past Sunday, the early games weren’t carried while the afternoon and evening games were—on KJR 950 AM and 93.3 FM. Go figure.
Although I’m retired, I prefer radio over TV for football and baseball, especially on weekends. The main reason? I don’t want to park myself in front of a TV for hours when there are other things to do. Instead of sitting on the couch, I would rather be out exploring the area by car while listening to sports on the radio.
One other reason. Sports on TV, especially football, has too much advertising. Sports on radio doesn’t seem to have as many commercials. I’m not saying that’s true, just that it seems that way, perhaps because the commercials aren’t as tiresome.
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