49ers and Cumulus extend contract through 2023

Bay Area Sports Guy September 12, 2012

Ted Robinson could be with the 49ers for a long time.

Remember all the way back (a whole week ago) when the Golden State Warriors announced an extension with KNBR through the 2015/16 season? This morning, the San Francisco 49ers took dwarfed that extension announcement with an announcement of their own: their games will carried on Cumulus radio stations through 2023.

Today marks kind of a marketing bonanza (to use Joe Starkey’s favorite word, even though Ted Robinson took over as the 49ers’ play-by-play announcer and could very well stick around for the length of this extension) for the Niners, as the team is also holding a “Red and Gold Rally” at Justin Herman Plaza at noon to celebrate the opening of a new “Shop 49ers” retail store which will be open on weekdays during the NFL season. So while The City should start turning orange and black as the leaves turn in other areas of the country, the 49ers hope to also capitalize on the retail explosion that should follow, now that their 13-3 record in 2011 looks like it wasn’t a fluke.

Speaking of the San Francisco Giants, Cumulus has clearly made an aggressive move to remain atop the sports radio standings in the Bay Area. Locking down the 49ers and Warriors, added with a partnership with the Giants that shows no signs of abating anytime soon, gives KNBR’s parent company a strong foundation throughout the next decade.

Here is the 49ers’ press release on the extension:

(Santa Clara, CALIF) – The San Francisco 49ers and Cumulus San Francisco have signed a 12-year contract extension that will keep the team’s games on three of the Cumulus stations – KNBR 680, 107.7 The Bone and KGO 810 – through 2023. The announcement was made this morning by 49ers CEO Jed York and Cumulus President and CEO Lew Dickey on KNBR 680’s Murph & Mac Show.

49ers football first aired on the Cumulus SF stations in the 2005 season, and this new agreement will carry the partnership into the team’s new Santa Clara stadium in 2014 and beyond.

“We are very excited to announce our partnership with Cumulus has been extended well into the future,” said York. “They have been an exceptional partner to date, having provided us a tremendous avenue to reach our fans through their various radio stations and first-rate programming. As we move closer and closer to the opening of the new Santa Clara stadium, the 49ers organization is pleased to make that transition alongside a partner as influential as Cumulus.”

“We are most pleased to announce this historic 12 year partnership with the San Francisco 49ers. We will bring together Cumulus’ iconic Bay Area media brands of KNBR, KGO and KSAN to bring unparalleled coverage of the 49ers, one of the premiere brands in all of sports”, said Dickey. “While the trend in radio has been for shorter deals with sports teams, this 12-year partnership demonstrates the commitment of KNBR and Cumulus to the 49ers, and further cements KNBR as The Sports Leader in Northern California” for almost 25 years.”

About the Author

Otherwise known as Steve Berman (no, not the guy from the Eminem skits), BASG started Bay Area Sports Guy in January of 2008 with the help of his then-girlfriend (now wife). Since then he's covered college football for CSN Bay Area, gained media access to the Giants, Warriors and 49ers, and built Bay Area Sports Guy into the No. 1 independent Bay Area sports blog. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

10 comments

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Otis Byrd III

Oh yeah, about the 49ers, this is great news no doubt!

TommyJ

Remember how ED was supposed to be on the Game for his farewell show as Tierney was trying out people and never came on? There might be something weird in his departure or KNBR pressured him to being exclusive to them since they have some say to his analyst job along with Ted Robinson who does exclusive hits on KNBR (though TR has been on the channel forever). I think ED was leaving The Game either way but his no-show during his farewell has a weird vibe. He mentioned on Tom's show yesterday (when yappy Byrnes wasn't interrupting) that he took the NFL AM gig because he loved the free-flow concept between the experts and it wasn't 15 seconds point-counterpoint "like a radio show" which is exactly the concept of The Drive. Wish ED well and I do thing Tierney/Bucher will be good, but it is strange how he hasn't been on since his departure, even for a quick hello.

Otis Byrd III

Yeah, I do remember that. It was kind of weird how Tierney never really mentioned why Eric Davis didn't come on for his final show on 95.7, even though someone on here said that he did mention it. You would think Tierney would've mentioned it on the top of each hour, just in case new people were tuning in, and wondering what happened to Eric Davis. Everyday I listened and I was like, where is Eric Davis? I agree that maybe KNBR had something to do with that since he calls 49er games on KNBR. Contractual-wise, that might've had something to do with it, which is kind of too bad if that's really the case. Do you really think that Eric Davis was going to leave 95.7 though? It seemed like he was on board to helping that station take off and be a part of what they were/are trying to do. It seemed like whenever Tierney talked about his plans for the station and to basically get it off the ground and challenge KNBR, Eric Davis always agree. I guess in a sense he probably couldn't say much about his plans for 95.7 since he calls 49er games for KNBR. As far as Eric Davis being on NFL Network goes, I guess NFL Network probably gave him an offer he couldn't refuse since I think when Gary and Krueger had him on last week, he said NFL Network gave him a multi-year deal. So maybe that also factored into his decision to go to NFL Network as well. Tierney, Townsend, and I think Dibley too, got one year extensions, and maybe they were going to give Eric Davis an extension too, but NFL Network probably gave him a better offer, and maybe more job security. Yes, I heard what Eric Davis said on Tom's show with Byrnes yesterday on what he liked about the NFL AM show. He has a good point. It is a good show, and yes, it is more free flowing. It seems like all the hosts can be themselves, and it seems like a relaxed atmosphere. It's just unfortunate that the NFL AM show is on so early in the morning here in the West Coast. I think that show would be just as good if it was on later in the morning or in the early afternoon or something. Yeah, they cater more towards East Coast viewers since it's 6 AM there when the show starts, but still.....At least they replay the show from 7-11 AM PT, so I guess it's not all bad, but having a show at 3 in the morning PT must be brutal for them. But yeah, I agree that Eric Davis not having a final show on 95.7 was kind of a weird vibe.... Tierney actually did have him call in the week before he started his NFL Network gig, and he had a chance to at least say goodbye and talk about working with Tierney and working on 95.7, and they talked about what he would be doing on the NFL Network. It felt like it was kind of rushed though, since he was only on for like 5 min. or so. They had him on for a segment. It would've been better if he would've had a final show though. But yes, I also wish Eric Davis well! The guy is very knowledgable and a class guy! It's good that he still calls 49er games and that he will be on KNBR for weekly segments.

OBIII - "It felt like it was kind of rushed though, since he was only on for like 5 min. or so" Of course it was rushed. Tierney had to make sure he got to his inane, gimmick segment. Why spend an extra 2 minutes with your former host, a hugely popular local sports figure and Super Bowl winner, when it's time for "Pressure Points"? I'm sure the Gimp would have a problem if that segment didn't get off on time.

Otis Byrd III

Good points Danny and Random fan for bringing up Eric Davis and his guest spots on KNBR now. I'm not exactly sure what it means to 95.7. It probably doesn't means that much to them since he left there for the NFL Network, and as random fan said, they probably didn't bother trying to basically get him a weekly spot, or have him on for "49ers Monday". Who knows, maybe the Pimp or someone else didn't want to have him on, even though Eric Davis seemed to get along with everyone on 95.7 when he worked there. It is interesting though why they couldn't have Eric Davis on, someone who used to work for the station. They even have Tierney's tryouts such asJon Ritchie, Rod Woodson, and I think Lincoln Kennedy sometimes, on for weekly guest spots. Why not Eric Davis from a 49er perspective? I agree that 95.7 does devote more time to the Raiders, even though they do have "49ers Monday", and they discuss the 49ers quite a bit throughout the week. 95.7 does lean more toward the Raiders though. You really learn more about the A's and the Raiders listening to 95.7. I'll be honest, I have the past year. Before 95.7 became a sports station last year, you didn't really hear much analysis or discussion about the A's or the Raiders. KNBR had/has had some discussion of those teams, but as we all know, KNBR leans more towards the Giants, the 49ers, and the Warriors. Yes, a lot of the A's and Raiders not being discussed probably had to do with both teams not having a flagship station before 95.7 became the A's flagship station and they had/have more Raider discussion. 95.7 is pretty much the East Bay version of KNBR as far as baseball and football goes, even though they do a good job of talking about the Giants and 49ers and including them into the weekday discussion. Hopefully they will have good Warrior discussion during basketball season, even though 95.7 lost out on the Warriors. I think most of the weekday shows will pickup more once basketball season starts, particularly the Townsend-Steinmetz show, the Greg Papa and Jon Lund show, and the Tierney and Bucher show, with Steinmetz and Greg Papa there full-time and with Bucher there, as has been discussed on here. But yes, back to Eric Davis, yeah, it is kind of interesting how he has guest sports on KNBR now, and not 95.7. I guess part of it is because the 49er games are aired on KNBR, and as I said earlier, he left 95.7 and maybe the Pimp or someone else there took offense to it. It's nice to hear Eric Davis on the Bay Area airwaves again, even though he still calls 49er games on KNBR.

Random fan

@Danny Interesting you bring that up because I thought the same thing. Eric left 2 months ago and I guess they didn't bother to try and get him for a weekly show. I listened earlier this week to 95.7 and it seems they are devoting more time to The Raiders. It is probably partly the Greg Papa connection now five days a week.

Danny

Steve(BASportsGuy), you should write an article on Eric Davis being on KNBR as a guest with Gary and Larry every monday, and what that means to 95.7

Stan

Oh,I get Live 105 crystal clear in my part of the eastbay. Its that LIVE105 isn't a sports station and has almost no postgame or even halftime show that gets me. Some anonymous voice from L.A. gives half time scores as of last year. This year I could see the Raider game of course. The only good music on LIVE105 ended right right around Korn's "Got the life"..era..

random fan

I wonder if the Raiders are on the corner crying.....they had to hope they would get picked up and put on KGO to get off the death on the dial known as Live 105...which half the east bay can't seem to hear. Maybe they could hope for a 1050/560/104.5 deal and still get the KNBR marketing power. I don't see how 95.7 could add the Raiders currently with having to devote so much air time to A's games...

BASG

Good point on Live 105's reception in the East Bay (you inspired a post with this comment). 1050 is a Cumulus station, but I agree the Raiders need to figure out a better situation in terms of their radio flaship.