Editor’s note 11/13: This story has been updated to reflect new information from iHeartMedia Los Angeles. KLAC(AM) was never off-air during the World Series finale. Its transmitter site, however, was broken into and vandalized, which caused technical difficulties prior to the big game. You can read more about that incident here.
Wednesday night, in a nail-biting championship game, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees 7–6 in Game 5 of the MLB World Series.
Now, as any of our readers can tell you, baseball and radio have a long, storied history, with our beloved sportscasters often spending decades of their lives calling games.
While I, myself, am a lifelong Dodgers fan, no matter who you root for, we can all appreciate the in-depth coverage sports radio stations provide during historic matchups.
KLAC 570 is an iHeartMedia station that serves as the Los Angeles affiliate for Fox Sports Radio and the flagship station for the Los Angeles Dodgers Radio Network.
Following the Dodgers’ big win, I was alerted via a reader email that KLAC had experienced technical difficulties in the lead-up to the game. During what was surely a Super Bowl-equivalent event for station staff and their engineers, I can imagine there was no worse time to experience disruptions.
We are currently experiencing technical difficulties here on AM 570 LA Sports.
To listen to tonight’s Game 5 on radio, hear the game on @KFIAM640 and @AM570LASports.
To stream the game live on any device, listen on @am570lasports on the free @iheartradio app! pic.twitter.com/z2i8njW2da
— AM 570 LA Sports (@AM570LASports) October 30, 2024
I later found out that the “technical difficulties” experienced involved a curious break-in at the station’s transmitter site; and a collective effort to restore the station to full-power after all the antenna’s phasor controls were tampered with.
Learn more about how iHeart engineers, with help from Burt Weiner, sprang into action here.
You can hear Stephen Nelson and Rick Monday providing the winning commentary for AM 570 LA Sports below. (Fun fact: KLAC turned 100 this past March, with KFI turning 102 in April.)
The Dodgers Radio call of the title-clinching moment, with Stephen Nelson and Rick Monday providing the commentary for AM 570 LA Sports. ⚾️️ #WorldSeries #MLB
(h/t: @BenRaby31; @AM570LASports) pic.twitter.com/2lY9d69vth
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 31, 2024
Where did you tune in to the game? Do you have a station that you’d like the shout out? Email me at [email protected].
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