December 21, 2018 Chicago Sun-Times, Cubs radio voice Pat Hughes receives multiyear contract extension https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/cubs-radio-voice-pat-hughes-receives-multiyear-contract- extension/ Chicago Sun-Times, Sports media: For Marquee to be YES, Cubs must overcome new, bigger challenges https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/sports-media-cubs-marquee-yankees-yes-network- blackhawks-bulls-white-sox-nbc-sports-chicago-1576549/ Cubs.com, Cubs sign radio announcer Hughes to extension https://www.mlb.com/cubs/news/cubs-extend-radio-announcer-pat-hughes/c-302088024 NBC Sports Chicago, Cubs Mailbag: Javy Baez, Addison Russell, Bryce Harper, trade rumors and more https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/cubs/cubs-mailbag-future-javy-baez-and-potential-trade- rumors-mlb-russell-descalso-zobrist-harper-rizzo-bryant Chicago Tribune, Pat Hughes signs multiyear deal to continue as Cubs radio announcer: 'How much luckier can a guy be?' https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-cubs-pat-hughes-wscr-radio-contract- 20181220-story.html Chicago Tribune, Assessing all 35 candidates on the 2019 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, from Sammy Sosa to Ted Lilly to Freddy Garcia https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/ct-spt-baseball-hall-of-fame-ballot-ranking- 20181221-story.html -- Chicago Sun-Times Cubs radio voice Pat Hughes receives multiyear contract extension By Jeff Agrest One of my favorite days of the year is the day of the Cubs’ first spring-training radio broadcast with Pat Hughes on the call. Whatever the weather is outside, it immediately feels like summer. That’s the effect Hughes has on people, and it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Hughes received a multiyear contract extension to remain the Cubs’ radio play-by-play voice on The Score, the team and the station announced Thursday. An eight-time Illinois Sportscaster of the Year winner, Hughes will enter his 24th season with the Cubs. Analyst Ron Coomer returns to call the action with him. Hughes, 63, has been calling major-league baseball for 36 consecutive years. He began in 1983, at age 27, as the Twins’ TV play-by-play voice. He then spent 12 years calling Brewers games on the radio with Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Uecker. Hughes’ first season with the Cubs was in 1996. He worked alongside Ron Santo for 15 years, until Santo’s death in December 2010. Their broadcasts became known as the “Pat and Ron Show” because they weren’t just calling a baseball game, they were having a conversation open to the public. Keith Moreland was with Hughes through 2013, and Coomer came aboard the next season. Through it all, Hughes has been the epitome of professionalism. You’ll hear him open a broadcast by saying, “This is Pat Hughes reporting,” which is unique. You might not consider an announcer a reporter, but in essence, that’s what Hughes is. He’s breaking the news of every pitch and every play to his listeners. And he does so with great attention to detail, down to the color of the players’ shoes and socks. Hughes has the distinction of being the only Cubs announcer to call a World Series winner in the franchise’s 142 seasons in the National League. The first game broadcast on radio was in 1921, and the Cubs’ previous world championship team was in 1908. -- Chicago Sun-Times Sports media: For Marquee to be YES, Cubs must overcome new, bigger challenges By Jeff Agrest What channel is Marquee? That was the first question I was asked on Twitter about the Cubs’ TV network that will debut in 2020. Obviously, I didn’t have an answer, and we can only hope there will be one by Opening Day 2020. Distribution will be the Cubs’ biggest challenge as they launch their own regional sports network with the help of Sinclair Broadcast Group. Will their asking price keep them off cable and satellite providers at the start? Dodgers games have been available on just one carrier in Southern California for five years. But the Dodgers’ disaster has been an outlier among RSN disputes. The Cubs likely fashion themselves as the Yankees of the National League and figure they can recreate the Bronx Bombers’ hugely successful YES Network in the Midwest. However, if distributing Marquee is the Cubs’ biggest challenge, creating content will be close behind. Do the math: There’s 365 days in a year and 162 games in a regular season, but the Cubs won’t carry all of those games. If, say, 12 are picked up by ESPN and Fox, Marquee is down to 150 games. Will the Cubs keep them all or sell some off to an over-the-air station? The Yankees were on WPIX in New York 21 times last season. If the Cubs aired 20 games on, say, WGN, Marquee is down to 130 games. The Yankees share air time with the NBA’s Nets, MLS’ New York City Football Club and various college sports. With the Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox reupping with NBC Sports Chicago next October, the Cubs don’t appear to have another major local partner. They likely will have lots of original programming and rerun old games — which YES does, too — but can that carry the network for most of the year? More important, will the content justify the price the Cubs will ask distributors to pay? Their ratings for games likely will. According to Maury Brown of Forbes, baseball ranked first in prime time on cable in every U.S. MLB market except Miami last season. The game is struggling with TV ratings on a national stage, but it remains strong locally. Still, will the Cubs continue to move the needle as they have since 2015? Much could change in the early years of Marquee. Anthony Rizzo’s contract has the first of two club options after next season. Javy Baez, Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber are eligible for free agency after the 2021 season. And with Joe Maddon’s deal expiring after next season, the Cubs might be introducing a new manager along with their new network? What about the cord-cutters? This isn’t exactly the best time to launch a start-up, with 30 million U.S. cord-cutters this year and 65 million expected next year. So expect streaming to play a role in the Cubs’ plans, and there are all kinds of questions that come with that. Would fans have to subscribe to Marquee to stream games? Would there be an over-the-top option? What would that cost? Those are some of the balls the Cubs will juggle. But they’re likely banking on fans doing what they’ve done for decades: show up. Demand providers carry Marquee, watch it year-round and provide the team with the ratings and advertising revenue it’s seeking. This isn’t to say Marquee can’t be the YES of the Midwest. But it’s facing more challenges, and different ones, than its predecessor. Spinning the dial Choose: Zach Zaidman doing play-by-play for Cubs games or DePaul games? To me, it’s not even close. Zaidman is outstanding calling the Blue Demons on The Score. He sets the scene, pays attention to detail and is as enthusiastic as they come. Granted, it’s difficult to judge Zaidman on one inning of a baseball game each day, but from what we’ve heard, basketball seems to come naturally. You can hear him on 670-AM at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, when the Blue Demons host Boston College. The Blackhawks’ pregame show before home games on WGN Radio can be a tough listen, and it has nothing to do with host Chris Boden and analyst Troy Murray. Both are great at their jobs. But the nonstop music blaring out of the United Center speakers in the background can be very distracting. Moving the show elsewhere in the building might be tough logistically, but it’d be for the best. Remote patrol The Week 17 “Sunday Night Football” game is still up in the air. Word is, Eagles-Redskins and Colts- Titans are the front-runners, assuming the results in Week 16 keep those teams in playoff contention. An announcement is likely to come Sunday night. ESPN released half of the schedule for its 30th season of “Sunday Night Baseball,” and the Cubs are set for at least two games. They’ll visit the Dodgers on June 16 and play the Pirates in the MLB Little League Classic on Aug. 18 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. -- Cubs.com Cubs sign radio announcer Hughes to extension By Jordan Bastian As much as Wrigley Field's ivy-covered brick walls or the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," hearing Pat Hughes calling games on the radio has become synonymous with baseball on the North Side of Chicago. Fans can rest assured that he will continue on as the voice of the Cubs. On Thursday, the Cubs and Entercom announced that Hughes has been signed to a multi-year extension to serve as the team's radio play-by-play man on WSCR-AM 670 The Score, alongside color analyst Ron Coomer. The 2019 campaign will mark Hughes' 24th in the radio booth for the Cubs. "For more than two decades, Pat has brought Cubs games to life for our fans as the radio voice of the Cubs," Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney said in a release. "He has delivered countless monumental play-by-play calls from walk-off victories to no-hitters and of course, our 2016 World Series win.