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Harrisburg radio station to drop Phillies for Nationals

    by Michael Kaskey-Blomain and Jonathan Tannenwald, philly.com
    Published 

UPDATE: You've been saved, Phillies fans in Harrisburg. Lancaster-based WLPA, a Phllies radio affiliate in Lancaster, will carry games on its high-powered FM signal as well as its usual AM signal. The FM signal is plenty strong enough to reach Harrisburg. Thanks to the Inquirer's Jake Kaplan for catching the news.

The Phillies are predicted to be one of the worst teams in baseball in the coming season, while the Washington Nationals are viewed as a team on the rise, having won the NL East last season.

And Harrisburg-based WHGB-96.5 FM, longtime carrier of Phillies games, makes no secret of that being why they've dropped the Phillies and will broadcast Nationals games this season instead.

Ron Giovanniello, regional vice president of Cumulus Media Pennsylvania, the station's owner, explained that the decision was based on both teams' prospects of success for the coming season.

"Nothing against the Phillies, but clearly the Nationals are a team on the rise," Giovaniello told PennLive.com. "They won the NL East last year and are picked to win it again this year. Obviously, a winning team helps in all ways, and they certainly will be a postseason contender that makes a deeper run in the playoffs this year

Giovanniello then added this zinger: "Unfortunately, I don't see that in the Phillies' immediate future."

In Giovanello's defense, the Nationals have put down roots in Harrisburg that are now a decade old. Their double-A affiliate, the Harrisburg Senators, has been there since 2005.

"Our agreement [with the Phillies] was up," Gionvanniello said. "We made the decision last week to part ways with the Phillies and flip to the Nationals."

While the physical distances between Harrisburg and Philadelphia and Harrisburg and D.C. are quite comparable - 107 miles to Philadelphia, 120 miles to D.C. - the state capital has traditionally been Phillies territory.

(What about the Pirates, you ask? Their radio network doesn't have a station in Harrisburg. The closest is State College.)

Now the Nationals' radio network has breached the Mason-Dixon line. Games will now be heard on three stations: WHGB 96.5 FM and WHGB 1440-AM in Harrisburg (which broadcast the same signal most of the time), and WGLD 1440-AM in York.

This means that six MLB teams will now have games aired on Keystone State radio stations: the Phillies, Pirates, Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians.

If you're worried about Harrisburg being infested wtih Natitude, there are a few reasons to not be. First and foremost, the Phillies' radio network has affiliates in Lancaster and Lebanon that can be heard day and night.

Second, the deal in Harrisburg is only for one year. Here's hoping it isn't any longer than that.