Catch the Waves - Racing Shows Proliferate on Radio
by Jon Forbes Jr./ Illustration by Camille Weber

It’s a mid-autumn afternoon in 1938. Countless Americans are sitting at home, gripped by the same radio broadcast. Are they listening to one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “fireside chats,” seeking inspiration from their leader? No, since President Roosevelt is, according to legend, listening to the same broadcast, the renowned match race between War Admiral and Seabiscuit in the Pimlico Special.

Times have changed. Racetracks seldom sport the large crowds typical of the 1930s and the “Golden Age of Radio” has long passed, due to competition from new mediums of communication. However, racing continues to be well represented over the airwaves. And now, with technological advancements, racing fans have access to racing content disseminated through satellite radio and over the Internet.

Whether it be national media or local markets, fans can listen to an assortment of horse racing programming throughout the country. Most local shows are based around ongoing race meets, such as Terry Wallace and Tom Nichols’ show from Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, or at least originate in markets with a nearby racetrack, like John Engelhardt’s program out of Cincinnati, near River Downs. The Southern California circuit, which goes around the calendar, has had a variety of radio programming over the past two decades.

While the popularity of race programs is difficult to gauge because of a lack of Arbitron (radio audience) ratings for specialized shows that don’t garner sizable slices of the listening public when compared to other programming, circumstantial evidence points to a steady listenership that spikes with the coming of major races or events.

Steve Byk, the host of “At the Races” on Sirius Satellite Radio, said that he discerns rises in the volume of phone calls to his show in the run-up to the Triple Crown races as well as the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. He also noted that incoming e-mails continue to increase over time, indicating increased listenership.

Brad Telias, who directs racing content on CBS Radio and SportingNews.com, said that during the Barbaro saga in 2006 and early 2007, there were times when the Barbaro story was getting more hits than were stories dealing with any other sports on the Sporting News Web site.

Said Roger Stein, a Thoroughbred trainer who has hosted a radio show in Southern California for nearly 20 years, “Every once in a while you get information on your popularity. We ran a contest where listeners won a day at the races, and received 850 postcards. Since the benchmark is you receive responses from less than 5% of your listeners, we estimated we had 16,000 people tuning in. We may have approached 20,000 as a peak, and those were the best estimates we could get.”

There is no doubt that the national outlets, fueled by new technology, represent the strongest growth potential for racing on radio.

‘NETWORK’ GOES NATIONAL

Pete Kules and Mike Penna are the founders of the Horse Racing Radio Network, now in its first year of operation. Kules witnessed Alsab defeat Whirlaway in the famous match race at Narragansett Park in Pawtucket, R.I., on his first visit to the track. Penna, the younger member of the team, saw Easy Goer win the Travers Stakes (gr. I) the first time he went to the races

The duo travels the country and broadcasts directly from racetracks on major racing days. Events they have covered include the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I), Belmont Stakes (gr. I), Summit of Speed, Whitney Handicap (gr. I), and Arlington Million (gr. IT). The Belmont was HRRN’s first “national” show, with 19 stations from Miami, Fla., to Seattle, Wash., picking up the broadcast. In addition, the network has been given exclusive radio rights to the 2007 Breeders’ Cup.

“Everywhere I go, someone says, ‘What a hell of an idea! Why didn’t somebody think of this 25 years ago?’ ” said Kules. “The reaction of the industry people has been phenomenal.”

At first, Kules had covered races in Kentucky by broadcasting from Turfway Park near the city of Florence. Eventually, Kules and Penna, who also host “The Equine Forum,” a Lexington-based radio show that covers horse racing and other equine topics, decided to expand their race coverage to a national scale.

“If it worked at Turfway, why couldn’t we expand this network and put racing on radio on a bigger scale?” said Penna. “(Our) whole goal was to try it at Churchill Downs and see how it went. We did that and it was very successful. Once we got everything established in Kentucky, we set our sights on expanding nationally.”

Their broadcasts will run for several hours, with the total length depending on how many stakes races the track has scheduled.

“Most of the racetracks have packaged these spectacular race days where they have five graded stakes on one card,” explained Penna.

Penna believes there is ample room for racing over the airwaves in this era of television, simulcast wagering, and online streaming video.

“I have been overwhelmed by the response we have received from people that have listened to us,” offered Penna. “It’s very accessible. We’re filling a niche.”

“Personally, I think the industry has had its head in the sand with not utilizing the opportunity to have racing on radio,” added Kules. “Right now, there are more people listening to radio than there are watching television, and that’s 24 hours a day. It’s an untapped national market.”

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