The Reds delayed 2020 Opening Day game will air on WKRC-TV at 6:10 p.m. Friday July 24, as Channel 12 again simulcasts Fox Sports Ohio's telecast of the Reds first game of the season.
Sports anchor Gary Miller announced on Monday's newscasts that the station will air the Detroit Tigers-Reds game from Great American Ball Park. The Reds are playing an abbreviated 60-game season due to the coronavirus.
Channel 12's owner, Sinclair Broadcast Group, also will broadcast the Opening Day game on one of its Dayton stations, WRGT-TV (Channel 45) or WKEF-TV (Channel 22), says Jon Lawhead, Channel 12 general manager and Sinclair group manager for stations in Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo and Lexington.
Channels 12 and the Dayton station also will air FSO's Reds pregame show at 5 p.m.
Fox Sports Ohio has not announced its Reds TV schedule yet. It is expected that FSO will air all the Reds games this year, as it has done since 2018.
"We are delighted to bring the start of another Cincinnati Reds season to our viewers," Lawhead says. "Local 12’s long relationships with the Reds and Fox Sports Ohio are part of our ongoing commitment to Cincinnati and the Tri-State. Despite the delay caused by COVID-19 issues, we look forward to an exciting, competitive season from baseball’s first professional team."
The Reds also will play exhibition games against Detroit July 21 and 22. No decision has been made yet about broadcasting those games on WLW-AM or the Reds Radio Network, says Dave Armbruster, sports operations director for iHeart Media Cincinnati. In past years, before the pandemic, the Reds Radio Network has broadcast all spring exhibition games from Arizona on WLW-AM, WSAI-AM or Reds.com.
Tommy Thrall takes over radio play-by-play this year after the retirement of Marty Brennaman. He will work with Reds radio/TV analyst Jeff Brantley.
Armbruster says no decision has been made whether Thrall and Brantley will travel with the Reds this season. Thrall told a local TV station last week that he could call Reds road games from Cincinnati by watching the game on multiple TV monitors.
Sinclair Broadcast Group bought the regional Fox Sports networks last year from Disney, which was required to sell them after purchasing Fox Broadcasting properties. Disney owns ESPN and ABC.
