DaytonBorn

Whatever Cincinnati decides on for it's streetcar and light rail systems, they had better make it with durable materials. No penny pinching allowed. St. Louis Metro is already regretting it. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/DB8517581D94582586257313000F9EDD?OpenDocument The 14-year old original St. Louis Metro heavy-rail track is showing signs of wear-and-tear already due to cheap building materials. The wood ties are chipping and the steel rails are loose. The second phase of the track was added last year and was built with higher-quality, more durable materials, thus making a smoother ride and a better investment.

At that time, officials wanted to build an elaborate $2.6 billion light rail system over 30 years that would travel from downtown Cincinnati along Interstate 71 to Blue Ash and another line along Interstate 75 from downtown to Sharonville. All this talk about the downtown streetcar proposal, I forgot the other possibility of a county-wide light rail system similar to this map: [Regional Rail Plan.pdf]. [glow=red,2,300]Any news on the light rail system plan being revived?[/glow]

John, the ballpark station is in the same place as it was for the old Busch. They only renovated the pedestrian ramp connecting the street to the platform on the side facing the stadium. The condition of the ballpark station is not grim in my opinion, it is just ALWAYS CROWDED, which is what I hope will be a nice problem to have at Great American Ball Park someday soon. Once you climb the stairs from the ballpark station, the red brick stadium is right there staring back at you. Definitely the way to take a family to the game when ticket prices are expensive enough and parking is at least $10. With the advent of the new ballpark, the next phase is a line of retail and condos surrounding the stadium called Ballpark Village. Can you say instant revenue? Yes, I hope Castellini catches this same vision for Cincinnati, for the Reds and for the Riverfront economy. St. Louis Metro added a second line in Fall 2006 that reaches out more to the western suburbs and overlaps with the first line, thus doubling the frequency of train arrivals for the downtown, major commuter stops. John, how would you classify the train STL Metro uses? Definitely not streetcar, but since it runs on it's own track and is electric would you say it's Light Rail? What is Heavy Rail?

John, As a fan of Reds baseball, I have personally seen in St. Louis the impact light rail has on fan attendance at sporting events (see www.metrostlouis.org). Do you think you could receive financial backing from Reds owner Bob Castellini? LRT will only help attendance at Great American Ball Park, not to mention Paul Brown Stadium and access to The Banks (Castellini's other pet project). ---- I like this proposed map --> http://www.pro-transit.com/pdf/regionalrailplan.pdf <--, which is a combination of downtown streetcars and light rail/commuter lines extending to the suburbs. I will keep an eye on this project, as it is one of the deciding factors in my moving back to Cincinnati. I currently commute via St. Louis Metro. I save money and grief over gas prices, road construction and crazy drivers.

^ That's what I told my wife when I came home from work (I was listening intently to the Reds Hot Stove Report on WLW on XM). She was wondering why I was so giddy, I said I got some great news. And then I sang that little ditty, "The Reds are on the ra-di-o!!!" And she was like, oh, I can top that... I'm pregnant! LOL

More info on WLW on XM: Here's a blog that best explains why WLW on XM will not air Reds games... If you’re trying to decide between XM or Sirius satellite radio, here’s something to consider. WLW-AM will be added to the XM satellite radio lineup on Wednesday, March 1, on Channel 173. The entire day – except for Reds and Bengals games – will be heard across North America on XM. (Major League Baseball has a separate deal with XM; the NFL has an exclusive deal with Sirius.) Alternative programming (taped or some live call-in shows) will air during Reds and Bengals games. So this means Gary Burbank, Mike McConnell will be heard from coast to coast. And Cunningham and Furman? Is this a good idea? At least WLW-AM will truly be “the nation’s station” again – as it was in 1934-39 when it broadcast experimentally on 500,000 watts. Source: http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/tv/2006/02/big-one-on-xm.asp This is still why I will invest my money ($150) in a Mini CC Radio, due out in May 2006. This is reportedly better in every aspect of the CC Radio Plus. I want to be able to hear Reds games wherever I'm at, so this is what works for me: http://www.ccrane.com/miniccradio/index.aspx

I like listening to MLB Radio on XM 175 but they never cover the Reds, even with Rob Dibble on the air. It's nice that the Reds can get national exposure on their own station the same way TBS did for the Braves and WGN for the Cubs on cable TV. It'll also be interesting to see if other teams will follow suit. I know the Cardinals and Indians are jumping into exclusive radio station ownership, with the Cards moving to KTRS 550 AM from the more-powerful KMOX 1120 AM. How did WLW swing this deal with XM? I think it's a brilliant move!

^ WLW 700 AM is on XM Channel 173. It's a few seconds behind the actual AM feed, but for where I'm at in St. Louis, it's just what I need to drown out the Cardinals hype :clap:. Next up on the dial is MLB Radio on XM 175 and during the MLB season all baseball games will be broadcast on XM 176-189. This brings up an interesting point. How will Reds games be broadcast on XM? Will WLW on XM 173 carry Reds games or will it be treated like streaming WLW radio online, where they don't have exclusive MLB rights to stream Reds games? I hope WLW keeps the Reds games so I can hear them on 2 XM channels. Whatever happens I'll be ready since I have XM for the whole year. The only issue I have with MLB games on XM is when you get either the home or the away team's broadcasters for the Reds or any team for that matter. But with WLW on XM, I think it's a sure bet that I'll get Marty and Joe/Steve all the time.

:clap: Hooray for the ionosphere! Source: http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/classes/met130/notes/chapter1/ion2.html The Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation The ionosphere is important for radio wave (AM only) propagation.... ionosphere is composed of the D, E, and F layers the D layer is good at absorbing AM radio waves D layer dissapears at night.... the E and F layers bounce the waves back to the earth this explains why radio stations adjust their power output at sunset and sunrise

In my area (St. Louis) there is a Gospel station on 690 AM. Is that why 700 doesn't always come in that clear? Damn Gospel Hour!

Hey guys, I was on the Reds Message board at ESPN.com and replied to BLee2525's post. He asks how he can hear the Reds on the radio when he lives in Washington DC. He has XM Radio in his car but it is subscription based and not always guaranteed to get the Reds announcers. The board turned it into an XM vs. Sirius debate, but I think that skirts the topic and avoided the answer he was looking for. I have XM radio in my car as well, but I recently discovered that I can get 700 AM on a portable radio. I lent my experience, which I would like you guys to offer me your advice and opinions as well. I trust the posters on this board more than ESPN's group of hacks. GatewayPizza (that's me) wrote: Let me try to answer the question rather than add fluff to the XM vs. Sirius controversy. Sirius is not an issue here as they do not have MLB Radio and neither does BLee have Sirius. What BLee is trying to say is 1) I live in DC, out of the Cincinnati radio market (WLW 700 AM), and 2) since I already have MLB Radio on XM in my car, do I want to continue paying for the subscription just to hear Reds games? I am in the same boat, just a different river. I live in St. Louis and on my car radio I have XM for one more month and after the trial period I think my promotional offer is $9.99/month per year. I also faintly get WLW 700 AM on the same car radio. I have been listening to MLB Radio on XM 175 during the offseason on the drive home from work because I like hearing Rob Dibble and Kevin Kennedy. They have exclusive rights to interview players and such, and when the season resumes, you will hear the games broadcast on XM channels 176-189. They also will air all World Baseball Classic games in March. I also heard the last month of the 2005 season on XM. All MLB games are broadcast from their official radio announcers, but you are not guaranteed to hear either the home or away team's voices. For Reds games, you may or may not get Marty and Joe/Steve every night. For one, I did not like hearing the Pirates announcers do a Reds game. I am debating whether or not to continue my XM subscription at $9.99/month just for the Reds games. My second radio, which I just got this week, was a Sony ICF-36 Portable AM/FM/TV/Weather Radio. This cost me only $25 at Target (also at Radio Shack and Amazon.com). The benefit of a portable radio is you can take it with you - out of the car, in the house, around the campfire, etc., and it comes with a headphone jack. I read the reviews and others in the Midwest say they pick up far away AM stations, which is encouraging news. I tried to get 700 AM this week and most of the time I got it with little static and the times I couldn't get it was perhaps due to weather or other over-the-air interference. If someone could speak more to why 700 AM signal is stronger or weaker at times, this would help me out. Other portable radios are more expensive: 1) GE 7-2887 Superadio III Portable AM/FM Radio at ~$50 and 2) C Crane CCRadio Plus Multiband Portable AM/FM/Weather/TV Band Radio at ~$145. I read comparison reviews on Amazon and ccradio.com. You can get these radios at either Radio Shack or Amazon. I was going to ask my local Radio Shack if they can give me any more advice about these radios. Obviously, there are reasons one radio costs more than the other, such as digital tuning and sound, but what it all boiled down to for me was "Does this radio get me 700 AM?" The Sony ICF-36 did and for only a $25 risk. Plus it's smaller and weighs only a pound, so you can really take it with you. The Sony folks say their antenna is sensitive, but I couldn't find a direct comparison of antenna strength between the Sony, the GE and the CCRadio. Hey, at least I know I will always get Marty and Joe. The proof of its worth will be during the season, if WLW has a strong signal throughout the summer. I believe you should get WLW 700 AM from an AM Radio with a sensitive antenna from the DC area. You just have to do the research. I would like to know what you find out. My third option would be to stream Reds games, either on MLB.com for audio or MLB.TV for audio/video or take my chances with WKKI in Celina and WATH in Athens. I tried those radio stations online and they didn't work for me. Can someone else verify this? FYI, WLW 700 AM has free streaming radio on its website 24/7 except for Reds games, which is restricted from streaming audio by MLB. I figure this will be an experimental year for me as I try to find the best way to get my Reds games from where I live. This is also an experimental year for the Reds, so I might not miss much if I fail to hear a game. But they will get better soon and I want to be ready. BLee, let me know how it goes for you. P.S. - I had previously relegated to relying on ESPN to show Reds highlights, but since the Reds moved from Boston and dropped the Sox from their name, they don't get on SportsCenter anymore [backstab]. I could TiVo Baseball Tonight on any given night and the Reds could even miss the highlights in the entire hour. I know part of this is due to their on-field performance. The other option is to subscribe to the MLB Extra Innings package on DirecTV, but it is not worth it for me right now.

^ yes, sir, that's me. stuck in st. louie. get me out of this hoosier hellhole! I got tired of hanging around on skyscraper because my posts largely get ignored and my photos, well, i have none to offer.

Born in Dayton. Oh, and Dayton is where the Wright Bros were born who were the first to be airborne. OK, never mind, you get the point.

Born in Dayton and lived there for first 6 years, then 3 in Chicago and the rest in Florida until college. After graduation moved to St. Louis to work. My dream is to move back to Cincinnati.

My current rotation: Billy Joel - The Stranger (1977) Billy Joel - An Innocent Man (1982) Stevie Wonder - Innervisions (1973) The Beatles - 1s Gavin DeGraw - Chariot (2005) The Killers - Hot Fuss (2005) U2 - Rattle and Hum (1988) Chicago Greatest Hits Rob Thomas - This Is How A Heart Breaks (2005) ... and queued up for every time I drive by Busch Stadium in STL ... Blessid Union of Souls - Play Ball (the Reds tribute CD sold at Great American Ball Park in 2003) But I think the best album of all time is a tie between Billy Joel - The Stranger (1977) and Stevie Wonder - Innervisions (1973) ... Grammy Legends