History of the Masters golf tournament on TV (1956-present)

The Masters golf tournament has been a longtime spring staple on the sports TV calendar. The Augusta National Golf Club and network partner CBS have a unique relationship. CBS operates on one-year contracts and pays far less than market value for the rights. In return, Augusta National insists on approval of all announcers and dictates terms of the coverage (no mention of prize money, plenty of references to "patrons" and "second cut", no promotions for other TV programs, etc.). From the beginning, the tournament has been presented with minimal commercial interruption (just 4 minutes per hour).

Augusta National has always limited the amount of coverage by its TV partners. While it has allowed the number of TV hours to increase in recent years, it still lags significantly behind the other golf majors in this area.

Here is a look at how the coverage has evolved over time beginning with the first televised Masters in 1956. All listings of hours refer to scheduled TV coverage. Note: For detailed TV schedules and announcers by year, see my complete research on Masters TV history over at 506sports (free registration required to view).

<EDITED on 4/18/2019 to bring this up to date as of the 2019 tournament>  

Chronology of Masters TV coverage

1956 - CBS provided a half hour of coverage on Friday with one hour each on Saturday and Sunday. Chris Schenkel and Bud Palmer manned the microphones. CBS only covered holes 15-18 with all of its cameras stationary and most of them pointed at the greens.

1957 - Jim McKay became the lead announcer.

1958 - CBS expanded its Sunday coverage to 1.5 hours and eliminated the Friday coverage.

1959 - Frank Chirkinian produced his first Masters. CBS added cameras to cover more fairways and tees.

1961 - The tournament concluded on Monday due to weekend rain and CBS added an hour of Monday late afternoon coverage.

1962 - Schenkel resumed the lead broadcast role as McKay had moved to ABC. The Masters had an 18-hole playoff on Monday and CBS provided one hour of coverage.

1965 - Jack Whitaker took over the lead announcer role.

1966 - The Masters was televised in color for the first time. An 18-hole playoff was needed and CBS televised the end of it on Monday afternoon. This was the year that Whitaker made an on-air comment referring to the gallery surrounding the 18th green as a "mob". For this, he was banned from the telecasts by Augusta National chairman Clifford Roberts for the next several years. Henry Longhurst called his first Masters for CBS.

1967 - A strike by the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists (AFTRA) impacted the coverage. With the regular CBS golf broadcasters honoring the strike, some CBS management personnel handled the telecast along with two top amateur players who were Augusta members.

1968 - Pat Summerall broadcast the Masters for the first time and anchored the coverage at hole 18. Frank Glieber also made his Masters TV debut.

1969 - Ray Scott joined the CBS telecast crew. So did Frank Gifford who worked golf for CBS for a few years before moving to ABC.

1970 - Scott took over as the 18th hole announcer. The final 18-hole playoff took place this year and CBS added late Monday afternoon coverage for that.


1973 - CBS expanded to 2 hours on Sunday. CBS added late afternoon coverage on Monday after rain necessitated a Monday finish. Ben Wright joined the CBS crew for the first time.

1974 - This was the last year that Scott served as lead announcer.

1975 - Vin Scully worked his first Masters and assumed the 18th tower announcer role.

1977 - CBS expanded to 2 hours on Saturday.

1980 - CBS increased the Sunday coverage to 2.5 hours.

1982 - This year saw a major change as the USA Network provided Thursday and Friday coverage (2 hours live each day along with a prime time replay). This was the first ever cable coverage for one of the golf majors. The USA coverage used the CBS production crews and CBS announcers.

1983 - Summerall took over the 18th hole tower role as Scully had moved to NBC. Verne Lundquist made his debut on the Masters. So did Brent Musburger who was stationed in Butler Cabin for the first of 6 consecutive years. CBS increased the Saturday coverage to 2.5 hours and Sunday to 3 hours. Due to rain, the tournament did not finish on Sunday, so CBS added late afternoon Monday coverage.

1986 - Gary McCord and Jim Nantz joined the CBS crew. Bob Carpenter hosted the USA coverage.

1988 - CBS shifted the Sunday TV window to end at 7 pm ET where it remains to this day.

1990 - Bill Macatee hosted the USA coverage and would do so for all subsequent years that USA had the TV rights.

1994 - McCord made the infamous on-air "bikini wax" reference while describing the speed of the Augusta greens and remarked that mounds behind the 17th green resembled "body bags". These comments did not go over well with Augusta officials and despite still being a member of the CBS golf team, McCord has not worked the Masters since. That was also the last Masters tournament (and final CBS assignment of any kind) for Summerall who moved to Fox.

1995 - USA expanded the Thursday/Friday coverage to 2.5 hours each day. Nantz took over the lead announcer role.

1996 - Chirkinian produced the CBS telecast for the final time.

1997 - David Feherty called his first Masters on CBS as did Peter Oosterhuis.

2000 - Dick Enberg started a 7-year run of hosting the Masters from Butler Cabin. The Masters was televised live in HDTV for the first time.

2002 - Another major milestone took place this year as CBS increased the Sunday coverage to 4.5 hours and showed the leaders for all 18 holes. CBS had wanted to do this for a number of years, but tournament officials had always denied these requests in the past. This was also the last Masters in the TV booth for longtime lead analyst Ken Venturi.

2003 - Lanny Wadkins became the lead analyst and CBS expanded the Saturday coverage to 3.5 hours ending at 7 pm ET. The SD and HD productions of the event were unified. In the wake of the controversy over the Martha Burk protest regarding Augusta membership practices, the Masters chose to drop its sponsors. Both CBS and USA televised the event commercial-free. The same was true in 2004.

2005 - USA increased the Thursday/Friday coverage to 3 hours.

2006 - CBS added a one-hour special Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta which led into the Sunday coverage. That show looked back on the 1986 Masters using original CBS footage. This series has become an annual Masters Sunday tradition featuring vintage CBS telecast clips being rebroadcast for the first time.

2007 - Nick Faldo took over as CBS lead analyst joining Nantz in the 18th hole tower.

2008 - ESPN took over the Thursday/Friday coverage with Mike Tirico anchoring the action.

2009 - ESPN increased the Thursday/Friday coverage to 3.5 hours each day. CBS expanded the Sunday coverage to 5 hours.

2011 - ESPN expanded the Thursday/Friday coverage to 4.5 hours each day.

2013 - CBS increased the Saturday coverage to 4 hours. For both of the weekend rounds, CBS Sports Network aired a same-day prime time replay of the CBS network coverage.

2016 - Dottie Pepper became the first female TV announcer on the Masters.

2017 - Scott Van Pelt took over as the anchor for the ESPN coverage.

2019 - Due to a forecast for late afternoon storms, the Masters moved the Sunday tee times to the morning and sent the players out in threesomes. CBS televised the final round live starting at 9 am ET and re-aired much of that coverage at 3 pm.

Total scheduled live TV time for the Masters by year

1956-1972: 2.5 hours
1973-1976: 3.5 hours
1977-1979: 4 hours
1980-1981: 4.5 hours
1982:           8.5 hours (4 on USA, 4.5 on CBS)
1983-1994: 9.5 hours (4 on USA, 5.5 on CBS)
1995-1996: 10.5 hours (5 on USA, 5.5 on CBS)
1997-2001: 11 hours (5 on USA, 6 on CBS)
2002:           12.5 hours (5 on USA, 7.5 on CBS)
2003-2004: 13 hours (5 on USA, 8 on CBS)
2005-2007: 14 hours (6 on USA, 8 on CBS)
2008:           14 hours (6 on ESPN, 8 on CBS)
2009-2010: 15.5 hours (7 on ESPN, 8.5 on CBS)
2011-2012: 17.5 hours (9 on ESPN, 8.5 on CBS)
2013-2019: 18 hours (9 on ESPN, 9 on CBS)

Chronology of Ryder Cup coverage on US TV

While the Ryder Cup currently receives extensive TV coverage, this event was largely ignored by American TV networks for many years. Here is a summary of my research on the evolution of Ryder Cup TV coverage by US networks. I compiled this primarily from various newspaper archives.

Note: The above link takes you to a section of 506sports which contains detailed TV schedules and announcers for these Ryder Cups (free registration required to view). The hours listed represent the scheduled TV coverage.

<EDITED on 9/27/2018 to bring this up to date as of the 2018 event>  

The lean early years

The 1959 Ryder Cup was the first one televised in the US as NBC provided 2 hours of coverage on Saturday (which is when the matches concluded at that time). Chick Hearn was the lead announcer.

As far as I can tell, none of the Ryder Cups during the 1960s received any US TV exposure. In 1971, Sports Network Incorporated (SNI) provided 90 minutes of syndicated coverage on the final Saturday.

In 1975, the Ryder Cup shifted to the current Fri-Sun schedule. ABC held the US network rights and carried 2.5 hours of coverage of the Sunday singles. ABC also provided Sunday coverage in 1979 (2.5 hours) and 1983 (2 hours) with Jim McKay as lead announcer. There was no US TV coverage of the 1973, 1977, or 1981 matches when the Ryder Cup was held overseas.

In 1985, ESPN provided the first ever US TV coverage for a Ryder Cup held in Europe. However this coverage lasted only 1 hour and was presented on tape delay in November some 7 weeks (!!) after the matches.

In 1987, American TV coverage finally extended to all three days of the event. ESPN carried 2 hours of coverage on Friday while ABC aired 2.5 hours each on Saturday and Sunday.

1989 was the first time that any US network covered a Ryder Cup live from Europe. The USA Network televised 2 hours each on Friday and Saturday and 3 hours on Sunday (all live). Jim Simpson was the lead play-by-play announcer. Gary McCord and Ben Wright were among the other voices on the USA Network telecast team.

The NBC era

The 1991 Ryder Cup was significant for many reasons, one of them being a huge increase in America TV coverage. USA Network expanded to show 9 hours on Friday with Bill Macatee and Peter Kostis anchoring. USA also covered the Saturday morning matches (4 hours). Macatee would be the primary voice on all subsequent Ryder Cups that USA covered through 2006. NBC aired the Saturday afternoon matches (4 hours) and provided 4.5 hours of action on Sunday. Charlie Jones was the lead announcer for NBC with Johnny Miller as primary analyst (where he remains to this day). The Sunday matches were scheduled to end by mid-afternoon so that NBC could cover regional NFL games at 4 pm ET. All 1991 coverage was live and this would remain the case for every subsequent Ryder Cup contested in the United States.

In 1993, USA again provided 9 hours of Friday coverage, but this time on tape delay. NBC carried 6 hours on tape delay Saturday and 4.5 hours live on Sunday with Jim Lampley as the lead announcer. In subsequent years, both USA and NBC would televise the Fri and Sat action on tape delay each time the matches were staged in Europe.

For the 1995 matches, USA expanded to 10 hours on Friday. NBC televised 6.5 hours each on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, NBC covered the morning session, broke off to televise a college football game, and then returned to air the end of the afternoon session. Dick Enberg took over as main NBC announcer. As in 1991, NBC would cover NFL 4 pm games after the Ryder Cup Sunday action.

In 1997, both the Friday coverage on USA (10 hours) and the Saturday coverage on NBC (6 hours) were on tape delay. NBC aired the Sunday singles live for 4.5 hours.

In 1999, USA expanded to 10.5 hours on Friday. NBC expanded to 10 hours on Saturday and followed with 6.5 hours on Sunday.

The scheduled 2001 matches were postponed in the aftermath of 9/11. In 2002, we again had tape delayed coverage on both Friday and Saturday (10 hours each day on USA and NBC respectively). NBC provided 5.5 hours of live coverage on Sunday. Dan Hicks assumed the role as lead NBC announcer.

The 2004 TV coverage was similar to 1999 while the 2006 TV coverage matched that of 2002.

In 2008, ESPN picked up the Friday rights with Mike Tirico anchoring. The TV times were the same as in 2004.

In 2010, ESPN came on the air live at 2:30 am ET on Friday and was scheduled for 10.5 hours. This marked the first live Ryder Cup Friday coverage from a venue in Europe since 1989. NBC again planned to tape delay the 10 hours of Saturday coverage and televise 6 hours live on Sunday. However, rain interrupted the Friday play forcing significant schedule adjustments. ESPN wound up covering 5 hours of the revised Saturday session starting at 3 am with NBC then picking up live coverage at 8 am. After the Saturday matches concluded, NBC filled in with tape delayed coverage of earlier matches until 6 pm. On Sunday, NBC came on the air at 4 am for live coverage. The singles matches were moved to Monday and carried live by USA Network starting at 4 am.

For 2012, ESPN expanded to 11.5 hours on Friday while NBC went with the traditional 10 and 6 on the weekend.

2014 marked the first time that an entire Ryder Cup held in Europe was scheduled to be televised live in the US. The Friday coverage moved to Golf Channel which started at 2:30 am ET. NBC had 10 hours on Saturday (starting at 3 am ET) and 6 hours on Sunday beginning at 7 am.

For 2016, Golf Channel again scheduled 10.5 hours on Friday with NBC on tap for 10 hours on Saturday and 6 on Sunday. Recent NBC hire Tirico will host all 3 days and fellow NBC newcomer David Feherty joins the telecast team.

The scheduled 2018 coverage is similar to that of 2014. Golf Channel increases the Friday coverage to 11 hours starting at 2 am ET and will come on the air the same time on Saturday for one hour leading into NBC's 10 hours. NBC expands to 7 hours on Sunday starting at 6 am.

Estimating the total number of MLB games broadcast by Vin Scully

Recently the Dodgers announced that the legendary Vin Scully will return in 2013 for a 64th season of broadcasting games for the franchise. On the heels of this news, a member of the506 wondered how many Major League Baseball games Scully has called during his career and decided to initiate a collaborative effort towards estimating that number. (Note: Free registration required to view this forum thread on the506.)

As of this writing, the estimate (which counts regular season, postseason, and All-Star games) is that Scully will have broadcast a total of 9183 MLB games by the end of the 2012 regular season. The number includes his network (NBC television and CBS radio) appearances along with his local TV/radio work for the Dodgers.

Chronology of NCAA Tournament TV coverage (1982-1990)

CBS took over the network rights to the NCAA Tournament in 1982 and expanded its coverage over what NBC had done. Here is a summary of my research on NCAA tournament TV coverage for this time period: (all times are ET)

Note: The above link takes you to a section of 506sports which contains detailed TV schedules and announcers for these tournaments (free registration required to view).

UPDATE: This is the second of a three-part series. The first installment covers 1969-1981 while the third one covers 1991-present.

1982-1984

CBS introduced a half hour show on 3/7 at 5:30 pm to announce the 1982 tournament bracket on what is now known as Selection Sunday. CBS added coverage of the opening round with live late night games from the West Region on Thursday and Friday at 11:30 pm. On the opening weekend, CBS televised a tripleheader on Saturday beginning with a national telecast at noon and a regional doubleheader on Sunday. CBS actually televised an NBA game at noon on Sunday before its NCAA coverage, but would never cover an NBA game on an NCAA Tournament day again. For the regional semifinals, CBS carried a live 11:30 pm game from the West Region on Thursday and a tape delay game in the same timeslot on Friday. CBS also moved the first Final Four Saturday game to 3:30 pm. When NBC had the rights, the first Final Four game often started at 1 or 2 pm. The #1 CBS announcer team was Gary Bender and Billy Packer.

NCAA Productions televised all tournament games not picked up by CBS. ESPN continued to pick up many of these feeds and carried live doubleheaders on the opening Thursday and Friday nights. ESPN also ran many games on tape delay after the CBS 11:30 telecast both nights. For the regional semis, ESPN carried a prime time doubleheader each night along with a tape delay game after the CBS late night window.

In 1983, the tournament added four play-in games on the opening Tuesday. ESPN carried a live prime time doubleheader that night and showed the other two games on tape delay. Otherwise, the tournament coverage was similar to 1982.

In 1984, CBS expanded the opening weekend to a Sunday tripleheader which begin with a national telecast at noon. The rest of the CBS coverage was the same as the previous two years. This year there were five play-in games on the opening Tuesday. ESPN showed three of these live and the other two on tape delay. In the late night window on the Friday night of the 1984 regional semis, CBS provided regional coverage between a live game and another on tape delay. Otherwise, all of the CBS late night games of this era were national telecasts.

1985-1987

In 1985, the tournament expanded to 64 teams which eliminated the Tuesday play-in round. ESPN expanded its opening round coverage to carry five live games starting at noon on Thursday leading up to the 11:30 pm game on CBS. Then ESPN ran other games on tape delay overnight and the next morning. ESPN did the same thing on Friday. This resulted in almost non-stop basketball for 55 consecutive hours from Thursday noon through early Saturday evening. During its coverage, ESPN would also provide live cut-ins on other NCAA Productions games often providing the finish of a close game. However, the NCAA placed limits on how much live action ESPN could show from games other than the one it had selected as its primary telecast in that timeslot.

CBS also expanded the regional semifinals to a doubleheader each night in 1985. On Thursday CBS provided regional coverage of two games at 9 pm and carried a tape delay game at 11:30 pm. On Friday CBS aired a game at 10 pm and a tape delay game at 12:30 am. This left ESPN with only one live game each night. CBS also set the game times for the regional finals as 1:30 pm and 4 pm on both Saturday and Sunday, a pattern that would remain intact through 1990. Brent Musburger took over in 1985 as the CBS lead play-by-play voice and called the Final Four with Packer.

The 1986 and 1987 coverage was essentially the same as 1985. One interesting note from 1987 is that CBS televised a live game in the Friday night regional semifinal 12:30 am window. This marks the latest start time ever for a live NCAA Tournament telecast. Also, 1987 was the last year that CBS televised a tournament game on tape delay. During this era, when CBS aired a game on tape delay, in some cases a CBS affiliate in the local market of one of the schools would televise the game live.

1988-1990

In 1988, CBS took over the entire regional semifinals round showing doubleheaders both nights with two games regionalized in each window with tip times staggered by about 25 minutes. On these nights, CBS would only come on the air at 7:30 pm for tournament coverage in those markets which aired the 7:30 pm game in the early regional window. In all other markets the CBS prime time tournament coverage didn't start until 8 pm. CBS also moved the opening Final Four Saturday game to 5:30 pm. The 1989 coverage was similar to 1988.

In 1990, CBS expanded the opening Saturday to a quadrupleheader. Otherwise, the coverage was similar to the previous two years. This was the last year of the 11:30 pm CBS games from the opening round. It was also the final year of the ESPN/NCAA Productions involvement as CBS would take over the entire tournament the following season.

Chronology of NCAA Tournament TV coverage (1969-1981)

The TV coverage of the early years of the NCAA Tournament was a far cry from the live national coverage of every game that we have today. Here is a summary of my research on NCAA tournament TV coverage for this time period:

Note: The above link takes you to a section of 506sports which contains detailed TV schedules and announcers for these tournaments (free registration required to view).

UPDATE: This is the first of a three-part series. The second installment covers 1982-1990 while the third one covers 1991-present.

1969-1972

NBC started covering the NCAA Tournament in 1969. On the opening day of that tournament (Saturday 3/8) NBC televised a doubleheader. On Saturday 3/15, NBC provided a regional doubleheader of the regional finals with each market getting just two of the four regional final games. The Final Four was on Thursday night 3/20, but each market only got one of the two national semifinals. NBC showed the early game in the eastern half of the USA and the late game in the western half. On Saturday afternoon 3/22, NBC televised the consolation game followed by the championship game.

At the time, the NCAA placed teams into the tournament bracket based on geography so, for example, the West Regional only contained western schools. Also, the Final Four pairings were always locked in as East vs Mideast and Midwest vs West. These factors facilitated NBC in regionalizing its TV coverage essentially by geography and time zone no matter what schools were involved.

NBC used the same scheduling pattern through 1972. Therefore, during these years, each market received only seven games of the entire tournament on NBC (and one of those was the meaningless consolation game). This also meant that many areas of the country never got a chance to see UCLA until the championship game.

Interestingly, in each of these years, CBS televised the NIT championship game head-to-head against the NCAA consolation game on NBC.

Curt Gowdy and Jim Simpson called the Final Four for NBC in 1969 and 1970. Gowdy and Tom Hawkins formed the #1 team starting in 1971.

1973-1976

In 1973, the NCAA moved the Final Four to a Saturday/Monday format. For the first time, NBC televised both national semifinals nationally on Saturday afternoon. NBC aired the championship game in prime time on Monday night and stopped covering the consolation game. For the rest of the tournament, NBC used the same TV schedule pattern as for 1969-1972. The 1974 TV coverage was the same as in 1973.

In 1975, NBC expanded its opening Saturday coverage to a tripleheader. NBC also expanded its regional finals coverage to a tripleheader (with one timeslot featuring regional coverage of two games). So each market got to see three of the four regional finals. Also, in 1975, Billy Packer replaced Hawkins as the lead analyst and called the Final Four with Gowdy.

The 1976 TV coverage was the same as in 1975. From an announcer standpoint, NBC used Dick Enberg and Gowdy essentially as co-#1 play-by-play announcers. Each called one national semi with Packer. For the championship game, NBC put Gowdy and Enberg together (with Curt handling play-by-play) and relegated Packer to the studio.

During the early NBC years, the TVS television network syndicated many NCAA tournament games which NBC did not cover.

1977-1981

In 1977, NBC added Sunday coverage to the opening weekend and went with doubleheaders on both Saturday and Sunday. In a unique change of pace, on Thursday night 3/17, NBC also provided prime time regional coverage of four regional semifinal games with each market getting one game. This was the only year that NBC provided any coverage of this round. NCAA Productions syndicated the other four regional semifinals plus all other tournament games (including the Final Four consolation game) which NBC did not carry. NBC handled the announcer situation for the Final Four similarly to 1976, but this time added Packer to the championship game booth with Gowdy and Enberg.

In 1978, NBC continued to show Saturday and Sunday doubleheaders on the opening weekend, but covered three games regionally in each timeslot. Prior to this season, NBC would either show a national game or just two regional games in each opening weekend timeslot. Also, the NCAA scheduled two of the regional finals on Sunday so, for the first time, NBC televised all four regional finals nationally. NBC dropped the Thursday night regional semifinals coverage, but otherwise used the same schedule pattern as in 1977 for the remainder of the tournament. NCAA Productions carried the entire regional semifinals round and continued to televise all tournament games not picked up by NBC. In 1978, Gowdy called one national semi, but this time NBC assigned Enberg the lead play-by-play role for the championship game. Enberg called that contest with Packer and Al McGuire. That trio called all the Final Four games through 1981.

The NBC schedule for 1979-1981 was essentially the same as in 1978 except that NBC included all 16 games on the opening weekend as part of its regional coverage.

In 1980, six-month old ESPN picked up the NCAA Productions feeds of two games on the opening Thursday night and three on the opening Friday night of the tournament. ESPN also picked up these feeds for the regional semifinals the following Thu/Fri carrying five games live and the other three on tape delay.

In 1981, ESPN aired the NCAA Productions telecasts of all 16 Thu/Fri first round games (four live and the remainder on tape delay). ESPN provided the same regional semis coverage as in 1980.

ESPN also carried the NCAA Productions feed for the Final Four consolation game in both 1980 and 1981.

Research tools

Here are various sources I have found helpful in researching sports TV history and in constructing historical TV schedules and announcer assignments:

Online newspaper/magazine archives

• Historical newspaper digital archives such as Proquest, Newsbank, and Factiva. Many public and school libraries offer online access to one or more of these databases. Check with your library for the appropriate URLs and logon details.

• Google News Archive has a collection of archived newspapers, some of which are free. It also provides subsets of the "paid" content in the free search results.

• The SI Vault is a fascinating collection from the archives of Sports Illustrated, but the magazine has has a relatively small amount of coverage in the area of broadcasting.

Original game footage

• Youtube contains a large volume of original game clips. While the majority of the content is quite recent, the site does have a sizable amount of footage from the 1990s and 1980s, a fair amount from the 1970s, and some from earlier years.

• ESPN Classic replays a number of original game telecasts (mostly college football and basketball from ABC or the ESPN networks.). Regional sports networks such as MASN, conference networks such as BTN, and league owned networks such as MLBN, NFLN, NBATV, also rebroadcast older games.

• TV4U has a relatively small inventory, but some truly classic material including a 1956 college basketball game called by a then 27-year old Keith Jackson.

Miscellaneous

• Regular Google searching can provide useful information. For example, some sports DVD/tape trading sites list announcers.

• Many official college web sites contain archived game notes with TV/radio announcer information. 

• I've also received great assistance from other researchers on the Sports Broadcasting History forum at the506.

Historical sports TV schedule/announcer listings

One of the places I frequently visit on the internet is the506. While the506 is best known for its weekly color-coded NFL broadcast maps, this site also has a great set of well-run forums with many quite knowledgeable members. (Note: free registration required to access the forums)

The forums cover sports broadcasting topics such as weekly TV/radio schedules and announcer listings, analysis of media rights packages, reviews of broadcasters, discussion of TV ratings, network scheduling, announcer assignments, etc.

My favorite section (and the one most relevant to this blog) is the Sports Broadcasting History forum. I am one of a set of members who has been researching various aspects of sports TV history. For example, we have created year-by-year historical TV schedules with game times, networks, and announcers and have collaborated to identify errors and fill in missing pieces. I've done a lot of work on the historical college basketball and college football listings, while other members have compiled similar listings for other sports such as the NFL (including AFL and AAFC) and MLB.

If you are interested in sports media (past or present), I highly recommend checking out the506.