The Packers Radio Network is a broadcast radio network and the official radio broadcaster of the Green Bay Packersfootball team. The network's flagship is Journal Communications' WTMJ (AM) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which has broadcast the games since November 24, 1929.[1] This is one of the few arrangements where a team's flagship radio station is not based in their home market and the local station serves as a network affiliate only; the rights for Packers games in the Green Bay area have bounced between Midwest Communications and Cumulus Media throughout the last few years, while stations carrying the games owned by Woodward Communications which nominally serve the Fox Cities exclusively have equally heavy listenership in Green Bay.
The Green Bay stations designated below in the table are considered additional "primary" stations in the network. This designation only truly comes to use in the later stages of the NFL Playoffs if the Packers make it to the NFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl, where those primary stations can carry the Packers Radio Network local call. All other network stations, including those in the Fox Cities, must carry the national Dial Global call instead in line with NFL rules.
Its primary programming consists of broadcasts of Packer home and away games to a network of 56 stations in Wisconsin, the U.P., Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, along with a two-hour pre-game show and three-hour postgame show which allows listeners to call, email, or text in a sports talk format about the finished game. Wayne Larrivee has been the play-by-play announcer since 1999, while former Packer center and current WTMJ/WGBA Packers analyst Larry McCarren has worked as the color commentator since 1995. Both Larrivee and McCarren contribute to the team's television programs, in addition.
Though its broadcasts began in 1929, WTMJ did not begin paying the Packers for broadcast rights until 1943; it paid the team $7500 to broadcast the season. In the early 1930s, there was no exclusive right given to broadcast games, and WHBY in Green Bay often sent its own announcers to call the game. From 1933 to 1936, three additional stations carried WTMJ's radio broadcasts of Packer games: WLBL in Stevens Point, WTAQ in Green Bay and WKBH in La Crosse. WSAW in Wausau and WJMS in Ironwood, Michigan started carrying the feed in 1937.[2]
