Courtesy Chicago Sun Times

(March 16, 2010) CBS Radio sports/talk WSCR-AM (670) bet big last year on the annual ritual known as March Madness, the frenzied basketball tournament that begins Thursday and ends early next month with the crowning of the college men's basketball champion. Last year WSCR offered its listeners wall-to-wall, play-by-play audio coverage of the competition.

But this year WSCR program director Mitch Rosen passed on that opportunity way back in November, long before it was known what teams would be major contenders. "The play-by-play didn't deliver a big enough boost (last year) in the ratings to justify doing it again this year," said Rosen, who believes his station will benefit more from sticking to its regular line-up of Chicago-focused sports talk.

But WSCR rival ESPN Radio's WMVP-AM (1000) will offer the play-by-play coverage this year. The decision to go with the full on-air coverage of March Madness is a gamble for WMVP, which has been trailing WSCR in Arbitron ratings in the core 25 to 54 male demographic.

Rosen won't ignore college basketball's big event. WSCR will have basketball expert and Big Ten Network talent Tim Doyle on air to offer commentary about the tournament as it unfolds, and the station's Web site will have live video streaming of all the games -- an on-demand service also being offered on the NCAA Web site.

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