One of the primary reasons why Los Angeles was awarded an American League expansion franchise for the 1961 season was because actor/singer turned broadcast mogul Gene Autry wanted to secure radio broadcast rights for the newly planned Los Angeles American League franchise.
By mid-2006, 830 AM's programming was mostly in English (the principal exception being Angels games in Spanish), and the station's call sign was changed to KLAA.
It provided fans who live in certain parts of the Los Angeles market with a secondary outlet to listen to games.
[2] On May 15, 2012, the Angels signed a radio rights deal with syndicator Compass Media to distribute 25 games to a nationwide audience, in a game-of-the-week format.
[3] These games would be produced separately from the KLAA broadcasts, and will feature veteran play-by-play men Chris Carrino and Steve Quis, with former New York Mets general manager and current SiriusXM sports talk show host Steve Phillips and former MLB player Darryl Hamilton as color commentators.
[4] Many of the games, if not all, will air on such stations as WFAN New York City (radio flagship of the Mets), WTEM Washington, D.C. (a Baltimore Orioles affiliate), WQXI Atlanta, WYGM Orlando, and KFNC Houston.
At the time the broadcast rights were secured before the 1996 season, Disney had owned KCAL-TV, until they were forced to sell the station when it bought ABC.
On April 3, 2006, the Angels and its cable broadcaster partner, Fox Sports West, finalized a 10-year, $500 million deal.
[6] On March 14, 2023, Diamond Sports Group filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, following a missed $140 million interest payment 30 days prior.
Among the many notable voices to call games for the team have been nationally recognized sportscasters Dick Enberg and Joe Garagiola, future Seattle Mariners announcer Dave Niehaus, late Hall of Fame pitcher Don Drysdale, Hall of Fame outfielder Reggie Jackson, longtime Detroit Tigers radio announcer Ernie Harwell and later Tigers TV voice Mario Impemba, former Arizona Diamondbacks TV announcer Daron Sutton (son of Hall of Famer Don Sutton), Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson, and current MLB Network announcer Matt Vasgersian.
Rory Markas and Mark Gubicza were designated to take over the TV broadcasts in 2010, with Terry Smith and José Mota on radio.
The contracts of Steve Physioc and former Major League player Rex Hudler were not renewed after 14 and 11 years' service, respectively, to long suffering viewers relief..[11] Markas died on January 4, 2010, of an apparent heart attack at his home in Palmdale, California.