September 22, 2016
NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Pelicans announced today the television and radio broadcast schedule for the upcoming 2016-17 season. FOX Sports New Orleans, the official television partner of the Pelicans, will broadcast 77 live regular season games. Combined with five national television broadcasts, all 82 Pelicans regular season contests will be televised.
The five regular season games not being televised by FOX Sports New Orleans are scheduled to air on national television broadcasts: Oct. 28 vs. Golden State (ESPN), Nov. 23 vs. Minnesota (ESPN), Mar. 3 vs. San Antonio (ESPN), Mar. 27 at Utah (TNT), Apr. 12 at Portland (ESPN).
FOX Sports New Orleans will begin their coverage of Pelicans basketball on Wednesday, Oct. 26 with the season-opener against the Denver Nuggets at the Smoothie King Center. The local television broadcast schedule features 38 home and 39 away contests.
Joel Meyers and David Wesley begin their fifth seasons as play-by-play and color analysts for the Pelicans, with Jennifer Hale entering her fifth consecutive season with the team as the sideline reporter. Meyers, a two-time Emmy award-winning play-by-play announcer, brings more than 25 years of broadcast experience to the organization. Wesley, who played 14 seasons in the NBA, joined the broadcast team prior to the 2012-13 season after serving as an assistant coach for the NBA Development League's Texas Legends for two seasons. Hale, an Emmy and Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist, is now in her sixth season as a sideline reporter for the NFL on FOX.
Pelicans coverage on FOX Sports New Orleans will include Pelicans Live pregame and postgame shows in addition to other Pelicans programming, and will be available statewide on cable and satellite providers. Pelicans Insider will also return to FOX Sports New Orleans for the 2016-17 season. A weekly program, Pelicans Insider features game highlights, player and coach profiles and behind-the-scenes footage.
Additionally, all games televised on FOX Sports New Orleans also will be streamed live on the Pelicans app. To access the live stream through the Pelicans app, customers must also have the FOX Sports Go app, available to customers of participating paid television providers on iOS, Android, select Windows devices and online at FOXSportsGO.com. Fans can download the mobile apps for free from the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon App Store and Windows Store.
FOX Sports New Orleans offers a robust lineup of local sports programming, including LSU coaches' shows, Big 12, ACC and Big East Conference collegiate events, Texas Rangers baseball and Dallas Stars hockey. FOX Sports New Orleans will be available to over 1.6 million cable and satellite TV homes throughout the Pelicans territory.
FOX Sports is the nation's leader in offering hometown NBA coverage through FSN, the largest owned-and-operated regional sports network group in the country. FSN serves as the local television home to more than half of all NBA teams, producing more than 1,000 live NBA telecasts per season.
News Talk 99.5 WRNO FM, the Pelicans radio flagship station, will broadcast all 82 regular season games during the 2016-17 season. Entering its second season as the club's flagship radio station, News Talk 99.5 WRNO FM will also feature pregame and postgame shows with Pelicans Studio Host Daniel Sallerson.
Four of the Pelicans' six preseason matchups will be featured on News Talk 99.5 WRNO FM. The two preseason games not being broadcast on radio are scheduled to be televised on NBA TV: Oct. 9 vs. Houston (Shanghai, China) and Oct. 12 vs. Houston (Beijing, China).
Sean Kelley returns for his 12th season as the play-by-play announcer for the Pelicans, while John DeShazier begins his fifth season with the Pelicans as color analyst. Victor Howell will serve as an alternate color analyst while DeShazier fulfills his role as Senior Writer and Digital Media Contributor for the New Orleans Saints.
News Talk 99.5 WRNO FM, part of the iHeartMedia Group, will air the Alvin Gentry Show on Thursday nights. The one-hour show hosted by Sean Kelley and Daniel Sallerson will feature extensive interviews with Head Coach Alvin Gentry, Pelicans players and a variety of guests from around the NBA.
Kelley also serves as host of the Black and Blue Report, a podcast devoted to Pelicans and Saints coverage. New shows are posted Monday-Friday on Pelicans.com, NewOrleansSaints.com, iTunes and both team apps. Additionally, fans can tune into any of the Pelicans' 12 radio affiliates across the Gulf South for exclusive Pelicans basketball coverage.
