The Cardinals have decided to leave KMOX’s 50,000 watt signal that can be heard in 40 states because they weren’t getting enough money (spare me) and have bought puny KTRS-AM in St. Louis that often can’t even be heard in East St. Louis. To help Illinois listeners, they will also be broadcasting on WSMI, an FM station in Litchfield.

However, neither of these stations can be heard in Peoria.

And that’s bad news for Cardinals fans, because when WMBD doesn’t broadcast Cardinals games, we’ll now have no way of listening to the game. WMBD has decided the past couple of years not to preempt Rush Limbaugh for Cardinals day games, forcing fans to listen to KMOX instead. Starting in 2006, that will no longer be an option.

This is a really stupid move on the part of the Cardinals. Many people become fans of a particular team because of TV and radio range — for instance, people all over the country become Cubs fans or Braves fans because of superstations WGN and TBS, respectively. And many people have become Cardinals fans throughout the nation because of the wide reach of KMOX. A smaller-wattage station means a smaller audience any way you look at it. The idea that people are going to run out and sign up for internet streaming of the games or purchase a satellite radio system is unlikely, even for already committed fans.

Locally, the owners of WMBD and WIRL should reconsider their preemption policy. My suggestion: go for the win-win; put the Cardinals’ day games on WIRL so they don’t conflict with Rush, but local fans can still hear them. And if there’s a Cubs game on at the same time, preempt the Cubs — we can still hear them crystal clear from Chicago’s WGN-AM.