August 13, 2006
This is my first posting in awhile. Between some computer issues and vacation time that has been the main reason for the lack of postings. I'll cover many issues in this article, but if I miss anything feel free to send me an e-mail.

ESPN 790 (KBME-AM) in Houston will be adding a local morning show this month. Brad Davies comes to Houston from Clear Channel sister station Hot Talk 1280 (WHTK-AM, Rochester, NY). Carl Dukes will moves from the SportsBeat evening show to the morning cohost position.
CBS Radio's sports station in Detroit has changed it's name from 1270 The Sports Station to 1270 XYT The Sports Station (WXYT-AM). 1270 XYT has also gone back to a nonsports morning show with the addition of Opie & Anthony. 1270 for years used to air Imus in the Morning. In other news with CBS Radio, their 1010AM (WQYK-AM) in Tampa is going back to the sports format. After floundering around the past few years in the Classic Country and Hot Talk formats, 1010AM will go back to all sports later this month. Their afternoon show will again be the Sportschix which is hosted by a group of Hooter's waitresses...... No I am not making that up.
SportsTalk 950 (WPEN-AM) in Philadelphia has launched their new morning show- Gregg Henson (formerly of ESPN 1260 in Austin and WDFN & WXYT in Detroit) and Glenn Foley (former NY Jets QB). Henson & Foley are on from 6am-9am.
ESPN Radio 1000 in Chicago recently installed Sean Salisbury and Steve Rosenbloom as their midday show, 9a-12p. This item brings us to our first reader e-mail. Derrick in Chicago writes: I wish they would put The Herd on from 9 to Noon and move Salisbury to the 7pm timeslot. They could also have Silvy and Carmen on from 10p-1a and get rid of Jim Rome. Derrick, thanks for the e-mail. I have wondered what the listener reaction has been to Jim Rome's show airing tape delayed in Chicago and New York City (ESPN 1050). ESPN 1000's desire to be local before Dan Patrick has been noted over the past few years, but they can't seem to find a show that can stick in that timeslot.
1460 The Fan (WBNS-AM) in Columbus has gone a different route with their ESPN Radio programming. Two weeks ago they canceled the Dan Patrick Show. Chris Spielman and Mike Ricordati now are on from Noon to 3p, and "The Big Show" goes back to its timeslot from a few years back, 3p-7p. "The Big Show" has Kirk Herbstreit and Bruce Hooley. This is the first case of a major ESPN Radio affiliate completely dumping the Dan Patrick Show. No one from 1460 has publically stated why they dumped Dan, but I would think some of the reasons could be his many vacation days, the hour with Keith Olbermann, or the hours of Dan without a cohost and it seems like he needs a script. I though Dan's show was at its best when he had Rob Dibble with him. Dibble was so much of an opposite of Dan that they completely balanced each other out. Speaking of Dibble, he has been busy this year with his weekday XM Satellite Radio Baseball show, appearing on Best Damn Sports Show on FSN-TV, and FOX Sports Radio during the weekends.
More to come later this week.

April 20, 2006
Well, baseball season is in full gear and some teams hopes for the playoffs are already dashed. This is Major League Baseball's second or third (I forget) season of offering all games on XM Satellite Radio. I've had a chance to listen some this season for the first time. For a baseball nut, XM would be a great thing to have, but a few things still had me slightly soured on the product. Because the games are essentially talk, they're broadcasted in a lower quality sound format. Basically, the games sound like a bad MP3 feed. Also, only the home team's feed is broadcasted. I realize that XM doesn't have enough channels for all 30 teams, but I think that is still a huge drawback. Speaking of sound quality of games on the radio, more MLB teams have their games on FM this year. Among the teams on FM include the Padres, Royals (for night and evening games), and Nationals (1500AM/107.7FM WTWP simulcast). The Red Sox could also be headed down that road as they are negotiating with WBOS-FM (Greater Media) to be the new Red Sox flagship. Also, the Pirates could be in the same boat as their deal with 1020 KDKA-AM ends after this season. Supposedly, Clear Channel has put in a bid which could land the Pirates on a combination of either FOX Sports 970 (WBGG-AM) and either NewsTalk 104.9 (WPGB-AM) or Oldies 3WS (WWWS-FM).

Sporting News Radio is headed down the drain. I'll discuss that in my next update.

February 20, 2006
ESPN Those four letters mean sports. And while most people agree that ESPN has the most comprehensive coverage of sports on TV and Radio, I saw another classic, disgusting case of ESPN bluring the line between them covering sports and inserting themselves into the game. I am writing this during the end of the second half of the Texas Tech-Oklahoma basketball game in Lubbock. I am at home watching the game on TV and listening to the local guys on the radio. Twice during the second half, there were blatant cases of the clock stopping during play. The first instance happened during the middle of the second half, the second case happening at the 3:13 mark. Well, the clock stops for over 10 seconds during play and NO ONE, on the floor, catches it. The clocks, restarts, and then stops again because of a foul (or timeout- I forget which) and someone in ESPN's truck then catches the error on replay.
The ESPN TV announcers, Ron Franklin and Fran Fraschilla, start going crazy after someone in the truck alerts them to the stoppage. Well, then Ron Franklin decides that he is going to 'correct' this 'injustice'. So he takes his headset off and starts yelling at the refs on the floor and the ref running the clock that something has malfunctioned with the clock. While Ron is yelling at the refs, Fran is on-air LIVE on ESPN explaining his cohorts actions. Ron comes back on-air after the refs start to huddle around the monitor and basically pats ESPN on the back for catching the clock error. Now, let me ask you (the reader) this: when are the play-by-play announcers supposed to insert themselves into the game? NEVER. You're there to describe and analyze the game. NOT to insert youself and/or your network into the direct inner workings and outcome of the game. In the end the refs took 8 seconds off the clock. But of course since NONE of the coaches, players, nor refs caught the error themselves, the time should have stayed on the clock. The whole principle of refs using TV monitors for clock issues and 3-point shots in basketball was to correct errors the REFS made themselves. Not to let someone from the outside point out an issue that no one had any idea about.
I think everyone in Sports Media needs to take a step back and think for a moment. Especially, if you're in Bristol. While Sports TV and Sports Radio is not meant to be hard journalism nor have whole-hearted impartiality; if you're supposed to be in a neutral role during your broadcast, STAY NETURAL. Too many people want to 'create' or 'be a part' of the news they are covering. Never mind the fact, that you're supposed to be there (as is I said) to describe, report, or analyze the game you're covering. Not insert yourself in the middle of it. I leave you with this: did Mike Tirico (ESPN TV) throw punches in Detroit (Dec. 2004) when he was covering the Pistons-Pacers game that almost turned into a riot? (The answer, of course, is no. Mike stayed at press row and described the melee happening before him)


Finally, I am starting a website e-mail list, where readers can be updated on when I update the site. If you want to be added, send an e-mail to rob@robertsnyder.net

February 18, 2006
It's been a slow past 6 weeks: Todd Wright, former ESPN Radio host, has been doing fill-in hosting for Sporting News Radio this year. FOX Sports Radio has reshuffled their lineup, moving James Washington and Craig Shemon to the 9a-12p EST slot, and Andrew Siciliano is now on from 7p-10p EST.

The Oakland A's have a new set of flagship radio stations, but their coverage pales to that of their former flagship 610 KFRC-AM. KFRC-AM was owned by CBS Radio before being sold in the middle of last season. The A's new flagship station 1550 KYCY-AM is also owned by CBS, but has a drasically reduced coverage area. To help fill in some of the gaps in coverage the A's have signed up two secondary flagship stations. Salem's 1220 KNTS-AM (San Jose) will carry all weekend games and pick up coverage of weekday games beginning at 6pm. The other station the A's have added is 1440 KVON-AM in the Napa Valley. KVON will air all 162 regular season games. The A's contract with all three stations runs through 2008 and includes their "Extra Innings" postgame call in show. The A's have also hired, former Rangers and Astros radio play-by-play voice, Vince Controneo for this season.

The Washington Nationals for their second season in D.C. get a new set of flagship radio stations, but stations that have carried baseball before. Last season the Nationals were on Bonneville's 1050 WFED-AM and Z104 simulcast. This year the Nationals get a significant upgrade. Bonneville will air all 162 regular season games on "Washington Post Radio" 1500 WTWP-AM (Washington D.C.) and 107.7 WTWP-FM (Warrenton, VA), the former home to WTOP-AM & FM. WTOP when it occupied 1500 AM and 107.7 FM used to carry Orioles games in the 1970s and 80s. AM 1500 is a blowtorch, broadcasting at 50,000 watts. On a side note, the all-news format of WTOP-AM & FM moved to 820 AM (Fredrick, MD) and 103.5 FM (Washington D.C.).

ESPN 790 (KBME-AM, Houston) in Houston is looking for a local morning show. It is assumed the station would want the new show on-the-air before the start of the Spring ratings period at the end of March. Currently, ESPN 790 airs ESPN Radio programming from 5a-3p, before going local from 3p-9p.

2006 appears to be the year of the new website. Many sports radio stations around the country have new websites, including ESPN 790, KFAN (Minneapolis, MN), and the New England Sports Giant WEEI. Speaking of WEEI, they are now the second major all sports station expanding their reach regionally by adding simulcast stations. KFAN in Minneapolis started the FAN Network back in 2004, and it now includes 11 stations. WEEI for years has simulcasted on 1440 WVEI in Worcester, MA and last year added 103.7 WEEI-FM in Providence, RI. Now, WEEI has just bought 103.5 WBEC-FM in Springfield, MA. WBEC will become WEEI's third simulcast station in the summer of this year.


Finally, I am starting a website e-mail list, where readers can be updated on when I update the site. If you want to be added, send an e-mail to rob@robertsnyder.net

December 20, 2005
A few quick hits before Christmas: John Kincade, afternoon co-host at 680 The Fan in Atlanta (WCNN-AM), is now part of the weekend team at ESPN Radio. John will be taking over the Sunday morning slot (8a-11a EST) formerly held by Mark Madden and Dan LeBatard. John starts in January (based from Atlanta at 680 The Fan), plus don't forget that John is the main fill-in host for "The Herd" (Colin Cowherd) on ESPN Radio and he will be filling in for Colin on December 26-30.

Former WFAN (SportsRadio 66, New York City) host and maverick, Sid Rosenberg, is making waves in Miami with former Dolphin WR O.J. McDuffie, as the midday team on 790 The Ticket (WAXY-AM). A few weeks ago Sid & O.J. got into a well publicized on-air argument about Sid interviewing N.Y. Giant Tiki Barber, instead of a Dolphins player. You can listen to the whole week's 'drama' by Clicking Here and then selecting the audio from December 10th.

SportsRadio 550 WGR in Buffalo always puts out great parody audio, including some recent "NFL Philms" montages of the Bills games. Click Here to hear their most recent one, Week 13 Buffalo vs. Miami. You may have to click over to the next 10 audio clips in their database, if the audio has scrolled off their page.

ESPN 790 (KBME-AM) in Houston was carrying two hours of the FOX Morning Extravaganza from 8a-10a.... well not anymore. Mike & Mike and "The Herd" are now carried their full show lengths into the Dan Patrick Show at Noon.

KNBR (680 KNBR-AM & KTCT-AM 1050) in San Francisco has reunited with Tony Bruno. Bruno's Sporting News Radio morning show is now being carried on KNBR 1050 from 6a-9a. KNBR is also airing Sporting News Radio's "Troy Aikman Show" weekly on KNBR 1050.

KTRS (550 AM) in St. Louis is making their progression from generic News/Talk/Sports to a "Hot Talk"/Sports format with the Cardinals coming over next baseball season. Tim Montemayor from KHTK (Sports 1140) in Sacramento has joined their staff. Also, reports from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch quote their management saying they will be hiring more sports personnel and that new Cardinals broadcaster John Rooney (previously with the White Sox) will have a large presence on KTRS.

No new reports on the Houston Astros search on a road, radio play-by-play announcer. Milo Hamilton will be getting the Vin Scully treatment next season, only working home games, heard in Houston on NewsRadio 740 KTRH.

December 4, 2005
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas during this holiday season. More changes are FOX Sports Radio (FSR) and Sporting News Radio (SNR). All of these changes essentially precipitaed by David Stein leaving FOX Sports Radio's Mid-morning show and joining Sporting News Radio. Stein is taking over the weekday overnight slot from Kevin Wheeler. Wheeler has been with Sporting News Radio/ One on One Sports for over 10 years. When Bob Kemp left One on One, Wheeler took over the weekday overnight slot. With Stein leaving FSR, they have hired Scott Ferrall, who was most recently with Clear Channel- Atlanta on their FM Talker "Real 105.3". Krystal Fernandez has been moved off of FSR's Mid-Morning show to "The Drive" with Chris Meyers and Brian Cox. Ferrall is being paired up with Karen Kay for the overnight slot, and Jorge Sedano is being paired with Andrew Siciliano for FSR's new Mid-Morning Show.

Gregg Henson, who was talked about a few updates ago, is now the afternoon show host at ESPN Radio (1260 AM & 1530 AM) in Austin. Gregg has a very interesting website, and I have added it to the links section on the left side of the page.

Reader, Brent H., from Minnesota has e-mailed, reporting that former SNR host Scott Wetzel, was doing some work on Lotus Broadcasting's FOX Sports 1460 in Las Vegas a few weeks ago. Doing a check on their website there is no mention of Wetzel, but radio websites most of the time are hit-and-miss.

November 2, 2005
Want hear some of the funniest sports radio-- ever? Go to SportsRadio WGR 550 (Buffalo). Click on the "On Demand Audio Vault" and find the two audio clips labeled Tedi Bruschi's Best Moments. They are absolutely hilarious. Especially the one that pokes at ESPN TV's blatant hero worship of Tedi during the Sunday Night Football game.

One of ESPN Radio 1000's (WMVP-AM, Chicago) hosts partied a little too much after the White Sox won the World Series. Dan McNeil, afternoon host, was absent from his show the ay after the Sox won the World Series. Many listeners on the Score 670 Message Boards (not affiliated with WSCR-AM, Chicago) blasted Dan. Well, Dan took his lumps and posted a reply on the board, that you can read by clicking here. Mac's post almost at the bottom of the first page. Interesting that a host would respond to message board chatter, but classy nevertheless.

Finally, I'll be on ESPN Radio this Saturday doing the Texas Tech- Texas A&M updates from Lubbock, during Gamenight.

October 24, 2005
I don't listen much to All-Night on ESPN Radio anymore because of my work schedule. However, Monday night I happened to be out late and tuned in to hear the new revamped show with Jason Smith. I have to say that I was pleasantly suprised. Jason had a nice upbeat pace to the show, and showed some humor as well, recounting the story of the White Sox coming up with their playoff theme song of Journey- Don't Stop Believing.

Some readers have wondered what happened at Sporting News Radio. Well, as reported on BenMaller.com, Sporting News Radio laid off hosts, Scott Wetzel and Jeff Rickard. Most hosts for Sporting News Radio (SNR) are now working 6 days a week, including Kevin Wheeler, Rick Ballo, and Tim Brando. Maller reports that SNR is having money problems, and I would believe it. As far as quality affiliates go, SNR places 3rd compared to ESPN Radio and FOX Sports Radio. Also, Tony Bruno hasn't landed on as many high-profile stations after his return. One station that I was suprised that hasn't picked up Tony is KNBR (AM 680 KNBR-AM & AM 1050 KTCT-AM) in San Francisco. KNBR on their secondary signal, AM 1050 (KTCT-AM) used to run Tony's FOX Sports Radio show. Speaking of KNBR, they have hired a new Sportsphone 680 host. Former station staffer, Damon Bruce, will now host the night show. Damon has had stops at ESPN Radio, 1460 The Fan (WBNS-AM, Columbus, OH), and News/Talk 1190 WOWO-AM (WOWO-AM, Fort Wayne).

The Chicago Bulls for 2006-07 will be joining the White Sox in moving from ESPN Radio 1000 (WMVP-AM) to an Infinity station. The Bulls new home will be WCKG-FM. WCKG is an FM Talk station heavilly targeted at young males. As already noted, the White Sox, starting next year will be on SportsRadio 670 "The Score" (WSCR-AM). Infinity Chicago now has 4 of the major Chicago sports teams under their umbrella. White Sox and Blackhawks on "The Score", Bears on NewsRadio 780 WBBM-AM, and the Bulls on WCKG-FM.

On a personal note, this year, I have been a stringer on ESPN Radio for Texas Tech Football's home games. I have already been on during the Kansas State and Kansas games, and will probably be on during the Texas Tech- Texas A&M game in 2 weeks.

Clear Channel-Louisville and the University of Louisville have started the process to turn Clear Channel's sports station in Louisville into a promotional arm for the University. The call letters have been changed from WXXA-AM to WKRD-AM, and some University of Louisville-focused talkshows have started airing. And while the slogan still remains "Xtra Sports 790", the station now has an updated logo which features the Louisville Cardinal. You can view this online at XtraSports790.com

October 23, 2005
A sports radio station in Texas is going to get a shot in the arm with the addition of personality Gregg Henson from Detroit. Gregg has been in Detroit for a long time, working for Clear Channel's SportsRadio 1130 "The Fan" (WDFN-AM) and then jumping ship to Infinty a few years ago. Henson, when he joined Infinity, was originally with sports station AM 1270 "The Team" (WXYT-AM), but he then moved to the hall to the FM Talk station, Live 97.1 (WKRK-FM) to do the midday show. Henson was fired from Live 97.1 a few weeks ago after an incident where a competing DJ from another station was mentioned. Henson on his personal website, www.gregghenson.com, says that the firing was more political in nature and will tell-all at a later time.
Now, time for some speculation. I think there are three sports stations in Texas that could want/land Gregg and I will tell you reasons for all three. The first station is SportsRadio 610 (KILT-AM) in Houston. Even though Gregg may have been fired by Infinity Detroit, he could still have a contract. Infinty with the Howard Stern fiasco is in no shape to be paying off contracts to talent that is "dead weight". SportsRadio 610 in 2006 will be going into their second year with an all-sports competitor (ESPN 790 "The Sports Animal" [KBME-AM]), and may need a jolt to freshen their lineup. I could see a senario where Henson is added to the afternoon drive slot with Rich Lord, and Houston Texans play-by-play voice Marc Vandemeer is put back into his original 9-11am slot. The second senario I could see for Henson is SportsRadio 1310/104.1 The Ticket (KTCK-AM, KTDK-FM Sanger) in Dallas. The Ticket just let go their evening host, Rich Phillips, and Gregg could fit in perfectly to the guy-talk/sports format of The Ticket. However, one reason why The Ticket may not go after Gregg is that The Ticket's owners, Susquehanna/Pfaltzgraph, are in the process of selling all of their radio stations and probably don't want to add new expenses while in the process of selling. The third and final station (and a huge longshot in my opinion) I could see Gregg going to is ESPN 790 "The Sports Animal" (KBME-AM) in Houston. Henson could either be used as the morning drive host (right now ESPN 790 is nationally programmed in the morning) or as a co-host to Charlie Palillo in the afternoons.

More news & opinion to follow tomorrow.

September 16, 2005
More changes at ESPN Radio: Todd Wright has been relieved of his duties as host of the "All Night" program. Jason Smith, who had some on-air tryouts to replace Chuck Wilson on GameNight, is now the new "All Night" host.

September 12, 2005
Many items to cover: Today 680 The Fan in Atlanta (WCNN-AM) dumped their local midday show and is now airing ESPN Radio's "The Herd" from 10a-1p. In another note, 680 The Fan's John Kincade will be filling in on ESPN Radio's "The Herd" next Monday.

Since the last update, Tony Bruno has gone national (9a-1p Eastern) on Sporting News Radio. In addition to his flagship, 1540 The Ticket (KMPC-AM) in Los Angeles, Tony can be heard on SportsRadio 1260 in Indianapolis (WNDE-AM). Over the past month, Sporting News Radio, has also used former ESPN Radio host Chuck Wilson for weekend fill-ins and has setup a new east-coast morning show with Scott Wetzel and Matt Spiegel (6a-9a Eastern). Wetzel has done mornings for Sporting News Radio before, as he was on a morning show with Bruce Jacobs (now with KFYI-AM, Phoenix & FOX Sports Radio) and Art Mehring (now in Atlanta doing weekends on WGST-AM) in about 1999-2000.

It appears that Kevin Kiley & Chuck Booms aren't reuniting any time soon. A reader in Springfield, MO last month e-mailed to say that Booms was on 98.7 The Jock saying that he and Kiley were about to get back on Sporting News Radio. Well, fast forward to about a month later and still no sign of them.

The Van Earl Wright experiment on FOX Sports Radio (FSR) is over. FSR with little fanfare let Van Earl go and replaced him with FSR weekend host David Stein. Andrew Siciliano and Krystal Fernandez are still on the "Morning Extravaganza". However, the loss of many stations for FSR in the mid-morning slot will continue to hurt the network. Stations like SportsRadio 1260 (WNDE-AM) in Indianapolis, Xtra Sports 570 (KLAC-AM) in Los Angeles, and SportsRadio 1300 The Zone (KVET-AM) in Austin have all gone to different programming in place of the "Morning Extravaganza".

ESPN Radio 890 in Boston has officially signed on. ESPN 890's local afternoon show features Boston Herald writer Michael Felger and Kevin Winter. Winter has been heard on ESPN Radio nationally anchoring SportsCenter updates.

Philadelphia will again have two all-sports stations, as 950 WPEN-AM, will flip to sports this fall. They will be billed as Sportstalk 950 featuring Tony Bruno, Jim Rome, and Jody McDonald (formerly of WFAN and 1050 ESPN Radio in NYC). For a time in (I think) the late 90's 1210AM was "1210 The Game" WGMP-AM going up against 610 WIP in the all-sports battle. 1210 then segued to News/Talk and is now WPHT "The Big Talker".

August 5, 2005
MLB News: After 52 years, the St. Louis Cardinals are leaving 1120 KMOX-AM for 550 KTRS-AM. Many Cardinals fans are outraged because KMOX's 50,000 watt nighttime signal could be heard throuhgout the U.S. KTRS's night signal is only 1,000 watts, but promotionally they will be heavily devoted to the Cardinals. As part of the deal, the Cardinals are buying a 50% stake in KTRS, 106.1 WSMI-FM in Litchfield, Illinois will carry all night games (they are a rimshot FM covering East St. Louis and Springfield, Illinois), the deal is for 8 years. Now the question becomes, what happens at KTRS when there are Cardinals conflicts with the Rams and Blues. KTRS has made a big deal about their Rams and Blues coverage, but obviously when there is a Cardinals game the other teams are going to get bumped. One of the main reasons the Blues moved to KTRS from KMOX is becuase they were getting moved to different stations during the season becuase of Cardinals baseball. Now the Blues and the Rams are in the same situation. Eventually, I think you will see the Blues or Rams going to KMOX with KSLG-AM "ESPN 1380" and KFNS-AM "The Fan 590" also in the hunt for both teams.

I have recieved a few e-mails lately asking about Kevin Kiley & Chuck Booms, known as Kiley & Booms when they were on FOX Sports Radio. Supposedly, they were going to go to Sporting News Radio as part of their revamped lineup. However, Kevin Kiley has still been doing ESPN Radio fill-in work, including hosting the SportsBash a few days this week. Sporting News Radio is adding Tony Bruno for 9a-1p Eastern on August 15th and is moving James Brown to the 1p-3p Eastern timeslot. The rest of the Sporting News Radio lineup is up in the air.

ESPN Radio is going through some of its own changes as Chuck Wilson is offically gone from the network. So far, ESPN Radio has not hired a new Gamenight host. I have to say its a shame Chuck is gone becuase he did an incredible job at anchoring the controlled chaos that is ESPN Gamenight. Doug Gotleib and the other guys on Gamenight as of late just can't hack it. ESPN Radio for the weekend editions of Gamenight have brought in some hosts from other markets like John Kincade and Jason Smith, but unless something drastic happens, that doesn't help the weekday editions of Gamenight.

More coming up this weekend on the website.

July 19, 2005
NBA Notes: The Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics have new radio homes. The Hawks are now on SportsRadio 790 The Zone (WQXI-AM). Georgia Tech games will have priority over the Hawks on The Zone, bumping some games to Classic Soul 102.5 FM (WAMJ-FM). The Celtics will now be heard on 680 WRKO-AM. They have given Entercom Boston an incredible foothold in the Boston sports market as Entercom has the rights to the Red Sox, Celtics, and Boston College. All Celtics games will be aired on WRKO-AM with coaches and player shows airing on sister station SportsRadio 850 WEEI-AM.

July 14, 2005
Some NFL Notes to start this update: According to SDRadio.net, Texas Rangers TV Play-by-Play voice, Josh Lewin, will become the radio voice of the San Diego Chargers starting this August. Lewin already has a full schedule doing the aformentioned Texas Rangers TV Play-by-Play and FOX National Game of the Week Play-by-Play on Saturdays. I imagine his month of September will be a very hectic month of travel. The Miami Dolphins have announced that Joe Rose and Jimmy Cefalo will be their new radio play-by-play team on 790 The Ticket (WAXY-AM). Howard David, who's still at WQAM-AM, was the Dolphins previous play-by-play voice. David this season will be doing some national NFL radio broadcasts on the Sports USA Network.

Dino Costa, who has been at sports radio stations in Denver and Florida, is returning to Denver. He will be on the Radio Colorado Network weekdays from 11a-1p. The Radio Colorado Network is anchored by 1060 KRCN-AM.

Scott Ferrall is doing some sports radio fill-in work around the country. Ferrall this week will be on ESPN 790 in Houston and over the past few weeks has been spotted on FOX Sports Radio. Ferrall used to be a part of WNEW-FM in New York, SportsFan Radio Network, and the play-by-play voice for the NHL Atlanta Thrashers.

June 19, 2005
Changes at 1460 The Fan (WBNS-AM) in Columbus, Ohio. From AllAccess.com: Program Director, Dan Zampillo has left 1460 The Fan to go to Infinity's 1270 The Team (WXYT-AM), in Detroit, as Program Director and Executive Producer. In the Sunday Sports page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer there was a blurb about the Plain Dealer's Ohio State beat writer, Bruce Hooley, leaving the paper and joining 1460 The Fan as "The Big Show" co-host with Kirk Herbstreit.

The Chicago White Sox this past week, announced they are moving from ABC's ESPN Radio 1000 (WMVP-AM) to CBS/Infinity's SportsRadio 670 The Score (WSCR-AM). The White Sox signed a five-year contract with The Score, stating in 2006. The Bulls radio rights are up after the 2005-06 season and this now makes The Score the front-runner for those rights. Also, the White Sox for much of their history have been on the 670 frequency back when it was WMAQ. When the White Sox (and Bulls for some of the time) were on WMAQ the station was evolving from country music to News/Talk and then to all-news format. CBS/ Infinity moved The Score from 1160 to 670 in 2000 signaling the end of WMAQ.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch today has a lengthy article on their sports page discussing the future of the Cardinals radio rights. The Cardinals and 1120 KMOX have been joined at the hip for 52 seasons, but the Cardinals are looking at trying to buy their own radio station to make more money. Click Here to read the article. It's an interesting read. I think the Cardinals will stay with KMOX (because of the signal), but they will either be given some type of ownership stake into KMOX or be allowed to sell some of the commerical time during the games.

In Huntsville, Alabama ESPN 1450 has found a replacement local afternoon show after the SportsBUGG went to 730 The Ump (WUMP-AM). The G.A.M.E. is on ESPN 1450 from 3-6pm with Gary Darby and Matt Tidmore.

The Los Angeles Lakers are needing a new radio play-by-play voice after they moved Joel Meyers from the radio to the TV broadcasts, effective next season. Joel was the first permanent radio announcer for the Lakers after the passing of Chick Hern.

SportsRadio 1250 (WSSP-AM) in Milwaukee is running a unique promotion with the Milwaukee Brewers (even though they aren't the Brewers flagship station). During the Brewers July 1st game with the Pirates, Brewers fans will be able to "vote" for their favorite Brewers logo, choosing between the current Brewers script logo, or the MB ball-in-glove logo, shown here: The fans will be able to vote by choosing to receive a free T-shirt with the logo of their choice as they enter Miller Park. SportsRadio 1250 has teamed up with the Brewers to help promote the July 1st game, and SportsRadio 1250 will be conducting official call-in voting where fans not able to attend, will still be able to voice their opinion on their favorite Brewers logo.

June 9, 2005
The future of John Kincade at 680 The Fan in Atlanta has been decided. In a story, you're reading here first, John will stay at 680 The Fan after signing a new multi-year contract with the station. John will also still be doing fill-in work for ESPN Radio from Atlanta and occasionally in Bristol as well. In an e-mail to RobertSnyder.net, John said about his new contract, "I am pleased to announce that I am signing a new contract to remain at 680 The Fan. We have enjoyed great success and I love living in Atlanta and working here." So, loyal readers there it is. There are people at 790 The Zone (The Fan's competition) in Atlanta that read this site religiously, and I'm sure they will be quite suprised when they find out about John Kincade staying at 680 The Fan. 680 The Fan still has an opening for a midday co-host, and expect that position to be filled within the next 6 weeks or so.

June 8, 2005
Normally, I don't mention too many personal items on the website, but today (7:15am Eastern) I got to be on the legendary 84 WHAS (840 AM) in Louisville. Tony Cruise, their morning show host, was interviewing me about the newly proposed 'sex-offender free neighborhood' in Lubbock (click here for more info). Click Here to listen to hear the Top-of-the-Hour tease and the interview. It's about 6 minutes long and in MP3 format.

In sports radio news, rumors persist about John Kincade leaving 680 The Fan (WCNN-AM) in Atlanta. As I have stated here before I think John the main candidate to replace Chuck Wilson on ESPN Radio's Gamenight. An e-mailer this week asked, "where is" former One on One Sports host Bob Kemp? Bob, since he left Chicago, is in Phoenix. He's hosting the afternoon show on SportsRadio 1060 (KDUS-AM).

At the moment, not much else going on nationwide. Before college football starts I am going to try to catalog the flagship radio stations for all the Division I-A football teams. Hopefully, I'll have enough time during the summer.

May 31, 2005
Some news out of Texas: Texas Tech has renewed its agreement with Clear Channel Lubbock to have the Clear Channel stations as the Lubbock flagships for Texas Tech Sports. Texas Tech is one of a handful of schools in the country that get all of their football, men's basketball, women's basketball, and baseball games broadcasted on commercial radio. Normally, schools have a hard time getting baseball games cleared, much less getting all 60 games on-the-air. Continuing from the previous agreement, Texas Tech will have their football, men's basketball, and women's basketball games simulcasted on an AM & FM station.

Former Florida sportstalk host, Dino Costa, has been doing fill-ins at News/Talk station Braves Radio 640 WGST in Atlanta over the past few weeks.

Also, in Atlanta, no movement from 680 The Fan on finding a new midday co-host.

Akron, Ohio has lost their all-sports station as FOX Sports 1350 has flipped to Liberal Talk, as Radio Free Ohio.

Anyone want to put odds on Dan Patrick lasting at ESPN Radio throughout the year, or on how many affiliates Tony Bruno will have when his Sporting News Radio show starts? Patrick's show has gotten horrid as of late. Dan can be a great TV anchor, but with no one to regularly play off of his demeanor on radio, he's sounds as stiff as a board. As for Bruno, he has a tough road to hoe as most of his marketing to radio stations for his new national show is off of past success. He won't have the help of any corporate cram-downs this time around. Realistically, if he debuts (later this Summer) with somewhere between 15-30 affiliates it has to be considered a victory.

May 20, 2005
More Sports Radio News: Xtra Sports 570 in Los Angeles (KLAC-AM) has dumped the FOX Morning Extravaganza for a guy-talk syndicated morning show, Mancow's Morning Madhouse (syndicated from Chicago). So between Mancow and Phil Hendire 'Xtra Sports' will have 7 hours a weekday of non-sports programming, so much for being an "All Sports Station". ESPN 710 (KSPN-AM) should be salavating at this move.

Some more news from the South. Also, on Monday, Ticket 760 (KTKR-AM) in San Antonio is moving Sports Talk San Antonio from 2p-5p to 6a-9a. Its the first time Sports Talk San Antonio has aired in the morning. Jeff Vexler and Walter Pascarita are still the main hosts of the show. Ticket 760's main afternoon show, The Thompson Brothers will move from 5p-8p to 4p-7p.

Someone at 1460 The Fan (WBNS-AM) in Columbus has a sense of humor. After Ian Fitzsimmons left the station, they replaced his picture on the front page of their website with a question mark. Now they have replaced the question mark with a photo of Darth Vader. I guess in one respect the 'Empire' could be what is steering 1460's ship at the moment. Ok, I know that's a bad joke, but why else would you put a picture of Darth Vader on your station website.

ESPN 790 in Houston had added some interesting niche programming. Houston Chronicle Soccer writer Glenn Davis is doing a weekly soccer show Wednesday nights from 9p-10p. Sporting News Radio's 1540 The Ticket, (KMPC-AM) in Los Angeles, is the only other U.S. sports radio station with a regular soccer show on the schedule.

In Knoxville, TN; NewsTalk 99 WNOX has moved to 100.3 FM and become NewsTalk 100.3 WNOX. The sports programming that aired on 99.1FM-99.3FM-990AM (excluding Tenessee Vols) is now becoming its own station, Sports Animal 99. Citadel owns the station and is using the same Sports Animal logo used at their Oklahoma City station. Sports Animal 99 is also local for 13 straight hours on weekdays from 6a-7p.

NBA News: The Atlanta Hawks will be needing a new radio home. NewsTalk 750 WSB had decided not to renew their contract with the Hawks. Look for the Hawks to land on 680 The Fan (WCNN-AM). Also, the Boston Celtics radio rights are up for bid and Sporting News Radio's 1510 The Zone (WWZN-AM) is expected to lose the Celtics.

Remember, your e-mails are welcome. Click the link at the top of the page.

May 19, 2005
The Carolina Panthers have moved from Clear Channel's WRFX to Jefferson Pilot's NewsTalk WBT 1110AM/ 99.3 FM. WBT carried the Panthers during the first five years of their existance. WBT will also be airing a 1 hour Panthers talk show Monday evenings.

A note about BIG Sports 590 in Omaha, Nebraska; I was asked to remind readers that 590 has a HUGE signal covering area in 7 states. By far a better signal than their competition at ESPN 1620.

More sports radio changes in the South. 680 The Fan (WCNN-AM, Atlanta) is making news this time, rather than speculation. Midday co-host Steve Dooley has been fired and Perry Laurentino stays on at the station. Friday morning, the 20th, SportsRadio 730 The UMP (WUMP-AM Huntsville, Alabama) afternoon host Thom Abraham will fill-in during 680 The Fan's midday show. Usually when a host from an outside market is brought in for a show, its an on-air tryout.

April 25, 2005
The Arizona Cardinals are now with Bonneville's NewsRadio 620 KTAR-AM & ESPN Radio 860 (KMVP-AM). ESPN Radio 860 becomes the new home of the Cardinals Coach's Show (The Dennis Green Show) and will air all Cardinals games. NewsRadio 620 KTAR will on air Cardinals games that don't interfere Diamondbacks & Suns games, which could mean that the 1,000 watt ESPN Radio 860 (KTAR is 5,000 watts) could be the only Phoenix outlet for Cardinals football 4-6 games a season. Considering the Cardinals were on SportsRadio 1060 KDUS-AM & 100.7 KSLX-FM for all regular season games the past few years, you have to think that this new radio deal is a downgrade for the team.

Reader E-mails are always welcome, and it usually seems to come in spurts. Lately, John Kincade from 680 The Fan (WCNN-AM, Atlanta) has been generating the most e-mail. During the Christmas break, John spent a lot of time on ESPN Radio filling-in for Dan Patrick and doing some GameNight shows; I think he may have also filled in for Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio. John lately has been the subject of some rumors, the main one being that he will replace Chuck Wilson on ESPN Radio's GameNight. Wilson's contract with ESPNRadio expires later this year, and Kincade is a logical choice to replace Wilson. I also wouldn't rule out ESPNRadio 1250's (WTAE-AM, Pittsburgh) Mark Madden as a candidate. He's been an infrequent fill-in for various ESPNRadio shows over the past few years, and has been hosting the Sunday morning ESPNRadio show for over the past 7 months. Just to clarify, I have no concrete info on Madden, its just a guess on my part.

Also, the NFL Radio page has been updated with all of the 2005 offseason changes. Click Sports Radio Station on the menu bar to read more.

April 21, 2005
Some NFL Radio notes: The Arizona Cardinals are expected to leave KDUS-AM and sign a deal with either Clear Channel, Bonneville, or Infinity. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers FM Flagship, Thunder 103.5, has changed formats from Classic Rock to Country as "U.S. 103-5", their AM broadcasts are still the Sports Animal, 620 WDAE-AM.

In Huntsville, Alabama the ESPN 1450 afternoon show, The SportsBUGG, has moved to the other sports station in town, SportsRadio 730 The Ump. The SportsBUGG is the new morning show. Former, 730 The Ump morning show host Matt Perault is now with Journal's new BIG Sports 590 in Omaha, NE. BIG Sports 590 will be facing competiton from ESPN 1620 and Clear Channel's NewsRadio 1110 KFAB. KFAB is Omaha's station for Nebraska Athletics and with its 50,000 watt signal can be heard throughout Nebraska day and night.

ESPN 1000 in Chicago has settled on Silvy and Carmen as their midmorning show, officially replacing Jay Mariotti. The Chicago Sun-Times has been reporting that ESPN 1000 is in danger of losing the White Sox and Bulls right to competitor SportsRadio 670 The Score (WSCR-AM, Infinity ownership).

Columbus's 1460 The Fan is still changing things around, as Mike Riccordai has been moved off of the Big Show (4p-7p weekdays) back to the morning shift of doing updates during Mike & Mike and The Herd, plus cohosting Spielman on Sports. 1460 The Fan still has not officially replaced former Big Show host Ian Fitzsimmons, who is now in Salt Lake City at 1320 KFAN (KFNZ-AM).

March 26, 2005
It's been a month a madness with Texas Tech going to the Sweet 16 in both the Men's & Women's tournaments. This past month has kept me busy from updating the website, but now that the Men are done its time to get down to business.

The biggest news that has happened in the past month actually occured a few days ago. This was reported first on BenMaller.com, Tony Bruno has signed with Sporting News Radio to be the morning drive host for 1540 The Ticket, their Los Angeles station. Bruno will start out as L.A. only for Sporting News with his show eventually being syndicated on Sporting News Radio nationwide.

Also, happening in California, the San Franciso 49'ers have ended their relationship with ABC's 810 KGO-AM and are now with Susquehanna's KNBR 1050 (KTCT-AM) and 107.7 FM The Bone. KNBR 680 (KNBR-AM) will broadcast 49'ers games that don't interfer with Giants and Warriors games in an arrangement similiar with what Clear Channel does with the Bengals in Cincinnati.

In other NFL Flagship news, the Dolphins have moved from SportsRadio 560 WQAM to SportsTalk 790 The Ticket (WAXY-AM). Howard David, who was the Dolphins play-by-play voice after leaving Westwood One, will stay with WQAM, and has signed on with Sports USA for College and NFL national play-by-play work. David Barron, in his (Houston Chronicle) column said that SportsTalk 790 was considering a run after Houston Texans play-by-play voice Marc Vandermeer (KILT-AM) before he signed a new three year contract with KILT.

In Houston, former SportsRadio 610 (KILT-AM) morning show host Adam Wexler has been brought back as evening show co-host with Matt Jackson (6p-10p). Wexler was with 610 from about 1997 or 98- 2001 hosting Sunday night and early morning shows (5a-7a). Clear Channel Houston has announced that Sportsbeat will be moving from KTRH to ESPN 790 (KBME-AM) on April 4th. Sportsbeat will still start at 7pm. A long time ago, KTRH Sportsbeat ran from 6-10pm, with the 6pm hour starting at around 6:15pm after the CBS World News Evening roundup and then KTRH Local News, Weather, & Traffic. Of course that's a KTRH from a lomg time ago, before there were two all-sports stations in Houston.

Mike Hall, ESPN Dream Job winner, has been sighted on ESPNU as one of their main studio hosts. ESPN Dream Job- NBA Edition, wraps iup on Sunday.

February 26, 2005
ESPN has started their third edition of Dream Job, searching for a new NBA analyist. I could only watch about five minutes of the show before Stuart Scott and Steve Smith made me cringe. Mike Hall, the original ESPN Dream Job winner, has basically been M.I.A. during the time he has been at ESPN. I don't even know if Mike is on ESPN News. ESPN & ESPN Radio are both trending downhill. Their self-hype and east coast bias make both the TV and radio ends of their spectrum unconsumable. I really wish FOX Sports Net had a clue and would challenge ESPN Television. I think there are enough sports fans out there that want expanded highlights and in-depth features, that would switch over to another channel to get them.

If you're a video game fan, San Franciso Giant announcers Dwayne Kiper and Mike Kruko are back as the voices of EA Sports MLB MVP 2005. Its their third consecutive season as the voices for the video game, and its now out in stores.

Also, the 'About' page has been updated on the website.

February 24, 2005
The Washington Nationals have settled on partnering with Bonneville's Federal News Radio (1050 WFED-AM) and Z104 (104.1 WWZZ-FM, 103.9 WWVZ-FM) as their radio partners for the 2005 season. WFED-AM's signal is very weak- 1,000 watts daytime and under 100 at night, compare that with potential station 630 WMAL-AM at 5,000 watts and you can see the need for an FM to simulcast some of the games.

Former, ESPN Radio and TV host, Rob Dibble, has landed at XM Satellite Radio's MLB Channel. He's doing an afternoon show with former, MLB manager Kevin Kennedy.

From LARadio.com, former FOX Sports Radio hosts, Kevin Kiley & Chuck Booms will be on Sporting News Radio's Los Angeles (1540 The Ticket, KMPC-AM) station next week doing their local morning show. The previous morning show host for KMPC-AM, Roger Lodge, is no longer with the station.

The MLB Flagship Radio station page has been updated for the 2005 season. Thanks to SportsRadio 680 KNBR-AM's Isabelle Lemon for e-mailing that the San Francisco Giants have been on KNBR since 1979 (spanning previous formats on 680 AM before it became all-sports). KNBR is guaranteed to have the Giants through 2009.

February 12, 2005
A few Major League Baseball teams have gone down to the wire in locking up flagship radio stations for the 2005 season. The Baltimore Orioles have renewed with 1090 WBAL-AM (longtime home for the Orioles), the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have renewed with Clear Channel, but they are now on their number 3 rated AM, 1250 WHNZ-AM. The Florida (don't call us Miami) Marlins are expected to renew with WQAM, and the Nationals are talking with ABC (630 WMAL-AM) and Infinity (106.7 WJFK-FM) as they try to decide a flagship station. In Tampa, Clear Channel's Newsradio 970 WFLA had been the home for the Devil Rays for their whole existance, but a lackluster financial deal, team, and a desire to not interrupt highly rated talk shows (like Rush Limbaugh) contributed to the move to 1250.

Clear Channel Los Angeles has moved Xtra Sports from 1150AM to 570AM. They have also moved parody-talk show host, Phil Hendrie, from KFI to Xtra Sports. Clear Channel Cincinatti has run Hendrie on their sports station, 1360 Homer- The Sports Animal, (WSAI-AM) in the evening time slot for awhile now.

ESPN Radio on Monday, February 28th is changing their broadcast clocks to mirror what the network did around 2000, 2001. Right now at :20 & :40 past, the National SpoirtsCenter plays and then the commericals play. After 2/28/05, commerical breaks will start around :15 & :35 with the National SportsCenter playing around :21 & :41 after all of the commercials have played. Of course, the vast majority of ESPN Radio affiliates (from 6a-7p) will place their own local SportsCenters during their commercial breaks.

ESPN 1000 in Chicago is still trying out hosts in the early midday slot of 9a-Noon. Jay Mariotti, formerly held down that timeslot.

SportsRadio 1280 (WODT-AM) in New Orleans is looking for a new early midday host to lead into Jim Rome (right now they air national programming). WODT-AM is the flagship for the NBA's Hornets, and the ESPN Radio & FOX Sports station for the Big Easy.

Dallas' NewsRadio 1080 KRLD-AM & the Texas State Networks have moved out of their main studios and offices in the centerfield building of the Texas Rangers' Ameriquest Field. They will still have a few studios at the stadium this season for their Rangers programming, as it is the last year of their contract. ABC Radio-Dallas (with legendary WBAP-AM & their sports station ESPN 103.3 FM) is apparently in the running along with KRLD-AM for the Rangers rights starting in 2006.

January 10, 2005
Many issues to discuss after the Christmas holiday. Former OneonOne Sports SportsFlash anchor and host, Dave Harbison, is now working full-time for SportsRadio 610 in Houston as their afternoon anchor. No word on if 610 will add a co-host for their evening show (6p-10p with Matt Jackson). As far as the Houston SportsRadio war between 610 & ESPN 790; 610 has a definate advantage with local programming for most of the day and the Houston Texans rights. ESPN 790 is syndicated except for 3p-7p and play-by-play. 790 only runs one local sports update an hour, at 2-after-the-hour, from 5a-3p (two from 3p-7p- top & bottom of-the-hour), which was very disappointing to hear considering ESPN's high commercial load, and the fact that Clear Channel has a full sports staff. 610 has sports updates three times an hour (top, 20, & 40) from 6a-11a & 2p-10p. However, 610 is still not running any type of local updates durng Jim Rome. I guess they don't realize that by not having local updates they are giving their listeners a reason to tune out. In the end I think the only was 790 can overtake 610 is by having a local morning show, and some local weekend programming to counter 610's national programming on the weekend.


Speaking of another former OneonOne Sports host-- Peter Brown is now the afternoon drive host at Milwaukee's new SportsRadio 1250. Peter had been laying low for awhile, briefly appearing on FOX Sports Radio in 2004.

Mark Patrick, formerly of FOX Sports Radio and WNDE, is now with MLB Radio on XM Satellite.Radio. Mark will stay based in Indianapolis.

Jay Mariotti's mouth has gotten him fired from ESPN Radio 1000 in Chicago. ABC apparently decided that trying to renew their contracts with the White Sox & Bulls is more important than keeping Jay.

1460 The Fan in Columbus is still looking for a full-time afternoon host and Program Director. The station has been in flux for most of the fall with a revolving door of afternoon hosts.

WQAM in Miami has dropped Howard Stern from their morning show slot and moved Hank Goldberg to the 7a-10a slot from the 4p-7p slot.

The Braves new AM flagship station AM 640 WGST has completely reimaged from "NewsRadio 6-40" to "Braves Radio 6-40 GST"

December 20, 2004
ESPN 790- Houston has signed on this morning, here's their logo:
The lineup is a heavy hodgepodge of ESPN & FOX Sports, with a lot of play-by-play of college football and basketball games, and one local show from 3p-7p. To see the website go to ESPN790.com. KTRH SportsBeat is supposed to be eventually moving to ESPN 790 or go off the air in 2005.

The value of the Washington Nationals radio right has gone down the toilet with the turmoil in D.C. No radio station in their right mind would bid anything but a very low amount of money for the team's rights if they are there for a year. In fact if the team is one and done in D.C. the team may have to buy time on a station just to have a radio presence.

If you follow the Atlanta Braves on radio, you'll need to pay attention to when the Braves announce their affiliates for the '05 season. Clear Channel now has the Braves rights, and in many Georgia & Alabama markets, Clear Channel is putting the Braves on their own stations which previously didn't have the Braves.

In Miami, the Marlins radio rights are still up in the air. SportsRadio 560 WQAM has had the Marlins the whole time they have been in existence, but apparently a combination of Howard Stern on 560 and ESPN 790 "The Ticket" may push the rights somewhere else.

December 13, 2004
Wow, what a day on the e-mail. I get home from work and the question of the day is--- "Where is Damon Bruce?" Damon was working at 1460 The Fan (Columbus, OH) hosting the afternoon show, with occasional appearances by Kirk Herbstriet. I don't know why Damon is gone, but I'm sure the odd arrangement with Herbie only working a few days a week could have something to do with it. I mean think about it, you're doing a 4 hour show, 5 days a week, and the marquee talent you're supposed to be paired with is off with Corso & Tirico. Obviously, no one will know for sure, unless someone goes public, but it is certianly odd. The Fan's website still has a questionmark next to Herbie, so I guess the webmaster was saved some work. Another possible reason Damon could be gone is that he had applied at another station or network (he used to work for ESPN Radio) and even though he started at 1460, the new gig was too good to pass up. Granted, there are endless possibilites why someone is gone from a radio station, but many Ohio SportsRadio listeners want to know "What is happening at 1460 The Fan"?

December 12, 2004
A big sports radio move I overlooked, Tony Kornheiser is back on the radio at SportsTalk 980 in D.C., doing a 9-11a local show. In Houston, David Dalati has left SportsRadio 610 to join Charlie Pallilo at Clear Channel's ESPN 790, "The Sports Animal". Dalati is also a former KTRH sportscaster and will do the local updates during Charlie's show. ESPN 790, "The Sports Animal" launches on December 20th.

No rumors on who is close to landing the Nationals radio rights in D.C., however the team will unveil their uniforms on Wednesday, which gets another part of launching the team complete.

I will be in Houston over Christmas, and I'll post a review of the all-sports battle between SportsRadio 610 & ESPN 790.

November 29, 2004
Some other Sports Radio changes and issues:

In Green Bay, WI "The Fan" (WDUZ-AM & FM) which was heard originally on 1400AM moved to 107.5 FM a few years back. Cumulus, which owns the stations, has pulled the News/Talk format off of 1400AM and is now simulcasting "The Fan". "The Fan" has been a very successful small-market sports station with 7 hours of local programming each weekday.

In neighboring Milwaukee, Entercom's 1250 WEMP-AM will flip to Sports in December. They will air Jim Rome and FOX Sports Radio. However, they will have a tough road to hoe as WTMJ-AM has the Packers, Brewers, and Bucks flagship rights and Clear Channel's WISN-AM is the flagship for Marquette Basketball.

Now that the Washington Nationals are more established it will be interesting to see who will be their flagship station. By all accounts there are 3 realistic contenders: ABC's 630 WMAL-AM (which carries Maryland Football & Men's Basketball), Clear Channel's SportsTalk 980 WTEM-AM (which has carried the Orioles the past few years), and Bonneville's WTOP-AM & FM News Simulcast (1500 WTOP-AM, 820 WXTR-AM, & 107.7 WTOP-FM). I would think all 3 stations would have a good shot a getting the team, but in my opinion SportsTalk 980 would offer the best package for the Nationals. SportsTalk 980 would be able to air all 162 games without conflicts. Plus, the chance to promote the team across all of Clear Channel's D.C. stations would be very attractive.

November 28, 2004
The Sports Radio picture in Houston has become murkier as Clear Channel (KTRH-AM & KBME-AM) has gotten back Charlie Pallilo from SportsRadio 610 (KILT-AM). Pallilo worked for KTRH in the 90s before going to KILT in August of 1999. Pallilo this past Wednesday has started working on KTRH's Sportsbeat and will then man the 3p-7p shift once KBME-AM flips to ESPN 790-The Sports Animal in December. Once ESPN 790 goes on air, you will be able to see their website at www.espn790.com Right now espn790.com points to the current KBME website. I expect ESPN 790's line-up to be something along the lines of this:
Possible ESPN 790 Lineup- Houston (Times Central)
Mike & Mike (ESPN Radio) 5a-7, 8, or 9a
FOX Morning Extravagaza (Van Earl Wright, Andrew Siciliano, & Krystal Fernandez) 7a, 8 or 9a to Noon
Dan Patrick (ESPN Radio) Noon-3p
Charlie Pallilo (Local) 3p-7p
Steve Czaban or ESPN 790 Sportsbeat 7p-10p (Right now, there is no word if KTRH Sportsbeat will move to ESPN 790)
JT "The Brick" (FOX Sports Radio) 10p-1a
ESPN All Night w/ Todd Wright 1a-5a
SportsRadio 610 is expected to do some lineup reshuffling as a result of losing Pallilo and ESPN Radio to Clear Channel. Speculation is that their current morning drive show will reshuffle their hours from 5:30a-9a to something along the lines of 7a-11a. Also, word is that 610 will be bringing in at least one new talkshow host as part of their lineup changes.

In other news, Tony Bruno was supposed to make an appearance yesterday on 610 WIP's (WIP-AM, Philadelphia) Eagles pregame coverage. Infinity Philadelphia has made other news as they have reacquired the radio rights for the Phillies starting with the 2005 season. The vast majority of the games and 14 Spring Training games will be heard on "The Big Talker" 1210AM (WPHT-AM). Friday night games will be heard on 610 WIP so 1210 AM can air their popular Sid Mark, "Friday Nights with Frank [Sinatra]" Show. It will be interesting to read what listener reaction is in Philadelphia after Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are preempted for baseball.

FOX Sports Radio early morning host (5a-8a EST), Mark Patrick, is no longer doing his daily afternoon show on Indianapolis' SportsRadio 1260 WNDE (WNDE-AM). Before Mark went national he had the afternoon show on WNDE (starting at 3 after Jim Rome).

Word out of California is that Clear Channel may sell Xtra Sports 690 (San Diego/Tijuana) and move Xtra Sports 1150 (KXTA-AM, Los Angeles) to their 570 AM frequency, which puts the Lakers broadcasts on a Sports station.

Former Los Angeles sports talk host Bob Golic is the new afternoon talk host at WNIR-FM, Akron, Ohio. He starts there in 2005.

October 31, 2004
Don't forget to vote in the Election on Tuesday!
Some changes in the Lone Star State. Clear Channel Houston is changing their 790AM to All-Sports at the beginning of 2005. The have stolen the ESPN Affiliation from SportsRadio 610 (KILT 610AM) and are also using FOX Sports. SportsRadio 610 is going to have to go back and use Sporting News Radio after dumping them a few years ago.

SportsRadio 1340 in Lubbock has dumped Jim Rome and brought back Williams & Hyatt (Don Williams & Ryan Hyatt) from FOX Talk 950 for their 4p-7p slot.

1460 The Fan in Columbus, OH has added Damon Bruce, former ESPN Radio staffer, as their afternoon show co-host. Former 1460 The Fan host, Ian Fitzsimmons, is now in Salt Lake with K-FAN (KFNZ-AM) 1320.

September 23, 2004
I had delayed this update to be able to put in some more sports radio news. KKAM- Lubbock has expanded local programming from 4 hours a day to 8 hours a day. (7a-9a, 11a-1p, 3p-7p). 970 The Burgh in Pittsburgh now has a local morning show from 7a-10a with the Pittsburgh Steelers broadcast crew.

Tony Bruno is no longer with FOX Sports Radio as his deal with Clear Channel expired. The smart money has him going to KNBR- San Francisco or WIP- Philadelphia. Jim Rome has been shelved to overnight tape delay in Chicago on ESPN's, ESPN 1000.

In Miami a group of investors has LMA'ed AM 790 and turned it into 790 ESPN Radio to go up against WQAM.

August 23, 2004
SUMMER'S OVER!   The time of summer relaxation at work is now over. High School Football starts this weekend in Texas, and Texas Tech Football begins Spetember 4th at SMU. One of our local High School Football broadcasters, Steve Dale, has asked me to do his stats for his Friday night games, and I said "sure". Doing stats is something I haven't done before but it should be fun.

The Memphis Grizzlies have a new flagship radio station, WRBO 103.5 FM. The Grizz have also named Eric Hasseltine as studio host for the radio broadcasts.

MANY, sports radio stations across the country have retooled/ expanded local lineups. I think (this is the radio person in me talking) many sports radio stations, regardless of market size, are realizing that the sports format is/ can be one of the most locally-flavored, distinctive, formats on the dial. Between keeping up with local high schools (for the smaller markets) and every market having a different combination of college and pro teams the fans follow, it's very hard to put a successful all sports station on the air that is running national programming 24/7. ESPN/ ABC have seen the light as they have made Mike & Mike and Dan Patrick the flagship shows for their owned and operated stations. A typical ESPN Owned and Operated station line-up looks like this-- Mike & Mike 6a-10a EST, Local Show 10a-1p EST, Dan Patrick & "Choose my name for today" Rob Dibble 1p-4p EST, Local Show 4p-7p, Local Play-by-Play & ESPN Gamenight for the rest of the day. Yes, there are exceptions but this progamming decision is one reason why Tony Kornheiser is no longer on the network.

Clear Channel pulled the plug on FOX Sports 940 in Miami for liberal talk. The sports people in their Miami cluster had to be demoralized as they had added Dan Sileo's regional show in the morning and 4 hours of local afternoon talk. Also, with WQAM becoming a "Guy Talk" station (Stern in now on there) FOX Sports 940 had a chance to make a big charge in the market.

In other changes, 760 KTKR-AM, The Ticket, in San Antonio has finally expanded local weekday programming. SportsTalk San Antonio moves from 4p-7p to 2p-5p- using Jim Rome as a lead-in, and the Thompson Brothers will be on the air 5p-8p with the Texas Rangers preempting them a lot during baseball season at 7p. For years 760 had SportsTalk San Antonio as their only weekday local show. Sandy Penner, formerly of 620 WDAE-AM in Tampa, has landed at one of his old stations, 610/ 1660 WFNZ "The Franchise" in Charlotte. WFNZ actually expanded the local line-up by 3 hours to add Sandy back to line-up in an aforementioned case of stations expanding local programming. ESPN's ESPN Radio 1250 in Pittsburgh put new hosts on their weekday midday show from 11a-1p and moved Tim Benz former weekday midday host to weekends. Clear Channel's Xtra Sports simulcast in Los Angeles and San Diego has also added more "local" programming. When the simulcast of 690 (S.D.) & 1150 (L.A.) the only "local" shows were on from 12p-7p, weekdays. Now, they have even covered up J.T. The Brick as they are "local" from 12p-1a! Plus, a 3 hour weekend boxing show and a 6 hours worth of weekend baseball talk. Some people think that J.T. The Brick may replace Tony Bruno on FOX Sports Radio's morning slot when Tony's contract expires, and I think they may be onto something. Why would they replace J.T. in his best market, unless they had something else planned? Something to definately keep following. 1360 Homer WCKY-AM, in Cincinnati, more than a few months ago added a new local show from 10a-Noon, leading into Jim Rome.

Well, that's it for now. For those that have e-mailed me in the past few months, thank you, and I hope I was able to answer your questions to your satisfaction.

June 23, 2004
This update has been a long time in the making a lot of news going on..... WQAM- Miami is still running Sporting News Radio's Kevin Wheeler in the overnights. Clear Channel was the big winner in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals & the NBA Finals. 3 of the 4 teams had their radio deals with Clear Channel. The Tampa Bay Lightning are the Sports Animal 620 WDAE, the Pistons are on WDFN SportsRadio 1130, and the Lakers are on KLAC "Unforgettable 570". The Charlotte Bobcats have announced their flagship radio station for their inaugural 04-05 season, Mix 106 WNMX-FM, Mix is a C2 rimshot FM that also carries Duke Football & Basketball and supposedly Duke will preempt the Bobcats. Obviously, Mix is a far lesser station than when the Hornets were on 50,000 watt WBT-AM & WBT-FM. The Memphis Grizzlies are getting a new flagship radio station for the 04-05 season as they have ended their partnership with Sports 56 WHBQ-AM. The smart money has them going to Infinity's Sports Plus 790 WMC-AM.

ESPN Radio is changing their music package, including their identifiable SportsCenter music bed. The new music debuts on ESPN Radio Nationwide and on many affiliate stations July 1st.

SportsRadio 1300 KVET-AM in Austin has recently lost 2 staff members, afternoon update anchor "Snoop" McDaniel and afternoon show co-host Brian Jones are both no longer with the station. I haven't read any articles on why they're gone. If you know what happened to them, send me an e-mail.

In other news with the Sports Animal in Tampa (620 WDAE), the lineup move mentioned in the last update, took place last week as Dan Sileo officially replaced Sandy Penner in the 6a-8a timeslot. Sileo is being regionally syndicated from Clear Channel's 740 The Team in Orlando, and he's also on FOX Sports 940 in Miami.

ESPN Dream Job finalist, Zach Selwin, is doing work on the Game Show Network as the "color analyist" for their Dodgeball games. ESPN is doing 2 separate Dream Job shows for the 04-05 TV season. The Fall Dream Job will be for another SportsCenter slot, and the Spring Dream Job will a new competition for a play-by-play slot. If you're thinking of trying to be a candidate you can go to ESPN.com/dreamjob to read the very long list of disclaimers and qualifications.

The Oakland Raiders have signed 2 radio deals since the last update. A 1 year deal with ABC to have their flagship station be 560 KSFO-AM (ABC also has the 49'ers on 810 KGO-AM), and a 3 year deal with Clear Channel to have the Raiders on Xtra Sports 690 (San Diego) & 1150 (Los Angeles). The Raiders after moving from LA spent some time on Sporting News Radio's KMPC, which now carries the San Diego Chargers.

The passing of Ronald Reagan has had a profound impact on many people throughout the world, as evidenced by the immense media coverage over the past few weeks. I had a chance to meet the eldest Reagan son, Michael Reagan, when he came to Lubbock in April of this year to broadcast a special edition of his national radio show and to speak to the Children's Home of Lubbock. Michael had some great remembrances of his father and I posted the sound bytes at my radio station's website KFYO.com

April 29, 2004
I was doing some reading on the internet and saw that WQAM's Joe & Marc were fired because of inappropriate website content. So, maybe WQAM will get a new local overnight show.

WNSA-FM (Buffalo market) has been offically bought out by Entercom, which now leaves the Buffalo area with one sports station, WGR 550 AM. The Sabers move from WNSA to WGR for next year. Of course the NHL has to have a season next year for that to be any value.

In other flagship radio news, the New Orleans Hornets are moving to Clear Channel's, Sports Monster 1280, WODT-AM, next season and the Tampa Bay Bucs will be moving from Infinity's WQYK-AM & FM. Most people in Tampa are saying the Bucs will land on Clear Channel's WDAE-AM 620, "The Sports Animal". In other Tampa news, Clear Channel (aka CC) let go of Sandy Penner from 620's morning slot to presumably put on Dan Sileo. Dan is based at CC's Orlando sports station and syndicated to CC's Fox Sports 940 in Miami, The Pittsburgh Panthers signed an agreement to move to CC's new NewsTalk FM 104.7 & their AM sports station 970 "The Burgh". Also, in Pittsburgh former WTAE-AM (ESPN Radio 1250) host Ellis Cannon also recently moved to CC's 104.7 FM.

April 5, 2004
Tonight's Men's NCAA Basketball Championship was a blowout with UConn winning. Once Georgia Tech beat OK State my bracket was busted.

While I was doing some surfing on the net I noticed that WQAM in Miami doesn't have a local Overnight Show anymore. Joe & Marc did the 2a-5a shift, Monday- Friday. Those 3 hours are now being handled by Sporting News Radio. To my knowledge WFAN is now the only sports station in the U.S. with a local overnight show.

The Astros lost a close game tonight against the Giants to open the season. Barry Bonds smacked a 3 run homer against Roy Oswalt to tie the game in the 8th, and the Giants then scored the winning run in the 9th, winning 5-4.

Finally, a 'thank you' goes out to the people at PacersDigest.com I don't know who runs that site, but they have linked my webpage on their site.

March 30, 2004
Well, it's already time to update the Major League Baseball Radio Station listings. The Atlanta Braves announced that effective in 2005 they are jumping from Cox's 750 WSB-AM to Clear Channel's 640 WGST-AM & 96 Rock (96.1 WKLS-FM). The Braves haven't said if 96 Rock is only broadcasting night games or all 162 regular season games. The Royals already have a similar agreement in place with Union's 810 WHB-AM broadcasting all games and The Planet 97.3 simulcasting the night games.

Arnie Spanier has landed on his feet after being jettisoned from The Fan 680 in Atlanta. He's replaced Papa Joe Chevalier on Sporting News Radio, picking up the 7p-10p EST timeslot. Arnie had held down the 10p-2a EST timeslot with Sporting News's precursor One-on-One Sports. He had then left to Clear Channel's Xtra Sports 1150 in L.A. which became FOX Sports 1150 and Arnie then left for Atlanta about a year or two before 1150 merged with Xtra Sports 690 in San Diego.

March 29, 2004
The Men's Final Four has been set, and I had correctly picked all 4 of the Final Four teams in the local media NCAA Pool. If Duke and OK State get to the Championship with OK State winning it all, then I win the pool. It's always a nice feeling to beat some TV Sports guys.

Mike Hall won ESPN's Dream Job last night. In the first episode of the series he was the best contestant and it carried on throughout the show.

Tomorrow morning is Major League Baseball's opening day with the Yankees and D-Rays playing in Japan. I had watched the Opening Day Cubs/ Mets Japan game a few years ago live on WGN and I will watch some of this year's Yankees/ Devil Rays game. It's always a surreal feeling watching baseball live at 4am.

Something interesting I noticed last week while checking some of my website stats; If you go to Google and type in "NBA Radio" you will see that my listings of NBA Flagship Radio Stations is number one on the Internet! Even beating out "The Worldwide Leader" (ESPN) and the NBA's website. That's pretty cool.

March 22, 2004
Well, Bob Knight's Red Raiders have bowed out of the NCAA Tournament. However, the team did improve from last year, but they will have a hard time holding on to the momentum as Andre Emmitt graduates in May.

ESPN's Dream Job is down to the final four contestants as Casey and Kelly were cut. Next's weeks show will decide the winner with Zach being my new front-runner.

Portland's 910 "The Fan" is undergoing some changes. Entercom bought Fisher's 1080 AM some time ago (which has floundered with Hot Talk) and has now switched "The Fan" and KOTK 1080. KOTK is now "Max 910" directly formating itself as "Guy Talk". Max 910 "The Fan" picks up 1080's 50,000 watt signal and becomes "The Fan 1080", and Colin Cowherd starts his ESPN Radio gig in a week. Colin is doing a West Coast only hour in the 6a-7a PST hour. Plus, he'll be nationwide on the main ESPN Radio Feed from 7a-10a PST, 10a-1p EST. I think "The Fan 1080" will be carrying him from 6a-9a PST with Jim Rome on from 9a-Noon PST.

March 7, 2004
A baseball fan's agony is now partially over as Spring Training games have started. Tony Kornheiser is in his last few weeks of doing his ESPN Radio show. You can see Tony on ESPN's Dream Job for the rest of the month as well. Speaking of Dream Job, I have watched all 3 episodes of it so far. Stuart Scott in one respect makes the show hard to watch with him injecting himself into every aspect the show. My favorite to win is Mike Hall with Kelly Milligan and Zachariah Selwyn being stiff competition. With only 8 contestants left I am hoping that they have more than one competition per show,

Spring Training has started and don't forget you can get find out which radio station your favorite team is by checking the Sports Radio Listings.

It appears the Texas Tech Men's team will make the NCAA Tournament with their 2 wins to close out the regular season. The BIG 12 Basketball Tournaments will take place later this week in Dallas, and both TX Tech Basketball teams will have a chance to try to make a good showing before Selection Sunday.

February 26, 2004
Well, ESPN Radio has announced Kornheiser's replacement, he's Colin Cowherd from 910AM "The Fan" in Portland. "The Herd" will be available from 10a-1p EST, plus a "West Coast" only hour from 9a-10a EST. I have never heard "The Herd", so I can't be a judge of the show, but it is nice to see ESPN bring someone in from the outside that's not on the East Coast.

Both Texas Tech Basketball teams are losing as the regular season is ending. If the Red Raiders continue their downward spiral they may be looking at another season in the NIT. The Lady Raiders look like they will be done during the round of 32. Losing Cisti Greenwalt and Jia Perkins have really hurt the Lady Raiders over the last half of the season. The BIG XII Tournament starts in about a week and a half in Dallas.

Ace ex-KTRH- Houston News Reporter Aaron Katersky, who was embedded in Iraq last year doing reports for Clear Channel's News/Talk stations and the ABC Radio Network, has started this week at ABC News Radio in New York. He's filed reports on the network for the past few days. KTRH recently replaced Aaron with Rob Milford formerly with KRLD- Dallas.

February 21, 2004
News Since August: Tony Kornheiser is leaving ESPN Radio at the end of March 2004, and his show has already been replaced in some ESPN Owned & Operated Markets. In Chicago, ESPN 1000 has Jay Mariotti doing a local show from 9a-11a. In Dallas, ESPN 103.3 has the "Good Fellas" on from 10a- Noon. They will add the 9am hour on Feb. 23rd. I am speculating that ABC/ ESPN will continue the trend of using the 10a-1p EST timeslot to add local shows in most owned and operated markets. Nationally, I would put my money on either Chuck Wilson & Chris Moore taking Kornheiser's timeslot or someone from outside the network being brought in.

ABC Radio in Dallas extended their deals to broadcast the Dallas Stars on WBAP & the Dallas Mavericks on ESPN 103.3. Also, in Dallas FOX Sports 1190 has dumped all local programming.

Kevin Graham, former Program Director for WBNS- Columbus & ESPN 1250 in Pittsburgh, has moved from 1050 ESPN Radio- New York to WXYT "1270, The Sports Station" in Detroit.

ESPN 950 in Indianapolis and SportsTalk 1260 in Washington D.C. are among the stations that have been added/ updated to the listings. WFNZ- Charlotte has added a partial simulcast on Expanded Band station 1660. The move has them becoming a front-runner for the Play-by-Play rights for the NBA's Bobcats.

The Madison Square Garden group announced in the middle of February that the NY Knicks and NY Rangers will move from WFAN to 1050 ESPN Radio starting in the 2004-05 season. Also, starting in 04-05 the NJ Devils will move from WABC to WFAN.

The MLB Radio listings have been updated for the 2004 season. The Royals and Padres have switched radio stations for the upcoming season.