Bay Area Radio: The Game Gains Traction

KGMZ 95.7 The Game has leaned on its FM sound quality and edgy approach its first two years to try wrestling some of the young audience from local heavyweight KNBR 680 AM, according to a story at mercurynews.com.

Beginning this fall, The Game will add a Silver and Black twist to win listeners. But can Raiders play-by-play provide 95.7 the same kind of lift KNBR gets from the Giants?

The Game, which signed a multiyear deal with the Raiders in April, hopes that bookending an NFL franchise with the A's will provide the station year-round muscle in a tough market.

"They've been walking with just one shoe on with only baseball," said Gary Fiset, whose San Francisco-based company specializes in broadcast promotion for TV and radio. "For me, this dresses them for success."

Two years into its all-sports format, The Game's big-picture plan to carve out a niche in the market doesn't rely solely on game broadcasts. The differences start with 95.7's FM signal.

Dwight Walker, vice president/market manager for Entercom San Francisco, which operates four local stations, said 82 percent of Bay Area radio listeners tune in to FM.

"A lot of the younger audience, they don't even know the AM dial exists," Fiset said.

Moving sports programming to FM is a nationwide trend, according to Jason Barrett, program director for The Game. "It just sounds better," he said. "For a lot of listeners 25 to 54 -- the world we're in -- quality is a big deal."

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