Cumulus Media has announced the WBAP 820 AM / 96.7 FM
simulcast is ending after a little more than three years. Instead, the company says 96.7 FM will
simulcast KTCK 1310 AM The Ticket. No
word on what will happen to the current simulcast on 104.1 FM.
“We have seen no ratings increase since adding the FM,” according
to VP/Market Manager Dan Bennett. “WBAP at 820 AM still covers 114 counties in
the day and has been heard in up to 38 states at night and early morning before
the sun comes up. WBAP at 820 is one of the biggest radio signals in America .”
Bennett added that WBAP will also air on HD Radio channel
99.5 HD-2. “HD radios [are] now available in 150 models of cars,” he said. “66
models now have HD radio as a standard option. So WBAP [is] going on an FM
channel of the HD band in addition to 820 AM.”
According to Robert Philpot at dfw.com, the move is the
latest in a busy year for sports-radio in D/FW, much of it related to moves
made by Cumulus, which in August entered into a local marketing agreement with
ESPN in which Cumulus will operate D/FW’s KESN/103.3 FM, which will still be
owned by ESPN.
The next day, Galloway , a
28-year DFW radio fixture whose Galloway and Company has aired on KESN since
2003, announced that he would retire from radio at the end of this year.
Galloway has said from the beginning that the timing was a coincidence and that
he intended to work for Cumulus through late December, but he moved up the date
after his lawyer informed him that if he remained with ESPN after the Cumulus
deal closed, he could ride out his contract and still get paid for the final
months without even being on the air. Galloway
reiterated that on his final GAC show Monday.
Cumulus has said all along that it intends to keep the ESPN
Radio format on KESN, although some personnel -- including program director Tom
Lee, on-air personality Landry Locker and SportsCenter anchor Kelly “Miss
Kelly” Webster, among others -- are getting cut as Cumulus’ takeover happens
tomorrow, according to Philpot.
No comments:
Post a Comment