Indy Radio: Three Live And Local Sports Shows Ready To Battle

Kent Sterling

With the addition of Kent Sterling as host of CBS Sports Radio’s afternoon show at Entercom's WXNT 1430 AM, there are now three local sports-talk shows on during afternoon drive time in Indianapolis.

Sterling, who replaced the nationally syndicated Doug Gottlieb Show, will face The Drive with JMV on Emmis WFNI 1070 AM The Fan and the Query and Schultz Show on CCM+E's WNDE 1260 AM.

The competition for Sterling will be stiff, according to ibj.com.  The show hosted by John Gliva—better known as JMV—is the runaway sports-talk ratings leader during the afternoon drive-time slot, and Query and Schultz have built a growing following among listeners and advertisers.

WXNT launched The Kent Sterling Show with little fanfare June 16. Now that the show has found its voice, Sterling said a marketing campaign including social media, press releases and on-site broadcasts at the Tilted Kilt downtown will kick off in the coming weeks.

Sterling, 50, is no stranger to the local market. He has resided in Indianapolis most of his life, graduating from Indiana University with a journalism degree in 1986.

For nearly 17 years, he worked for Emmis Communication Corp.’s Indianapolis radio cluster, helping launch WFNI, better known as 1070 The Fan, in 2007.

After a management change at Emmis in early 2010, Sterling was shown the door. After a two-year stint working in sports-talk for Hubbard Broadcasting in St. Louis, he returned to Indianapolis.

Until now, Sterling has primarily worked in radio management. He said he’s more than ready to leave management for an on-air job.

So how will Sterling differentiate his show in the crowded market place?

“We talk about sports and nothing but sports,” Sterling explained. “The [market’s] other [sports-talk] shows during that time slot are all over the place. I think there’s an opening we can exploit.”

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