MD Radio: CCM+E Flips Formats On Two Stations

On Monday, WTGM 960 AM will switch its format to sports talk radio once again after a nearly two-year hiatus. The station had been running Clear Channel Radio's "24/7 Comedy" format, which began in November 2012, according to delmarvanow.com.

"One of the attributes of being a large company like ours was that we had the ability to test formats, and that was what we were doing with the comedy not just here but across the country," said Chris Walus, regional market manager of Delaware and Maryland for Clear Channel Radio.

"We're constantly researching the market to determine the need, and there's been a strong desire for sports programming. After research, we found out 960 had that reputation of being sports and that's what we decided to do, and we decided to jettison the comedy format."

Programming on WTGM will consist of Fox Sports Radio programming as well as Steve Czaban on weekday mornings from 6-9 a.m. and live broadcasts of University of Maryland men's basketball and football games and Washington Wizards basketball. WTGM is currently the flagship station of the Delmarva Shorebirds.

The WJDY signal at 1470 AM will begin broadcasting Bloomberg Business News Radio on Monday as part of the move. WJDY will continue to air Washington Nationals baseball games on the station.

The moving of sports talk from sister station WJDY allows a larger reach at night, which it lacked as WJDY was required to power down from its 5,000-watt signal in the day to 43 watts at night. WTGM has a 5,000-watt signal both day and night.