San Diego Radio: Mighty Sports 1090 Off-Air

XEPRS The Mighty 1090, the highest-rated sports talk station in San Diego and a fixture in the market for the last 16 years, went off the air just before noon Wednesday, according to The Union-Tribune.

The president of the company that operates the station said officials were trying to remedy the problem, but a program host said “there’s not a lot of optimism about our future as a sports radio station.”

“We have lost our connection in Mexico and are working to get this resolved,” said Mike Glickenhaus of JMI-owned Broadcast Companies of America, which operates 1090-AM.

Glickenhaus said the station was available via its website and mobile app, although ESPN Radio programming was airing instead of the usual local shows. However, it was announced late in the day that the station’s morning show will be back online and on the app Thursday.

🚨BREAKING🚨

We ARE doing a show tomorrow morning, damnit! And our beloved @BenHigginsSD will be back with us. 6am on The @Mighty1090

*We will be streaming the show on our app and website so plan accordingly*

Link: https://t.co/EpAAv2x48s

App: https://t.co/YFIuhrSM9F pic.twitter.com/CLOLQ154o9

— Ben & Woods (@BenAndWoods) April 10, 2019

Whether the station’s two afternoon shows will follow was not known.

Darren Smith, who has been a host at the station since its founding in 2003, initially posted a meme on Twitter that showed a cartoon character with its lips zipped. Then about 1:45 p.m. he posted a 21-minute message with co-workers Marty Caswell and Jordan Carruth.



Added Smith: “Though it is surprising to hear somebody say that, I will tell you the two people at least who were sitting here in the studio, myself and Marty, we were aware this was a possibility.”

That’s because in December, an issue between two other BCA stations in San Diego and a business partner in Baja California, Jaime Bonilla Valdez, resulted in 105.7-FM going off the air and 1700-AM switching from ESPN and local sports play-by-play to Spanish-language content.

The lease with 1090 is with a different signal operator, Andreas Bichara.

Glickenhaus, according to Smith’s post, told employees the owners “have decided that they no longer are interested in being partners with BCA Radio.”

Smith said the issue was an ongoing contract negotiation “that did not go well.”

Ratings for 1090 — the Padres’ flagship station from 2004-16 — have declined since the Chargers left for Los Angeles in 2017. There is competition from two other stations, iHeartMedia's KLSD Extra1360-AM and Entercom's KWFN 97.3-FM, but 1090 remains the highest-rated among the trio, with the gap between them widening recently.