I'm pretty sure that ESPN Deportes is part of the agreement that Border/Simmons has with ESPN. They also have 1530 carrying all of the ESPN syndicated shows which they had to do to keep the ESPN affiliation. Fred is correct about the local host. He promotes himself very well saving Border the promotions money and other wise Deportes costs them nothing to run except electricity.
As far as The Big Talker goes, I think the station was pretty much a jumble. They couldn't figure out if they were going to be another conservative talk pipeline or some kind of FM Hot Talker. I still think that if somebody in Austin would put together a true FM Talk station with good talent and actually promote it and give it time to grow I think they could do pretty well. If I were doing it I would go after Dudley and Bob (they think they are short timers at Emmis now anyways), grab Charlie Hodge and Sadler, possibly Sean Rima if he wants out of SA, put together a sports show with some local guys with big personalities focusing more on hype and opinion than X's and O's, add a few syndicated elements like Tom Leykis (is he still around?) or maybe Bob and Tom. Then I would put together a promo crew of great looking women and young people that could be fixtures on the downtown scene. I would also throw in some weekend music shows like a Friday night club show or a Saturday metal show. I'm just pulling this out of left field right now but I think you get the idea. Younger talk, very much entertainment over politics.....
As far as The Big Talker goes, I think the station was pretty much a jumble. They couldn't figure out if they were going to be another conservative talk pipeline or some kind of FM Hot Talker. I still think that if somebody in Austin would put together a true FM Talk station with good talent and actually promote it and give it time to grow I think they could do pretty well. If I were doing it I would go after Dudley and Bob (they think they are short timers at Emmis now anyways), grab Charlie Hodge and Sadler, possibly Sean Rima if he wants out of SA, put together a sports show with some local guys with big personalities focusing more on hype and opinion than X's and O's, add a few syndicated elements like Tom Leykis (is he still around?) or maybe Bob and Tom. Then I would put together a promo crew of great looking women and young people that could be fixtures on the downtown scene. I would also throw in some weekend music shows like a Friday night club show or a Saturday metal show. I'm just pulling this out of left field right now but I think you get the idea. Younger talk, very much entertainment over politics.....