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Unique names for sports stations

T

ticoSD

Since it seems like most sports stations use names such as the Score, Ball, Ticket, Game, Fan or XTRA, what are some of the more unique ones? In Jackson, WSFZ is known as Supersport 930; Atlanta, WQXI is 790 the Zone. There's the Buzz is Raleigh, Mighty 1090 in San Diego and the Sports Explosion in St. Louis (though I don't know if they still use that name). <P ID="signature">______________
"...and the countdown continues until the neanderthals that govern college football do something about their pathetic postseason."--Tim Brando, Sporting News Radio</P>
 
there was the now defunct KJJC in Des Moines that went by Sports Radio, "the Jock"

> Since it seems like most sports stations use names such as
> the Score, Ball, Ticket, Game, Fan or XTRA, what are some of
> the more unique ones? In Jackson, WSFZ is known as
> Supersport 930; Atlanta, WQXI is 790 the Zone. There's the
> Buzz is Raleigh, Mighty 1090 in San Diego and the Sports
> Explosion in St. Louis (though I don't know if they still
> use that name).
>
 
> Since it seems like most sports stations use names such as
> the Score, Ball, Ticket, Game, Fan or XTRA, what are some of
> the more unique ones? In Jackson, WSFZ is known as
> Supersport 930; Atlanta, WQXI is 790 the Zone. There's the
> Buzz is Raleigh, Mighty 1090 in San Diego and the Sports
> Explosion in St. Louis (though I don't know if they still
> use that name).
>
WJOX 690 Birmingham still uses "The Sports Monster" as part of its branding...<P ID="signature">______________
There's nothing to see here.</P>
 
Gone but not forgotten is

In Pittsburgh- when AM 970 changed their call letters to WBGG and landed many of the sports play-by-play contracts in town they originally went by "The Burgh."

Unfortunately, it was saddled by a former DJ who was a weak mid-day sports talk show host. Nice enough guy but just didn't do the work.

Give you an example. I won't embarass the host- who is a real radio legend as a DJ in this town.

He once did this long monologe on the talents of Myron Cope. Said he had heard him driving back to Pittsburgh after a family getaway in Maryland on Sunday afternoon- and how much he enjoyed it when he heard him say on the air as Oakland's Sebastian Janikowski got ready to kick a field goal against the Steelers- "Hit that guy with a polish sausage!"

Janikowski subsequently missed.


Great story and a great monologe- except I couldn't get this out of my mind . . . .

You are the top sports talk show host on the Steelers flagship. And you caught the game not in the press box, the stands, or even on TV in your own living room, but driving back home on the radio. . .

Sadly, such a lack of effort had him off the air in a year.

"The Burgh" changed to "FOX SPORTS 970" soon afterwards.
 
My FSR station, KRWA "Sportshog" 103.1

Isn't one of the stations in Tusculoosa, AL called "the Tusk" I heard that on Jim Rome a few times in e-mail.
 
> My FSR station, KRWA "Sportshog" 103.1
>
> Isn't one of the stations in Tusculoosa, AL called "the
> Tusk" I heard that on Jim Rome a few times in e-mail.
>

610 in Houston was originally (when they flipped to sports in 1995) "Star 610 SportsRadio" (they carried the Astros at the time). They then changed it to "SportsRadio Star 610". In either 1998 or 1999 they dropped "Star" and became "SportsRadio 610"
 
> Mighty 1090 in San Diego

Ron Smith on news/talker WBAL Baltimore (his show follows Rush) has called his station "the mighty 1090".

Back to the topic... in the mid-90s WGMP 1210 Philadelphia called itself The Game. A lame name perhaps (and another R-I-er didn't like the call sign), but there it is.

ixnay
 
> My FSR station, KRWA "Sportshog" 103.1
>
> Isn't one of the stations in Tusculoosa, AL called "the
> Tusk" I heard that on Jim Rome a few times in e-mail.

I think you're right.
<P ID="signature">______________
"...and the countdown continues until the neanderthals that govern college football do something about their pathetic postseason."--Tim Brando, Sporting News Radio</P>
 
Green Bay has two - WDUZ 1400 "The Fan" and WNFL 1440, which took the call letters back in 1967 (could you imagine the lawsuit by the league if they tried it now?) When it got the Packers/Brewers rights earlier this year, WNFL promoted itself as "the station with the greatest call letters in sports radio." Well, you gotta be something.

Meanwhile, down in Appleton, there was WJOK 1050 "The Jock," which didn't last long and was bought by the Catholics, who now say that the JOK stands for "Jesus Our King."
 
"BOB" and "HOMER"

In Cincinnati, Chancellor's "1160 The Score" flipped calls in 1997 to WBOB and became "1160 BOB." It was pretty annoying at first, because they would say "BOB-1160-BOB" every break. They eventually got bought out by Salem and are now doing their conservative News/Talk format.

To compete with Chancellor, then Jacor WCKY became "1360 HOMER." Clear Channel made the name even longer by relaunching it as "1360 HOMER The Sports Animal." The legendary WSAI calls returned to 1360 earlier this year when Clear Channel flipped 1530 AM to Air America and returned the WCKY calls to that frequency.

It's funny because "Sports Radio 1360 WSAI" was the market's first All-Sports station in 1992. Jacor eventually bought it and went Nostalgia to protect WLW's sports image. A year later, Chancellor flipped WUBE-AM 1230 from its country simulcast to All Sports, then bought the stronger 1160 signal and moved the format there. Jacor went through numerous formats on 1360, including "Radio Ahhs" until WBOB nabbed Bengals play-by-play from them. That's when 1360 went after BOB with all sports. For a short time, Chancellor also did "BOB-2" on 1230. It all came to a head when Clear Channel bought Chancellor in 2000 and moved all the good stuff - including the Bengals - from BOB onto HOMER.

OK...maybe a little too much history for you.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by JeffDavis98 on 07/30/05 04:01 PM.</FONT></P>
 
Re: "BOB" and "HOMER"

It's funny because "Sports Radio 1360 WSAI" was the market's
> first All-Sports station in 1992. Jacor eventually bought
> it and went Nostalgia to protect WLW's sports image. A year
> later, Chancellor flipped WUBE-AM 1230 from its country
> simulcast to All Sports, then bought the stronger 1160
> signal and moved the format there. Jacor went through
> numerous formats on 1360, including "Radio Ahhs" until WBOB
> nabbed Bengals play-by-play from them. That's when 1360
> went after BOB with all sports. For a short time,
> Chancellor also did "BOB-2" on 1230. It all came to a head
> when Clear Channel bought Chancellor in 2000 and moved all
> the good stuff - including the Bengals - from BOB onto
> HOMER.
>
> OK...maybe a little too much history for you.
>

Actually....no. I wish I could get as much accurate history out of most other posts.

As long as this business is going to change formats like people change undergarments, its nice that someone keeps track of the trail. Thanks.
 
KREF in Norman, Okla., and the two stations simulcasting them, KSEO in Durant, Okla., and KADA in Ada, Okla., are known collectively as the Ref Radio Sports Network.
 
Re: "BOB" and "HOMER"

> It's funny because "Sports Radio 1360 WSAI" was the market's
> first All-Sports station in 1992. Jacor eventually bought
> it and went Nostalgia to protect WLW's sports image.

IIRC, WLW first bought the former WKRC/550 from Taft, and 550 took the calls of WLWA. Realizing that having two "WLW"-ers wasn't a good tactic, Jacor bought AM 1530 - then WCKY - and moved the calls to 550. Then, the WSAI calls were added onto 1530 to replace WCKY, once WCKY's talk format also went kaput and took WSAI's nostalgia format. Two formats essentially went defunct in this move.

Jacor's buying of 1360 would make this complete, though I always thought that CC's AM quadopoly (WLW, WKRC, WSAI, WCKY) came much later in the decade. Regardless, all respective calls are in their proper position, though why not prop up the WSAI calls on 1360 with the "Sports Animal" handle?

- nate81<P ID="signature">______________
Nathan Obral
University Partership Representative
Student Senate
Lorain County Community College, Elyria, Ohio

LCCC Radio - The Duck</P>
 
Huntsville Alabama has WUMP: 730 The Ump.<P ID="signature">______________
Bob
Moderator, Nashville board
Radio-Info.com--Always Tuned In

"I don't spread rumors, but I sometimes make outrageous speculations with no factual basis."</P>
 
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