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WRUF & WMOP New ESPN Partners

J

Jeff2

They started the new simulcast today as "ESPN 850/900". The schedule from the WRUF website:

6 – 10 a.m. – “Mike and Mike in the Morning” (ESPN)
10 a.m. – noon – “Adam Reardon”
Noon – 2 p.m. – “Sportscene with Steve Russell”
2 – 4 p.m. – “The Scott Van Pelt Show” (ESPN)
4 – 6 p.m. – “The Larry Vettel Show”
6 – 7 p.m. – “The Cheap Seats”
7 – 10 p.m. – “Hill & Schlereth” (ESPN)
10 – 11 p.m. – “SportsCenter” (ESPN)
11 p.m. – 6 a.m. – ESPN Radio programming

WGGG (1230) seems to be still carrying the programming but isn't mentioned on the air. WMOP is I goes still on 100.1 which I thought WRZN was getting. I'll miss the Tim Brando Show but at least I can TiVo his TV simulcast.
 
It should be "WMOP is I guess" not "goes". Auto-complete is sometimes a bad thing! (as is failure to proof)
 
So is this an LMA by UF of WMOP? Essentially paying (what's his name? Smith?) to carry 850's programming in Ocala? In today's radio universe, most LMA deals include the option to buy the leased station. Seems like a waste of money (leasing and/or buying) just to boost the market profile of a marginal AM (850) whose real value is in giving students a place to work on their chops, make mistakes and prepare for careers doing radio in Bartow and Perry and Marianna.

Unless maybe the real value UF is paying for is the FM translator, so they can relay 103.7 in Ocala. No, it won't help them compete with WOGK--they'll continue to get killed for several more years before bailing out of Country. But maybe it would come in handy for their next format, whatever it is.
 
amfmxm said:
So is this an LMA by UF of WMOP? Essentially paying (what's his name? Smith?) to carry 850's programming in Ocala? In today's radio universe, most LMA deals include the option to buy the leased station. Seems like a waste of money (leasing and/or buying) just to boost the market profile of a marginal AM (850) whose real value is in giving students a place to work on their chops, make mistakes and prepare for careers doing radio in Bartow and Perry and Marianna.

Unless maybe the real value UF is paying for is the FM translator, so they can relay 103.7 in Ocala. No, it won't help them compete with WOGK--they'll continue to get killed for several more years before bailing out of Country. But maybe it would come in handy for their next format, whatever it is.
Click to expand...


ESPN radio has been WMOP's format for many years. If there's an LMA, I'd speculate it might be the reverse with WMOP leasing WRUF-AM. WRUF-FM doesn't need the Ocala translator. The 60dBu of WRUF-FM encompasses the 60dBu of the translator, so unless it was for an HD2 stream, there's no benefit.
 
From the WRUF website:

WRUF Sportsradio 850, Gainesville’s top rated sports station, and ESPN Radio will join forces to broadcast local sports talk, ESPN programming, and Gator and high school sports to north central Florida. In addition, WRUF Sportsradio 850 announces a new partnership with SportsTalk LLC in Ocala that creates a single ESPN affiliate for the Gainesville-Ocala market. The affiliation and partnership begin Friday, June 29.

The new station, which will be known as ESPN 850/900, will originate from broadcast facilities at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications and air on WRUF-AM 850, WMOP-AM 900 and WMOP-100.1 FM.
 
Thank God Steve Russell is still on the air. One of the best in the business. Remember him from "Rock Reflections" on WGVL 105.5, the Quadship.
;D
 
WMOP's espngo1.com website lists 1230 as the frequency in Gainesville along with 900 and 100.1 in Ocala. Has this Ocala/Gainesville simulcast been going on for a while and now the programming is just being taken over by UF?
 
The WMOP/WGGG ESPN simulcast began in I think 1996. I was stuck waiting in a parking lot this afternoon so checked the AM dial. 850/900/1230 are all broadcasting ESPN, 980/720 are simulcasting Fox News Radio and 1390 and 1430 are both broadcasting dead air even though you could tell their transmitters were up and running. By the way, WGGG broadcasts the 850/900 top of the hour ID with no mention of WGGG.

If WRUF wanted to make a change from Yahoo Sports, I wonder why they didn't wait for either the new CBS or NBC sports networks that are starting up? Maybe the only way they could get ESPN was to share with WMOP.
 
Historically, the only way these things work in the long-haul is to have an acquistion agreement built into the deal. Otherwise you're just asking for trouble if-and-when one of the licensees wants to do something else... or gets pissed-off when a UF kid says the wrong thing to the wrong person from Ocala--a highly-likely future occurence.

Unless neither one of the properties is worth a shit and never will be.
 
WGGG is airing the WRUF/WMOP simulcast. The top of the hour ID doesn't include WGGG. They should either include WGGG in the legal ID or go silent or program something else on it.
 
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