Ever since Dispatch/RadiOhio sports WBNS/1460 began simulcasting on their sister 97.1 frequency back in January 2009, the longtime OSU and Columbus Blue Jackets flagship station was never able to make it a full-time simulcast. This was due to Fun With Radio Columbus market alt-rock WWCD/101.1 having been the team’s FM flagship since the team’s 2000 inception – and as a result, “97.1 The Fan” would have to break away from their AM counterpart to run ESPN Radio whenever the team’s coverage began.
With WWCD’s pending relocation to the FM/102.5 Baltimore facility by the end of the month (as the 101.1 facility was purchased by WOSU Public Media), the NHL franchise announced a new arrangement between the three stations back on September 16. Starting with the team’s home opener on Friday, October 15, WBNS/97.1 will become the team’s new FM flagship station, in tandem with WBNS/1460 (curiously enough, the 1460 facility was downplayed significantly in the press release). As the Ohio State games – both football and basketball – are the station’s top priority, soon-to-be WWCD/102.5 will still carry any displaced games in the event of schedule conflicts.
The team’s ancillary weekly shows, “The Coach’s Show with Scott Arniel” and the “Blue Jackets Sunday Morning Skate” (formerly known as “Breakfast with the Blue Jackets”), which aired on both WBNS AM and FM prior to the new agreement, remain on both stations.
Up in Northern Ohio, the “Wheeling Island Hotel and Casino Blue Jackets’ Radio Network” affiliate base includes two Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting stations – talk WEOL/930 Elyria and AAA WLKR/95.3 Norwalk (both stations air select games in-between Cavaliers and OSU Basketball broadcasts), as well as Clear Channel sports WARF/1350 Akron and sports WTIG/990 Massillon/Canton. No Cleveland station proper has ever been an affiliate…
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