We apologize if this sounds a bit familiar. Heh.
CBS Radio has officially announced the start of “Sports Radio 92.3 The Fan” on August 29.
Here’s the press release as sent to OMW this morning. We’ll have more detailed analysis and our thoughts later today…
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SPORTS RADIO 92.3 THE FAN, CLEVELAND’S FIRST AND ONLY FM SPORTS STATION,
MAKES ITS DEBUT ON MONDAY, AUG. 29
Andy Roth Named as Program Director
Beginning on Monday, Aug. 29, Cleveland sports fans will have a bold new choice for news and information about their favorite sports teams. Sports Radio 92.3 The Fan (WKRK-FM) will feature locally produced programs hosted by familiar Cleveland voices, along with headline updates every 20 minutes and a full lineup of NFL and college football play-by-play coverage. The station will be available on-air, on-line at www.923TheFan.com and via the Radio.com application for a variety of mobile devices.
Additionally, Andy Roth has been named as Program Director of the CBS RADIO station. He joins 92.3 The Fan from Buffalo’s WGR, and also has experience at legendary sports properties WFAN in New York and WIP in Philadelphia.
Roth said, “What we are launching is literally a radio station for ‘The Fan.’ For Clevelanders who live and breathe sports 24/7 this will be the place to get the best insight, most in-depth coverage and a well-rounded balance of listener participation all presented in an entertaining forum.”
Nationally-known talent Kevin Kiley will team up with Cleveland’s own Chuck Booms weekday mornings from 6:00-10:00AM for the area’s only local morning drive sports-talk show. Kiley & Booms previously co-hosted a national show on the Fox Sports Radio Network. Adam “The Bull”, formerly of WFAN in New York, will fill the afternoon drive time slot from 3:00-7:00PM. The remainder of The Fan lineup will be announced at a later date.
92.3 The Fan will also be the new home for Westwood One’s coverage of the NFL including all but one of the national football broadcasts on Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights; and Big 10 football. Additional programming will include postgame shows immediately following all the local professional football, basketball and baseball games, as well as appearances by players, coaches, and media experts.
Senior Vice President/Market Manager, CBS RADIO Cleveland Tom Herschel added, “CBS RADIO is the leader when it comes to the all-sports format. Having the pioneering station (WFAN) among our portfolio along with a number of new entrants to the FM dial in major markets across the country we are confident we know what it takes to make this move a success in Cleveland.”
In addition to WKRK-FM in Cleveland, CBS RADIO owns and operates all-sports stations in 14 other markets, including seven of the Top 10 markets, which reach more than 3.5 million Men 25-54 each week (Arbitron, Fall 2010 National Database):
New York (WFAN-AM) Washington, D.C. (WJFK-FM) Charlotte (WFNZ-AM)
Chicago (WSCR-AM) Boston (WBZ-FM) Pittsburgh (KDKA-FM)
Dallas (KRLD-FM) Detroit (WXYT-AM/FM) Riverside (KVFG-FM)
Houston (KILT-AM) Tampa (WQYK-AM) Sacramento (KHTK-AM)
Philadelphia (WIP-AM) Baltimore (WJZ-FM/WJZ-AM)
There are sooooooo many of us fans of “real” sportstalk that cannot wait for this station to launch in a couple short weeks! They NEED to follow through with LOCAL guys to fill the gap between the two shows listed (even though Chuck Booms is from Euclid and is a HUGE Cleveland/OSU sports fan), in the evenings during the week and on weekend programming!
It is almost laughable that WKNR, with their near monopoly on local sportstalk, managed to screw it up and will NOW have to actually compete! Ouside of Munch, who is a local, passionate NE Ohio sports guy, Aaron Goldhammer, Chris Fedor and now sadly Rizzo, start off our weekday ear-bleeding at 9am with what has become unlistenable blather! There are TONS of people that are done with that show as Aaron hangs up on almost everyone, abuses OSU (more than any national show), sounds like Peter Brady back in the day with his voice cracking and continues to totally misrepresent NE Ohio whenever possible on National ESPN!!??
Afternoon R&R (Ramble & Repeat) has also become unbelieveably bad as Reghi & Roda pontificate and repeat themselves over and over and over! Kenny has started to sound like a dirty old man both in show and with his dating site & hair club spots.
Greg Brinda, who by some miracle of God, is STILL on the air after numerous firings is now and has been the lowest common denominator on the radio for YEARS! YEARS!!! Yet when I get stuck in a car and someone has it on…just for a few miinutes…we get to hear Brinda proclaim “he’s not going anywhere”! Really? We shall see…
In a nutshell, WKNR will either “step their game up” or keep going down the path of BAD, REALLY BAD local radio. I just had to turn them off as Rizzo & Aaron are talking about the merits of a John Elway interview on WKNR??!! Really??!! At least now, on AUGUST 29th, we WILL have an OPTION for local sportstalk!!!!!!!! Well done Craig Karmazin, Keith Williams and the balance of those mentioned above. Just because you “are hitting your target $$$ #’s” does NOT mean you get to shove your monopolized BS down our throats. If you came to NE Ohio because we are HUGE sports fans of OUR teams, why treat us like crap for YEARS!!?? Good luck, WKNR…you will need it. Welcome 92.3 FM “The Fan”!!!
Maybe our hockey team (yeah, we actually have one), will get some recognition from this station. If they plan on offering actual sports coverage, they need to include our AHL team that would be one of the few winning teams we have in this city.
As mentioned in a previous post, 92.3 biggest obstacle is its coverage area. I can pick up KNR as far southwest as Dayton during daylight hours (as late as 8:30 during DST), yet I have trouble getting a clear signal on 92.3 in Lorain and Medina Cos.
Time will tell, and we shall see (hear?).
I agree with your points about KNR. They’ve become Springer-like and classless. R&R actually runs a daily routine where they essentially invite listeners to try to sneak in dirty sexual references before they get call-dumped. Unbelievable.
The Really Lame Show is just a weak scam. Rizzo pretends to be offended by what Hammer and Fedor say. But this is all staged. If they all agree with each other, I think they figure this makes for boring radio. Maybe they figured, if they can’t beat Triv in the ratings, then join him. Frankly I’m tired of hearing them yelling all the time. I’d rather see 92.3 run Dan Patrick in the mornings (way better than Mike & Mike) and put Booms on in the afternoon. The DP Show actually gets callers that are intelligent and make good points. Is there EVER a reason to hear the Bostonian on the air?
I don’t understand the point of an outsider doing ‘local drive time’, so put Booms there to crush R&R.
ANY local sports talker that is half-way intelligent will draw the listeners that have turned away thanks to Hammer/Rizzo/Fedor.
My fear with 92.3 is they will announce other lame retreads that will fill out their schedule, like BSK or Les (every station I work at closes down) Levine.
It’s good that national broadcasts of NFL football will move to this station, because where I live, in Solon, WKNR is barely listenable at night. (Let’s hope that the Lake Erie Monsters broadcasts move here as well, so more people can hear hockey broadcasts at night as well. Hockey needs to be promoted more in this area.)
Regarding Hockey, throw in Columbus Blue Jackets game coverage as well.
Just what the hell is a “trick bag punk”? Reghi’s lame attempt at sounding cool? Stupid!!!
I for one hope they sign Les Levine. He’s the best local sports talker in Cleveland!!!
Did you notice the part where it says that Kiley & Booms will host the “only” local sports talk in morning drive?
Do the good folks at CBS know something about the future of “Munch in the Morning” that we don’t?
Thank God! Listening to Munch makes my ears bleed. I HATE his voice.
Other than Munch (who is unsurpassed, inimitable, and incomparable), WKNR is getting very long in the tooth.
I LOVE Booms… But will someone PLEASE bring back Ken Silverstein (last of Digital Sports Network fame)? Silverstein and Booms would bring truth back to sports talk in NE OH.