Re: More sports talk coming to Chicago radio?

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: I can't stand WSCR on 1 station let alone 2. : : Are you ready for a third local sports talk radio station in Chicago? : : No, Webio isn't coming back. David Hernandez is going to jail, and Mike North is sticking to television these days. : : However, the landscape is ripe for a competitor to join WSCR-AM 670 and WMVP-AM 1000 in the sports talk rating wars, probably on an FM outlet. The reason is simple: The ratings for the format never have been bigger here. : : In the fall ratings book, both stations were tied for first in men ages 25-54, the demographic that means the most to advertisers on sports talk radio. At the very least, radio executives at other stations are going to look at those numbers and think: "Hey, I wonder if there's room for one more." : : "You have to think about it because of the performance of those stations," said Bob Snyder, the former general manager for WMVP who now has a radio consulting company, Snyder Sports Audio. "You have to be impressed with the numbers those stations are pulling in." : : If you think two sports talk stations in a town is too much, consider that there are four in St. Louis and three in Dallas. Last week, a Pittsburgh music station on FM switched to an all-sports format, becoming the third in that market. : : The move sparked speculation by the Sun-Times' Lewis Lazare that WSCR soon will simulcast its programming on sister station WCFS-FM 105.9, an adult music station that gets poor ratings. WSCR denied anything was in the works. : : However, WSCR could be forced to launch a preemptive strike if it gets wind that another FM station is considering all sports. Sports talk is starting to migrate to FM because those stations skew to a younger audience. : : Two possible candidates could be WLUP-FM 97.9 and WKQX-FM 101.1. Both music stations are struggling in the ratings. Both stations are owned by Emmis Communications. The CEO just happens to be Jeff Smuylan, the man credited (or blamed) with starting the all-sports format with WFAN in New York in the late 1980s. : : Mr. Smuylan got back into the sports talk business a couple of years ago by flipping one of his Indianapolis stations to the format. Could he do the same thing in Chicago? Perhaps. : : Another possible candidate could be WLS-FM 94.7. Michael Damsky recently took over as general manager for WLS-AM and FM. He was formerly the head of sales at WSCR. : : While sports talk has its pluses, the format has one big obstacle: It is expensive. Mr. Snyder estimates programming costs could be in the $3-million range. : : With that kind of overhead, Mr. Snyder wonders if there would be enough advertising revenue to support a third sports talk station. : : "There are only so many businesses targeting men 25-54," Mr. Snyder said. "Could you put out a product that's good enough to get a decent percentage of that revenue? Both WSCR and WMVP have well-established sales relationships. To unseat them in (advertising) is going to be difficult." : : What about the idea of a hybrid station? In Dallas, KTCK, "The Ticket," mixes sports with guy talk. Think frats, wild nights at the bar, etc. NPR, it's not. Surprise, surprise, men like it, as the format is extremely popular. : : "Sure, it could happen here," Mr. Snyder said. "Then you could take the position that you're programming something different than WSCR and WMVP." : : Chicago did have three sports talk outlets when Sporting News Radio's national program aired on AM outlets here. That could happen again. : : But I'm talking about a third sports talk station focusing on games that are played by Chicago teams. This town certainly is big enough and crazy enough about sports to think it has to be on somebody's agenda.

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