Posted by Bud on January 22, 2010 at 16:08:13:
The buzz about Chicago getting a major FM sports radio outlet is building again. We first heard rumors several months ago that CBS Radio might opt to simulcast its hugely popular sports talk WSCR-AM (670) on one of its FM outlets here. The most likely candidate to provide that spot is adult contemporary WCFS-FM (105.9) which, unlike WSCR, hasn't exactly been on fire in the ratings. Local CBS Radio executives downplayed the notion at the time, but other savvy Chicago radio observers insisted it was only a matter of time.
Now with the news this week that CBS Radio will introduce an all-sports format next month on its FM rock outlet in sports-hungry Pittsburgh, sources are suggesting once more that CBS Radio will -- sometime this year -- move to put sports on an FM station in equally sports-hungry Chicago. CBS Radio also has sports talk on FM outlets in Detroit; Dallas; Washington, D.C., and Boston, so it's a growing trend within the large radio chain.
WSCR sources continue to say nothing is on the drawing board about such a move at this very moment, but the resistance to such a game plan seems less strong than it was just a few months ago. Certainly, WSCR is a force in the ratings, and putting the product on an FM outlet would give fans of the station a high-quality listening experience. In the key 25- to 54-year-old adult demo Monday through Sunday, WSCR was in a tie for ninth place in the most recent December Arbitron ratings, while WCFS could do no better than a tie for 25th place. Among males 25 to 54 in December, WSCR was the top-ranked radio station in the Chicago market.
Money monsters near
We're just a little more than a week away from the debut of "Monsters and Money in the Morning," the new early-morning sports and financial talk show set to debut at 5 a.m. Feb. 1 on WBBM-Channel 2. WBBM management is taking great pains to ensure this new program and new format don't resemble any other early-morning show on air in Chicago. The four co-hosts -- Sun-Times columnist Terry Savage, Mike North, Dan Jiggetts and Mike Hegedus -- will be seated around a custom 7-foot-diameter wood table with a rosewood veneer with a walnut stain. Two video monitors also are expected to be part of the studio set.
The co-hosts are expected to start rehearsing on their new set next week.
WBBM launches app
Meanwhile, WBBM has introduced a free iPhone app called the "CBS2 Chicago" app, which will deliver local news headlines, along with on-demand video, slide shows and Twitter updates from WBBM news anchors and reporters.