On the same day the Bulls won their National Championship, Capitol Broadcasting scored with its plans for sports radio in the Triangle.
Capitol, Curtis Media and McClatchey Broadcasting have agreed to a transaction that will change the sports radio landscape later this fall.
The Triangle’s long-time sports station 850am The Buzz is being sold. It will become an oldies station, but Capitol will retain much of its programming, sales staff and the well-known Buzz brand.
Also, Capitol is purchasing 620am and 1550am. 620 will be reincarnated as The Buzz and 1550 is the newest affiliate of ESPN Deportes, the Hispanic sports network. ESPN Deportes premiered September 30th. (More on that below.)
Buzz vet David Glenn will host 1-4pm on 99.9 The Fan, and Adam Gold and Joe Ovies will move to 620 for the 6-10am time slot.
We are awaiting approvals from the Federal Communications Commission, but here’s the end game: By year’s end, we will be operating 99.9 fm The Fan, 620 am The Buzz and 1550 am ESPN Deportes.
This is the daytime programming schedule for 99.9 fm and 620 am:
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More on 1550am and ESPN Deportes:
ESPN Deportes has been serving Hispanic sports fans in the U.S. since 2000 and offers a variety of sports talk programming and events, highlighted by exclusive national Spanish-language broadcasts of Major League Baseball, Mexican League Soccer, UEFA Champions League and NASCAR. ESPN Deportes Radio 1550 AM in the Triangle will be the only affiliate in the Southeast region outside of Florida and Knoxville, TN.
Launching ESPN Deportes Radio 1550 AM allows Capitol to serve the area’s growing Hispanic population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Hispanic population, the largest minority group in the U.S., reached 45.5 million on July 1, 2007. In North Carolina alone, there are more than 640,000 Hispanic residents, an 8% increase over the previous year.
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Check out this post from a year ago on the Triangle sports market.
