Sunday, October 7, 2007

99.9 The Fan to Launch on Wednesday?

According to a post on the EXTREMESKINS.com, Capitol Broadcasting will launch 99.9 The Fan on Wednesday October 10. Previously, we had been led to believe that the launch would be on October 3. That night, they only launched the pre-game and post-game shows for the Hurricanes.

Other than the feature on WRAL.com about Mark Thomas, Capitol Broadcasting has been very quite about 99.9 The Fan’s non-Hurricane programming. As of this afternoon, the website for The Fan links to WRAL’s sports page.

Based on the post on Extremeskins.com here is the on air talent that Capitol Broadcasting has signed for The Fan.

Mike Maniscalco who had the 3-7 slot on Sports Radio 910 in Richmond is slated to do the morning drive time show starting Thursday.

The Tony Bruno Show from Sporting News Radio will be on mid-days.

Scott Jackson from Sports Radio 980 in DC will co-host “The Insiders” with Mark Thomas in the 3-7 timeslot.

In my opinion, the 3-7 show will have to be pretty darn good to make an impact in the ratings. Primetime with the Packman is pretty popular on 620 The Bull and Dave Glenn and Chris Clark have a pretty good show on 850 the Buzz.

The Morning time slot could be wide open. I have yet to listen to Adam Gold’s show on 850 the Buzz and a good local show might be what the market needs.

The Success of the Tony Bruno Show in this market will depend on when they run it. If they run it live from 9-1, it has a good shot. If they tape delay the show to later, they’ll be going up against Rush.

Remember the last time a new sports talk station took the airwaves in the Triangle, the now defunct Triangle Sports Talk 1090, it led to changes the resulted in two 24/7 sports talk stations. Let’s see what type of changes an FM sports talk station can create in the market.

3 comments:

Ken White said...

I just can't imagine how this area could support 3 full time sports talk stations long term. Is there any market in the country where there are more sports stations than news/talk stations?

Anonymous said...

I hadn't really considered that there is only 1 news/talk station in the market... I guess PTF meets the definition although they only have 2 locally originated shows...

I doubt 3 sports stations will make it in the triangle. When it all sorts out I think 620 and 850 will combine to one station... maybe on one of Curtis' FM stations.

Ken White said...

I've been thinking for a while about a North Carolina Talk Networks. So imagine a somewhat tight network of stations with a station in Asheville, Charlotte, Gboro, Triangle, and Wilmington. Ideally something where if you travel 40 or 85 through the entire state, you always have access to one of them. Shows in different slots coming out of each city. Not sure if you get WZTK (gboro), but they have a morning show that would be perfect throughout the state. Then maybe Wilmgington comes in with a conservative local show. 12-3 would be an Asheville show, more liberal, to give Rush fans and outlet. Anyway, you get the idea. Statewide and national topics, but with some local issues thrown in to keep it flavorful.