ESPN, the all-sports cable television station, has become a fixture for sports fans. Now radio is turning to all-sports programming and Salt Lake's KQOL, FM-106.5, has become Utah's first-ever all-sports radio station.
Formerly an easy-listening, "Beautiful Music" format station, KQOL debuted on May 15 with all-sports programming."Research indicates there is a need for all-sports programming on the radio," Steve Evans, KQOL station manager said. "It's not the cheapest format to have but I believe it will work."
Evans said the station recently gained new owners - Sullivan Broadcasting (New York) - and they are willing to sink money into it to make it succeed.
KQOL has applied with the FCC for new call letters - KSRE - but they haven't yet been approved. The station is currently signing off the air at midnight and hopes to have 24 hours of sports programming operating within the next several months. The slogan of the station is "The Score."
KQOL is drawing programming from three national sports networks - The Sports and Entertainment Network (SEN) out of Las Vegas; the American Forum Radio Network out of Boston; and from the Sports Byline Service in San Francisco.
The station is providing six minutes of sports news and updates at the top of each hour.
Evans said the only local talk show on the station right now is an officially untitled, weekday, 6-7 p.m., NBA talk show with host Patrick Burton. His guest co-host this week has been Andre Wakefield of Chicago. This show will feature periodic guest hosts.
KQOL will be hiring other sports hosts to put together local morning and afternoon drive-time talk shows.
Evans said he's planning to have other regular features on the station, such as a golf show, a baseball card collectors program and an outdoors and recreation show.
Burton is the station sports director and other employees include: Mat Baer, Bruce Bain, Bob Denning, Kyle Keller, Dan Morley, Scott Miller and Jina Barberi. (Yes, Jina is Tom Barberi's daughter.)
All sports programming on FM radio is a unique move and Evans said that's just what he was looking for - something a little different.
"We've got to be something different and unique," Evans said of his survival tactic for the Wasatch Front radio market, believed to have more stations per capita than anywhere else in the nation.
The only other U.S. FM radio station believed to have a similar all-sports format is located in Little Rock, Ark.