Advertisement - scroll for more content
Brad Townsend: Amid a report that 97.1 FM The Freak is pivoting away from sports, I'm told that all indications are tonight's Mavs-Clippers game will air on the station. iHeartMedia, which owns The Freak, has 2 years left on a five-year contract to air Mavs games. We'll obviously ask Mavs management tonight at the arena, but as of now all indications are the show will go on -- at least night.
“This is an exciting time for our organization as we launch a multi-faceted distribution partnership with one of the largest media platforms in the country,” said Timberwolves and Lynx CEO Ethan Casson. “Welcoming KFAN 100.3 as our new flagship radio station, creating a 24/7/365 Timberwolves streaming channel on iHeartRadio, and producing cross-promotional opportunities with the entire portfolio of local iHeartMedia stations, will strategically grow our Timberwolves and Lynx fanbase.” “We are excited about this partnership and honored to be the broadcast and streaming home of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx,” said Kevin LeGrett, President of iHeartSports. “We are thrilled to deliver innovative Timberwolves and Lynx coverage, programming and integrations to millions of their fans across the state and beyond!”
The NBA and iHeartMedia are launching 11 new NBA podcasts, focusing on a handful of teams. Six teams are getting shows: the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, New Orleans Pelicans, and San Antonio Spurs. They’re hosted by a variety of individuals, including influencers, hosts, and broadcasters.
Nets and iHeartMedia have announced a partnership that will launch original team-themed podcasts featuring Chris Carrino and Ally Love that will air on Tuesdays starting next week. Shows will feature voices from across the sports and entertainment spectrum with the first two shows hosted by Chris Carrino, the Nets’ radio play-by-play announcer, and Ally Love, the team’s in-arena host. Additionally, the Nets will publish limited-run narrative podcasts that dive deep into a range of stories, giving listeners plenty of options to engage.
Advertisement
The podcast deal comes three months after iHeartMedia announced it was creating a podcast network for the NFL as part of a multiyear, exclusive partnership. The NBA’s podcasts, which will be co-produced by iHeartRadio and the NBA, will include a mix of content from the NBA’s archives, player commentary, league news and insider analyses.
Rex Chapman, former NBA star and Twitter power-user, is launching a weekly podcast in which he talks with pro athletes about their run-ins with the law — a subject he’s personally familiar with. The podcast, “Charges With Rex Chapman,” is produced by Steve Nash’s CTRL Media, Portal A, DBPodcasts and iHeartMedia. In each episode, Chapman sits down with a different sports star to talk about their past legal scrapes, and he gives them the chance to tell their side of the story. The conversations ultimately culminate in “a story of redemption and reinvention,” per the show’s producers.
WTAM's tenure as the flagship home of the Cleveland Cavaliers' radio network is going to extend well into a fourth decade. The Cavs and iHeart Media announced a new multiyear, multi-team agreement on Tuesday, Oct. 20. The deal begins with the 2020-21 season and includes the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League and the Canton Charge of the NBA G League. WTAM's AM and FM stations (1100 and 106.9), along with WMMS-FM 100.7, will remain the flagship stations of the Cavs. WTAM-AM 1100 has been a flagship home of the Cavs since the 1990-91 season.
FOX Sports Radio (FSR) announced today that veteran sports media personality Chris Broussard will join the network as a host, opinionist and NBA analyst. In addition to making frequent appearances across the 24-7 sports radio network as a guest and contributor, Broussard will launch the first of two weekend programs this Saturday, November 12. Co-hosted by FSR personality Brian Noe, the duo will broadcast from 5 to 8 p.m. PT on 200 stations nationwide, in addition to FOX Sports Radio’s channel on iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia’s industry-leading digital radio platform.
Advertisement
Trail Blazers fans in the Seattle market will have a new way to follow their team this season. Seven remaining Trail Blazers games will be broadcast on iHeartMedia’s 950 AM KJR, starting with this Saturday’s contest at the Houston Rockets (Feb. 6).
The Atlanta Hawks and iHeartMedia are collaborating to broadcast eight Hawks games on local Spanish language station El PatrÓn 105.3 FM this season, it was announced today. The ground-breaking news marks the first time Hawks contests will be aired completely in Spanish by an Atlanta radio outlet. “We are thrilled to enter a partnership with iHeartMedia and El PatrÓn 105.3,” said Hawks CEO Steve Koonin. “This collaboration presents exciting new opportunities for us to further engage the diverse, multicultural population of our great city. Broadcasting our games in Spanish is important for our organization as we continue to build bridges through basketball and connect with our community.”
The Trail Blazers will have a new radio home for 2013-14 as the team announced that KPOJ (620 AM) will become its flagship station and carry all of its games. The team's radio home last season was KEX (1190 AM), which like KPOJ is owned by Clear Channel. KPOJ is now an all-sports station, primarily carrying national programming produced by Fox Sports Radio. Several times last season, Blazers games were switched to KPOJ when KEX, which is the radio home of Oregon State, pre-empted the NBA games to carry Beavers games.
Since the Spurs entered the NBA in 1976, their radio broadcasts of games have been on 1200 WOAI for all but one season. The team’s fans won’t have to fret about having to change their radio dial presets any time soon after the club announced a multi-year agreement to continue their broadcast partnership. The partnership with Clear Channel Media and Entertainment includes broadcasting Rampage hockey games and Silver Stars WNBA games on Clear Channel’s Ticket 760.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement