The deal puts Yahoo! Sports on the radio: Yahoo! and Houston-based Gow Broadcasting (formerly Mission Media Group), which operates Sporting News Radio, have combined to launch of Yahoo! Sports Radio. The new, national sports radio network can be heard on over 180 affiliates, Sirius XM and a number of digital and mobile partners.
Yahoo! Sports currently has more than 50 million monthly unique users.
In this relationship, Yahoo Sports! and Gow will share content, develop new content together and engage audiences and advertisers across multiple platforms. Key features of the new Yahoo Sports Radio include:
•Yahoo! Sports Radio’s popular shows, such as the Steve Czaban show and the Tim Brando show, will feature experts from Yahoo! Sports. Dan Wetzel, Mike Silver, Adrian Wojnarowski, Charles Robinson and others will be regular participants on Yahoo! Sports Radio.
•Yahoo! Sports investigative stories and breaking news will be delivered simultaneously on both platforms.
•Yahoo! Sports Radio’s audio content will be featured on Yahoo Sports!, including Peter Gammon’s daily feature, and top interviews from Yahoo! Sports Radio’s shows.
•Yahoo! Sports Radio will also add shows such as Fantasy Freaks with experts Brandon Funston, Brad Evans and Andy Behrens and Rivals Radio with host Chris Childers, where fans can listen to college football and basketball programming with Rivals.com experts.
Yahoo! Sports Radio continues Yahoo!’s commitment to provide sports fans with personally relevant sporting content across all media where fans gather – including online, mobile, tablets, connected television, AT&T U-verse and multiple publications such as Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football and Rivals College preview magazines.
“Yahoo! Sports Radio builds on our leadership as the No. 1 sports site online and creates a national and local outlet for our brand and talent,” said Ken Fuchs, VP Yahoo! Media Network. “As Yahoo! Sports covers the biggest events, stories and athletes on and off the field, our partnership with Gow Broadcasting will provide more access to our users and solutions to our advertising partners that want to connect with them wherever they consume sports.”
“We are delighted to enter this relationship with Yahoo! Sports,” said David Gow, CEO of Gow Broadcasting. “We have long enjoyed Yahoo! Sports’ content. We believe strongly that the resources at Yahoo! Sports combined with our on-air talent create the strongest sports roster in the industry. For our affiliates and our listeners, we can deliver top-shelf reporting, analysis and commentary.”
RBR-TVBR asked HoopsWorld.com publisher, sports talk vet and “Big Lead Sports on SiriusXM” host Steve Kyler (who is also RBR-TVBR’s Internet advisor) what he thinks of the development: “It’s interesting on the heels of Sporting News “buying” the rights to AOL Sports and killing off Fanhouse to grab a bigger online share… from my understanding they are paying AOL roughly $6 million a year to “own” their Comscore traffic online. Now Sporting News loses their radio distribution to Yahoo.”
Yahoo! Sports Radio affiliates include WFAN-AM NY, WSCR-AM Chicago, KBWF-AM San Francisco and KTCK-FM Dallas.
Here is the daily lineup:
MONDAY-FRIDAY
2A-6A John Harris
6A-10A Steve Czaban
10A-1P Tim Brando
1P-4P Sean Pendergast
4P-7P Travis Rodgers
7P-10P Gamecast
10P-2A Todd Wright
SATURDAY
6A-9A Best of Czaban
9A-1P Terry Ford
1P-7P Sports Saturday With Bob Berger & Craig Shemon
7P-11P YSR Postgame With Peter Brown
11P-4A Last Call with Scott Jackson
SUNDAY
4A-8A Best of John Harris
8A-1p Terry Ford
1P-7P Sports Sunday With Bob Berger & Craig Shemon
7P-11P YSR Postgame With Peter Brown
11p-2A Last Call with Scott Jackson
RBR-TVBR observation: This could mean a bit of competition for ESPN Audio, as Yahoo!’s strong internet presence will certainly be used to brand programming and drive Yahoo! users to the radio and streaming audio. ESPN still has the advantage of the television component to drive audience, but nonetheless, we expect Yahoo! Sports Radio to make a larger footprint with affiliates and advertisers, just with its name. In the end, though, content is king.
