700 The Zone?

[Aerick]

OK, what's this all about? Dave Checkett's, I thought, purchased Hot Ticket 700 for the purpose of having it be the flagship media station for Real Salt Lake. Hence the RSL games, and the Coaches show, etc. I tune in this morning and hear 1280's "20/20 Sports Update" by Scotty G, and he concludes his update with the phrase "1280 and 700 The Zone"!

What the heck happened? Is this a portent of things to come? Is Uncle Dave selling off his sports-based assets here in preparation to leave the Salt Lake market - starting with the radio station? My point, of course, logically leading to the conclusion that RSL is next?

Does anyone know anything about this??!!??

[Jose Luis Luviano]

The transmitter wouldn't fit in the moving van.

[montgjules]

Originally Posted by Aerick

OK, what's this all about? Dave Checkett's, I thought, purchased Hot Ticket 700 for the purpose of having it be the flagship media station for Real Salt Lake. Hence the RSL games, and the Coaches show, etc. I tune in this morning and hear 1280's "20/20 Sports Update" by Scotty G, and he concludes his update with the phrase "1280 and 700 The Zone"!

What the heck happened? Is this a portent of things to come? Is Uncle Dave selling off his sports-based assets here in preparation to leave the Salt Lake market - starting with the radio station? My point, of course, logically leading to the conclusion that RSL is next?

Does anyone know anything about this??!!??

Does anybody know anything definitive about anything anymore?

[Merk]

The official line that I got from my friends involved:

KALL has a 50,000 watt blow torch of a transmitter, 1280 didn't want to upgrade to a brighter candle if they didn't have to, so the two stations struck a deal. KALL only was broadcasting 6 hours of original programming, and 1280 wanted to do the Jim Rome show all along. Add to that the fact that the two stations have basically been falling over one another since KALL moved in and it just made sense. It was a win-win for both parties.

So, in the Salt Lake Valley everyone will probably just keep listening to whatever stations they had listened to before. The hope is that beyond the valley, where 1280's signal is sketchy, people will tune into 700 and receive the 1280 programming that they were missing.

End result? The most obnoxious slogan in all of local broadcasting just got a little worse:
"I'm <insert name here> reminding you to remember the time that you spent listening to <insert show name here> on Sports Radio 1280 & 700 AM The Zone." UGH!

That's the official story. The conspiracy theorist in me jumps to the same conclusions that you did, Aerick.

[bordelais7]

Originally Posted by Merk

So, in the Salt Lake Valley everyone will probably just keep listening to whatever stations they had listened to before.

Not I.

Maybe I'm a radio snob, but they killed my listening patterns. I used to listen to fox sports radio in the morning -- now I've got DJ and PK. Can't stand Rome. And worst of all is the afternoon/drive home programming. No more Riley. Only Monson and Graham -- the biggest joke of a "sports" show in the state.

Guess I'll finally break down and get Sirius.

[Loyal1]

I liked the First Team on Fox each morning on 700. I annoy my kids playing "80's rejoin" now all the time.

I tried Monson and doofus this afternoon. It's still unlistenable.

[Deuce]

Originally Posted by Aerick

Does anyone know anything about this??!!??

I posted this last Friday about the programming on the Zone and Hot Ticket 700