ESPN FM?

[mets18]

Interesting.  I wonder which frequency.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/yankees/radio_deal_could_send_yanks_to_fm_gEubuTKmWc9c83bpBhjCyI

[FLjack2]

Logical would be 94.7 or 107.5
Both seem to be for sale.

[luperm]

94.7

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, is done to get a better signal to the east of Manhattan. They'd need something between 94.7 and 107.1 to fill in on LI.

If it happens, I'll miss the Yankees on a big AM signal.

[FLjack2]

Simple.  The Yankees can get a LI affiliate.  I'm sure an FM on the eastern end would be happy to have the Yankees!

[JoeyBagODonuts]

94.7

They'd need something between 94.7 and 107.1 to fill in on LI.

If it happens, I'll miss the Yankees on a big AM signal.

They haven't had the simulcast on 107.1 for a while now.  It is now part of the WLIX Christian Radio network.

[DToTheJ]

I thought WBLS wasn't officially on the market, and that Magic Johnson would be running the show.

With the Family Stations sales in Washington and Philadelphia, it would almost certainly have to be 94.7 this deal alludes to.

Oh, and what does Mushnick mean when he says WCBS "is a big money-loser station for... the CBS Radio Network"? Shouldn't that be just "CBS Radio"? It's not as if the Yankees games are airing on other CBS-owned stations across the country. Wake me when Mush retires.

[ansky212]

The article alludes to an announcement possibly by the end of the week.  I assume that would just be an announcement of a sale and not the date of the format change.  Assuming it's just the sale, how much time would ESPN need to transfer the format over to 94.7?

[DToTheJ]

For the perfect time to fire up an FM signal, I would anticipate it happening tomorrow night - Thursday night - right before the annual NFL Draft, which takes place in New York.

Oh, and for those still not convinced that 94.7 is not the intended signal, lest we forget this:
http://www.fybush.com/nerw-1912-wfme-goes-commercial/

(I'd go hunting out for newly registered domains for clues, but the likeliness of such a deal would be that ESPN would continue using ESPNNewYork.com as their domain for the station.)

[reelyreal]

I thought WBLS wasn't officially on the market, and that Magic Johnson would be running the show.

Yeah, WBLS isn't on the market, the only station in NYC that we know of on the market is 94.7.

Now, I usually avoid conspiracy theories, BUT!  I can't help myself on this one.  Did anyone else notice the interesting wording of this paragraph?

"The deal, upon completion — and that could be by the end of this week — would give ESPN long-term programming rights on the FM station, allowing the sports network to chase — and hard — Yankees rights."

"long term programming rights..." does that sound like a possible LMA to anyone else?  Like, an LMA of WEMP?

[spunker88]

Its been nice having them on a clear channel AM station since you could listen to them anywhere in the northeast at night. Upstate this can sometimes be the only way to receive the game at night since local AMs power down at night. The online streams of the games are blacked out. But if the games aren't profitable for WCBS, I see no reason why they would sign another deal.