The battle for on-air supremacy: Sports radio in Salt Lake is big business

Sports is a passion for many in Utah, whether watching events in person or following them through the various media outlets.

Utahns also love to talk about and hear about their favorite sports teams and players, which is why a midsize media market has such major competition within the interactive medium of sports talk radio.

"The demand is there," said Jeremy Castro, director of sports and broadcast operations for KJZZ TV and The Fan sports network. "The sports fans in the market care about their teams, and what we're doing is trying to capitalize on that passion."

Recently launched by the Larry H. Miller Sports and Entertainment Group, The Fan is billed as Utah's super sports network with two AM radio stations (1320 KFAN and 1230 ESPN) and two television stations (KJZZ Channel 14 and the Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain cable channel).

The radio stations are personality driven with local media stalwarts like David James and Patrick Kinahan hosting the morning drive on KFAN, and Salt Lake sports talk pioneer David Locke hosting the afternoon drive. Nationally focused programming is provided on ESPN 1230, though local hosts are given carte blanche to discuss whatever they feel is the hot topic of the day.

KALL 700 Sports features Bill Riley in the afternoons as its top local talent, with Kevin Graham and Gordon Monson anchoring the lineup at KZN 1280 The Zone.

"What drives the sports fan in this market are BYU, (the University of) Utah and the Jazz, in any order depending on the week," Castro said.

He said because those three teams have been in the market for so long, nearly every sports fan has some kind of tie to them, which fuels their interest and gets them listening and participating in sports talk radio.

"In any market you're going to be successful, you have to put on compelling local programming," said Riley, program director and afternoon host for KALL 700 Sports.

In this hyper-competitive market, the move has been toward pooling resources in an effort to enhance efficiency and profitability.

Such is the case with KALL 700 and KZN 1280. In the case of The Fan, the Miller Group has 1320 KFAN and 1230 ESPN, plus two television stations to bolster its market share.

"We can offer the sports fan and sports sponsor something (KALL and KZN) can't," said Castro. "We have four media outlets, not including the Internet, to deliver our message.

"Our (business) model is based on delivering on five different outlets as opposed to one (station)," he added.