Speaking Of Sports Radio

With apologies to the estate of the late Howard Cosell...

FOXY MOVE: As OMW reported earlier, Clear Channel sports WARF/1350 Akron is readying to make its network switch.

On June 8th, "SportsRadio 1350" will leave Sporting News Radio behind, and become the Akron market's affiliate of Fox Sports Radio...taking the affiliation from Media-Com rimshot daytime lightbulb signal outlet WJMP/1520 Kent/Akron/Ravenna/Streetsboro/Chicago. (OK, so maybe they don't claim Chicago.)

OMW had heard earlier that WJMP would take the Sporting News Radio affiliation that WARF is leaving behind, but we haven't confirmed that at this time. We'd expect it, but who knows?

1520 could return to replaying audio from co-owned LPTV duo WAOH-LP/29 Akron-W35AX Cleveland, otherwise known as "The Cat". It could play standards, oldies, Klezmer music, polka, bird noises...well, you get the idea. We'd still expect SNR to make the move to the Kent station, though.

As we heard promoted on "SportsRadio 1350" the other day, WARF is also adding Premiere's Jim Rome in the switch. WJMP has been airing Romey in addition to Fox Sports Radio. Though FSR is also a unit of Premiere, Rome is not included in the FSR network feed...which replays morning driver Steve Czaban for the few FSR affiliates that don't pick up Rome separately.

1350 is also hanging onto two sports talk names syndicated by The Content Factory - middayer Dan Patrick and late night host (and 1350 staple) Tony Bruno. Patrick would continue to air on WARF no matter what, since his show is now also being broadcast via Fox Sports Radio's network feed (which also puts the ex-ESPNer on 1520, until June 8th)...

NO TIRICO: ESPN Radio has announced that Mike Tirico is leaving his midday show with the network's Scott Van Pelt, due to the demands of his schedule elsewhere within the Worldwide Leader's Bristol CT complex.

Though Tirico will mount a two-hour Friday radio show on college football, he'll otherwise step down from weekday radio, leaving Van Pelt to host his own program.

"Tirico and Van Pelt" airs locally on Good Karma's WWGK/1540 "KNR2", the Little Brother to "ESPN 850 WKNR", and on Massillon's WTIG/990 "ESPN 990".

Speaking of WWGK, we hear that the station's attempt to move its transmitter facility to co-locate at the WKNR site in North Royalton - and increase its daytime-only power to 3000 watts - is not dead in the water after all...despite local zoning issues in the Cleveland suburb.

We don't get the idea that any agreement is imminent, and WWGK does have the rest of its three year window to build out the CP, which expires in August 2011. But we hear the station is trying to come to an amicable resolution with North Royalton city officials to make the move possible...