| 09 July 2009
Only a few legendary radio stations exist in the Washington, D.C., area and with WHFS' seemingly sudden format change from alternative rock to "tropical Latin music" in 2005, 106.7 WJFK, a talk-station, remains as a remnant of the "glory days" of Washington radio.
Shock-jock legends Don and Mike called WJFK home for over a decade and the station was the breeding ground of a home-grown sports talk show that made the word "donkey" an adjective for describing an athlete, the Sports Junkies.
On July 20, WJFK will cast away its crude-dude jokes in favor of Gilbert Arenas and sports talk.
The station is no stranger to sports: It was the former home of the Washington Redskins and broadcast the Capitals playoff games over the past two seasons. So while shock-jock radio fans might be sad to hear Mike O'Meara will be cut loose, sports fans should rejoice in being free of ESPN radio's iron clutch on the market.
Just think, a true alternative to Mike and Mike -- lovely.
The new lineup is rumored to feature the Junkies in the a.m. drive slot, Mike Wise of The Washington Post will receive the midday slot and Lavar Arrington and Chad Dukes (of the Big O and Dukes show) will round out the day with the p.m. drive slot.
This leaves the nighttime slot of 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. wide open for sports, and the Washington Wizards have already staked their claim to that spot when they play, but why not the Capitals?
Dan Steinberg mentioned on the DC Sports Bog that the Wiz and Caps have been broadcast partners before.
"The Capitals have yet to sign a new radio deal; their two-year agreement with Bonneville expired after the '09 season. The Capitals and Wizards have previously shared a broadcast partner; both teams had deals with what was then WTEM 980 earlier this decade, with the Caps often being moved to other frequencies when the teams played simultaneous games."
The Caps most recent radio partner has been 1500 AM, a particularly weak station outside of the metro-D.C. area, and one that is home to political talk during the day -- a match made in radio hell.
While it may not be the most important contract that is negotiated this summer, there is some serious up-side to having the Caps grace the "mighty" WJFK's air-waves all season long.
For one, WJFK's broadcast range goes as far as Ladysmith, Va., just 30 miles north of Richmond and covers most of Maryland. Not to mention, when your games are being broadcast on the same network as "The Sports Junkies," there's bound to be some turnover even if the Junkies spend the whole day talking about golf.
WJFK is a name brand, four letters that are well-known amongst D.C. area sports-watching males, and while the Capitals made small futile efforts to publicize their games on 1500 AM, there was little incentive for a listener to ever listen to that station when games were not airing.
It's a no-brainer, WJFK is flipping format to accommodate the popularity of sports talk, and the Capitals are the toast of the town. Why hide them away on an AM frequency when the lucrative and larger FM audience is available, at least for a few non-conflicting games?
The Capitals may not be able to negotiate a deal with WJFK, or they may not want to play second fiddle to the Wizards, who arguably are not as hot as the Caps are, but when push comes to shove, sports on a FM station will always trump the AM signal.
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