Sports Radio listeners in Los Angeles are about to have one less option to listen to. The Beast 980 which serves as the radio home of the Los Angeles Clippers, will stop operating the sports talk format in mid-February, the result of a sale to a group that operates foreign-language programming. Staff were alerted of the news yesterday at 10am.
The sale creates some short-term challenges for the Clippers, as they will need to find a new radio home for their games. 710 ESPN carries the Lakers, AM 570 KLAC has the Dodgers and UCLA sports, the Kings are on 790 KABC and team-owned AM 830 offers the Angels and Ducks so those stations don’t appear to be options.
The Beast 980’s lineup includes Fred Roggin, Jeanne Zelasko, Bill Plaschke, Chris Myers, Wes Clements and Sam Farber. Program Director Tom Lee has done a nice job retooling the lineup and making some inroads for the brand since arriving on the scene to fix the product in 2015 but unfortunately the news of this sale brings all of that momentum to a screeching halt.
Jason Barrett is the Founder and CEO of Barrett Media. The company launched in September 2015 and has provided consulting services to America’s top audio and video brands, while simultaneously covering the media industry at BarrettMedia.com, becoming a daily destination for media professionals. Prior to Barrett Media, Jason built and programmed 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He was also the first sports programmer for SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, which later became 97.5 The Fanatic. Barrett also led 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY, and worked on-air and behind the scenes at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years at ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT producing ‘The Dan Patrick Show’ and ‘GameNight’. JB can be reached on Twitter @SportsRadioPD or by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
