104.5 The Zone in Nashville is expanding its local sports coverage starting Monday January 15, 2018. The announcement was made today live from Providence, Rhode Island where the station is broadcasting remotely prior to this Sunday’s Patriots-Titans game.
The particulars include an extra hour being given to the Midday 180 which features Jonathan Hutton, Paul Kuharsky and Chad Withrow. The show will now air weekdays from 10am-2pm CT. Additionally, the station’s popular afternoon program 3HL with Brent Dougherty, Mickey Ryan and Dawn Davenport will also add an hour and begin broadcasting weekdays from 2p–6p CT. No changes are necessary for the station’s morning show, The Wake Up Zone. To expand the local programs The Zone eliminates The Dan Patrick Show which had been airing weekdays from 10a-12p CT.
Along with the news of expanding two of the station’s three local programs, The Zone revealed that all three hosts of the Midday 180 had agreed to new multi-year contracts with the radio station.
“104.5 The Zone has long been Nashville’s pre-eminent sports station, and in an effort to devote more time to Nashville’s continually evolving sports landscape, we feel like it’s time that we are all local, all day long, said Brad Willis, Program Director of 104.5 The Zone. “I look forward to having our team cover the teams and sports that are important to Nashville, non-stop from 6am till 6pm every weekday.”
Midday 180 hosts Chad Withrow, Jonathan Hutton and Paul Kuharsky noted: “There have been plenty of days when we’ve signed off at 3pm saying, ‘We had more.’ We’re grateful that Cumulus and 104.5 The Zone are now giving us time to get to all of it. We look forward to loading up with even more great interviews with important people, giving you more commentary on the local teams and the issues of the day and spending additional time making each other — and hopefully our audience — laugh. Our commitment to you remains the same: In and out of season, we will crush on a daily basis.”
3HL hosts Brent Dougherty, Mickey Ryan and Dawn Davenport added: “Nashville sports fans are the best in the country and we are excited about the opportunity to spend more time with them. During that time we plan to continue to focus heavily on the sports and story lines that are most important to our listeners.”
Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
