This is a story that we knew was coming. It was just a matter of when. ESPN 103.3 in Dallas is no more. The signal is now home to a religious station.
The station launched in 2001 as an ESPN/Disney owned and operated property. That continued until 2013. In August of that year, Cumulus entered into an agreement with ESPN. The company signed an LMA with Disney that would give them control of the station.
ESPN 103.3 operated under those terms until October of 2020. That is when the LMA ended and Cumulus ceased all local programming on the station. It had been airing a straight feed of ESPN Radio since then.
The station was the radio flagship of the Dallas Mavericks for its entire life until this season. The team moved its radio broadcast to iHeartMedia’s 97.1 The Eagle.
It had been known that changes were on the way. Disney sold the signal to VCY America in December. The evangelical Christian ministry owns and operates 31 stations across the country.
On Wednesday night, the call letters officially changed and 103.3 is now home of KVTD and airing VCY America’s nationally syndicated programming.
At one time, Dallas was considered an outlier for having three sports stations. Now, it may lead America in Christian formatted signals, with nearly 20 in the metro.
Where will I go for my ESPN Radio broadcasts? Especially for all the live sports they broadcast!