Earlier this week 590 The Fan KFNS owner Dave Zobrist told his local staff they would be having their final shows this week and the station would be switching to syndicated programming. The station had been local from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and had some local programming on the weekends. Zobrist has now announced starting Monday KFNS will be known as Fox Sports 590 AM and will now air the network 24/7 with the exception of local play-by-play.
“We’re excited to expand our partnership with FOX Sports Radio to bring the biggest names in the sports talk format to St. Louis,” Zobrist said in a release. “Broadcasting FOX Sports Radio’s lineup, along with local play-by-play, will continue our commitment to delivering bold, exciting and entertaining sports talk to our listeners.”
Zobrist told employees he will leave the station on while he looks for a new buyer. Former station owner Randy Markel has expressed interest in potentially re-acquiring the station and midday host Kevin Slaten said on the station yesterday, “Hopefully we can find some guys or women who want to buy the station. And that’s what we’re trying to do. I know everybody’s working towards the same end, everybody would like to see that as the end result…so that’s what we hope for.”
KFNS had been featuring local media veterans Jim Hayes and Charlie Marlow in the morning along with former St. Louis Blues player Cam Janssen. Frank Cusumano, who is also the sports director for the local NBC affiliate KSDK, had been holding down the mid-morning slot for most of the last 30 years on the station. Others affected by the move include former longtime St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz and Bally Sports Midwest St. Louis Blues reporter Andy Strickland.
Bring back Slaten & Nate