San Diego sports talk station The Mightier 1090 ceased operations Wednesday, ending an attempt at rebooting the once proud radio brand.
The station gave way to Spanish Catholic programming on Thursday, ending an attempt to bring the sports radio format back to what was a once iconic brand and signal.
Scott Kaplan, who was a host on The Mighty 1090 when it ended in 2018, had hosted afternoons on the station as part of his Kaplan & Crew program that now airs on SportsGrid Radio on SiriusXM. He took to social media to bid the station farewell.
“I want to just say thank you to everybody who’s listened on the radio for all these years on 1090. Today is the last day. It’s over. It’s done. Dead, final. It is over. It is toast,” Kaplan said. “It’s the last time I’ll ever play the terrestrial game on that frequency.”
He continued by noting that when the station originally went off the air, he was in a difficult place in his career. But due to digital efforts and his work on 710 ESPN Los Angeles, he’s in a much better place as the station changes formats away from sports.
“It is an emotional moment to think that after 23 years of broadcasting on the airwaves in San Diego, it’s over now,” he said before adding that the situation with The Mightier 1090 wasn’t set up to succeed.
“The game that was being played with 1090 was never going to really work. I’m grateful to Bill Hagen. I am. He had the balls to put that thing on the air in the middle of the pandemic. No doubt. But when you’re without a studio and you’re without local talent and without sales people, you’re doomed. It was a great run.”
Lee “Hacksaw” Hamilton took to social media to reminisce about the end of the station.
“Today The Mighty 1090 (sic) went out of business again changing format,” he wrote. “We remember great times with great talent that made XTRA-Sports 690 and Mighty 1090 iconic sports talk stations. Sadly corporate ownership ruined both stations. Hope listenership enjoyed what we built for fans.”
Arash Markzai, who hosted an afternoon show on the station, joined Kaplan and Hamilton in sharing his fond memories of the station.
“Proud to be the last local show on The Mightier 1090 ESPN Radio right now. We had no idea what we were doing when we began four years ago,” Markazi wrote on social media. “We still don’t but we’ve always been proud to call 1090 home. The show will continue in Las Vegas, Hawaii and as a podcast. A hell of a run!”
Darren Smith, who hosted on both The Mighty 1090 and San Diego Sports 760, concurred with his former compadres.
“That station changed my life in more ways than I can count. Will forever be grateful for my time there,” he wrote on social media.
