Snyder Cutting In on WTEM's ESPN Action
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Friday, April 7, 2006
Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is about to blitz his biggest sports-radio rival.
Snyder's Red Zebra Broadcasting, which owns three local radio stations, has acquired the rights to ESPN Radio's syndicated programs and will begin broadcasting them when Snyder's stations switch from a Spanish-language format to sports/talk in the next few months.
The news and call-in programs air on WTEM-AM (980), which is owned by radio giant Clear Channel Communications. The station airs ESPN's syndicated "Mike & Mike" program in the morning and "The Dan Patrick Show," starring the "SportsCenter" icon, in the afternoon.
The loss of the ESPN programs further weakens WTEM, which already is losing star talk-show host Tony Kornheiser (this summer, he becomes an analyst on ESPN's "Monday Night Football" telecasts). The Washington Post columnist does a live program on WTEM on weekday mornings.
ESPN Radio's move to Snyder's stations carries some ironies. One is that Red Zebra's chief executive, Bennett Zier, helped build WTEM during his tenure as the top local executive for Clear Channel (Zier recently hired former WTEM program director Tod Castleberry). The other is that Dan Patrick is the brother of Dave Pugh, the man who replaced Zier at Clear Channel two months ago (Patrick's full name is Dan Patrick Pugh).
Dave Pugh declined to comment yesterday.
With the ESPN programs, Snyder's stations will control two of the biggest brands in local sports: ESPN and the Redskins. Snyder intends to use his new stations as the home of Redskins radio broadcasts; he ended the team's association with CBS-owned WJFK-FM (106.7) in December.
The three Red Zebra stations -- WBPS-FM of Warrenton, WBZS-FM of Prince Frederick in Calvert County and WKDL-AM of Alexandria -- have signals too weak to cover the Washington area, especially at night. But Snyder could expand the stations' reach before preseason games start this summer by buying other stations, or by forming an alliance with a stronger station owned by another company, local radio executives say.
Red Zebra's need for another station could lead Snyder to make a deal with WTEM, which has a strong signal, a sports image and a new demand for programming.