As the clock struck midnight on Monday, April 30, 2012, ESPN Radio assumed the 98.7 MHz dial position in New York that for more than 30 years before that had been home to WRKS, “98.7 Kiss FM.” A long-term LMA had been struck between ABC Radio and Emmis Communications, the station’s licensee.
Today, that LMA is between Emmis and Good Karma Brands, obtained as part of a $15 million purchase of the broadcast homes of ESPN Radio in Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as the broadcast facility of the very first Sports Talk station: WEPN-AM 1050 in New York.
According to New York Post reporter Andrew Marchand, WEPN-AM will again become the home for ESPN Radio in the New York Tri-State area come August 2024.
It’s a cost-savings move for the Craig Karmazin-led GKB, which will use the AM station to fuel its digital distribution; the WEPN facility, once WHN and later the original home for WFAN, has nighttime signal issues to the north due to interference from CHUM-AM 1050 in Toronto.
Speaking to the New York Post, Karmazin said, “We’re committed to serving the New York sports fan and with the combination of our AM signal, the ESPN New York App, podcasts, smart speakers, YES and other additional audio and video distribution, investing in an FM signal was not relevant in the way it was a decade ago.”
That’s a bold statement, as ESPN Radio has been in a head-to-head battle in the nation’s No. 1 market against Audacy Inc.’s WFAN-AM 660 and FM 101.9. Now, Audacy will be alone on the FM dial with Sports Talk across the New York Tri-State Area come late August 2024, when the LMA agreement with Emmis ends.
Meanwhile, Emmis will likely put WEPN-FM on the market with the goal of pocketing perhaps $50 million, the Post reports.
According to Emmis’ annual report for fiscal year 2019, as filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, it received an annual fee of $8.4 million for the first year of the term under the LMA. The fee increases by 3.5% each year until the LMA’s termination in August 2024.
