Royal Flush: NHL’s Kings Choose iHeart Over Cumulus

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For the last four seasons, the Los Angeles Kings NHL club aired all of its games on Cumulus Media Talker KABC-AM 790.


Starting Tuesday night (9/18), with the first pre-season game of 2018-2019, the team’s coverage is shifting to an all-new digitally focused platform conceived by iHeartMedia‘s Los Angeles station group.

Thanks to “a new and innovative digital partnership,” all Kings games – including preseason, regular season and postseason contests – will now stream live on the LA Kings Audio Network, a custom streaming station available on the iHeartRadio platform.

In addition to the 30-minute pre-game show, Kings fans will be able to hear Kings Talk, the call-in radio show heard after most Kings home games, with hosts based at the Impact Sports Bar & Grill inside Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.

Will Kings games be heard on an over-the-air radio station in Los Angeles?

According to iHeart, the Sept. 18 and Sept. 20 pre-season games will be heard on Class B KEIB-AM 1150 “The Patriot,”  the onetime KIIS-AM, which has a full-market signal. Future game broadcasts on KEIB were not confirmed as of late Tuesday; RBR+TVBR initially reported that all games would air on the AM station.

Select Spanish-language games will air on Lotus Communications’ KWKW-AM 1330 “ESPN Deportes Radio,” through a separate arrangement with the L.A. Kings.

Apart from KEIB, the LA Kings Audio Network will serve as the lone place to hear additional online Kings content including game replays.

Kings President and Hockey Hall of Famer Luc Robitaille said, “Our streams will continue to not only serve our fans in a traditional sense but the LA Kings Audio Network will also feature additional content that our fans will enjoy listening to.  With iHeartRadio’s incredible audience reach, this is indeed a special day in the broadcast history of our hockey club.  We are looking forward to all the new opportunities iHeartMedia helps to provide and we look forward to working closely with our new partners who not only share our vision but will play a key role in implementing our vision.”

Don Martin, SVP/Sports for iHeartMedia/Los Angeles, added, “We are also very excited to get back in to the audio game with the LA Kings and establishing the LA Kings Audio Network on iHeartRadio is the first step.”

Nick Nickson will serve as play-by-play announcer, entering his 38th season. Radio analyst Daryl Evans continues in that role, one he has held for 20 seasons.

KINGS RE-UP WITH SKYVIEW

In addition to today’s announcement with iHeartMedia, the Kings have extended their relationship with Skyview Networks to remain the official audio solutions partner of the Kings.

The Kings will utilize Skyview Networks’ AdView play-by-play sports inventory management software to manage and control all advertising as part of each club broadcast.

1 COMMENT

  1. It looks like this report is incorrect. Though the first two preseason games will air on 1150, no future games will be on AM radio at all. It’s use up your data plan or nothing for the regular season.

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