Update 4:15pm: Gow has formally announced the acquisition of 97.5 KFNC for $5.05 Million. They will begin operating the station via LMA on September 1.
Original Report 2:45pm: As Gow Communications prepares to acquire “ESPN 97.5” KFNC Houston from Cumulus, it has made lineup changes at its 1560 KGOW Houston and Yahoo! Sports Radio network.
At KGOW the station has dropped its “1560 The Game” moniker for “Yahoo! Sports Radio 1560“. It will soon be launching a new 3-7pm afternoon show with KPRC-TV sportscaster Adam Clanton and comedian John Wessling, who currently hosts a weekend show for 97.5.
That is tied into changes at the Yahoo! Sports network. Travis Rodgers, who had been in the afternoon shift on KGOW and the network moves to 1-4pm eastern replacing Craig Shemon. He will add a local hour beforehand at 11am on 1560. Peter Brown will fill the drivetime slot on the network.
The 97.5 sale which was first reported back in May appears to be coming close to reality. The Houston Chronicle reported last week that the sale should be finalized by the end of the month. Gow will begin operating the station via an LMA immediately. Plans are for KFNC to continue with its current ESPN Radio programming.
Thanks to John Davis on the RadioInsight Community for the tip.
johndavis 
NachoLibre 
John Davis
Compared to the $9 million spent on purchasing what is now KGOW, $5 million and change is a bargain for 97.5.
It puzzles me that Gow wouldn’t want to flip KFNC to Sporting News Radio or turn it into a simulcast of 1560. Would seem like a no-brainer, especially with the viability of the network always a question.
Three reasons that I can imagine:
1) Billing, billing, billing. 97.5’s must be good enough not to mess with. Yahoo @ 1560 will still make its money, only Gow gets to profit from both, and cross-promote the shows/games each station has.
2) The only other competitor in the market is CBS, who is/will be relying on TWO AMs, one of which is a daytimer.
3) If a 3rd company feels froggy enough to use a better Houston FM for sports, they’ll have to do it without one of the established networks.
I don’t have access to Miller Kaplan, but the Chronicle does. In the article that initially announced the purchase, Barron says that KFNC billed over $2 million last year. You can make more money with two brands than one.
There is more than CBS and Gow in this marketplace. Clear Channel has its own sports station at 790 KBME with local and Fox Sports Radio content.
Both Clear Channel and CBS have FM signals they could flip to sports if they saw the competitive advantage.
In a 4 way sports radio race, KFNC is consistently the #2 sports station in the market in most dayparts. KGOW is the 4th place sports station. Why on earth would you change what’s working?
Also, Sporting News Radio hasn’t existed in a year. Yahoo! Sports Radio is said to be profitable.