Grand Slam Sports’ “590 The Man” KFNS Wood River, IL/St. Louis has reached its end.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the station went dark on Friday, October 31 following non-payment of its transmitter lease. Operations Manager Mike Calvin told the paper that the station’s owners are $580,000 in debt and that they are in negotiations to sell the 590 license to a Religious group.
KFNS has struggled since the debut of Bonneville’s (Now Hubbard’s) “101 Sports” WXOS in January 2009. In May 2013 it dropped its longtime moniker “590 The Fan” for “590 The Man” and attempted to shift to Hot Talk which was short-lived. There have been many issues regarding the ownership and management of the station which the Post-Dispatch runs through. Sister 1380 KXFN St. Louis will remain with its current “1380 The X” Hot Talk format.
No need to change the station’s moniker if it’s sold to a religious group. “The Man” will still be in charge!
Altogether, it’s a very sad, winding story.
The one silver lining is that KXFN seems to finally have found some footing and a niche audience with hot talk.