How do you protect your News/Talk station that normally appears towards the top of your market’s ratings from a potential competitor? In the case of Midwest Communications’ 1470 WMBD/100.3 W262BY Peoria, you lock up as many programs as possible by launching a flanking station.

Midwest flipped “95.9 The Sports Nut” W240DM/93.3 WPBG-HD3 Peoria to Conservative Talk “Freedom 95.9” earlier this month to do just that. W240DM is featuring an all-syndicated lineup featuring “This Morning with Gordon Deal” from 5-8am, Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade from 8-11am, Premiere Networks’ Clay Travis and Buck Sexton from 11-2pm and Sean Hannity from 2-5pm, Mark Levin from 5-8pm, Ben Shapiro from 8-9pm, Joe Pags from 9pm-12am, and Red Eye Radio overnight.

WMBD was second in the Peoria market with a 7.4 share in the Spring 2021 Nielsen Audio ratings. Running mostly programming from Fox Sports Radio, W240DM registered a 0.7 share tying it with Advanced Media Partners’ “ESPN 101.1” WZPN. Both stations trailed Audacy’s out-of-market “670 The Score” WSCR Chicago’s 1.4 share.