Cumulus Media has made the worst-kept secret in Dallas official as NNews/Talk 820 WBAP Fort Worth will begin simulcasting on the former 90s/2000s Hits “Hot 93.3” KLIF-FM Haltom City starting on Wednesday, January 3
The move brings WBAP’s programming back to FM as it previously simulcasted on 96.7 Flower Mound TX from 2010 to 2013.
Along with the addition of the FM simulcast, WBAP has announced new talent additions. Former 1080 KRLD morning news anchor Carla Marion will join Hal Jay and Ernie Brown on the “WBAP Morning News” from 5-9am.
The station will also debut a new 2-5pm afternoon show hosted by James Parker. Parker joins WBAP from KETK-TV Tyler TX where he hosted “East Texas Live”. Parker began his career in Dallas as a producer at 105.3 KLLI’s “Pugs & Kelly Show” and spent the majority of his career in New Orleans hosting at 99.5 WRNO and WGNO-TV from 2009-17. He fills the opening created by Rick Roberts departure last summer.
Cumulus has also added Laura Sadler as morning co-anchor on 570 KLIF and Gabrielle Taite to the cluster’s newsroom.
KLIF-FM has been consistently under a 1 share for the past several months registering a 0.8 share in the December 2023 Nielsen Audio ratings. WBAP is currently twelfth with a 3.4 share.
Cumulus Media (NASDAQ: CMLS) announces that beginning Wednesday, January 3, 2024, News/Talk 820 WBAP, one of the largest radio signals in the U.S., will redefine News/Talk programming in Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, as it expands its content to the FM frequency with a WBAP simulcast at 93.3 FM. 93.3 FM/KLIF-FM was formerly programmed as Hot 93.3, a Hot Adult Contemporary station. With this new simulcast, WBAP will now be heard by FM listeners that normally do not listen to AM radio, but who consume the News/Talk format.
Also on January 3rd, Cumulus Dallas/Fort Worth will add four veteran news professionals to its powerhouse news team. Carla Marion, native Dallasite and broadcasting veteran, joins WBAP as Co-Anchor of the WBAP Morning News with Co-Anchors Hal Jay and Ernie Brown. The show is heard weekdays from 5:00am-9:00am. Marion has more than 25 years of broadcast experience, including several earlier years at WBAP.
News veteran James Parker also joins WBAP as On-Air Host, Afternoon Drive, and will be heard weekdays from 2:00pm-5:00pm. Parker, also a native Texan, has worked on-air in New Orleans, Oklahoma, and most recently as a television personality in Tyler, TX.
In addition, Laura Sadler of ESPN-TV joins News and Information 570 KLIF-AM Morning News as Co-Anchor with Clayton Neville, and Gabrielle Taite joins Cumulus Dallas/Fort Worth’s newsroom from an Athens, GA, television news station.
Dan Bennett, Regional Vice President, Cumulus Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston, said: “As we move into a critical election year, these talent moves and an FM frequency for WBAP speak to our commitment to spoken-word radio. We will carry our stations on a variety of signals and streaming to improve accessibility of this outstanding news and talk content to our listeners. 2024 will be a great year for News/Talk.”
Original Report 12/15: A comment by Cumulus Media News/Talk 820 WBAP Fort Worth meteorologist Brad Barton in a Facebook group on Thursday, has the Dallas market expecting an imminent format change.
Barton wrote in a comment on “I Take Pictures of Radio & TV Stations” that WBAP will begin simulcasting on 93.3 on Wednesday, January 3 at 8:20am replacing what is now 90s/2000s Hits “Hot 93.3” KLIF-FM Haltom City. The move will bring WBAP’s programming back to FM as it previously simulcasted on 96.7 Flower Mound TX from 2010 to 2013.
KLIF-FM has been consistently under a 1 share for the past several months registering a 0.7 in the November 2023 Nielsen Audio ratings. WBAP is currently tied for eleventh in the market with a 3.5 share. The station was fourth in October with a 4.5.
Adding fuel to the fire, KLIF-FM Program Director/afternoon host Sid Kelly was wiped from the station’s website yesterday and the station was running jockless in his timeslot today. We have not yet verified Kelly’s status with the company. He joined then-CHR KLIF-FM in April 2019 after previously programming “Energy 93.9” WYRG Indianapolis and 97.5 WABD Mobile for Cumulus. Kelly has also hosted mornings at WAJI Fort Wayne, WBHT Wilkes-Barre, WRVQ Richmond, WVKS Toledo, and WYOK Mobile.
Brandon Charles 
Earl Fleer 
Matthew
Here’s a fun listen, and aircheck of mix 102.9 versus hot 93.3. Honestly, you can even here in this that mix was playing to Win, it felt like hot didn’t really have a strategy other than trying to be the version of what it used to be. https://youtu.be/WskWgX-jCpY?si=9I2Psi5uPEXiNF-Y
I thought there was a FCC rule that was against allowing simulcasting the same programming on two full power stations in the same market such as WBAP-AM and KLIF-FM Both are 50 KW signals. Or have the rules changed?
Those rules have been gone for decades.
I’ll be honest, I question the wisdom of WBAP broadcasting from KLIF FM 93.3 since it’s such a weak station. It’s out of West Dallas on a 300 foot elevation. Most stations around here are at 1400 feet at least. KLIF transmits at 50000 watts, most stations around here are at 100000. Maybe it’s a trial run or something and they’ll upgrade it if the interest for WBAP FM is there?
A “weak” station that still reaches millions of people. It’s not like the 820 signal is going away and is still there to reach the fringes of the market.
We’re talking about a 50kW Class C2 with 93.3. It’s not like its a 99 watt translator!