Audacy will launch Sports “96.5 The Fan” KFNZ-FM in Kansas City as the station assumes the programming of “610 Sports” KCSP Kansas City at 6am on August 15.
The new format brings to an end the 24 hear run of Alternative on the frequency first as “96.5 The Buzz” and then “Alt 96.5” KRBZ.
Moving to 96.5 with the Sports talk programming will be Kansas City Royals baseball and the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs will relocated from sister “106.5 The Wolf” WDAF-FM.
“Kansas City has the most passionate sports fans in the country, and they deserve a one-stop destination for premium sports content year-round,” said Roxanne Marati, Senior Vice President and Market Manager, Audacy Kansas City. “This is an exciting time for KC sports, and our exclusive partnership with the World Champion Chiefs, local content and engaging personalities with unrivaled sports knowledge will fuel fandom, bring listeners closer to the action and keep them connected to their favorite teams.”
“We have enjoyed a strong partnership with Audacy over the past few years and are excited for them to launch 96.5 The Fan heading into the 2024 football season,” said Kim Hobbs, Vice President of Partnership Strategy and Development, Kansas City Chiefs. “In addition to being the new home of the Chiefs and the flagship station of the Chiefs Radio Network, 96.5 The Fan is going to take a strong lineup and offer exciting and entertaining sports content throughout the year through the power of the FM dial.”
96.5 The Fan will launch with the following on-air lineup.
6:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. CT: “Fescoe and Dusty” with Bob Fescoe and Dusty Likins
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. CT: “Cody and Gold” with Cody Tapp and Alex Gold
2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. CT: “The Drive” with Carrington Harrison
With the change, KRBZ’s afternoon show “Church of Lazlo” will move to Rock 98.9 KQRC starting today with a simulcast on 96.5 until the station signs off on August 14 at 6:00pm.
Brandon Charles 
harveyaudio 
Makes sense, especially for today’s radio environment. Many people see this as an indictment on the alternative format, rather it seems more of an indictment on the fact that there was no way any of these stations in this company outside of KROQ are going to be ran with anything less than a regional or national strategy. So honestly, the less of them there are, the better the program probably will be on the stations that are left. At this point, it’s far more beneficial to have people who locally understand sports, then regional or national people trying to locally relate. In 15 seconds. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if 98.7 Detroit is next, no one is killing the riff. on a personal note, glad 94.7 here in Sacramento is safe, they’ve been doing a great job localizing and having more concerts in town.
Kudos to Audacy on moving the passionate sports audience to FM where it belongs. Next move in KC: bring back 61 Country on the AM with a country legends format. Then move The Score in Chicago to 104.3 FM and flip 670 back to WMAQ as country legends. Of course they’ll never do that, because that makes too much sense. But one can dream, right?