Update 8/2: “98.7 The Fan” made its debut today at 12pm.
The lineup for the station includes a combination of known national and local personalities. Kirk McEwen, longtime morning host at “98 Rock” WIYY Baltimore and former Tampa Bay Lightning forward Chris Dingman will host mornings from 6-10am. Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski, a holdover from 1010 WQYK and Tampa Bay Times sportswriter Gary Shelton will follow from 10am to 2pm. Afternoon drive will be hosted by Todd Wright, who has previously hosted overnights at ESPN Radio and Yahoo! Sports Radio, and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive lineman Anthony “Booger” McFarland. Rich Hereera, the host of Tampa Bay Rays pre and postgame coverage from 2005 to 2011 will host nights from 6-10pm. Nanci “The Fabulous Sports Babe” Donnellan will host overnights. She is best known for her run in middays on ESPN Radio from 1994 to 1998 and has most recently hosted middays at “ESPN 1040” WHBO in Tampa. The Fan will also be the flagship for University of South Florida sports.
Listen to the launch of 98.7 The Fan at FormatChange.com.
With the format change comes a change in call letters as WSJT gives way to WHFS. CBS retained the rights to the WHFS calls when it sold its West Palm Beach cluster to Palm Beach Broadcasting in April as it uses the WHFS brand on a translator in Baltimore where the call letters have much heritage. 106.3 in Jupiter becomes WUUB.
Update 6/20: CBS officially announces what we told you last month. Hot AC “Play 98.7” WSJT will begin simulcasting 1010 WQYK in August with the pair branded as “98.7 The Fan“.
Mike Pepper, currently Assistant Program Director of “1010 Sports” has been upped to Program Director. No lineup announcements have been made yet.
Original Report 5/17: CBS is preparing to make the Tampa/St. Petersburg market the next home of an FM Sports Talker.
987TheFan.com which was registered in 2009 was transferred yesterday to CBS’ servers along with Fan987.com, Fan1010.com, and 1010TheFan.com. 1010 is home to CBS’ low-rated “1010 Sports” WQYK.
98.7 is currently Hot AC “Play 98.7” WSJT which registered a 2.0 share in the April PPM’s. A move to a Sports simulcast with 1010 would help fill coverage issues for the 98.7 signal in the eastern portions of the Tampa market.
The current incumbent in local Sports radio is Clear Channel’s 620 WDAE. Clear Channel possesses the rights to all three local pro-sports franchises within its cluster.
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CBS might be aiming to get college sports on WQYK rather than pro teams. Clear Channel’s Tampa Bay cluster has University of Florida and local school USF (University of South Florida); the ESPN affiliate for Tampa has Florida State University.
They lauched today from USF and announced that they’re now the new station for USF athletics.
Clear Channel does not own Rays rights. the Rays do. Clear Channel’s 620-AM carries the Rays and is home station for the Rays radio network.