WFNZ might get Tar Heels basketball in Charlotte

Do not have a link, but read in the Observer that WBT's contract with Tar Heel basketball is up and one of the stations who might get it is WFNZ, if WBT does not renew their contract.

 

sweet..another reason not to listen.

 

With their weak ass 5k stick? Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

First, they said they were after the Bobcats Radio Deal, now the Tarheels. When will they realize that unless they boost their power up to 50k watts, they will always be a minor league sportstalk station ? ? They will never be mentioned in the same breath as WEEI in Bahston, WFAN in NY, & KNBA in San Francisco. They have a pretty good lineup of local shows, but that's it.

Yeah, I've heard they are working on their tower again out on Radio Road. So, how many more folks outside of Charlotte will be able to hear WFNZ/WFNA? A few hundred more folks at best ? ? ?

THE BOTTOM LINE: As long as the suits in NYC won't spend the money here to make WFNZ a major league sportstalk outlet by boosting the signal, WFNZ will never land the Bobcats, Panthers, or Tarheels!!!!!

=================================================

Tar Heels could air on WFNZ

UNC network shopping for radio contract, might renew deal with WBT

MARK WASHBURN
TV/Radio Writer

Charlotte sports radio station WFNZ is trying to wrest away North Carolina basketball from rival WBT, which has carried Tar Heels broadcasts since Phil Ford wore Carolina Blue.

"We are in conversations on the Tar Heels," D.J. Stout, program director of WFNZ-AM and WFNA-AM (610, 1660), said Tuesday.

WBT's contract with Tar Heel Sports Network expired this year, leaving the rights in the Charlotte market -- the biggest broadcast market in the Carolinas and the 35th largest in the nation -- up for grabs.

A decision is expected within the month, said Aaron Worsham, vice president of affiliate relations with Learfield Sports, which operates the Tar Heel Sports Network.

"We've talked to every station in the market and will continue to," said Gary Sobba, general manager of the network. "WFNZ is certainly a possibility. We may still wind up at WBT."

WBT said Tar Heels broadcasts are costly to the station because they pre-empt regular programming.

"We are huge fans of the Tar Heels," said Steve Sklenar, director of sales at WBT. "From a business side, it's very cost prohibitive to us."

Sklenar said basketball broadcasts interrupt the station's successful nighttime show with John Hancock, and the annual ACC tournament games wipe out lucrative daytime programming like Rush Limbaugh.

"It is not a relationship thing in any way," Sklenar said. "It is purely a ratings, revenue, cost-of-doing business issue."

Tar Heels football broadcasts are a separate negotiation and would not necessarily go to the station carrying basketball, Sobba said.

Dean Smith wanted WBT

Broadcasting executive Cullie Tarleton, who ran WBT in the mid-70s when the Tar Heels first came to the station, said coach Dean Smith was instrumental in getting the broadcasts on the station's 50,000-watt signal, audible at night from Maine to Cuba.

"The boys he was recruiting up in New England, he used that to tell them their parents could listen to the games," Tarleton said.

At least once, he even used it to speak directly to parents, when UNC center Mitch Kupchak was injured in a game, Tarleton said.

"Dean said on the postgame interview, `Mr. and Mrs. Kupchak, if you're listening on WBT, Mike is going to be OK.' "

WFNZ has long suffered from a weak signal. The station gained an additional frequency at 1660 and is finishing a series of transmitter improvements that should boost its signal.

WFNZ would continue to air Charlotte 49ers basketball if it gets the Tar Heels, Stout said, by using the additional frequency when schedules conflict.

 

I hope they get it

WBT's arrogant comments about losing money by carrying the Tar Heels make me sick. I usually listen to the Heels on 94.1 anyway.