While Monday’s BCS national championship game may be the talk of the town, it didn’t deter Clear Channel from changing the format of 1210 AM from sports talk to gospel just nine days before the big game.
“The timing of the national championship was really coincidental. It was purely a business decision, and all of the contracts ended on Dec. 31,” says Bob Murphy, regional programming manager.
No Clear Channel employees lost their jobs due to the format change, Murphy says, as all the program hosts for the 1210 AM “The Score” format either were under contract or had time-brokered arrangements—by which hosts who own their own content pay a monthly fee to be on the station.
Former 1210 AM host Richard Condon agreed to move Clear Channel’s Newsradio WJBO 1150 AM station in December, prior to the format change. He will begin hosting the Sports Talk Sunday Morning show on Sunday.
Murphy says “The Score” sports talk format simply wasn’t generating enough ratings to continue.
“One hundred percent sports talk is an extremely niche part of the radio pie. It’s never been a huge ratings generator for us, and in the current economy we had to make some changes,” Murphy says, adding Clear Channel has always focused its sports programming—especially that pertaining to LSU and Southern University—on WJBO and will continue to do so. “There’s no doubt Baton Rouge is a sports town, but between WJBO and our competitors at Guaranty (Broadcasting Company), the sports market is actually saturated.”
Some of the half-dozen sports programs formerly on “The Score” will likely reappear on WJBO, Murphy says, but the details are yet to be finalized. The new format of contemporary gospel—called Hallelujah 1210 AM—should prove to be more successful than “The Score,” he says.
“There’s definitely a market for it, and it will immediately increase the ratings of the radio station,” Murphy says.
