Wednesday, July 15, 2009

WJFK to officially switch to sportsradio format

According to an official press release available at WJFK.com, WJFK-FM "will become 'Sportsradio 106.7 The Fan,' D.C.’s newest home for local sports talk and play-by-play coverage" on Monday, July 20.

The move, which has been hinted at for several weeks by a few sources, will replace the Big O and Dukes Show and the Mike O'Meara Show with two new shows featuring The Washington Post's Mike Wise and former Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington. The Junkies' show will be re-named "The Sports Junkies," but according to them, the show will stay exactly the same.

Here's the official programming schedule:

5 a.m. - 10 a.m. -- The Sports Junkies
10 a.m. - 2 p.m. -- Mike Wise and Bill Rohland
2 p.m. - 6 p.m. -- The LaVar Arrington Show with Chad Dukes

For those who didn't know (like me), Rohland is apparently George Mason's play-by-play announcer for men's basketball and is described as a "radio vet." Also, I do like Wise's columns, but I've only heard him on the radio a few times, so I'm not sure how that show will be.

CBS Radio is certainly taking a risk in switching WJFK to an all-sports format, but honestly, it makes sense. The station's main rival will now be ESPN 980, which doesn't exactly boast an all-star slate of shows right now: Mike and Mike (6 a.m. - 10 a.m.), Colin Cowherd (10 a.m. - 12 p.m.), The Locker Room with Kevin Sheehan (12 p.m. - 2 p.m.), The John Thompson Show with Doc Walker (2 p.m. - 4 p.m.), and The Sports Reporters with Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin (4 p.m. - 7 p.m.).

The first two shows are broadcast nationally, and they actually kind of suck. I like Kevin Sheehan and John Thompson, for the most part, but Czaban and Pollin can both be pretty annoying in the evening. If the Arrington and Dukes show turns out to be pretty good, then WJFK might turn out to be the better sports station, especially since all three shows will be focusing on sports in the D.C. area.

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