White Sox Could Move to FM

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Feb 18, 2010 3:20PM

With sports talk radio among the industry's few bright spots, some think there may room for some competition to ESPN Radio 1000 and The Score 670. Jeff Smulyan, CEO of Emmis Communications and "father" of sports radio, is exploring options to turn one of Emmis' underperforming FM stations into yet another outlet for sports fans. And if Smulyan turns The Loop 97.9 or Q101 into a sports talk outlet, the White Sox might be among their flagship programming. The Sox are currently broadcast their games on The Score, but their current deal expires after the upcoming 2010 season. The Sox make $3 million on their radio rights, but a move to a new FM station could be much more lucrative for the team with the ninth highest radio audience in MLB. White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf is close friends with Smulyan, and he could decide to partner with Emmis by taking an ownership stake in the new network. He already owns a piece of Comcast SportsNet, which airs some Sox and Bulls games. if a new sports station does take off, don't expect the Sox to be the only big draw however -- with the recent shake-ups in Chicago radio, a number of big names without current radio homes, like Mike North and Steve Dahl, might eventually find themselves behind the mic before too long.