Springs will no longer have 24-hour sports radio station

Springs sports fans are striking out on the radio. Starting today, sports-talk station KKML (1300 AM) "The Sports Animal" will change formats to  classic country and be renamed KCS.

The switch leaves Colorado Springs without a sports-talk station.

"We had four years of great fun," said Tony Desiere, KKML's afternoon host, who was let go by station owner Citadel Broadcasting on June 17.

"I think we did something really cool for the city and I want to thank everyone for all that," he said. "I would definitely like to stay in the city, if there was any way any station would like to pick up this format, because we love Colorado Springs."

The only other southern Colorado sports station, KGHF (1350 AM) out of Pueblo, switched formats to oldies Tuesday. Denver's KKFN (104.3 FM) "The Fan" moved from AM to FM earlier this year and can no longer be heard in most of El Paso County.

Sports radio is a format that can be successful, but it requires more resources than a music format, said Rick Scott, president of the sports radio consulting firm Rick Scott and Associates in Bellevue, Wash. That makes sports talk vulnerable when companies are looking to cut costs.

"When you look at talk and sports talk programming, it can be very people intensive and when you're looking to cut costs what's the first thing you look at? People," Scott said.  "It's a passionate format. I'm sure that someone who is a wise broadcast operator will jump on the opportunity."

Even without a dedicated sports station, the local airwaves are hardly sports-free. The Colorado Rockies will still be heard on KCS, the Broncos on country station KCCY (96.9 FM) and local news-talk station KRDO (105.5 FM and 1240 AM) carries Sporting News Radio from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sky Sox baseball games can be heard on news-talk station KZNT (1460 AM) and Colorado College hockey on classic rock station KYZX (103.9 FM). It's unclear where Denver Nuggets basketball games will be heard on local radio.
KCS' new format will feature "Don Imus in the Morning" and artists like Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gale, Ronnie Milsap and Dolly Parton. The call letters KCS are a throwback to longtime local country station KKCS, which went off the air last year after struggling with frequency changes and signal problems.