Goodbye, Buzz 850am sports format [Updated 8:45am]

General Media22

Capitol Broadcasting has expanded its sports radio holdings with a series of complicated transactions that will reshape the radio landscape in the Triangle which will include a change in format for former sports radio station, 850am ‘The Buzz’

Capitol Broadcasting, which owns WRAL-TV as well as Raleigh’s 99.9 The Fan FM station, is purchasing Durham’s WDNC 620 AM “The Bull” from Curtis Media. Curtis Media will purchase WRBZ 850 The Buzz from McClatchey Broadcasting and plans to convert the sports-talk station to a music format.

“The Buzz” brand is not going away; it will just going to be repackaged on the newly CBC owned 620 signal. Welcome, “620 The Buzz”!

Of particular interest is the following:

* ACC Sports Journal editor David Glenn, who hosted an afternoon call-in show on 850 The Buzz, will move his program to 99.9 The Fan for a noon to 3 p.m. show.

* Adam Gold and Joe Ovies, hosts of drive-time morning show, will have their program move from 850 The Buzz to 620 The Bull.

8:45am Update
Joe Giglio’s blog entry has a projected line up for the stations that potentially looks like this:

620-WDNC
6 a.m.-9 a.m.: Adam Gold and Joe Ovies (local)
9 a.m.-noon: Taylor Zarzour (local)
Noon-3 p.m.: Jim Rome (syndicated)
3 p.m.-7 p.m.: Mark Packer (syndicated)

99.9-WCMC
6 a.m.-10 a.m.: Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic (ESPN)
10 a.m.-noon: Colin Cowherd (ESPN)
Noon-3 p.m.: Dave Glenn (local)
3 p.m.-7 p.m.: Scott Jackson and Mark Thomas (local)

IMHO, that is a pretty good & balanced set of alternatives.

One final question currently remaining unanswered is the following: What will happen to the insufferable Bomani Jones? The fans at Pack Pride have some pretty good ideas on this thread.

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22 Responses to Goodbye, Buzz 850am sports format [Updated 8:45am]

  1. john of sparta 08/10/2009 at 5:29 PM #

    so 850 AM will play music?
    listening to music on broadcast radio
    is like listening to someone else’s
    iPod with commercials.
    620 AM?
    http://www.radio-info.com/site/markets/grid/raleigh-durham
    for market share.

  2. Scooter 08/10/2009 at 7:28 PM #

    David Glenn’s show aside, the only thing I will miss from these clowns will be the Jim Rome Show. Also, 850AM was the Duke radio sports network. Will they be moving over to 620AM now?

  3. GAWolf 08/10/2009 at 7:58 PM #

    Primetime with Packman????

  4. Wufpacker 08/10/2009 at 9:06 PM #

    john of sparta said
    “so 850 AM will play music? listening to music on broadcast radio is like listening to someone else’s iPod with commercials.”

    Its funny, that was my exact first thought. Talk radio, almost always sports related, is the only reason I ever listen to the radio anymore. I can’t remember the last time I even briefly listened to the radio for music. I do have some music stations preset on the car radio but I don’t think I’ve pushed those buttons probably in 2 or more years.

    Anyone who listens to music on AM must be tone deaf anyway.

  5. Noah 08/10/2009 at 10:17 PM #

    I loathe both FM and AM radio.

    FM stations are inevitably owned by one conglomerate or another and are stuck with the same 100-song playlists. Every SINGLE morning show in the country is apparently staffed by the same idiot “zoo crew” prank-call making, lame-joke telling, sound-fx driven band of retards. Every program director provides nothing more than the same sonic wallpaper.

    AM radio is no better. Overrun by commercials and vanity-callers (“love the show, (host)! Lemme tell you why you’re right and I’ll repeat the SAME thing the last 100 callers said!”), it’s a wisdom-free zone.

    If you’re a sports fan, you have to get a satellite radio. I’ve got seven sport-talk stations available at any second. Any time they take a caller or run commercials, boom…you just flip to the next one. The MLB and NFL stations never run commercials. ESPN, Rivals, Fox and whatever the other two stations are stagger their commercial times.

    I’ve got a couple of the Roadys and several of the “home kits.” So I can listen to it in my office, at home or in the car. Plus, they’ve got new devices where you can listen to them through your iPhone.

    I could never go back to AM/FM.

  6. jbpackfan 08/10/2009 at 11:22 PM #

    I hope Primetime w/ Packman is still going to be on 620. Is this the end of Bomani Jones?

  7. 61Packer 08/11/2009 at 12:06 AM #

    I hate to see the “Buzz” sports personalities leave 850AM for lower-power outlets 99.9FM and WDNC 620AM. I spend a lot of time over in the Triad and have enjoyed listening from there on 850AM, but no more it appears.

    If 850AM goes to music, here’s a vote for them to bring back the WKIX oldies format. I’m not talking about the 1970s stuff that is now being passed off as “oldies”, but I’m talking about the REAL stuff- the 1950s/1960s rock and roll. The Triangle lacks such and outlet, and there are a lot of older listeners who would love to have the WKIX-style music come back to the Triangle.

  8. Wufpacker 08/11/2009 at 1:27 AM #

    61Packer said:
    “…but I’m talking about the REAL stuff- the 1950s/1960s rock and roll. The Triangle lacks such and outlet…”

    All the more reason to invest in satellite radio, an iPod, or both.

  9. wolfpacktexx 08/11/2009 at 7:02 AM #

    Sounds complex – I rather listen to Imus in the AM than Adam Gold and Ovies. Packman during college football season – is entertaining. Perfer Packman than 850 programming. Sports Pig “face” -I would not miss him at all. He is a station changer whenever I hear his opinionated dripple.

  10. synapse88 08/11/2009 at 8:48 AM #

    I assume they won’t boost the power of 620 at all huh? I can barely get it most places around Raleigh. Where’s the tower at?

    Whats happening to Bomani?

  11. Noah 08/11/2009 at 8:57 AM #

    The Triangle lacks such and outlet, and there are a lot of older listeners who would love to have the WKIX-style music come back to the Triangle.

    I imagine you could provide considerable evidence to the contrary. The two most profitable formats on FM radio are modern country and the “sunny” lineup where you play a generic mix of treacle from the past thirty years. Inoffensive sonic wallpaper that no one really listens to…it just plays in the background like white noise, bothers no one, and is easily ignored.

    People who actively listen to music don’t listen to terrestrial radio. They grab podcasts, download and compile their own mixes and stick with their CD collections.

    It’s not a secret why a station like WRDU, which was voted the best small market station in the country by Rolling Stone readers YEAR after YEAR, evaporated into nothingness. Once stuff like the Internet provided a level marketplace where hard-to-find music was available to everyone, there was no need for a program director like Tom Guild.

  12. crackdog 08/11/2009 at 9:03 AM #

    When Dave Glenn leaves drivetime radio, there will be no reason for me to keep triangle sports radio in my presets.

  13. gopack968 08/11/2009 at 10:14 AM #

    So, in a nutshell:

    1. Ovies and Gold move to a lower power station I can barely receive – even when in Raleigh!

    2. David Glenn – the smartest sports talk radio guy I’ve eve heard – moves out of drive time. And he moves to another lower power station.

    3. The Dan Patrick show leaves the market.

    Conclusion: Sports talk radio in the Triangle goes down the tubes. This is a real loss.

  14. Classof89 08/11/2009 at 10:36 AM #

    with all due respect, what constitutes a “low-power” station is really a function of where you live in the area…850 would fade in and out most mornings driving in from North Raleigh into downtown, so I hardly consider a move to 99.9 (which I get crystal clear, in contrast to 850) a “lower power” station…

    And as for the satellite vs. broadcast debate, I absolutely agree that broadcast stations have become a vast wasteland of mediocre schlock. On the other hand, satellite radio is soulless and totally disconnected from any particular area. I miss stations that were locally managed, promoted local music and local clubs and were otherwise connected to their audience. The average satellite station might as well be broadcasting from the dark side of Jupiter…You’re getting the same stuff whether you are in New Bern or New Zealand.

  15. Alpha Wolf 08/11/2009 at 12:04 PM #

    61Packer said:
    “…but I’m talking about the REAL stuff- the 1950s/1960s rock and roll. The Triangle lacks such ”

    What about 102.9? Seems like that’s their core format.

    “On the other hand, satellite radio is soulless and totally disconnected from any particular area. I miss stations that were locally managed, promoted local music and local clubs and were otherwise connected to their audience.”

    Even in the late 1970’s, WQDR was part of a national AOR playlist format. Carl Ventner invented it here, but by the time they changed, they were just another radio station.

    Now whatever happened to Jo Leigh Ferris?

  16. Noah 08/11/2009 at 1:01 PM #

    Hey, if you guys want to bring back the mid- to late-80s version of WRDU, I’ll tune in with a big happy smile on my face.

    Unfortunately, I don’t think those days will EVER come back to a market like Raleigh.

  17. Alpha Wolf 08/11/2009 at 2:02 PM #

    ^ Times have changed and radio with it. These days, Clear Channel and CBS/Viacom totally dominate station ownership. Clear Channel owns 900 stations in the country. Locally, CC owns G-105, WRDU, Kiss 93.9 and 100.7 The River. With that portfolio, programming is controlled outside of Raleigh and in fact a lot of “local” DJ’s are several hundred miles away.

  18. BillyTheKid 08/11/2009 at 3:08 PM #

    Y’all don’t like Bomani Jones, REALLY?!? WOW!! And you’d rather hear Jim Rome and Colin Cowherd??? I’ll bet everyone on here $100 to a dime that Cowherd has never watch a game of any kind in his life. All he wants to talk about in wine and Whole Foods. Well all I can say is I’m happy for y’all, REALLY!

  19. BillyTheKid 08/11/2009 at 3:15 PM #

    And Noah, I almost agree with 100% of everything you say on here, but what about NC State’s radio station, HELLO!! Anyone at home?? 88.1??!!?? WKNC ?!?!?

  20. GAWolf 08/11/2009 at 11:34 PM #

    So truthfully they’re just taking out the sports talk radio competition by buying it and changing the format.

  21. Classof89 08/12/2009 at 9:43 AM #

    ^^
    Amen to that…WKNC is the only local music station I will listen to. I always get a kick out of the threads on the idiot boards started by people going on and on and on about some insult to NC State made by one of the local shock jocks…People, if you don’t like it, don’t listen to the station!

  22. gcpack 08/13/2009 at 12:34 AM #

    There are good and bad losses with the radio musical chairs.

    Bad losses are Dan Patrick, Scott Van Pelt on ESPN, Imus.

    Good losses are Bomani Jones(thnk God).

    Ridiculous choices in the mid morning are Colin Cowherd & Taylor Zarzour.

    Zarzour(from the former WTSB)is like a politician. Smiling and agreeing with you but then you realize he is pissing on your foot. What I mean
    is he acts like he is unbiased but Zarzour is a MAJOR Tar Hole!!

    He will claim he is a Bama fan but that is window dressing. On his last show before WTSB went under he insulted State fans and immediately became a personality on TarHole women’s b-ball. I can’t believe that Dan Patrick disappears in favor of baby blue wanna be Zarzour.

    620 should lose out big time with the State contingent if you have any knowledge about babybluezarzour.

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