Simmons St. Louis

[seattlefollower]

Is there a niche in St. Louis for full-time African-American sports talk?

Simmons Media’s going to try it, dropping its Fox Sports Radio affiliation on WFFX (1490) and also dropping those calls in favor of a return to WESL – for East St. Louis, its city of license. The Post-Dispatch says WESL’s also dumping Dan Patrick and Jim Rome. New lineup includes longtime market personality Richard “Onion” Horton in mornings, Charlie "Tuna'' Edwards from 11am-2pm, Craig Black from 2pm-4pm, and Maurice Scott in afternoon drive. Scott will be joined by Olympic track star Jackie Joyner Kersee and Deneen Busby. GM John Helmkamp tells the paper "Local is what drives things. Having Patrick and Rome never got us on the radar."

Courtesy Tom Taylor, Radio-Info

Simmons does own some small properties outside of Salt Lake City. For whatever reason, they hold onto this AM signal in St. Louis.

[CAwasinNJ]

It's a graveyarder, but it looks like it hits most of the population of the St Louis area. That's good. Dropping nationally known shows for local ones? That I'm not so sure about. I understand that the morning Horton show isn't going to be sports driven, but rather politics, and that he's a well established figure in that area. That seems like a good idea. I'm getting the impression that the rest of the day is unproven. Sports talk is a tough sell. Trying to niche yourself as urban sports talk seems even harder. Of course it's not all bad news. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Patrick and/or Rome ended up on Simmons' other sports talker in the market KSLG. They're primarily affiliated with ESPN. That might even be the real reason KESL is taking this approach. Cannibalizing your own audience is never good business.