Station Love
Rice Owls land at 1560 The Game: Program emerges from radio chaos to find alocal home
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Rice fans have a new radio station. -
The Game will air Rice football, basketball and baseball in a addition to aweekly talk program about the school's athletics.
Local college sports meets local radio with Rice University entering a new partnership with KGOW 1560 The Game.
With the school's former ESPN radio home switching to University of Texas games and Rice's student-run radio station KTRU gone from the local Houston airwaves, The Game will be the radio flagship for Rice athletics for the next four years for game broadcasts and more. The station will broadcast Rice football, men's basketball and baseball games as well as a regular Rice sports hour .
Rice football and men's basketball games had been broadcast on ESPN 97.5 FM with other sports programming on KTRU. ESPN 97.5 will air Texas Longhorn football and men's basketball games for the first time this fall, taking over that coveted affiliation from 610 AM.
Live Rice programming on 1560 will begin in September with Rice's football season opener when the Owls face Texas in Austin. KCOH (1430 AM) will continue airing select football games this fall due to existing contractual obligations.
In addition to airing the games, with the beginning of football season The Game will also introduce a weekly hour-long program on Mondays from 7-8 p.m. to discuss Rice sports. The show will continue through the year to the end of the Rice baseball season.
"We are thrilled to have 1560 The Game as our broadcasting home for the next four years," Rice athletic director Rick Greenspan said in a statement. "They are committed to local programming, and we're excited to become the centerpiece of their live local sports lineup. They have established themselves as an aggressive force in this market, and we look forward to leveraging their promotional energy both over-the-air and at our venues to spread the word about the great work of our dedicated student-athletes here at Rice."
At least the agreement means there will be virtually no chance of hearing The Ramones drowning out basketball commentary. (Although that might be an improvement to listening to some of the Houston Astros games right now.)
Are you looking forward to hearing the Owls on 1560? Can a large local platform translate to more local support for Rice teams?
