Bad week for WCCO: First Dayton, now Gophers

By Hart Van Denburg Wed., Mar. 9 2011 at 10:32 AM

Categories: Media is evolving

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"The Good Neighbor" has a bad week.

Can you still be a "Good Neighbor" if everyone's moved away?

Yesterday, we learned that WCCO-AM failed in its bid to snag Gov. Mark Dayton for a regular weekly radio show. Today, the University of Minnesota announced it was pulling the plug on its long-standing sports broadcasting deal with WCCO.

Gophers football coverage will move to Clear Channel's KFAN Sports Radio 1130 AM and KTLK 100.3 FM, while Hubbard Broadcasting's 1500 AM ESPN Radio picks up men's and women's basketball, and men's hockey games.

"We evaluated all of our broadcast options based upon many factors, including financial commitment, marketing support, listener demographics, and ancillary programming," AD Joel Maturi says. "We believe these partnerships represent the best overall platforms for Gophers sports on radio."

WCCO, which also lost its Twins deal a few years ago, now has just a single sports franchise: The Minnesota Wild.

The new contracts start with the 2011-12 athletic season.

Maybe instead of asking about whether Congress should fund National Pubic Radio this morning, yakker John Williams should be asking how WCCO is going to fill all that dead air.

Should Congress fund Public Radio & TV. John Williams talks about this in the 10 o'clock hour. http://bit.ly/cAQ4nMless than a minute ago via webWCCO Radio
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