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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us April 2, 2005 More change coming to radio dials By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Rumors that all ESPN radio sports coverage would be silenced in the Rogue Valley will become reality late Sunday night. The sports programming will be replaced by Radio Lazer, an uptempo regional Mexican music station currently broadcast in 10 other U.S. markets. "We just think it's really a market whose time has come," said Radio Medford Vice President and General Manager Ron Hren. "The Hispanic market is one that's growing very dramatically and it's very important." Radio Lazer launched in Oxnard, Calif., 14 years ago and is now broadcast throughout California, as well as Seattle and Kansas City, Kan. It carries artists such as Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Vicente Fernandez and Joan Sebastian. All of the Radio Lazer programming will be piped-in as the station "takes a foothold" in the community, according to Hren. Local formats may come later. The station will be the second Spanish-language format in the Valley. Opus Broadcasting carries Sensacion on KRTA-610 AM, which ranked 11th of 16 in an Arbitron survey of commercial stations in Southern Oregon conducted in fall 2004. The two stations will be side-by-side on the AM dial, but Hren thinks Radio Medford "can do it better." Sports programming, such as the Portland Trail Blazers and University of Oregon athletics, will not resurface at Radio Medford and no other stations in the Valley include regional sports coverage. "It is gone," Hren said. "We've had success with ESPN Sports; there was a following. We just think the Spanish market is really where it's at." In a Daily Tidings article published March 26, Hren and Mike Anthony, programming vice president for Radio Medford's parent company Mapleton Communications, denied KTMT-580 AM would undergo any format changes. "That's the hardest thing for me," said sports commentator Pete Belcastro with Table Rock Productions. "They have the right to do what they want, but there's 20 radio stations in the Valley and now the sports fans don't have any station and that's too bad. That's sad for me." Hren has said Radio Medford stations will continue to broadcast local football and basketball games. The cluster of stations have a contract with Table Rock Productions through the 2005-06 season. "I would hope that Radio Medford continues to broadcast the games," Belcastro said. "It's a good public service." This is the second major format change among Radio Medford's six Southern Oregon stations. On Friday morning, radio station KTMT-93.7 FM launched as MIKE-FM, a format described as a hit-driven, music-intensive format that includes some 1,000 songs, versus the traditional 250 that most radio stations play. The new station's playlist includes a combination of songs from the past four decades and the format has been successful in markets such as Dallas, Kansas City and Austin, Texas. Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Free Musick Downloads Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks Heloc Calenders 2005 Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress tcg student loan consolidation Home Equity Loans teleconferencing W2 Forms cortisol weight loss Diamonds Futures Broker Bad Credit Loans Auto & Personal Loans Mesothelioma Free Home-Loan Referrals Sports Betting Website Design & Marketing Student Loans African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems Helzberg Diamonds Currancy Exchange Online Casinos Community Student Loans Bonus Casino Poker Games Homeschooling Auto Insurance Mortgage Calculator Mailing Lists Mystery Shopping Jobs Debt Consolidation Loans Payday Loans Click Here .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams