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45 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, April 7, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 7, 2005 SPORTS LETTERS No ESPN-Radio is huge loss It was a shock to hear the ESPN-Radio change and I think it is a huge loss. My wife will be happy as I listened 6-10 hours a day to ESPN. I cannot fault a station for changing its format but there is another Spanish station at 610-AM (although it may not have local programming). It just shows Southern Oregon is a small town when it comes to professional sports. I can only hope another station picks up ESPN or goes to sports programming, otherwise I will have to go to the Internet to listen to ESPN, the 49ers and baseball. — Dan Hernandez, Medford Not radio people I can add to Kevin Goff’s story Tuesday about ESPN Radio. I am a former employee at those stations. When I was there, ESPN was the No. 4 station in the market with its target demo of men 18- 54. The station was actively promoted, and did very well financially speaking. Ron Hren, the management and ownership of Radio Medford are not radio people. They come from cable TV. They used to be part of Falcon, and then Charter. Mapleton Communications (which owns Radio Medford) was formed in large part with the money that Charter paid Falcon Cable when they bought them out. So these cable TV guys decide that they are going to do radio. None of them are sports fans, and certainly it can be stated that none of them get sports radio. The only ones who ever worked there who did were Bill Jacobs, Greg Roberts and Jay Reese. It is a very sad day when something so unique can be replaced all in the name of pandering. ESPN was not successful because they did not want it to be. Advertisement — Dave Knox, Central Point Sports radio sellout It was a couple years ago when KMED 1440-AM sold out to the religious right robots and quit broadcasting music in exchange for conservative blather. Fortunately KEZX 730-AM took up the need for this market and has filled the void nicely. Now KTMT 580-AM has sold out our only sports radio and began playing an all-Spanish broadcast. We already have two Spanish stations available in the area, but the station manager seems to think we need another. I disagree, as sports are a very important part of any community. If you are upset with this move and want to do something as I do, write or call: Ron Hren, c/o Mapleton Communications, 1438 Rossanley Drive, Medford, OR, 97501, 541-779-1550. Make a difference and ask that our station be restored or the station manager step down. — Dave Wise, Medford Sports fans disregarded Imagine my surprise when reading the paper I discovered that Radio Medford was changing their format. Throwing the sports fans of Southern Oregon to the side and changing AM-580 from ESPN Radio to a Mexican station. Though I can see the reasons for needing another Mexican station, with the growing Latino population, to totally disregard the sports fans of our area is wrong. I listen to sports radio pretty much all day while at work. I also have at least five friends that do the same. Though a majority of my radio time was dedicated to AM-580, I also listened to other Radio Medford stations. If we don’t get our sports radio back soon, we will be forced to switch to satellite radio, which can only hurt Radio Medford. — James Lucas, Medford Radio move insulting The decision to remove the only "free" real-time sports in the valley is a disgrace to our community. As a fan of local high school and professional sports, and their related topics, I am insulted that Spanish speaking "immigrants" now take a priority over a major source of enjoyment in many others’ day. The logic, "to change programming to better adapt to the region’s growing Hispanic community," insults the community that has been here for generations following local heroes of sport. While sports talk doesn’t "pull the ratings" some would like to see for profit, it had a very special niche in our region. Got to go, The Dan Patrick Show is starting ... boy, he sounds different! — D. Mitchell, Eagle Point Was change needed? Just another disgruntled radio listener that no longer can listen to ESPN. Does Medford need another Hispanic music station? — Judy Merrifield, Medford Let them know you care Thanks for your article letting all of us loyal listeners know what happened to 580-AM. I tried calling and there is no answer; they could at least leave a recording. I will definitely miss Jim Rome and Dan Patrick. I love talk radio and there is none in the valley, 1440-AM is Ditto Head and Ditto Head Jr. (Rush and Sean) and I listened to ESPN in my office or car. If there is anyone who cares about the people’s opinions, please let them know. Thanks. — Dianne Perry, Rogue River Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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