Denver Sports Radio Landscape Changes -2015 to 2016 Edition

The turning of the Calendar to 2016 brings a change in the Denver Sports Radio Landscape as we know it.  First and foremost, January 4th will bring only a single FM radio station on the airwaves in the long running 104.3 FM The Fan (formerly 950 AM) standing atop the mountain.  Denver had 3 FM Radio stations before Mile High Sports sold 94.1 FM mid 2015 and Denver's 105.5 FM ESPN being officially turned over into the hands of Fan's sister station 1600 AM on that January 4th morning.  The change will grow as 2016 goes on.  Here are the things you may see in 2016 Denver Sports Radio.


104.3 FM The Fan
The Fan remains much the same, but adding ESPN back to the family, they will go away from the 10 am  to Noon Dan Patrick tape delay and have a local line-up that remains filled with familiar names and voices while making a couple additions that will strengthen the station.


Yes, Scott Hastings and Vic Lombardi have been removed from The Fan line-up, but the addition of Mark Schlereth in the mornings (ESPN related and very smart since he had a great national show on ESPN and was great here locally prior to that).  Then moving Shaun Drotar and Ryan Edwards into the 10 AM to Noon shift and placing the talented Joshua Dover into the Fan Late Night with James Gomez, The Fan's new Sports Director, Armen Williams, has improved their line-up.


The estimated line-up would be:
6-9 AM: Mike Evans, Joel Dreesen and Mark Schlereth.  I am on record as believing Dreesen will be gone by 2nd quarter since three is just too much in a radio booth and takes away from good sports talk.  Schlereth is consummate professional and will bring a much bigger name nationally than the very beloved Vic Lombardi.  He doesn't use the Dreesen made up words.  Evans is Mike Miller of sports talk, he will be there forever and help the true stars shine.
9-10 AM: Fan Football Hour w/ Evans and a daily guest-This is great for Denver to have during season and a welcome addition over the national B.S.  r is a football town so it will probably still do fairly well in the off-season since football may only be a 4-5 month thing, but is truly year round with free agency, the draft and camps.
10 AM-Noon: Ryan Edwards and Shaun Drotar-A much overdue call-up to the big leagues.  This will fill a hole Denver has had with only Mile High Sports being on locally.  Though I truly enjoy Mile High Sports, I like options if the content matter is not cutting it that day.
Noon-3 PM: Sandy Clough-Sandy is good.  He's knowledgeable and he's not the ass that he was a decade ago.  Sandy is great on his own, but I still think he fits well with a solid wingman like Mike Evans to fill his dead air gaps when he's pondering his next take.  I would like to see this happen but we will see.  Sandy can handle it either way.
3 PM-6 PM:D-Mac and Big Al-The numbers must be good still, but I don't get it.  There are not a lot of facts brought into this show. The callers that get in and these two make me think of the guy living off his glory days from 15 years before and his friends that never played sports and they bring nothing to the table.
6-9 PM: I am hoping for a replay of something on ESPN or ESPN Radio or Nate Kreckman or anything but another 3 hours of that shitty show.
9-Midnight: Josh Dover and James Gomez-These two are producer legends that are also great on-air personalities.  A show they can team up on and call their own is long overdue.


1340 AM Mile High Sports
What a 2015 for Mile High Sports.  They were off air for over two months.  They lost their FM dial and went to an AM dial that is stronger than the AM/FM dials they held previously but they still lose clear signals up north and especially in the non daylight hours.  Knowing the station, they are still trying to clear up paperwork on getting an FM signal so they can be on both outlets.  It is a wise move.  Just last week Mile High Sports and BSN Denver broke off from one another.  In that they lost the BSN Sports Desk.  It will be interesting to see how 2016 looks for BSN and Mile High Sports but Mile High Sports already filled that hole in the line-up.  That line-up is:
7-9 AM: Morning Mayhem with Danny Williams and Cello Romano-A guilty pleasure and entertaining show.  Unfortunately some days we get mundane arguments about John Mayer or Dave Matthews.  The show is caller centric and entertaining.  I will stay tuned in.
9-11 AM: Sports Guy Mike-It is 3 days in, so we will wait to hold judgment.  I will say he is well dressed and media savvy and talks sports the entire show.  Hoping this show proves to be solid.
11 AM-1 PM: Gil Whiteley-Gil's voice is unforgivable as much as it is unforgettable.  Take it in 15 minute doses per hour at most, but make sure you give him some time.
1-2 PM: Irv and Joe Show-Irv Brown and Joe Williams.  Legends!
2-4 PM: The Big Show-Benny Bash, Benjamin Allbright and Kent Erickson.  Three is a crowd but these three play it smart.  They don't step on each others toes.  Allbright may be too football intelligent for some listeners with him talking schemes, formations, etc. but it fits my mold.  Benny is doing things the right way.  Kent's still just toast but it's always nice for two younger guys to let their Uncle talk sports with them.
4-6 PM: Afternoon Drive with Les Shapiro and Eric Goodman-Eric finally has someone to argue with and not back down.  These two were a couple that were afraid to come out and work together but they have been very good together.
6-8 PM: Renaud Notaro and Big Dee White-Renaud has been great for years.  Big Dee White was a producer that showed he deserved to be on the mic full time.  It has worked out well.  It's a great pairing.  Unfortunately, the station becomes pure static about an hour in. 
After 8 I am still in the dark with no radio during darkness


1600 AM ESPN
My guess is full ESPN format.  Great signal.  Will help all the non-Broncos fans hear something they are more interested in.  Will  be good to  have another option during the Rockies season when there is nothing to hear.


760 AM-Real Talk
760 has gone from Liberal talk to Sports talk full time.  It took all the Fox Sports shows (and paycheck for airing it) and added a couple of sports centered shows. 
10 AM to Noon-Dave Logan and Susie Wargin-Neither have been my cup of tea but people loved their work together in the past.  They got the band back together!!!!
3-6 PM-Andy Lindahl-Lindahl does great with his work talking Broncos pre and post game and everything in between.  Plus his first name is the best you can have.  I will probably give him a listen and decide where my radio ears will go each night.
National syndication shows include: The Ben Maller Show, Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd and Jay Mohr along with a couple I never have heard of.  Maller is one of the best that not enough people know about.  Jay Mohr turned his Bob Sugar role and fill-in spots for Jim Rome into a full-time gig. 


950 AM-Kroenke Sports Entertainment
No word yet, but expect a new big dog to come into town with KSE's acquisition of the original Fan station 950 AM.  Vic Lombardi and Scott Hastings are obvious choices for hosts.  We will see how everything else goes, but by owning 950 and 3 FM radio stations, KSE can start airing their content of Nuggets, Avalanche and Rapids teams without having to pay someone else for it once current contracts expire or get bought out.


BSN Denver
BSN Denver does not appear to have a voice on the Denver airwaves, but Brandon Spano has built an interesting concept of full Denver Sports writing, blogging and podcasting.  So it is worth giving some note here.  Spano is ballsy having added a large contingent of writers and mouths to feed to make his website respectable.  It is an interesting model and I look forward to seeing how it works out with the only voice being via social media.  But social media has proven to be growing while talk radio has proven to be dying.  BSN Denver must compete against millions of other bloggers, "writers" and podcasters that have a voice themselves in Denver, so how they make money and continue to build their unique brand will be very interesting for 2016.


2016 Outlook


Denver could have 5 full time sports stations with at least 3 of them full-time Denver centric (The Fan, Mile High Sports and KSE) and another 5 hours local of 760.  Denver Sports Radio looked like it was going to thin out with 104.3 The Fan changing Sports Directors after new ownership and when 105.5 FM ESPN officially announced they had fully sold (out) but instead it made local sports content increase immediately.


So what else is on the horizon?   I am not sure, but I know 105.5 FM left a great group of free agents from Nate Kreckman, Cecil Lammey to Drew Spevak, Rob Wagner and Raj Sharan.  I think Cecil Lammey would make a great 6-9 PM show in lieu of the replay of what may be The Fan's worse show!  Nate Kreckman has worked his way up in Denver and I hope Kroenke or the Fan sign him or a large sponsorship contingent brings him back to where the magic truly started for Nate at Mile High Sports.


2016 is shaping up to be a crowded race for listeners and sports information in the Denver market.  Based off all the change we have seen in the last three years, my guess is , whatever 2016 sports radio looks like in Denver January 4th will be much different come July 4th with Broncos training camp on the horizon.