Mizzou broadcasts will remain on KMBZ in Kansas City market

Mizzou fans won’t need to adjust the presets on their radio dial.

Learfield Communications, which is contracted to secure affiliates for the University of Missouri athletic department’s broadcast rights, investigated the possibility of shifting outlets in Kansas City.

For the sake of consistency, the Tigers’ football and men’s basketball broadcasts will remain on KMBZ.

The opportunity to explore a move to 610 Sports (KCSP-610 AM) arose when the station’s parent company, Entercom, announced last month that its relationship with the University of Kansas for football and men’s basketball broadcasts had dissolved after 18 years.

The Jayhawks’ games now will be heard on KCSP’s sports-talk rival WHB-810 AM, but Tigers games won’t be filling that vacancy.

Currently, Mizzou football airs on KMBZ-98.1 FM and men’s basketball airs on KMBZ-980 AM, which also are owned by Entercom, but Learfield didn’t think it was prudent to jump to KCSP.

“Learfield has had discussions with the ownership group on our behalf when this opportunity became available, but in the end elected to stay on the FM for football and AM for men’s basketball, and the main reason was/is consistency,” MU senior associate athletic director for strategic communications Nick Joos told The Star via email.

As it was for KU, a major sticking point was KCSP’s broadcasts of Royals game, which preempt more than a month’s worth of the college football season.

“In looking at the Royals schedule, there likely would be four and maybe as many as eight times this fall where football could be forced to move because of a conflict with the Royals, and that’s not good for fans seeking to find your games on the radio dial,” Joos said. “In addition, the (KMBZ-98.1) FM signal is 100,000 (watts), which gives us great coverage in Kansas City.”

The Tigers’ longstanding relationship with KMBZ trumped the chance to move its game broadcasts to a sports-only station.

“Mizzou has had a long-time relationship with KMBZ, and in the end, Learfield believed that the consistency of knowing where to tune in for all things Mizzou out-weighed other considerations,” Joos said.

This story was originally published August 4, 2017 at 3:53 PM with the headline "Mizzou broadcasts will remain on KMBZ in Kansas City market."