iHeartMedia Philadelphia announced today the debut of FOX Sports Radio, The Gambler. The new station will create the ultimate destination for Sports Talk in the Philadelphia community and will broadcast on 1480 AM, 102.5 FM translator, and WDAS-FM 105.3 HD2 beginning August 26 at 3 p.m. Listeners can also tune in on the devices they use the most via the iHeartRadio app.
The Gambler will feature FOX Sport’s compelling and entertaining brand of Sports Talk programming including “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” “The Dan Patrick Show,” “Outkick the Coverage with Clay Travis,” “Straight Outta Vegas with RJ Bell” and others, as well as “The Daily Ticket” hosted by
Sean Brace, owner of
phillyinfluencer.com, a well-known local sports website.
“Whether you’re heading to Atlantic City or one of our four local sports books, we’ll have what you need to keep you informed,” said Jeff Moore, Senior Vice President of Sales for iHeartMedia Philadelphia. “It’ll be a great mix of national sports talk icons with the local edge to inform and entertain the gambling audience in a groundbreaking way.”
The 1480 AM signal has gone through many formats over the last 20+ years, but it was once the home to Black Radio heritage station WDAS-AM. In it's history it was the voice of the Black community. The station presented music, news, and informative programming throughout the 1950's, 60's, and 70's. It was very influential during the Civil Rights Movement. However by the early 80's their influence waned as listeners began turning their attention to their sister station 105.3 WDAS-FM. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King and Minister Malcolm X were often guests on the station and boasted a line-up of personalities that featured Georgie Woods, Jocko Henderson, Butterball, Hy Lit, Jimmy Bishop, Louise Williams, Carl Helm, and countless others including Ed Bradley, who later on garnered fame as a CBS' "60 Minutes" correspondent. The station would battle it out with 1340 WHAT AM for Black radio supremacy in Philadelphia. Jocko and Georgie Woods would move between those two stations on a regular basis, depending on which one was paying more at the time. It was WDAS that established both as legendary Black Radio (DJ's) Disc Jockeys. See
WDASHistory.org
WDAS most recently aired a variety adult contemporary hits format and health features from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia as "Breakthrough Radio." Since the mid 80's the station has been as All News Stations hosted by African American anchors. The news operation was headed up by the late E. Steven Collins. It has featured Gospel music as "1480 AMen", 50's and 60's soul music as "The Soul of Philadelphia"music with industry vet Bobby Holiday, Smooth Jazz with Michael Tozzi, and a Spanish language music station Rumba 1480 (WUBA).
With the recent passing of legal sports gambling in Pennsylvania at casinos and online, iHeartMedia is taking a gamble that sports betting radio on a now seldom listen to AM station will be a winning proposition.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Add your comments to this post. You may comment anonymously.
Comments with links to other websites and with inappropriate language will not be published.
Please share this story on your social media pages. Thank you.
Click on Enter Comment to begin.