105.5 ESPN is shutting down January 3rd

As of January 4, 2016 Denver will have only one FM sports talk station.

105.5 ESPN radio is closing its doors as of midnight on Sunday, January 3rd. The signal has been sold to KUNC which will make the signal the music outlet for Northern Colorado Community Radio.

The station started life as 87.7 the Ticket just under six years ago. It then migrated to 102.3 FM and became affiliated with ESPN radio, trimming its live local programming down to a scant few hours worth of shows and filling the remainder of the broadcast day with nationally syndicated programming.

Of the local voices that remained with the station when it switched from being the Ticket to Denver’s ESPN affiliate two have stood out: Nate Kreckman and Cecil Lammey.

Kreckman, the irreverent jokester with a quick tongue, is  known as one of the most professional and prepared talk hosts in the market. Lammey is every listener’s best friend and has developed a kinship with the market through his drum-tight Broncos coverage and his guru-like dispensing of fantasy football advice. Each of these personalities is beloved by the Denver sports enthusiast community and each will be greatly missed when 105.5 goes off air.

Kreckman and Lammey will certainly land on their feet. The greater loss for the Denver market is the station itself. Founded by Front Range Sports, LLC, 105.5 ESPN was owned by a group of investors including “Dealin’” Doug Moreland, Tom “Lou From Littleton” Manoogian and sports personalities including ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter.  In 2010 the group paid just over $5M for two signals: 102.3 and 105.5 FM (formerly JACK FM). Their risky endeavor wound up providing thousands of hours of radio entertainment to the fans of Denver and also kept the bar high for 104.3 the Fan as well as Mile High Sports Radio to compete for listeners.

Denver was one of very few cities in America with three sports talk signals to choose from (four if KOA is to be included). Losing 105.5 ESPN means that is no longer the case for this four sport town. The radio business is incredibly tough so it’s not a great surprise that Denver is losing the station but it’s bad news nonetheless.

Luckily, 104.3 the Fan appears to be on solid footing and it’s possible that the station could absorb some of the talent leaving 105.5. Bonneville International recently purchased the Fan from Entercom which purchased a package of stations from Lincoln Financial Media. Bonneville’s interest in the Fan was for its existing format, sports. So the company doesn’t seem inclined to switch 104.3 over to music anytime in the foreseeable future. That’s good news because for a time it looked like the market might have also lost the Fan.

The radio landscape is always shifting. It’s very possible that another sports talk station will emerge in the Denver market. Kroenke sports recently acquired radio signals in Colorado and IHeart Media (Clear Channel) has voiced an interest in forming a sports talk station. Between the two it’s possible if not likely that a new signal will emerge. The ESPN programming that 105.5 was carrying could easily make a basis onto which a new station could be based.