NY Post
ESPN Radio New York confirmed their move to the FM Dial on Thursday morning.
The station sent out a press release that detailed the switch from 1050 AM to 98.7 FM that will take place this Monday at 12:01 a.m. The Post first reported that a move to FM was imminent in Wednesday’s editions.
The station will still be simulcast on 1050 AM until it changes over to a full-time ESPN Deportes radio channel in conjuction with Hispanic Heritage month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15). The move to FM will also signal a change in the station’s daily coverage with Stephen A. Smith joining Ryan Ruocco in the 1-3 p.m. slot. Ruocco currently airs from Noon-2 p.m. weekdays with Robin Lundberg. Patrick McEnroe has has also been hired to a Saturday 10 a.m.-Noon.
The Post reported Wednesday that the move was done in part to give ESPN the opportunity to bid on the Yankees radio rights with the Mets as a backup plan. The radio contracts for both New York teams are up after this season. The Yankees are currently broadcast on WCBS 880 AM and the Mets are on WFAN 660 AM.
http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/yankees/espn_radio_confirms_move_to_fm_Uhp5JffAjjSbZMAedV2PqI
ESPN NY http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/7857507/espn-new-york-1050-moving-987-fm-dial
You’d normally wonder why the suits at ESPN would trade a 50Kwatt AM signal for a line of sight FM signal. But 1050 has a lousy dial location. It is not clear channel and it’s stuck between two 50K stations that are, 1090 WBAL from Baltimore and 1030 WBZ from Boston. Throw in KYW 1060 from Philly and 1080 from Hartford, and i think there’s a Nova Scotia station at 1070, and nighttime listening at 1050 is cacaphonous.