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Weekly UpdatesIt appears that University of Arkansas football games will broadcast on fewer Arkansas radio stations this fall than in years past.
At least 19 fewer stations have signed up to carry the 2009 games after ISP Sports, the company that distributes the broadcasts, decided to extend the pre-game show to three hours. The pre-game show had traditionally run 1 1/2 hours. And only one Little Rock station has agreed to air the games this fall.
The extended programming cut into locally produced pre-game shows, causing several stations to balk at signing contracts, radio insiders said. The locally produced shows provided valuable inventory for local stations to sell.
Affiliates that sign up with ISP, of Winston-Salem, N.C., get 48 minutes to sell in local advertising inventory during the broadcast, which includes the three-hour pre-game and the post-game show. Previously, affiliates received 44 minutes in total local advertising inventory, but many aired self-produced pre-game shows.
A recent list of 2009 Razorback football affiliates signed by ISP showed only 41 stations have signed on to broadcast 2009 Razorback football games so far. A copy of the list from about one month ago boasted 60 affiliates.
One of the stations that has not signed a new contract to distribute Razorback games is Little Rock's KARN, 920-AM, which leaves only KABZ, 103.7-FM, broadcasting games in Arkansas' largest market. A KARN representative did not return calls requesting comment.
An ISP Sports representative said the company still hopes to sign up affiliates before the season, including KARN, but confirmed that the first deadline for submitting contracts had passed.
The Razorbacks will continue reaching the entire state and, it's hoped, beyond, said Robert Smith, ISP's affiliate recruitment manager for the Razorbacks. ISP took control of the university's broadcasts in August, wresting control from the Arkansas Razorback Sports Network, which KATV-TV, Channel 7, owned.
"From what we have based on signal strength of the affiliates we've signed on, we have the strength to cover all four corners of the state and everywhere in between," Smith said. ISP also is talking with possible affiliates in neighboring states, Smith said.
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