Sports Shows Change Times

KREB, 1190-AM, Northwest Arkansas’ only all-sports radio station, will be forced to make some changes on a couple of its most popular programs.

Conference Call, based in Germantown, Tenn., airs in the nine Southeastern Conference states and Ohio. It has become very popular in the last year in Fayetteville, but it has also become increasingly difficult to pick up in Fayetteville later in the evening. KREB used to air Conference Call on its FM 99.5 and 96.3 stations, but Butler Broadcasting recently switched its programming and moved the sports talk shows to 1190-AM. The show lasts from 5-8 p.m.

Since 1190-AM isn’t licensed for 24 hours a day, its schedule depends on sunrise and sunset times. And with an earlier sunset in the winter, Conference Call and the locally based Sports Line will be affected.

AM stations are forced to go to low power at night and are usually only picked up in the towns they are licensed to. KREB’s 1190-AM is licensed to Bentonville. Conference Call will likely not be heard at all in Washington County during January and February when the sun sets around 5 p.m.

Sports Line, hosted by Rick Schaeffer and Grant Hall, is the longest-running sports talk show in Northwest Arkansas. Schaeffer has been doing the show for 23 years, the last four with KREB. But that show airs on Mondays from 5-6:30 p.m. When the early sunsets arrive, Sports Line will likely be moved back an hour to 4 p.m., hoping to get its 1 1/2-hour talk show in before leaving the air at 5:30 p.m. AM stations not licensed for 24 hours can usually stay on air about an hour after sunset.

Bo Mattingly will have a talk show on 1190-AM Mondays from 3-5 p.m. That may get shortened to just an hour when Sports Line is moved. KREB is also looking at carrying Randy Rainwater’s Drive Time Sports on 1190-AM Tuesday through Friday from 3-5 p.m., replacing ESPN’s Game Day.