“The Fan” – Now on FM

Along With AM Station, Indy Now Has A Local Sports Radio Network

Indianapolis now has an FM sports radio station.

And it is not competing with 1070-“TheFan”.  It is “The Fan” on 107.5FM.

Here are some quick answers to FAQs about this exciting news…

  • Is this a full-time WFNI simulcast?  No.  The weekday drive time programs, Mike & Mike and JMV, will air on both 1070AM & 107.5FM.  And both stations will carry much of the same evening & weekend programming… but MID-DAYS during the week will be unique content on each station.  (However, technically, 107.5FM is a simulcast of WIBC-HD2.  The FCC prohibits translators from originating content, but HD Radio technology enables an FM broadcaster to offer more than one program stream on its existing spectrum; so essentially, Emmis has created a “new” station by coupling these capabilities!)
  • Does this mean the return of ESPN Radio’s full line-up to Central Indiana?  Yes.  This is a welcome addition for select local sports fans who’ve been without popular nationwide shows The Herd With Colin Cowherd and since their prior station in this market changed formats this past fall  dropping ESPN programming biggest brand in sports, “the worldwide leader in sports”.
  • What is an FM Translator?  Translators are auxiliary transmitters for FM stations that help carry the radio signal to a location that cannot be reached by the primary transmitter.
  • How far reaching is THE FAN FM translator – signal pattern?  Most all of the 8 county metro area – including key communities missed by 1070AM’s powered down night time pattern – can now hear “The Fan” on FM 24 hours a day.
  • What are 107.5FM’s call letters?  W298BB.  (That’s correct.  By FCC law, the call sign for a translator starts with the same letter as the call sign of the primary station, which east of the Mississippi River is “W”, followed by a three-digit number indicating the FM channel of the station and then by two letters which indicate the order in which the translators are licensed.)  But on the air you will hear it identified as “one-oh-seven-five-The-Fan”.
  • What happens when there is a play-by-play conflict?  The sporting events then will be split over the 2 stations.  (This is best explained with a real life example: if the Pacers & Butler Basketball are each scheduled to play a Saturday 7pm game, the Pacers game will be on 107.5-TheFan and the Butler game on 1070-“The Fan”.  Similar to what happens with ESPN’s Television Network across their brands like ESPN2 & ESPNU for example, there will be cross promotion on both 1070 & 107.5 informing listeners where to tune for which game.)  Partnering sports teams/schools have expressed relief that this minimizes when their events are moved to an Emmis music station, as has happened in past conflicts, because they value being in an all-sports radio environment.

A local sports radio “network” is the best way to now describe Indy’s brand of “The Fan”.  Think about it… a broadcast network system distributes to multiple stations identical or similar programming that extends total coverage beyond the limits of a single signal.  That is what’s happening with “The Fan” on 1070 & 107.5! 

And just like a network, now one advertising purchase gets a sponsor exposure to both types of sports audiences – loyal ESPN Radio listeners and fans of local shows such as Grady & Big Joe and Dan Dakich.  So the biggest winners with this expanded sports audience are the advertisers!