Four NFL Game Radio Broadcast Outlets in Denver Region - Most in the US ?

[DenverDiamondJack]

Denver has possibly the most NFL games being broadcast across the radio dial for any market in the US. KKFN 104.3 is broadcasting the Westwood One game, which for this first Sunday is the Atlanta Falcons at the New Orleans Saints. KEPN 1600, another Lincoln outlet, has the broadcast from Compass Media of the Oakland Raiders at the Indianapolis Colts. KDSP 102.3 is carrying the new-for-2013 ESPN radio broadcast of the Tennessee Titans at the Pittsburgh Steelers. ESPN radio had not done NFL radio broadcasts prior to this season. And over at KJAC 105.5 the broadcast of the Sports USA Radio game with the Cincinnati Bengals at the Chicago Bears is on the air. With only two games scheduled today in the late window, KJAC continues with the second half of the Sports USA Radio broadcast doubleheader with the Arizona Cardinals at the St Louis Rams, while KKFN has the Westwood One doubleheader game of the Green Bay Packers at the San Francisco 49ers. KKFN will also have the Thursday Night, Sunday Night, and Monday Night games weekly, except when the Denver Broncos are participants. When the Denver Broncos play on Sundays, be it at home or on the road, or at 11:00 am or in the 2:00 pm hour, the window in which they play will be exclusively theirs due to NFL broadcast rules. The other window from the daytime slots will have as many as four telecasts, although KKFN and KDSP are likely to opt for pre-game Broncos talk for those early windows before a late windows Broncos game, as well as for postgame talk when the Broncos play in the early window. On the Sundays late mornings/afternoons when the Broncos are not scheduled ( SUNDAY 22 September: on Monday Night Football v Raiders; SUNDAY 20 October: Broncos play on Sunday Night Football at Indianapolis; SUNDAY 3 November: Broncos idle in their Bye Week; SUNDAY 24 November: Broncos on Sunday Night Football at New England; and SUNDAY 15 December: Broncos v San Diego Chargers on the prior Thursday Night Football) both daytime windows could have as many as eight games broadcast combined, although that will not be the case for most of those Sundays as the schedule at this point for the later window does not offer that opportunity. Also ESPN radio is not likely to have Sunday afternoon NFL doubleheaders as Westwood One, Compass, and Sports USA Radio will have throughout the season. The only other markets that may offer this much radio game coverage of the NFL perhaps could be in Houston, Dallas, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, or one of the Great Lakes cities markets, but it is doubtful. One would have to believe Denver is the capital of NFL game radio broadcasts.

[DenverDiamondJack]

Denver hit the quadruple - triple jackpot as expected for this Sunday, 22 September, for over-the-air local radio NFL game broadcasts. In the early 11:00 am MDT window four different games could be heard over the air: Westwood One's Green Bay @ Cincinnati on KKFN 104.3; Compass Sports' Detroit @ Washington on KEPN 1600; Sports USA's Houston @ Baltimore on KJAC 105.5; and ESPN Radio's New York @ Carolina on KDSP 102.3.

The late 2:00 pm MDT hour window this Sunday 22 September had three different radio broadcasts: Westwood One's Atlanta @ Miami on KKFN 104.3; Compass Sports' Indianapolis @ San Francisco on KEPN 1600; and Sports USA's Jacksonville @ Seattle on both KJAC 105.5 and KDSP 102.3.

The next three Sundays will have the Denver Broncos playing in the later 2:00 pm MDT hour window, meaning no other NFL games will be made available locally for over-the-air broadcasts in that late window, but at least two should be aired in the early window with sportstalk likely in advance of the game on both KKFN 104.3 and KDSP 102.3 .

The next possible date for as many as seven daytime broadcasts in the two windows is Sunday 20 October, when the Denver Broncos have a Sunday night game at the Indianapolis Colts. But once again pregame sports talk for the Denver Broncos are likely to take a priority on probably both KKFN 104.3 and KDSP 102.3 ahead of that Sunday evening Denver contest. But five or six total different broadcasts could still occur locally on that date, with four early and one or two late.

The most likely Sunday for seven different over-the-air radio broadcasts heard locally is not again until Sunday 3 November, when the Denver Broncos are in their idle/bye week of the NFL regular season; and then Sunday 15 December, in Week Fifteen of the 2013 NFL Regular Season when the Denver Broncos host the San Diego Chargers on the preceding Thursday 12 December Night Football game.

However, continued success by Denver through this season may result in having one of their Sunday afternoon games "flexed" by the NFL and NBC, moving the contest to the national Sunday Night Game window with a 6:30 pm MDT kickoff. This is a possibility in the final six weeks of the regular season, starting in Week Twelve on Sunday 24 November.

The most likely possibilities would seem to be Week Sixteen in the game at the Houston Texans. The Broncos are already scheduled again for Sunday Night Football in Week Twelve at the New England Patriots; Week Thirteen on Sunday 1 December could be attractive with Denver being at the Kansas City Chiefs, but unless Denver is undefeated and Kansas City has a better record than expected at that point it would seem all but certain NBC would not put a club on the broadcast for a second consecutive week.

Week Fourteen seems very unlikely with the Tennessee Titans coming to Mile High on Sunday 8 December; Week Fifteen is the Thursday Night against the Chargers' and Week Seventeen in the season finale at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum against a Raiders club that is certain to be putrid is another week where a switch is not likely unless Denver is playing for a perfect regular season.

Any flexing by the NFL and NBC of Denver Broncos games in the final six weeks of the 2013 regular season would likely mean increased numbers of local over-the-air radio broadcasts of NFL games, but even if that occurs it would seem all but certain that on any of those Sundays seven -

- or even eight different broadcasts if ESPN radio schedules a doubleheader broadcast like the other three broadcast entities will -

- different games will not be heard on local radio here in the Denver region, especially given that the Denver Broncos would be doing exceptionally better even projected, fueling even greater levels of interest and participation in local Broncos-themed sports talk on local sports-programmed radio.

[DenverDiamondJack]

Denver did indeed get the quadruple-triple jackpot again for local over-the-air national radio NFL game broadcasts once again for this Sunday, 20 October. With the Denver Broncos playing in the evening national game both afternoon windows were available for all national broadcasts.

The 11:00 am MDT window had four broadcasts: ESPN Radio's New England Patriots @ New York Jets on KDSP 102.3; Sports USA's Buffalo Bills @ Miami Dolphins on KJAC 105.5; Compass' Cincinnati Bengals @ Detroit Lions on KEPN 1600; and Westwood One's Chicago Bears @ Washington Redskins on KKFN 104.3.

The 2:00 pm MDT window had three broadcasts: Sports USA's San Francisco 49ers @ Tennessee Titans on both KDSP 102.3 and KJAC 105.5; Compass' Cleveland Browns @ Green Bay Packers on KEPN 1600; and Westwood One's Houston Texans @ Kansas City Chiefs on KKFN 104.3. Oddly the best late afternoon game available, between the rival and perennial contending Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, was not picked up for a national radio broadcast.

The next possible Sundays for seven different over-the-air radio broadcasts heard locally in the two afternoon broadcast windows will be two weeks from the date of this post on Sunday 3 November, when the Denver Broncos are in their idle/bye week of the NFL regular season; and then Sunday 15 December, in Week Fifteen of the 2013 NFL Regular Season as the Denver Broncos will host the San Diego Chargers on the preceding 12 December Thursday Night Football game.

The complete schedule for the games to be broadcast for Sunday 3 November will be finalized during the week of 21 - 24 October, when Compass makes their choices for broadcasts. Westwood One has already chosen the Tennessee Titans @ St Louis Rams and Baltimore Ravens @ Cleveland Browns for their broadcast doubleheader that Sunday; Sports USA will go with the New Orleans Saints @ New York Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Seattle Seahawks for their broadcast doubleheader; and ESPN Radio has a late window slot for a change with the Pittsburgh Steelers @ New England Patriots tilt. Expect all seven radio broadcasts to be carried on local over-the-air Denver radio outlets.