A Denver radio station that promised all Broncos talk all the time is no more. iHeartMedia announced today that it was flipping formats on Orange and Blue 760.
KDSP-AM began carrying the sports format in December 2015 under the name Denver Sports 760. Any discussion of the areas other teams on the station’s airwaves ended in July 2017 when the station adopted the Orange and Blue name.
As of today, KDSP has changed its call letters to KDFD. The station is simulcasting on a translator at 93.7 FM and stunting with songs that contain the word freedom in the title. iHeart purchased the translator from Hunt Broadcasting, which had used it to carry a classic hits format. AllAccess reports that the KDFD simulcast is expected to carry a conservative talk format under the name Freedom 93.7.
Nikki Jhabvala of The Athletic reports that the new station will be headlined by Rush Limbaugh’s syndicated show, which comes over from sister station KOA.
Michael Roberts of Westword, an independent paper and digital news site based in Denver, has speculated that the Broncos’ lack of success over the last two seasons may have lead to the format flip. Whether or not that is true is hard to tell, but talking about a single team 24/7 can create a content challenge even when a team is winning. Certainly building a station around a losing team couldn’t have been easy.
Orange & Blue 760 morning man Benjamin Allbright hinted that the station’s story isn’t over yet in a post on Twitter earlier today and that he and his co-host Ryan Edwards are still employees of iHeart Denver.
Edwards has verified that and says the duo will be on KOA tonight, as they usually are when the Rockies are off.
Orange & Blue 760’s old website now hosts a message thanking listeners and Broncos fans for their support and reminding them that sister station KOA still covers the team. The format flip leaves Denver with three local sports brands: Bonneville’s 104.3 the Fan, KSE Radio Ventures’ Altitude Sports Radio, and Nate Lundy’s Mile High Sports Radio. Altitude and The Fan also have AM frequencies which carry ESPN Radio’s and Fox Sports Radio’s national lineups respectively.
