97.1 RQQ lands deal to broadcast Vanderbilt football, basketball games

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97.1 RQQ lands deal to broadcast Vanderbilt football, basketball games

Written by Administrator

Wednesday, 24 March 2010 11:48

Vanderbilt University athletics’ radio programming will move from 104.5-FM The Zone to 97.1 RQQ as part of a deal inked between the Vanderbilt ISP Radio Network and Cumulus Media that was announced today.

The three-year deal goes into effect this football season and will run through the 2012-13 basketball season with option years to follow. Programming includes football and basketball games as well as call-in shows. Explaining the move from a sports talk station to a rock station, Vanderbilt athletics spokesman Rod Williamson said the school was looking for special attention.

“The idea of being the top sports priority was pretty significant to us,” Williamson said. The Zone has “a pretty busy sports plate. If you’re not the No. 1 sports priority, you can get things moved.”

Brad Willis, program director at 104.5-FM The Zone, said there were discussions about extending the existing contract.

“We wish them well in this decision they’ve made and hope it works out great for them,” Willis said.

Williamson said Vandy wants to have a consistent schedule for its regularly scheduled programs that won’t be preempted by other programming, which he said sometimes occurred on The Zone. Williamson stressed that The Zone was a good broadcast partner and that there were no problems, but said the school began exploring other opportunities since the current contract was expiring.

“We have appreciated the long run with our current flagship station,” Vanderbilt Vice Chancellor David Williams said in a news release. “But as we looked at what would be Vanderbilt’s best option going forward, we found a terrific new partner with Cumulus Media and 97.1 RQQ.”

Mark Sullivan, senior vice president and general manager of Cumulus Media Nashville, said the company is excited to be the flagship station for Vanderbilt athletics and to broadcast Southeastern Conference games.

“This is new to us. We don’t do a lot of sports,” Sullivan said. “But the more we got into it, the more excited we got over here.”

The Vanderbilt ISP Radio Network includes 10 other Tennessee radio stations. Cumulus Media is the second-largest radio company in the U.S. and owns five Nashville stations

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