Ever since Bill Moos was hired as athletics director at Washington State a little over a year ago -- can you believe it's only been that long? -- he's made it clear that one of his top priorities is to raise the profile of WSU all over the state. One specific area that's really rubbed fans on the west side of the state the wrong way is the lack of radio exposure for football and basketball, and Moos promised he'd work on it.
This hasn't always been the case, as KJR 950-AM was the flagship station for WSU before it secured the UW rights from KOMO 1000-AM. But after that happened, WSU was relegated to small, weak signaled stations. For example, my home is less than 20 miles from Tacoma -- and situated on a hill, no less -- yet I can barely get reception on the 850-AM signal at night. Same goes for the small station on the north end that carried the games.
Well, it appears our prayers might be answered. KIRO 710-AM has been running spots all day for a "major announcement" to come on the Kevin Calabro show, and it appears they tipped off their own WSU writer as to the nature of it:
Be sure to tune in to the Kevin Calabro show on ESPN 710 today at 4:45pm for a BIG announcement from WSU Director of Athletics Bill Moos.
I'm not trying to oversell this thing, but if you're a West-side Coug, this is the type of news you've waited a long time to hear.
If this is indeed an announcement that KIRO will become the flagship station for WSU, I couldn't be more thrilled. That'll put the Cougs on the same station as the Mariners and Seahawks and in direct competition with KJR's coverage of UW. The only question it raises is that of programming conflicts -- the Mariners run through the first month of football season, while KIRO also currently carries Seattle University basketball games. I'm curious to hear how that will be worked out.
But the Cougars being carried on a major sports radio station in the state's largest city with a signal that carries as far north as Bellingham, as far south as Longview and as far east as Cle Elum?
Yeah, that'll do.