San Diego sports station Mighty 1090 is no more

Mighty 1090 Permanently Off the Air

Station was taken off the air earlier this month, apparently for not paying its tower fees, existed on the internet for about 2 1/2 weeks until the plug was pulled on that today.

Admittedly, it's been almost 18 years since I lived in San Diego, and about 10 years since I listened to the station (pretty strong signal), but I have a melancholy feeling about it just from my memories of listening to the station, and listening to what I consider its spiritual predecessor the Mighty 690. I would listen to that station in my car and even at home back when they had Lee Hamilton, Steve Hartman/Chet Forte and a young buck named Jim Rome who rose through the ranks, and increasingly better time slots, through the '90s.

 

The last few years have not been kind to the station losing the Padres and Aztecs.

In earlier days, XEPRS was also home for Wolfman Jack.

 

Don’t forget “Coach” Kentera.

The Padres moving off 1090 a couple years ago was the beginning of the end followed by the Chargers moving away.

 

They had the AHL Gulls. Now that team has no radio outlet as it moves into the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs. They also were a conflict destination for the Ducks when the Angels/Kings/whomever were playing at the same time.

 

This station appears to be unique because they leased a Mexico based transmitter and had some kind of problem continuing the agreement.

But I wonder how many other AM stations are going to shut down. I just checked the radio ratings of Denver, for example, and only three AM stations had ratings above .2%. Many young people do not listen to AM at all.

 

The station was licensed in Mexico, thus the call letters beginning with an X, but targeted San Diego. Much like XETV (Ch. 6) had a Tijuana license but was programmed for north of the border for much of its time on the air until losing the CW affiliation last year. It's been rebroadcasting a Mexican network ever since.

 

Remember when radio was deemed so vital we were told to keep one with our emergency supplies in case of some prolonged outage? How many stations would even have the capability to provide emergency info or dare I say it actual news coverage? My guess is almost all stations will be adjuncts to streaming operations and TV shows.

 

I don’t know about that. Even the big broadcasters are getting out of radio. See CBS dumping all its stations (many of which were tied into TV newsrooms) on Entercom.

Try buying a radio in most brick-and-mortar stores now and you’re SOL — don’t even think about trying to get one with AM. Apple continues to not “turn on” the FM chip in its phones. You’re being forced to stream, which is still a subpar experience.

 

That's Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton to you, bub.

 

From Baja to the Canadian Rockies I want to talk sports with you

 

Which is why a lot of AM's are acquiring FM translators. KOA and ESPN Denver did that, getting 94.1 and 104.3

And son of a bitch......I just looked at the ESPN Denver website......it is all ESPN Satellite.....no local shows.....no nothing.

Eeeeeks.

 

KOA AM in Denver is a 50,000 watt station and still gets strong ratings, so there is an economic logic to maintaining their license. But I suspect they will stay on the air for a good long while. But ESPN Denver is on 1600AM and has a terrible signal and a rating of .1. I would think that a rating that low would not even pay the power bill of the transmitter.