KPAM, KBZY New Broadcast Partners for Oregon State Athletics

In addition to KPAM, BSP has secured an affiliate agreement with KBZY (AM 1490) to secure strong Beavers coverage in Salem.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

CORVALLIS, Ore. - The Oregon State University Department of Athletics, in conjunction with Beaver Sports Properties-a dvision of Learfield Sports, is proud to announce a new multi-year agreement with radio station KPAM (AM 860) to become the Portland flagship station of the Beaver Sports Radio Network.

The new partnership will increase the total number of broadcast hours of Beaver sports in Oregon’s largest metropolitan area to an estimated 350 hours per year, doubling broadcast hours of recent years in this key market.

"First I want to thank KEX for their years of airing Oregon State football and basketball," Director of Athletics Bob De Carolis said. KEX is a great station with strong programming.

"Maximizing on our success in all sports continues to be one of our most important goals. We have a loyal and huge fan base in the Portland area and we don’t hide the fact that we consider Portland a Beaver city. This new deal will allow us to better serve Portland by doubling our number of hours on the air. We view every radio or television opportunity as a window to the university. Along with our strong network stations across Oregon and other options online and with satellite radio, we feel this move to KPAM and the Pamplin family enhances Oregon State Athletics overall."

Beginning with the 2007-08 season KPAM will anchor the Beaver Sports Radio Network and carry more than eight hours of live football coverage weekly, all men’s basketball games, Beaver Sports Talk coaches shows, and selected women’s basketball games on sister station KKAD (AM 1550).

In 2008, the 2006 national champion baseball team will air in Portland for every pitch.

OSU and BSP will honor the final year (2008) of the current agreement with KUIK (AM 1360) to carry baseball with all games airing in the Portland area in 2008.

In 2009, Beaver baseball will air exclusively on KPAM and KKAD.

With this new agreement, Oregon State will enjoy the strongest comprehensive radio package in the Pac-10 Conference by offering the most total hours of play-by-play and auxiliary programming.

In addition to KPAM, BSP has secured an affiliate agreement with KBZY (AM 1490) to secure strong Beavers coverage in Salem along with continuing coverage with Corvallis/Albany Beaver flagship KEJO (AM 1240).

In addition to the games, both new stations (KPAM and KBZY) will air the weekly 60-minute "Beaver Sports Talk” show throughout the year, which originates from McMenamins in Corvallis.

The Beaver Sports Radio Network now consists of 26 stations statewide.

"We greatly respect Bob and his team, and we're also pleased with the new KPAM agreement allowing more fans to catch more Beaver sports over the airwaves," Greg Brown, president of Learfield Sports said.

In addition to carrying the weekly Beaver Sports Talk shows on Tuesday evenings, KPAM will host a weekly interview with head football coach Mike Riley and other OSU coaches live on-air in "The Bob Miller in the Morning" show.

KPAM Sports Director Ron Callan will devote extended coverage of Beaver athletics in sportscasts on-air and on his Beavers blog at www.kpam.com.

“KPAM is delighted to welcome Beaver sports to our line-up,” KPAM general manager Paul Clithero said. "With long-time Beaver supporter Bob Miller hosting our morning show each weekday, it’s the perfect fit and a great opportunity to make Beaver sports the top attraction in Portland."

KPAM is the 50,000-watt anchor of the locally owned Pamplin Media Group, which owns and operates the Portland Tribune newspaper and the Community Newspapers of Oregon with a combined circulation of 165,000 readers per week.

As part of the agreement, Oregon State Athletics will also utilize a large amount of print advertising in the Portland Tribune and the Community Newspapers during the year.

The ads will market games, promote broadcast schedules and highlight Beaver student-athletes.

In addition to the print element, Pamplin will ensure the continued success of Oregon State Athletics by making an annual cash donation earmarked for capital projects and student-athlete welfare to the OSU Foundation.

In 2003 Beaver Sports Properties and Oregon State Athletics made history when OSU became the first Northwest school to offer Spanish language football broadcasts to the Latino community and in 2006 expanded Hispanic sports marketing efforts by partnering with Churchill Media, LLC of Eugene to broadcast every Beaver football game and 20 baseball games in Spanish.

The Beaver Spanish-language radio network (LaX Sports Network) includes Eugene (AM 660 KXQR/ESPN Deportes), Portland (AM 1040 KXPD), and Yakima, Wash. (101.7 FM KMNA).

OSU's distinction as the only school with a radio network for college baseball is another example of the best programming in the Pac-10.

Games can currently be heard in Corvallis (KEJO 1240), Portland (KUIK 1360 with KPAM 860 and KKAD 1550 joining in 2009), Bend (KICE 940-AM), Eugene (KKNX 840-AM) and the Spanish LaX network.

There will continue to be several options to complement local radio with a majority of Beaver action available on XM Satellite Radio (official partner of the Pac-10 Conference), internet audio through Beaver Nation Online audio/visual service, Yahoo! Sports and now www.kpam.com.

Beaver Nation Online and Yahoo! Sports links are available at www.osubeavers.com (via several subscription-based plans).

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