The Kansas City Chiefs Radio Network announced Friday that they added St. Louis-based CBS radio stations KMOX-AM, 1120 AM, and KYKY-HD3, 98.1 FM, to their Chiefs football programming.
The radio expansion to the St. Louis market comes as football fans in St. Louis were left without a team after the Rams skipped town to Los Angeles earlier this year.
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"When expanding Chiefs Kingdom to additional markets, our objective is to serve the fans, the affiliate station and their community, and the Kansas City Chiefs in the best partnership for all three entities," said Donna Baker, Regional Vice-President for Cumulus Midwest and Kansas City (the media group who owns the Chiefs Radio Network). "We are thrilled to include KMOX, one of the most iconic stations in the country, in our award-winning NFL broadcast coverage platform."
CBS Radio St. Louis Senior Vice-President John Sheehan said that KMOX is "proud" to bring the Chiefs to St. Louis. "The Chiefs have a lot in common with our St. Louis teams--committed ownership, leadership and players wanting to win it all for their rabid fan base," Sheehan said. "We look forward to partnering with the Chiefs and broadcasting the games on KMOX's 50,000 Red Hot Watts to Chiefs fans in St. Louis and beyond."
Chiefs president Mark Donovan has said that he believes the Chiefs brand will eventually take hold in the St. Louis market. "We have fans there and we're going to get in front of them now and develop that relationship," Donovan said in mid-June. "We knew that was coming and we have been working on this for the past few months.
"I think what you're going to see over the next for or five years is a real resurgence of the Chiefs brand in St. Louis. We do have some advantages over the other NFL franchises, not only in geography, but because it's in the state of Missouri, we're the only team that can actually market our corporate partnership as well as our brand in St. Louis, so that's a big advantage."
KMOX has been the historic flagship affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals Radio Network, except for a few select years from 2006 to 2010, when Cardinals games were aired on KTRS 590.
The Chiefs radio broadcast team adds Dani Welniak, a reporter for KCTV-5, as a sideline reporter. Welniak will join play-by-play man Mitch Holthus, along with analyst Len Dawson and Kendall Gammon.
CBS affiliate KCTV-5 in Kansas City simulcasted their broadcast of the game Saturday afternoon against the Seattle Seahawks in St. Louis on KMOV, the local CBS affiliate. Play-by-play man Carter Blackburn and color analyst Trent Green, who played for both the Chiefs and St. Louis Rams, welcomed football fans in St. Louis who were tuned into the game.
The Chiefs lost to the Seahawks 17-16 on Saturday in front of a crowd at Arrowhead Stadium that was at about half capacity. Quarterback Alex Smith looked impressive in his first and only drive, and Cairo Santos converted on all three of his field goal tries.
The Seahawks scored a touchdown as time expired on a 37-yard pass from Trevone Boykin to Tanner McEvoy, bringing Seattle within one point. The Seahawks successfully converted the two-point try on the next play and won the game.
The Chiefs travel to Los Angeles on Saturday to take on the Rams in their new home. The game is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. CT.
