ESPN radio back in area

Some of you Seattle Mariners fans may have been confused Tuesday when you tried to listen to your team on the radio and instead found country music.

Just turn your dial over to 1340 AM. Bob Castle, the programming director at what is now called 1340 AM ESPN Tri-Cities, said the station made the move at midnight Monday night.

“We havent made a huge deal about the launch,” Castle said. “It’s a soft launch. But it’s huge in that we actually switched stations.”

Ingstad Broadcasting, the stations’ new owners, encouraged the move. KALE AM 960 is now Country Legends music.

The Mariners move over to 1340 AM — which is good because that station has a stronger signal at night.

But here’s the big kicker: from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., the station will run the talk shows from KIRO in Seattle. That time frame will include the radio shows of Brock and Salk from 9 a.m. to noon; Bob and Groz from noon to 3 p.m., and the Kevin Calabro Show and 3 to 6 p.m.

From 6 p.m. to 9 a.m., the station will run ESPN Radio programming. Of course, the Mariners will pre-empt any talk show. And 1340 AM will still run University of Washington football and men’s basketball and Gonzaga men’s basketball.

This story was originally published May 15, 2012 at 11:49 PM with the headline "ESPN radio back in area."