MU finds new radio home for game broadcasting

by David Reed

December 22,2009

University of Missouri football and basketball games will be broadcast by Zimmer Radio Group rather than Cumulus Broadcasting beginning next August.

Mizzou Sports Properties, which handles MU's multimedia rights, made the announcement Tuesday.

KFRU, an AM station owned by Cumulus, had been broadcasting MU games since 1925. Three other Cumulus stations also broadcast the games.

Under the five-year agreement, Zimmer will broadcast the games on five stations: KCMQ-FM, KTGR-AM, KWOS-AM, KFAL-AM and KKCA-FM stations.

Zimmer stations will simulcast all football, men's basketball, coaches shows and daily shows starting with the 2010-11 season. Zimmer also agreed to expand broadcasting to all baseball and women's basketball games on both AM and FM signals and increase promotional opportunities for Mizzou Athletics.

A key aspect of the agreement was that the games will be broadcast on KCMQ, a 100,000-watt FM station with a "tremendous signal," according to the news release from Mizzou Sports Properties, which is part of Learfield Communications, a private company based in Jefferson City.

Zimmer Radio Group owner John Zimmer said, "We're confident we will continue to build on the legacy that's been established."

Mark Mills, the market manager for the Cumulus stations in mid-Missouri, said  the primary reason for the switch is revenue for the University of Missouri Athletic Department.

"It was important to us to gain some opportunity to increase our revenue directly connected to the MU broadcasts," Mills wrote in an e-mail. "In fact, as it stands – and as it will apparently continue – 100 percent of the revenue from the broadcasts go to Mizzou Sports Properties."