Jim Martin, the president and chief executive officer at Altitude Sports and Entertainment, confirmed Tuesday that the flagship Denver station for Avalanche and Nuggets radio broadcasts in the 2010-11 seasons most likely will be Lincoln Financial’s KRWZ 950 AM.
The arrangement calls for games to be aired on the teams’ previous flagship station, Mile High Sports’ KCKK 1510 AM, only when Nuggets and Avalanche broadcasts overlap. In that situation, one game would be on KRWZ and and the other on KCKK.
Martin, who heads the broadcasting arm of Kroenke Sports, which owns the teams and the Pepsi Center, said he hoped the deal would be closed and officially announced within the next few days.
“We’re switching radio outlets, but we’re continuing our deal with Mile High Sports Radio,” Martin said. “They’ve done the deal with Lincoln Financial to put the games on 950.”
KCKK has carried Nuggets and Avalanche games the past two seasons, and Altitude’s contract with Mile High Sports has a year remaining. Martin indicated a contract extension would be part of the altered radio arrangement. Before the switch to KCKK for the 2008-09 seasons, Nuggets and Avalanche games were on 950 AM, when it was known as KKFN. That sports-talk station, another Lincoln Financial property, now is at 104.3 FM.
“We’re continuing our relationship with Mile High Sports Radio while at the same time renewing our relationship with our previous partners at Lincoln Financial and 950,” Martin said. “So we see it as benefiting everyone, all the way around.”
By putting the games on KRWZ, now an oldies station, neither KCKK nor KKFN would have to cut away from their regular schedule of sports-talk programming.
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
