FC Cincinnati will have a new radio affiliate for its new league. Under a two-year deal announced Tuesday, FC Cincinnati's inaugural Major League Soccer season will be broadcast on oldies WDJO's three frequencies: 1480 AM, 99.5 FM and 107.9 FM.
Match coverage also will be available on TuneIn by searching WDJO, as well asfccincinnati.com, making the radio call available to fans on desktop or mobile devices, the club announced.
Play-by-play announcer Tom Gelehrter will be joined by analyst Kevin McCloskey and sideline reporter Lindsay Patterson for all matches starting with the MLS opener 10 p.m. Saturday, March 2, at the Seattle Sounders' CenturyLink Field. (FS1 will televise the match nationally.)
"As the new flagship radio station of FCC, WDJO will carry all of FC Cincinnati’s games live on all three stations, and will also extend each show to a 2-1/2-hour window to accommodate a 30-minute postgame show during each broadcast," the club announced. Further terms were not released.
Last year, only home games were broadcast 50,000-watt WCKY-AM (1530) or another iHeartMedia station. "ESPN 1530" also broadcast a weekly FC Cincinnati Fan Show on Wednesdays from MadTree Taproom in Oakley.
The new deal means that "every FCC match – home and away – will be carried live (including the 30-minute postgame show) on the same three stations for the entire 2019 and 2020 seasons, says Lizz Summers, FC Cincinnati vice president for communications.
"We will do all 34 games. Seven will be exclusive radio broadcasts of the national TV games, and 27 games will be simulcasts of the local WSTR-TV games, Gelehrter tells me.
"We're very pleased to welcome WDJO to the FC Cincinnati family," said Vince Cicero, FC Cincinnati senior vice president of sponsorship and broadcast said in the release. "Having an over-the-air radio partner who is not only committed to airing our games on the same spot on the dial week-in and week-out is fantastic, but also who is committing to do it on the same three stations every game is even better for our fans. We’re looking forward to our first broadcast this weekend from Seattle."
"Everyone at WDJO is excited to be part of the inaugural MLS season with FCC. We're looking forward to a great year helping fans enjoy the matches on the radio," WDJO owner Robert Nolan said in the statement.
