A New Home for the Panthers
Today is KXEL’s birthday…it was on this date, July 14 in 1942 that this radio station first came on the air…that’s 81 years ago.
And within a few months, KXEL carried live play-by-play of football games played by what was then the Iowa State Teacher’s College. Ever since, KXEL has had a relationship—off and on, mostly on—carrying sporting events for University of Northern Iowa teams.
These days, the University assigns its broadcast rights to a company called Learfied…and they have a local subsidiary known as Panther Sports Properties. Learfield has contracted with KXEL to air football, volleyball, and men’s and women’s basketball games…they pay us for the value of the air time, and to produce the broadcasts. In that way, it’s no different than a business that buys commercial time.
Last December, Learfield exercised its right to opt out of our current contract, in hopes of a better financial arrangement. Their offer would have required us to give up more air time, and for far less money. We went back and forth a bit, finally telling them that even though our costs—like yours—have gone up, we’d continue with the existing deal, in terms of air time and compensation.
We know the value of our air time and signal…and they think they know the value of their product—but we don’t agree on things at this point, which means you will no longer hear UNI sporting events on KXEL.
If you are a Panther fan, an announcement will be made soon of where you can listen online or on the radio…it just won’t be here.
And if you are one of those persons—and there are a lot of you, judging from the email, calls, and texts I have gotten over time—who are disappointed when your favorite program is pre-empted for a Panther sporting event…well, that won’t happen anymore and you can enjoy your regular programming without those interruptions.
We’ll still root for the Panthers, and we wish all parties well in their new business arrangement. But we’re also looking forward to having a consistent broadcast schedule that you can rely on.
Lots of things have changed in our 81 years on the air…and we look forward to being here for you for the long term.
