Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

WBZB

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City
  
Murray, Kentucky

Frequency
  
1130 kHz

Format
  
Sports

Branding
  
1130 ESPN The Office

First air date
  
1976

Power
  
1,500 watts day

WBZB (1130 AM) is a daytime only radio station broadcasting a Sports Talk format, licensed to Murray, Kentucky. The station is currently owned by Forever Communications, Inc. and features programming from ESPN Radio.

Contents

In addition to games and commentary of national interest, WBZB features the area's only local sports show hosted by prominent local athlete and play-by-play man for the Murray High Tigers, Travis Turner.

Local sports updates are given daily from Neal Bradley, and are given as "Brought to you by Froggyland Sports".

Local programs

1130 WBZB The Office boasts the only live and local sports talk show in Western Kentucky. The Travis Turner Sports Show offers interviews and insight of local high school sports, along with national guests.

The Travis Turner Sports Show has guests from not only Murray and Calloway County (the main coverage area), but from other parts of the region, because it is the only outlet on a daily basis. This is also assisted by the streaming of his show online at Froggyland Sports.

Froggyland Sports

Travis Turner is the creator and force behind Froggyland Sports. The site is named for the sister station WFGS-FM and their coverage area. "FLS", which is what the site is called for short, gives you updates on local "Froggyland" high schools, and streams online the Travis Turner Sports Show.

Along with streaming the Travis Turner Sports Show, "FLS" also broadcasts the Murray High School athletics. This gives extended families the opportunity to listen to how well their young relatives are playing.

National programs

  • Mike and Mike Sign On – 9:00am
  • Colin Cowherd 9:00am – 1:00pm
  • Scott Van Pelt 1:00pm – 3:00pm
  • Doug Gottlieb 3:00pm – 3:30pm
  • ESPN Radio 5:00pm – Sign Off
  • Nationally broadcast NCAA football and basketball games are aired over the weekends, while the Westwood One NFL game of the week is aired on Sundays during football season.
  • Television simulcasts

    Something unique for The Office is that at most points throughout the day, the programming that is airing can also be seen on television. Nationally this is done with the ESPN channels, but locally in Murray, Kentucky it is due in part to local cable provide Murray Electric System.

  • Mike and Mike – ESPN2
  • Colin Cowherd – ESPNU
  • Scott Van Pelt – ESPN2
  • Travis Turner Sports Show – Murray Electric System Channel 15
  • Station events

    1130 ESPN The Office (along with sister stations WNBS-AM and WFGS-FM) hold different events through the year.

  • Annual Home, Lawn & Farm Show – This event dates back over 20 years (the first being held in 1989). It has always been the expo for vendors to show off their wares. There are always vendors that cater to different parts of the show, whether they represent HOME, LAWN or FARM. Often there are also "sub category" areas, like; Children's Play Area, Women's World or the Men's Sit a Spell. This event always occurs within the first quarter of the year. The Annual Home, Lawn & Farm show calls the Regional Special Events Center (RSEC) home currently, thus scheduling is subject to Murray State University basketball games and/or other events that are brought in.
  • History

    The station went on the air in 1976 as WSJP, owned by father-and-son businessmen Joe and Sam Parker. After merging with WNBS and the FM station now known as WFGS, they sold the stations to Forever Communications. It marked the first time that ownership of all of Murray's commercial broadcasters lay with an out-of-town company. WSJP and WNBS swapped formats and schedules in 2000 to take advantage of the better nighttime signal on WNBS.

    The call sign for 1130 was changed to WRKY and then to WJGY before becoming WOFC on 2007-01-11. This was originally a reference to the station's adult contemporary format, designed to be music that could be played in an office without distracting from work. Although the station reverted to sports talk a year later, the call letters did not change. The station changed its call sign to the current WBZB on November 23, 2016.

    The call letters of WSJP coincided with the initials of co-founder Sammy Joe Parker, although the station's official claim was that it stood for their motto "Serving the Jackson Purchase".

    References

    WBZB Wikipedia