Cardinal bird

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- After decades on WHAS and iHeart stations, the University of Louisville athletics programs will have a new radio home next season.

On Thursday morning, the school announced that on July 1 all of its sports radio programming will move to Louisville First Radio Group, which owns Louisville First The Ville 93.9 FM and WGTK 970 AM.

No terms for the deal were announced, although Paul Rogers will remain as the voice of U of L football and men’s basketball, as will the current announcers for other U of L sports teams.

For several decades, U of L had multiple games bumped from 840 WHAS because programming from the University of Kentucky had priority.

Here is an edited version of the release from the school:

“This marks the first time UofL’s football, men’s and women’s basketball and baseball games, as well as the seasonal football and basketball coaches’ shows, will be broadcast by the same radio partner.

“All Louisville Cardinals games and coaches’ shows will have priority clearance and will be simulcast on both 93.9 FM and 970 AM.  If two Louisville programs are playing at the same time, the signals will be split to accommodate both broadcasts.

“Under LEARFIELD’s prior agreement, nearly two-thirds of UofL games were subject to be moved from the flagship station due to conflict with other live sports programming.  The multi-year agreement, which begins on July 1, 2022, also calls for Cardinal Insider to air Monday through Friday on three signals throughout the year – 93.9 FM, 970 AM and 1450 AM.

 “Additionally, all on-air broadcast talent for UofL games remains the same. Paul Rogers, iconic voice of the Cardinals, will continue to anchor the broadcast team for the Louisville Cardinals Radio Network alongside the familiar Cards’ personalities and analysts.

 “This is tremendous news for UofL fans,” said Josh Heird, University of Louisville interim athletic director. “For the first time ever, our fans will have one radio home to listen to Cards’ football, basketball and baseball programming in the Louisville market.

“While we appreciate the longtime relationship with iHeart, this is a brilliant move for the Cards and for our fans, where we’ll have dedicated, premier coverage as the city’s hometown team.”

The Louisville First Radio Group, a joint venture of Louisville’s ESPN Radio and Word Media Group, owns 93.9 FM ‘The Ville’ and WGTK 970 AM respectively. LEARFIELD is currently finalizing a statewide network lineup that will offer Cardinal fans greater coverage throughout the Commonwealth.  As a complement to this new, momentous relationship with the university, UofL fans can anticipate even more programming with the addition of a Louisville Cardinals Baseball coaches’ show in spring 2023. 

“We are so proud to be able to call ourselves the new home of the Cards,” said Drew Deener, vice president of ESPN Louisville and morning show host.  “UofL athletics will always be our top priority on 93.9 FM The Ville. We can’t wait to hear the legendary voice of Paul Rogers on our airwaves starting this fall …”

Now, and moving forward, fans can still hear live games and coaches’ shows GoCards.com and The Varsity Network app, which is free to download. The Varsity Network carries the exact radio play-by-play from Rogers and the UofL broadcast team.

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