WYOS, WRVC flip to ESPN

As the election has passed, it should be no surprise that a few liberal talk stations are moving on to other formats, anticipating a likely decline in listenership to political talk radio in general.

The first station to make a move was WSMB in New Orleans, which flipped to a format of time-shifted programming from sister station WWL.

Next was WXXM in Madison, WI, announcing a pending flip to a local-oriented sports format.

And now WYOS in Binghamton, NY, which was not heavily promoted outside of its sister talk station, will be picking up the straight ESPN Radio feed effective Monday, according to program director Roger Neel, who announced the move on sister station, WNBF-AM Friday morning.

The move means WYOS will go head-to-head with Endicott-based WENE AM-1430, which airs a Fox Sports Radio format except for the "Imus in the Morning" show in the morning drive-time slot.

Programming on ESPN Radio includes "Mike & Mike in the Morning," "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" and "The Dan Patrick Show."

WYOS will continue to carry Syracuse University broadcasts, Neel said.

And in Huntington, WV, WRVC, which added a heavy amount of sports programming in September, drops Al Franken and Ed Schultz as the station becomes a 24/7 sports outlet as ESPN 930.