iHeart Launches Iowa Sports Network, Flips Cedar Rapids Station

Posted on by Jon Ellis

iHeartMedia has launched a statewide Sports radio network in Iowa and changed a station’s format in Cedar Rapids to carry the new service.

The “Iowa Sports Radio Network” expands the reach of iHeart’s existing Des Moines-based Sports programming and airs on:

  • KXNO/1460 (Des Moines) and KXNO-FM/106.3 (Ankeny-Des Moines)
  • KOSY-FM/95.7 (Anamosa-Cedar Rapids), which flipped from Contemporary Hits
  • KXIC/800 (Iowa City)
  • WFXN/1230 (Moline-Quad Cities)
  • KMNS/620 (Sioux City)

The lineup includes “The Morning Rush” with Travis Justice and Ross Peterson from 6 to 8 a.m., Ken Miller and Trent Condon from 12 to 2, and “The Drive” with Sean Roberts and Heather Burnside from 2 to 6 p.m.

Though Iowa doesn’t have any pro teams, the Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones have huge following. Fans can pick from four NFL and six MLB teams in neighboring states, giving hosts plenty of material.

iHeart also runs regional sports networks in Minnesota and Wisconsin, which are carried some iHeart stations and syndicated to stations owned by other companies. It’s not immediately known if the Iowa Sports Radio Network will be syndicated to non-iHeart stations.

Cedar Rapids format flip

KOSY-FM’s new format competes with longtime Sports station “1600 ESPN” (KGYM/1600 and K272GB/102.3), which runs local programming in morning and afternoon drive.

Its previous “Hot 95.7” format had targeted heritage Contemporary Hits station “Z102.9” (KZIA) but also faced competition from Cumulus’ “B100” (KBEA/99.7 Muscatine-Quad Cities), which rimshots Cedar Rapids. The city peaked at five CHR stations: Cumulus also previously ran a local format and its Waterloo-market “Q” format rimshotted Cedar Rapids before being moved to a smaller signal.

“Hot 95.7” featured a large amount of syndicated programming with Elvis Duran in the morning as well as Ryan Seacrest and Club Kane.