SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento Kings are ending their relationship with KHTK-AM/Sactown Sports 1140 after more than three decades and moving their complete game-audio operation to team-controlled streaming.
Beginning October 5, regular-season and postseason broadcasts will be produced by the Kings and distributed through Kings+, the team’s website and SiriusXM. Gary Gerould, Henry Turner and Jason Ross will remain with the broadcasts, while Armando Botello joins a new Spanish-language stream.
A major professional team is leaving its local radio flagship
The decision reportedly makes the Kings the first National Basketball Association team to eliminate a local terrestrial-radio partner for its regular-season games. The change gives the organization direct control over production, distribution, advertising and audience relationships.
It also removes the simplest access point for many listeners: turning on a local AM station without registration, an application or a dependable mobile-data connection.
The test will happen inside the car
A team stream can reach fans beyond Sacramento and create better first-party audience data. But its practical success will depend on how quickly a listener can launch it in a vehicle, whether registration is required, how much delay exists compared with television and whether the stream remains stable during heavy demand.
Other unanswered questions include whether local advertising will continue, what audience information sponsors receive and whether the Kings would consider restoring a terrestrial partner if fans encounter access problems.
Radio News Now question
Owning the digital audience relationship has clear value. The question is whether that value outweighs the universal reach, local identity and emergency reliability of an over-the-air flagship.
Source: The Desk’s detailed report on the Kings’ new audio distribution plan.