Sports talk radio stations fight for listeners in Houston

Speaking in KFNC's defense: Jon Madani, programming director. He says his station will have increasing local programming but still feature the popular national shows like Mike & Mike and Dan Patrick. As for the signal, "I hear all kinds of theories [about not being able to get it], from what kind of car you're driving to where you are in town," he says. "I just have to keep telling myself that for everyone who can't hear us, and I'm sorry they can't, there's a whole lot of people who can."

As for taking on the giants, he says most of those giants have tiny marketing budgets. (Which is true: There aren't many billboards around town promoting sports talk.) "The big conglomerates, they're like the Mom & Pops now because they're strangling; they want as much revenue dollars as they can get and they want to spend as little in the market as they can...Frankly, we're going to have way more marketing out there than the majors do."

There aren't many in the market who think Houston can support four stations. "Some natural selection at some point will take effect," says Zierlein. "The market may be big enough for three sports stations, but one of them is going to be very weak and if it's four, one of them's not going to survive."

No one appears eager to blink just yet. So, Houston sports fans, enjoy it while you can. No one's going to have more choice in local sports-talk radio than you. Plus you get to watch a big-time battle.

Hey, no time for any more calls; stay tuned for traffic, weather and an update! And listen in for our new evening show, where we'll be discussing the ten best sports movies, why Eva Longoria isn't all that hot and whether the Sopranos finale sucked.

Oh, and we might talk a little about the Astros.