Great Lakes Loons

The station will continue to be the flagship radio home for Great Lakes Loons baseball, carrying all regular season and post-season games, plus the 2008 Midwest League All-Star Game and Homerun Derby.

The Great Lakes Loons organization has announced the purchase of radio station WYLZ 100.9-FM from the Last Bastion Trust. The station was previously owned by Citadel Broadcasting. It has been rebranded ESPN 100.9-FM and will operate as an all-sports station beginning March 25, 2008.

The Michigan Baseball Foundation, the 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that owns Dow Diamond, helped the Loons finance the purchase. The Foundation also will fund the construction of a new state-of-the-art radio studio in the Dow Diamond press box, overlooking the baseball field. These steps made by the Michigan Baseball Foundation are consistent with the Foundation's stated mission of promoting regional economic development.

ESPN 100.9-FM will carry ESPN Radio's flagship weekday programs Mike and Mike in the Morning (6am-10am), featuring former NFL lineman Mike Golic and Sportscenter anchor Mike Greenberg; The Herd (10am-1pm), with Colin Cowherd; and the Mike Tirico Show (1pm-3pm), featuring versatile play-by-play broadcaster and Michigan native Mike Tirico, Sportscenter anchor Scott Van Pelt, ESPN reporter Michelle Tafoya, and College Gameday co-host Kirk Herbstreit.

Michigan's premiere sports talk show host Bill Simonson hosts The HUGE Show, weekdays from 3pm-6pm on ESPN 100.9-FM. The station will continue to be the flagship radio home for Great Lakes Loons baseball, carrying all regular season and post-season games, plus the 2008 Midwest League All-Star Game and Homerun Derby, powered by Dow Corning.

ESPN 100.9-FM will also carry various other ESPN Radio programs during night and weekend hours.

Loons President and General Manager Paul Barbeau noted that the opportunity to purchase the station was "too good to pass up" for several reasons. By owning a radio station, the Loons are able to secure a flagship station for the team's radio broadcasts for as long as the team owns the station. The radio station also provides an opportunity to further promote the team, upcoming games and the charitable initiatives of the Michigan Baseball Foundation.

Like the Loons, the new ESPN 100.9-FM will operate as a non-profit organization. The radio station will provide an additional revenue stream for the Michigan Baseball Foundation, which along with the Loons has helped generate over $350,000 in charitable donations during the Loons' first season. The station's purchase also corresponds with the Foundation's mission of promoting local economic development.

ESPN 100.9-FM will operate from the Citadel Broadcasting studios in Saginaw. After the conclusion of the baseball season, the Michigan Baseball Foundation will begin construction on the station's broadcast studios at Dow Diamond.

Brad Golder, currently the Loons' director of broadcasting and media relations and the team's play-by-play broadcaster, will serve as the program director of ESPN 100.9-FM. Golder previously served as the operations manager and executive producer for the Atlanta Braves Radio Network (Clear Channel, Atlanta) and as a producer for WWTN and WNFN (Cumulus, Nashville).