Red Zebra Broadcasting was a
sports marketing
Sports marketing as a concept has established itself as a branch of marketing over the past few decades, however, a generally accepted definition does not exist.
Academicians Kaser and Oelkers (2005, p. 9) define sports marketing as 'using spor ...
company headquartered in
Rockville, Maryland
Rockville is a city that serves as the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, and is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fifth-largest community in ...
. The company owned and operated four radio stations in the greater
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
radio market, one in Hampton Roads, VA, and two stations in
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
, mapsize = 250 px
, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
, pushpin_label = Richmond
, pushpin_m ...
.
Red Zebra announced the sale of its remaining station,
WTEM
WTEM (980 AM) is a commercial sports radio station licensed to serve Washington, D.C. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station services the Washington metropolitan area as the flagship station of the Washington Wizards. WTEM is also the co-flagship st ...
, in May, 2018. The official transfer took place in August 2018, at which point Red Zebra was officially disbanded.
Red Zebra’s flagship stations were
WTEM
WTEM (980 AM) is a commercial sports radio station licensed to serve Washington, D.C. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station services the Washington metropolitan area as the flagship station of the Washington Wizards. WTEM is also the co-flagship st ...
("ESPN 980") and
WSPZ ("Sports Talk 570") in Washington. WTEM focused on local sports talk, while WSPZ
In Richmond, Virginia ESPN affiliate
WXGI, 950AM “The Game” was branded as an
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...
outlet providing daily sports programming.
The company began in 2006, when it bought WBZS-FM (92.7 FM,
Prince Frederick, Maryland
Prince Frederick is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Prince Frederick was 3,226, up from 2,538 in 2010. It is the county seat of Cal ...
), along with sister stations WBPS-FM (94.3 FM,
Warrenton, Virginia) and
WKDL (730 AM,
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...
) and changed the call letters to
WWXT,
WWXX, and
WXTR. The new trimulcast was branded as "Triple X ESPN Radio," and cleared most of ESPN Radio's weekday programming, as well as a local show hosted by former Redskin
John Riggins.
Triple X was initially intended as a competitor to Washington's established sports talk station, WTEM. However, in 2008, Red Zebra bought WTEM, and eventually sold off the Triple X network.
The centerpiece of Red Zebra's programming consisted of content focused on the
Washington Redskins
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...
football franchise, including play-by-play game coverage as well as regular daily conversational pieces.
In addition to the Redskins, both stations provided a wide array of ongoing daily sports talk venues covering Washington’s prime sports teams, including the
Nationals,
Capitals
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
and
Wizards, as well as all other major sporting events.
The company also provided play-by-play coverage for the
Maryland Terrapins Football
The Maryland Terrapins football team represents the University of Maryland, College Park in the sport of American football. The Terrapins compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and the Big Ten Conference. The Terrapins jo ...
and
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
programs, and
Virginia Cavaliers football and
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
.
The company hosted a group of on-air talent including several former Washington Redskins players and several award-winning sports writers, columnists and radio sportscasters. As of March, 2017 the lineup included
Chris Cooley,
Brian Mitchell,
Doc Walker
Doc Walker is a country music group from Westbourne, Manitoba, Canada. They have won Canadian Country Music Awards and had radio hits with the songs "I Am Ready" and "The Show is Free" from the 2003 album ''Everyone Aboard''. In 2001 they releas ...
,
Bram Weinstein
Bram N. Weinstein is an American sportscaster who is the play by play broadcaster for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He previously worked at ESPN from 2008 to 2015, most notably as a host for ''SportsCenter''.
...
and
Steve Czaban
''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen
Notable people with the name include:
steve jops
* Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people
* Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people
* Steve ...
.
Corporate governance and executives
Current members of the board of directors for Red Zebra Broadcasting are
Daniel Snyder,
Dwight Schar
Dwight Schar is an American businessman. He is the founder of NVR, Inc., a Fortune 500 company that is the third-largest home builder (by revenue) in the United States. He currently serves as the company's Executive chairman and Chairman of E ...
, and Terry Bateman
Daniel Snyder and
Dwight Schar
Dwight Schar is an American businessman. He is the founder of NVR, Inc., a Fortune 500 company that is the third-largest home builder (by revenue) in the United States. He currently serves as the company's Executive chairman and Chairman of E ...
are company founders and primary investors, Mark Shapiro is
chairman
The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...
of the board of directors, and Rick Carmean is
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
.
References
{{Reflist
*http://www.espn980.com/
*http://www.1021fmthegame.com/
*http://www.espn950am.com/
Mass media companies of the United States
Defunct radio broadcasting companies of the United States
Companies based in Rockville, Maryland
American companies established in 2006
2006 establishments in Maryland
Mass media companies established in 2006
Defunct companies based in Maryland
2018 disestablishments in Maryland