The Ohio State Sports Network from Learfield is an American

radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many ( simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio ( duplex communication) t ...

consisting of 62 radio stations which carry coverage of

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

and men's basketball. Co-owned WBNS () and

WBNS-FM WBNS-FM (97.1 MHz) – branded ''97.1 The Fan'' – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to serve Columbus, Ohio, and services the Columbus metropolitan area. Owned by Tegna Inc., it and WBNS (1460 AM) are the only two radio stations ...

(), both licensed to

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

, serve as the network's 2

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyalt ...

s. The network also includes 60 affiliates in the U.S. states of

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

: 33 AM stations, 22 of which extend their signals with low-power FM

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

s; 26 full-power FM stations; and one HD Radio digital subchannel which supplements its signal with a low-power FM translator. Paul Keels has served as

play-by-play announcer In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio wa ...

for both football and men's basketball since 1998; former Ohio State

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative (Netherlands), Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that ...

Jim Lachey James Michael Lachey (born June 4, 1963) is a radio analyst for Ohio State football and a former American football offensive tackle who played for ten seasons in the National Football League with the San Diego Chargers, Los Angeles Raiders, and W ...

currently serves as

color analyst A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...

for football; and former Ohio State

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by ...

Ron Stokes currently serves as color analyst for men's basketball.

History

In 2009,

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

announced it had sold its athletic program's media rights to

IMG College LEARFIELD, formerly Learfield IMG College, is a large collegiate sports marketing company, representing more than 200 of the nation's top collegiate properties including the NCAA and its 89 championships, NCAA Football, leading conferences, and ...

and RadiOhio, Inc. (member of the Dispatch Broadcasting Group and then-owner of longtime network flagships WBNS and WBNS-FM); the "lucrative multiyear deal" was reportedly worth $110 million, and scheduled to last through 2019. At the time of the announcement, athletic director Gene Smith said Ohio State athletics would be in a better position to confront the then-ongoing economic downturn, referencing an unexpected $1.2 million deficit. On December 31, 2018, Learfield Communications, Inc., and

merged and formed a new company, Learfield IMG College.

Programming

Besides gameday coverage, network programming includes: * ''Buckeye Roundtable'', a two-hour weekly discussion on Buckeyes football, airs Monday evenings. *''The Ryan Day Call-In Show'', a weekly season-long update with the football head coach, airs Thursdays at 12pm noon.

Station list

*Asterisk (*) indicates

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

broadcast. *Blue background indicates low-power FM

Network map(s)

References

External links

*
IMGCollege.com: Ohio State University
{{Sports networks in the United States College basketball on the radio in the United States College football on the radio Ohio State Buckeyes football Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball Sports radio networks in the United States 2009 establishments in Ohio