ESPN 700 is new radio home for Eastern sports

By PAUL DELANEY

Staff Reporter

Not only did Eastern Washington University sports land a better home for their radio broadcasts this past Monday, but the Eagles got a new voice in the bargain.

EWU and KXLY Radio Group have reached a radio agreement to have all home and away EWU football and men's basketball games broadcast live on 700 ESPN The Ticket. The three-year agreement includes football and men's basketball coaches shows, as well as internet coverage (www.espnnorthwest.com) of all broadcasts.

Larry Weir will still call football play-by-play and be joined by sidekick and color commentator Paul Sorensen. The first game at the new dial location will be Thursday, Sept. 2 when the Eastern football team plays at Nevada, with kickoff set for 6:05 p.m.

The other change will be the voice of Eagles' basketball where longtime television sports personality and former Gonzaga University broadcaster Dennis Patchin takes over the mic. Patchin is also the station's program director.

“We are very proud and thrilled to reach this agreement with the KXLY Radio Group,” Eastern athletic director Bill Chaves said. “The availability of having our games broadcast live on the same station on 700 ESPN The Ticket, as well as the great signal it has into Cheney, is a great opportunity for EWU to reach a larger audience.

Prior to the new single station deal, catching some Eastern broadcasts had the same odds as a lottery win.

Some broadcasts were heard on powerful 50,000 watt AM 1510. But if Gonzaga or the Chiefs were on then the Eags moved to AM 790. And if both the Zags and hockey were on on the same night Eastern was dealt off to the flickering fickle signal of AM 1050, virtually impossible to hear outside of Spokane.

That changes, Patchin said. “The daytime signal on 700 is probably the second best signal in town. It's one of the best AM signals during the daytime. And certainly at night, anywhere in Spokane County for sure you can listen to the games.”

Weir will return for his 20th season as the voice of the Eagles in football, having broadcast all but one of EWU's 217 games in that span. The only game he missed was a 2005 playoff game at Northern Iowa when he was broadcasting Eastern's basketball games in Alaska.

Patchin, an Idaho State University graduate, has been with KXLY for over 25 years and has covered everything from the Washington State Cougars to the Seattle Mariners. He's also done television play-by-play of Spokane Chiefs hockey. During his time at KXLY, Patchin was also the voice of the Gonzaga Bulldogs on radio for four seasons, during which the Zags made three straight Sweet 16 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].