A’s announce new flagship radio station in Sacramento. Here’s what is not changing
The Athletics have a new local radio partner in Sacramento that will broadcast their games as they move to the capital region.
The team announced Friday it would partner with iHeartRadio and that all spring training, regular season and potential postseason games will be broadcast on KSTE-AM (650), better known as Talk 650, and “A’s Cast” on the iHeartRadio Network. The deal is for the duration of the team’s time in West Sacramento.
The move will slide games across the AM dial from longtime local broadcaster KHTK-AM (1140), which is the flagship for the Kings broadcasts. KHTK, branded as Sactown Sports 1140, is owned by the Bonneville chain.
Ken Korach, the team’s longtime radio broadcaster, will continue as the club’s primary play-by-play announcer while former Sacramento River Cats radio voice Johnny Doskow will return to West Sacramento to help call games. Doskow joined the A’s broadcasting team on a full-time basis in 2023 after 21 years calling River Cats games. Chris Caray, the great-grandson of Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Caray, will also be on the crew. Caray is the fourth generation of his family to work as a sportscaster.
The A’s are planning to spend the next three or four seasons playing their home games in Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento before moving to a planned ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip after spending the last 57 seasons in Oakland. Their home opener in the 14,000-person venue is March 31 against the Chicago Cubs. They will share the stadium with the Triple-A River Cats, the top minor league affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
.jpg "BNG-L-ASVOICES-09XX-3 (2).jpg")
The team says Talk 650 KSTE and “A’s Cast” will carry “A’s Cast Live” for two and a half hours before each weeknight game and there will be 30-minute pre- and post-game shows around each game along with the “A’s Clubhouse Show” after every post-game show. iHeart will also produce “A’s After Dark” after every home game.
Long-time pre- and post-game host Chris Townsend will continue in the same role.
Former MLB players Shooty Babbitt, who played one season on the A’s, and Steve Sax, a West Sacramento native best known for his contributions to the Los Angeles Dodgers, will contribute to the pre- and post-game shows.
A’s games will continue to air in the Bay Area on iHeart Sports 960 (KNEW-AM) and are considering plans to broadcast games in Las Vegas before the planned move. The A’s are expecting to break ground on their stadium in 2025 and hope to open in time for the 2028 season.
This isn’t the first foray in sports radio for KSTE, a station better known for conservative talk with syndicated programs like “Armstrong & Getty,” Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. The 21,000-watt AM station licensed to Rancho Cordova once aired River Cats games until they moved to ESPN 1320 Radio (KIFM-AM).
Officials said that in addition to KSTE and KNEW, Fresno’s KFPT-AM (790) and KFIG-AM (1430) and Redding’s KNRO-AM (1400/103.9 FM) would be a part of the A’s Radio Network.
In addition to KHTK, the changes also meant the end of A’s broadcasts on Auburn’s KAHI-FM (104.5 and AM 950) and its repeater in Placerville (102.9 FM). The station confirmed Friday that KAHI would not be carrying the games, which it had done for 57 years.
Also left out: Stockton-Modesto’s KESP-AM (970), which was not included in the list provided by the A’s; a station manager at the ESPN Radio affiliate did not respond to questions about their plans on Friday.
Games will continue to be televised on NBC Sports California.
This story was originally published February 14, 2025 at 10:32 AM.
