The Jaguars "are dropping their affiliation" with WOKV-AM and "will sign a multiyear deal to have all their games broadcast" on WJXL-AM and WGNE-FM, according to a source cited by Jeff Elliott of the FLORIDA TIMES-UNION. This would mark the "first change in radio coverage of Jaguars games since the team started play" in '95. The deal "will be for three or four years beginning this fall." WOKV "is one of the stronger stations in the Jacksonville area," as it is a 50,000-watt station in the daytime. But the Jaguars’ contract with WOKV "expires at the end of this month," and the team has "entertained bids the past several months, with WJXL making the strongest pitch for the radio package." The station "bid on the radio coverage in the past, but it did not have an FM affiliate at that time." WGNE has a "stronger and more versatile signal than that of WJXL’s AM or FM stations." The Jaguars’ "concern about losing the powerful signal of WOKV is one of the reasons WGNE-FM was signed to simulcast the games with WJXL AM and FM." A broadcast team has yet to "be determined." Meanwhile, the Jaguars also "will have a new affiliation" on the TV side. WJXT-Ind "will replace" WTEV-CBS "as the official TV station of the Jaguars, carrying all of the preseason games other than those contracted for a national network telecast" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 3/19).
