Sonics end 21-year partnership with KJR AM

Radio broadcasts for the Sonics will move from KJR (950 AM) to KTTH (770 AM) next season, the NBA team announced Tuesday.

The Sonics signed a multi-year agreement with Entercom Radio Group, a corporation that also owns KIRO (710 AM). The announcement ends a 21-year-old partnership between the Sonics and KJR.

"It was a difficult decision to change stations," Sonics president and CEO Wally Walker in a news release. "The Sonics are proud to have been a part of KJR's emergence as one of the country's premier radio stations.

"We're looking forward to 770 AM KTTH as our new home of Sonics Basketball. KTTH and its six sister stations align the Sonics with our ticket buyers and listening-audience demographics. This partnership offers us a more broadly based marketing platform for our broadcasts and greater opportunities for promotions."

The new partnership between the Sonics and Entercom Seattle will mark the end of the team's longstanding simulcast arrangement and will create two separate broadcasts. Sonics play-by-play announcer Kevin Calabro, with the Sonics for 19 years, will continue to handle the television play-by-play duties with Sonics partner FSN Northwest.

The Sonics organization will add broadcasters to handle the radio responsibilities. Calabro will remain the primary play-by-play broadcast talent for radio-only regular-season games and Sonics playoff games.

The agreement includes Sonics pregame and postgame shows accompanying KTTH's radio broadcasts, as well as a weekly head coach's show.