John Lynch has weathered storms.

And with a second San Diego sports-talk station set to debut on Oct. 28, the CEO of XX Sports 1090 plans to ride out what many in the business feel is a hurricane.

Likely on Oct. 28, KLSD (1360), a member of the Clear Channel Communications family, plans to go all sports format.

No one in the business considers ESPN 800, a player in the San Diego market.

It has already taken two 1090 employees -- talk-show hosts Chris Ello and Josh Rosenberg -- and have asked permission to speak with 20 more, including 1090's sales staff.

"We're the ones who brought sports-talk radio to San Diego on XTRA Sports 690," Lynch said. "After I got out, I started 1090 because Clear Channel dropped the format in San Diego and fired a lot of the people we have on our air now --- Scott Kaplan, Billy Ray Smith, John Kentera, Bill Werndl."

And Clear Channel let the legendary 75,000-watt 690 signal get away. It is now a Spanish language music station.

"We've been talking about doing this for quite a while," said Bob Bolinger, vice president/market manager for Clear Channel's seven San Diego stations, of the sports format.

"We feel we're in a position to put meaningful content on the air. And it won't be at anyone else's expense. I hope we always compete aggressively, but fairly.

"We believe this market can support two sports stations -- both listeners and advertisers.

"We're excited about the possibilities."

Lynch feels 1090 has one huge advantage over 1360 -- the Padres.

Including spring training games, the Padres control seven months of programming on 1090, driving the ratings.

In just-released ratings in audiences ages 12-plus, 1090 did a decent overall 2.7.

But the 7 p.m.-midnight time slot --- where the Padres play -- did a 5.2.

Clear Channel has Chargers play-by-play as well as San Diego State football and basketball. But the Chargers are on KIOZ (105.3-FM) and the Aztecs on KOGO (600).

Bolinger said it's doubtful those teams would want to switch to 5,000-watt 1360, a station the powers down to 1,000 watts at night.

"Our signal is very good in the day-time hours," Bolinger said. "It does lose power at night. We have applied to the FCC for an upgrade down the road, but that's a year away."

An upgrade to 50,000 watts has been discussed, but Bolinger said going from 5,000 to 50,000 watts doesn't increase a station's reach 10-fold.

A lot depends on the signal's direction.

Time has shown that it's extremely hard for all-sports stations to make it without play-by-play to take up hours.

"Very few secondary stations make it," Lynch said. "They're a big, corporate company, but they only have 5,000 watts. We boom across all of Southern California -- from San Diego, to Orange County, L.A., Santa Barbara and into Bakersfield (on 1090, 1700 and 105.7-FM).

"We have a lot of pride in this station. Sometimes competition is good, but Clear Channel has 25,000 employees nationally. They have deep pockets.

"All-sports stations have very high overhead. We like doing business in San Diego, especially because of our tie-in with the Padres.

"Clear Channel has come in and is doubling salaries, so I've had to raise salaries. I don't think that's in the best interest of radio. We feel we have a great lineup of talent. And if you liked our weekend lineup, you'll love what's going on at 1360."

Comparing the lineups

OK sports-talk radio fans. Here is the lineup for 1090 and the tentative lineup for 1360 with some comments. Starting on or about Oct. 28, you make the call.

- 5-9/6-10 a.m. -- Billy Ray Smith and Scott Kaplan on 1090 vs. Dave Palet and Jeff Dotseth on 1360. I'm not a fan of Scott and Billy. Never have, never will be. But a lot of people love what they hear.

They get great guests, but there are way too many roadblocks for a top-notch show. Palet and Dotseth are perfect for the mornings. They can be silly and off the wall. If you like Scott and Billy Ray, tune Dotseth and Palet in and make your own call.

- 9 a.m.-noon/10 a.m.-noon --Jim Rome's live syndicated show on 1090 vs. The Sports Page with host Josh Rosenberg on 1360. My advice, find something else to do other than listen to the radio. Never have liked Rome's act. And I don't care for Rosenberg, either, but I'll give him a chance on a new venue.

- Noon-2 p.m./Noon-3 p.m. -- John Kentera and Joe Tutino team for a two-hour show on 1090. Chris Ello goes noon-3 p.m. on 1360. Kentera is usually a one-man show. Tutino, while a talented guy, only slows down the show. A stumble at 1090, opens the door for Ello, who can be very good or very bad, depending on what mood he's in. If he's up, Ello can be good.

- 2-4 p.m./3-7 p.m. -- In a gross error, 1090 is running a taped version of a morning "The Dan Patrick Show", but only using two of the three hours. Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton, the star of the 1360 lineup, goes here. The Patrick show is a taped disaster. It was exposed on Tuesday. The Chargers traded for Chris Chambers with a deal that was announced at noon. Patrick came on at 2 p.m., but didn't talk about it since it hadn't happened on his time.

- 4-8 p.m./3-7 p.m. -- Bill Werndl and Darren Smith anchor a four-hour show on 1090. They go head-to-head with Hamilton. This is a tough call. Werndl and Smith have a lively and entertaining show -- and get great guests. Hamilton's first 15 minutes are the best in radio anywhere. He, too, gets great guests. The problem is that one hour of his show tends to blend into another.

- Late nights -- Both stations will go with syndicated programming.

- Here's a suggestion for 1090. Let Kentera work alone and expand his show to three hours -- noon-3 p.m. That would allow Werndl-Smith to move to 3-7 p.m. and head-to-head with Hamilton all four hours.

That would make 1090 stronger in the mid-days and make for some very interesting programming from 3-7 p.m.

Ello in the middle

Last Thursday, officials at 1090 sent out a press release saying Ello would be the station's 8-10 p.m. host in a new lineup.

But Ello had only agreed to a contract, not signed one.

He said he was contacted by officials at 1360 several weeks ago, and again at the 11th hour.

After a Friday morning meeting at 1360, he said he went back to 1090 and asked that verbal agreements for play-by-play opportunities be put in writing.

When they weren't, Ello went back to 1360.

"Obviously, the noon-3 p.m. slot works out better for my entire life, for my wife and myself," said Ello, who was the voice of hockey's Gulls for a decade as well as USD football and various other teams.

"I love doing play-by-play, and not having any will leave a huge empty spot.

"But 1360 promised some opportunities to do San Diego State baseball and whatever might come up."

The day slot also allows Ello to keep another one of his interests -- officiating high school basketball.

"I don't want anyone to think this was an easy decision," Ello said. "I've worked with Joe Tutino for 13 years.

"I honestly appreciate the opportunity I was given at 1090.

"Now it's put-up-or-shut-up time for me. I have confidence in my ability. I have confidence I can make the leap to hosting a full-time show."

Around the bases

- The 103rd World Series is scheduled to start Wednesday, the first time since 1984 the Series isn't scheduled to open on a Saturday. The reason for the switch? Prime-time TV ratings are 15 percent higher on Wednesdays than on Saturdays. Game 7 of the World Series is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 1. Fox will carry the World Series with Joe Buck, Tim McCarver, Ken Rosenthal and Chris Myers working the telecast. Jeanne Zelasko and Kevin Kennedy will work the pre and postgame shows from the Fox studios in L.A.

- Ratings for the ALCS -- Red Sox-Indians -- on Fox have been great with Tuesday's Game 4 earning an 8.2 rating with a 13 share of the audience. That's 60 percent higher than Game 4 of 2006 for the A's-Tigers on a Saturday. In Cleveland, Game 4 posted a 42.6 rating with a 58 share. In Boston, the rating was 32.1 with a 47 share.

- Ratings for the Diamondbacks-Rockies NLCS on TBS were terrible, an all-time low, and it was predictable. Small-market teams -- Phoenix is the 12th-biggest TV market in the country and Denver is No. 18.

With games starting at 10:15 p.m. on the East Coast and dragging to 2:45 a.m. like Game 2, no one east of Denver was watching. Then again, no one in Denver and Phoenix were watching. In Denver, the games averaged an OK 26.4 rating. In Phoenix, the rating was an embarrassing 13.6. The NLCS averaged 4.3 million viewers. Last year's Mets-Cardinals NLCS averaged 10.5 million viewers

- Do you miss TBS' Frank Caliendo promos yet?

Local notes

- Alan Horton, who left XX Sports 1090 a year ago to seek other opportunities, hit the jackpot. Horton was recently named radio play-by-play voice of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves and the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx. Horton spent 10 years in San Diego where his main gig was calling San Diego State baseball on the Internet.

He also called SDSU football, men's and women's basketball and had a weekend tryout with the Padres. He spent last year in Seattle as the voice of the WNBA's Storm.

He was also the executive producer for SuperSonics games on radio.

- CSTV has Saturday's New Mexico-San Diego State football game with kickoff at 5:30 p.m. Carter Blackburn and Brian Jones are the announcers.

- Last Sunday's Raiders-Chargers game on CBS drew a 26.9 rating in San Diego with a 54 share of the audience. In the Oakland-San Francisco area, the game drew a 12.5 rating and a 34 share.

Around the dial

- CSTV has a replay of Saturday's LSU-Kentucky triple overtime football game today at 1 p.m.

- Sunday's Patriots-Cowboys game on CBS was seen by 29.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched NFL regular-season game since 1996 when 29.7 million tuned in to see the Cowboys-49ers game on Fox. And the Patriots-Cowboys wasn't seen in much in California where CBS carried the Raiders-Chargers game.

- Proving viewers will find a good game not matter which network it's on, last Saturday's Oregon State-California game on Versus was the top-rated cable show in four major West Coast markets, topping out with a 5.1 in Portland. Nationally, the game did an 0.9 rating, good for 775,000 viewers.

- Jeff Van Gundy has joined ESPN/ABC as part of the lead NBA broadcast team. He'll serve as an analyst along side Mike Breen and Mark Jackson. Van Gundy coached the Houston Rockets from 2004-2007 and the New York Knicks from 1995-2001.

- Versus will start a six week series Thursday, highlighting "Greatest High School Rivalries." The shows will air at 8 p.m.

Staff writer John Maffei's TV/Radio Column appears every Friday. He can be reached at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com. Comment at sports.nctimes.com.