XTRA-AM tries a new arena

It bills itself as Sports Radio, but XTRA-AM (570) is moving away from an all-sports format in favor of programming aimed more generally at young men. The station, home to Jim Rome and Lakers basketball, added Phil Hendrie’s nighttime comedy program a few months back and now plans to introduce a Howard Stern-like morning show, announcing Wednesday that the syndicated “Mancow’s Morning Madhouse” will air weekdays 4:30 to 9 a.m. beginning May 23.

“We are here to shatter the myth that sports lovers need sports 24/7,” XTRA General Manager Don Martin said in a news release. “If you look at what works in morning drive, in every format, it’s entertainment.”

“Mancow’s Morning Madhouse,” hosted by Erich “Mancow” Muller, has been a big draw with young men at its home base of WKQX-FM in Chicago. Like Stern’s syndicated show, it features a zany crew of supporting characters, celebrity interviews, phony phone calls and raunchy talk. It has been fined by the Federal Communications Commission for indecency six times.

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Lee Margulies