John Burton, the former sports anchor at WTAE, will probably have a major role at the new station.

The CBS Radio Group, which operates four stations in the Pittsburgh market, is planning to launch the station on the FM dial. It probably will be heard either on what is now WBZW at 93.7 on the dial.

The advantage of being on FM is a much more powerful signal.

Both sports-talk stations in Pittsburgh -- 1250 ESPN and Fox Sports Radio 970 -- are heard on the AM dial. Both have comparatively weak signals and often do not even cover all of Allegheny County, let alone the entire Pittsburgh market.

The only sports talk on the FM dial is the Mark Madden Show, heard week days from 3 to 6 p.m. on WXDX (105.9). That station is mostly music the rest of the day, except when it is carrying Penguins games.

It is not known how much local programming will be carried by the new station but one source said it will be considerable, and even more than 1250 ESPN delivers.

Other than Burton, no names have been mentioned but obvious candidates to work at the station are Ellis Cannon, whose talk show on WPGB (104.7) was cancelled last week after six years on the air, and Jim Colony, the long-time anchor/reporter at 1250 ESPN, who was terminated in a cost-cutting move last year.

Burton began at WTAE as a producer and weekend anchor/reporter but move up to the top anchor spot when Andrew Stockey went to news. Burton was not rehired when his contract expirred in 2008. He's a funny guy, who does some dead-on imitiations of famous sports celebrities.

Another person the station should be considering is Joe Starkey, who's a full-time sports columnist at the Tribune-Review and a part-time talk-show host at 1250 ESPN. Starkey has a nice, easy manner in his on-air presentation, but more than that he is steeped in Pittsburgh sports knowledge and insight. His journalism background serves him well in talk radio. The same is true of Madden and of Mike Greenberg of Mike & Mike in the Morning. Sports talk isn't journalism, but having a journalism background can be beneficial.

Ron Cook of the Post-Gazette, who had a talk show for eight years at KDKA, would be another good candidate.

Sporting News Radio, which carries a full lineup of national programming, is a likely option for the new station to fill most of the hours not covered by local shows.

However, there's a glitch there. Fox Sports Radio 970, owned by Clear Channel Communications, also is said to be interested in signing up for at least part of SNR's lineup. Fox is believed to be interested in replacing the Stephen A. Smith Show, heard during morning drive time, with SNR.