But is WQAM going too far? 790 the Ticket says yes.

One WQAM promo this week told listeners: ``You could listen to the other sports station, but you may turn gay.'' Then listeners hear Kramer's voice, from an old Seinfeld episode, adding, ``Not that there's anything wrong with that.''

Howard Davis, The Ticket's station manager, said, ``That's in bad taste. I would never condone us running anything like that. It's unbelievable. Some people could take it to be offensive.''

Lee Feldman, who was named WQAM's program director in April, is orchestrating the new promotional campaign and defended the ``gay'' promo. ``It may offend, but come on, have a little sense of humor,'' Feldman said. ``I have a lot of gay friends - it's not meant in that way.''

Another WQAM promo was amusing but unnecessarily added a word that would create awkwardness for adults listening in the car with young children.

The WQAM promo said: ``While the other station is giving you `fake this and fake that,' we're giving you real Miami Dolphins. Hey Ticket, fake this, [expletive].'' Hint: The last word rhymes with witches.

The promo would work without the vulgarity. Then again, 790 hosts also use that word.

And 790, which has a marketing partnership with The Miami Herald, actually started the war of words against WQAM many years ago, when former Ticket owner Joel Feinberg repeatedly took unsolicited shots.

Feinberg is gone, and 790's barbs toward WQAM are now limited largely to playful promos.

``But the shots we take are more subtle,'' Davis said. ``We don't cross the line. I would not allow our programmers and promotion people to do that.''

Feldman said the aggressive approach is warranted.

``We've been quiet and complacent,'' he said. ``The feeling in this building was beat down. My guys were tired of not firing back at 790. I want more of an attitude and not be picked on by the other station. It's fun radio. A lot of it is tongue-in-cheek.''

Feldman said popular 790 host ``Dan Le Batard and those guys deliver things so sophomorically. If you want sports, come to us. Outside of Le Batard, what do they have to toot their horn about? You can say Jorge Sedano beat Joe Rose in the last ratings book, but Joe wins 80 percent of the time.''

Responded Davis: ``Jorge has won 100 percent of the past two ratings books against Joe Rose [meaning the months of February and March overall]. Lee Feldman is just getting into the game and needs to understand programming before he starts throwing stones. He needs to get his own kitchen in order -- which is a mess -- because their lineup has been nothing but chaos for months. What does Lee Feldman know about programming? He doesn't.''

WQAM general manager Joe Bell makes all of the important personnel decisions, but he gives Feldman considerable authority with the promotional campaign.