Cardinals officials announced Wednesday that the club's broadcasts will move back to KMOX (1120 AM) next season. The club had rocked much of its fan base in 2005 by leaving its home of 51 seasons in favor of KTRS (550 AM) by purchasing a 50 percent — and controlling — interest in KTRS.

That move was met with discontent from Cardinals fans outside the reach of the team's radio network who were denied free access to the broadcasts they had been receiving on KMOX, whose signal reaches far and wide at night. Even some listeners in the St. Louis area complained of having trouble picking up KTRS.

Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III said "fans' sentiments and feedback" were important factors in the decision. He said other items that came into play included financial considerations and cross-promotion opportunities with CBS radio's other local stations.

The Cardinals left KMOX originally because they thought they could make more money by going on their own, but the national economic downturn plus changes in the business of sports broadcasting altered the landscape. Although KMOX has fallen from No. 1 in the market, KTRS never was a challenger with the Cardinals.

"I don't think there are any regrets" about leaving KMOX five years ago, DeWitt said. "People who look at the media think everything goes up, up and up. But that isn't always the case. ... The rationale at the time was logical."

DeWitt said the Cardinals were open to selling their share of KTRS, which they bought for the bargain-basement price of $2 million.

"We still own half and intend to be good stewards and good partners with the other owners," DeWitt said. "If there are offers from them to buy us out, we'd look at that."

Mike Shannon and John Rooney are expected to remain the radio broadcast team.

The deal to return to KMOX is for five years, according to sources, and is believed to include a small rights fee, in comparison to the $4.7 million annually the station had offered in 2005. But the club now sells its own advertising, something it did not do when it left KMOX.

John Sheehan, who runs KMOX and CBS Radio's other St. Louis outlets (KEZK 102.5 FM and KYKY 98 FM), said Cardinals fans were the big winners now.

"We know our listeners, whether in St. Louis or around the country, will be thrilled," he said, citing KMOX's unparalleled signal in the market.

"It's what the fans want. More people simply can access it. They may want to make a trip to St. Louis to see some games, so that's good for the club."

KTRS general manager Tim Dorsey could not be reached for comment.

The Cardinals also had weighed two offers from WXOS (101.1 FM), the newest sports talk station in town. That station had proposed either simulcasting the games with KTRS or airing them alone.

"They put a really good offer on the table," DeWitt said. "They had a lot to offer. We tip our cap to them. They put their all into it."

John Kijowski, who runs WXOS, said he was "more disappointed than frustrated" about the decision.

"The listeners would have enjoyed hearing the games on FM stereo; they certainly do with the Rams," he said. "But at the end of the day, the Cardinals had to go with a better financial offer that they were given by KMOX.

"I'm frustrated in that the process took so long, disappointed that we didn't win our prize. But nobody can dispute that KMOX still is an excellent station."