The station’s owner, Cumulus Media, has secured the ESPN affiliation for the Oxnard-Ventura area and will begin airing all sports programming on KVEN 1450 AM beginning Tuesday.

Instead of oldies, KVEN will air local game coverage, human-interest stories about athletes and coaches in the county, and ESPN programming.

“We thought a sports outlet — not only a national outlet but local sports — would be enticing and attract men,” said Bob Visotcky, Cumulus’ market manager for Oxnard-Ventura.

Visotcky also said an oldies music station isn’t as attractive to local radio advertisers. “The bottom line is we believe from a financial standpoint and a listeners standpoint that sports is a better play. The numbers make a lot of sense.”

Radio is a competitive medium, he said, and the new sports format fills a void in Ventura County. ESPN has an affiliate in Los Angeles at 710 AM, but reception can be spotty.

“There are only so many spots on the radio dial. You try to fill a hole, see what is missing in the market. There is no sports outlet in the Oxnard-Ventura market on the radio,” said Visotcky.

“Radio is still a very viable medium. We never had pictures, but now we do via our website. We also have phone applications so you can listen to radio on your phone.”

Visotcky said local sports programming will appeal to commuters who still love radio.

“People are in their cars many hours a day. Radio is your friend. The more local you make it, the more intrigued you are. Satellite radio is basically a jukebox. Sports talk brings active listeners and they respond to commercials and stay there during the commercial breaks,” he said.

In other moves at the local Cumulus radio stations, former KVEN host J. Perez will move to the morning drive slot on KHAY 100.7 FM, a country music station. Perez and Charlye Parker will be KHAY’s morning hosts, while Dave Bradley remains the afternoon host on KHAY. Scott Alexander moves from mornings on KHAY to afternoons on KBBY 95.1 FM.

Cumulus Media is the second largest radio company in America. It has four radio stations in Ventura County and two in Santa Barbara.