KNTK 93.7 FM, "The Ticket," will debut in mid-June, according to station co-owner James D. Keck of Home Field Communications LLC.

The 24-hour sports station will be a Fox affiliate and also feature several locally produced shows and personalities.

"The secret to our success has to be local personalities," said Keck, former general manager at Three Eagles Communications, which owns and operates the city's other sports station, ESPN 1480 (KLMS 1480 AM).

Home Field recently purchased the signal, currently KOLB, for $250,000 from VSS Catholic Communications Inc., which had been simulcasting The Spirit (102.7 FM) on it.

The signal is licensed to Firth and is 300 watts, but Keck has applied to the Federal Communications Commission to upgrade it to 6,000 watts.

Home Field is owned by Keck and Ron Romero, owner of Schaefer's TV & Appliance Center. The station's offices will be on North 48th Street, near Best Buy.

Keck has worked in the Lincoln radio market off and on since 1990. He helped put active rock station The Blaze (KIBZ 104.1 FM) on the air in the early '90s. While at Three Eagles, he hired former Nebraska football standout Jason Peter and paired him with Jeff Wilkerson for an afternoon talk show on ESPN 1480.

Keck has not determined a program schedule yet for The Ticket, but he said the lineup will include the syndicated "The Dan Patrick Show." It will not feature "The Jim Rome Show," although it's a part of the Fox team. ESPN 1480 currently has the rights to Rome's show.

The Ticket will carry St. Louis Cardinals baseball games and local high school sporting events. The station also will affiliate itself with a yet-to-be-determined NFL team and air a variety of Big Ten football games.

KNTK will target men ages 18 to 49, Keck added.

"We probably never will be in the top three, but time spent listening to it will be tremendous," he said.