<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Hawks, dropped by their longtime radio flagship station after last season, have found a new spot on the dial. The team has agreed on a two-year contract with sports station 790 The Zone (WQXI-AM) after having its games aired for the past decade on WSB-AM. The broadcasts will have a familiar sound: Steve Holman will be calling play-by-play for the 21st consecutive season. "We're thrilled to death," 790 The Zone vice president and station manager Neal Maziar said Thursday. "I think sports --- really, business in general --- is about fit. And I just think this is a really fine fit for us." The station also carries Georgia Tech football and basketball games. Its contract with Tech stipulates that Yellow Jackets games cannot be preempted for other programming, so when a Tech game conflicts with a Hawks game, the Hawks will be carried on Classic Soul 102.5 (WAMJ-FM). Under the deal with 790 The Zone, which will pay an undisclosed rights fee, the Hawks will have responsibility for selling most of the commercial time during games, team president Bernie Mullin said. The two-year contract length is unusually short for a new broadcast deal. "Quite frankly, given the recent history of the Hawks, I feel we're undervalued at this time and don't want to tie us into a long-term arrangement when the economics are not what I'd want them to be long-term," Mullin said. Said Maziar: "We are convinced --- and we know what their record was last year --- that the Hawks brand is very healthy." Maziar said a sideline reporter will be added on home games to interview celebrities and "anybody who's newsworthy" in the stands. </div> Source
