(Marana, AZ) 520 Sports Talk is approaching our ninth anniversary in June. It all started back in 2016 in a Video Podcast Studio in Continental Ranch.
Since then, we’ve done over 800 Shows, covered every Arizona Bowl, Sugar Skulls home games, 4 IFL Championship Games, Pima Aztec Athletics, World Baseball Classic as well as countless high school, middle school and club contests.
In 2018, 602 Sports Talk began in Chandler. We branched out, invited by the sports media community in the Valley of the Sun because of our body of work in Southern Arizona.
Our focus and approach was different than 520 Sports Talk especially after the Covid pandemic. We chose to cover athletics at two universities in the Phoenix Area. Initially, we covered Arizona State and Grand Canyon Universities being asked to cater to their Southern Arizona alumni chapters.
Later in 2023 we switched from GCU to Park University also upon request. The Buccaneers compete at the NAIA level. Many Pima, Cochise and Santa Cruz county athletes compete at Park University.
In April of 2024, we were part of the national media that covered the NCAA Men’s Final Four in Glendale Arizona.
Many Central Arizona sports fans also follow 602 Sports Talk.
In the Spring and Summer of 2020 when sports came to a screeching halt because of Covid, lockdowns and our show venues being closed to in-house dining Locker Room Chatter was formed. In spite of social distancing and other restrictions, we still kept Southern Arizona sports as active as possible. This is predominantly a studio show where we interview star athletes, coaches and organizational people from around the entire State of Arizona.
It was during the Covid crisis that we really saw what our advertising sponsors were all about. With just little or no sports to cover, our content output declined significantly. At the same time, many local businesses were forced to go out of business because of lost revenue.
Every one of our (at the time) fifteen sponsors stayed and continued to support our enterprise. With encouraging words like, “you need to stay the course, what you do is invaluable” and other supportive dialogue we were able to stay in business. That spoke volumes on the way they cared about what we were doing. To say we were blown away and left speechless would be an understatement.
We’re excited to announce that we’ve added three new Sponsors this month to the 520 Sports Talk Family. We pride ourselves on having all local Southern Arizona locally owned or franchised businesses.
After seeing several Shows at Zona 78 on Tanque Verde, Jim and Vicki Click approached us and really like what we do and wanted to be part of and help us.
Jim Click Automotive Team has been around these parts since the early 1970’s. He’s an icon in the Tucson area and has been involved in sports from high schools to the University of Arizona.
Under the Jim Click Automotive Team umbrella you have Jim Click Ford, Holmes-Tuttle Ford, Jim Click Jeep, Jim Click Chrysler-Dodge-Ram, Jim Click Hyundai, Jim Click Kia, Holmes Tuttle Lincoln, Jim Click Mazda and Jim Click Nissan.
We have the utmost respect admiration for Jim and Vicki and their Philanthropy that have helped some many people and businesses for decades.
Pop Studio at 1010 S. Plummer Avenue is a state of the art studio producing podcasts, music videos, talk shows and more. Diego Rivera has built this business for the ground up and offers his clients unique options and ideas on producing their dreams.
We use Pop Studios for various important interviews for upcoming events. Most recently, we interviewed Blake Eager of the Pima County Sports, Tourism and Film Authority and Tim Kish of the National Football and College Hall of Fame.
Because we cover the entire 520 area code in Southern Arizona, we’ve had a special relationship with Cochise County schools and club organizations. We’ve covered the Benson High School Bobcats, Buena High School Colts, Willcox High School Cowboys and most recently, Bisbee High School Pumas.
Ballpark Brewing Company in the Warren District of Bisbee and adjacent to the Historic Warren Ball Park (the oldest continuously used ball park in the nation) which was built in 1909. To put that in perspective, Fenway Park in Boston Massachusetts was built in 1912 and Wrigley Field in Chicago Illinois two years later in 1914.
Brian and Dan Vertrees opened Ballpark Brewing Company in 2024 and offers local Bisbee craft beer recipes and burgers and wings to die for. It was a hidden gem in the beginning, but now is one of Bisbee’s hot spots for socializing before and after Bisbee Puma games.
520 Sports Talk will be going into Pinal County and engaging with their high school athletics starting next school year 2024-25.
We’re very excited to welcome our three new advertising sponsors into the 520 Sports Talk Family. A reminder for our 20,000 followers from Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and this website, please use our nineteen sponsors and always consider local Southern Arizona businesses first.
We make it very easy as you can always click on any of our sponsors logos on the left margin of our website (including this article) and it will gateway you to their business websites or social media platforms.
