kfnc went through format tweaks and house cleaning, and the fm news channel moniker was dropped around spring of 2006 for supertalk 97.5. however, the station's ratings failed to keep the talk format afloat, and on the morning of december 22, 2006, after tearful goodbyes from pruett and shannon along with kendrick, martinez and news/traffic/producer julie takahashi, the talk format left the airwaves for its current sports format that officially launched in mid-january 2007. kfnc's on-air branding, espn 97.5 the ticket, is similar to that of its sister am sports station in dallas, ktck. it has become the greater houston fm radio affiliate for espn, which began moving its programming from clear channel's kbme-am.