790/The Zone's year-old experiment called the Red Zone is now over for good.

The Red Zone a year ago was originally a way to blend the 2 Live Stews with Hans Heiserer, Wes Durham and Tony Barnhart from noon to 3 p.m.

By the fall, the Stews were gone and both Durham and Barnhart had severely cut back their hours. It ended up being more about Hans and guest hosts thrown in for good measure.

So the station has decided to give syndicated Colin Cowherd a third hour from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Bob Richards, the program director, said Cowherd's ratings were so strong, they wanted to use his full three hours each day.

From 1 to 7 p.m,  they are going to tag-team Mike Bell, Dave Archer and football expert John Michaels. Richards said they will tag team so no one person will need to be on air all six hours. Hans will return to fill-in work, including this week for Archer.

Richards isn't sure how evenings will work but they now have access to ESPN now so they can pick up playoff games and baseball games.

This is the first major shift the station has made since 92.9/The Game arrived on the FM side. While the Game has not blown anybody out with its ratings, it has taken some listeners away from both 680/The Fan and 790/The Zone.

The Zone is seen as most vulnerable since it lacks an FM signal and its AM signal is weaker than that of the Fan at night. (The Fan is simulcast on 93.7).