Bills Moving to WGR

[Philip_Airtime]

I'm starting a new thread because of the importance of this news.  The Buffalo News is reporting on its website this evening that the Bills are moving to WGR.  There were few details.  The News says an official announcement could come as soon as Wednesday.  This is the logical choice.  WGR is Buffalo's sports radio station.  Now it has both of the city's major sports teams.  It'll be interesting to hear how all this unfolds.  I assume John Murphy will continue as play-by-play man.  But would Entercom ask that one of its hosts -- Howard Simon, maybe -- serve as game analyst?  Will hosts such as Mike Schopp tone down their rhetoric?  Will there be an FM broadcast, perhaps at 107.7FM? 

[JustPastBuffalo]

When it rains, it pours. First Shredd & Ragan to morning drive on the Edge, now this.

The story can be found at: http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills-nfl/article694869.ece This is quite a coup for Entercom and WGR in particular. No word yet about whether it's a Bills in-house deal or contracted for cash. Some posters opined that because WGR has a history of harshly taking the Bills to task, the games would wind up on WBEN. Guess not. So it's back to WGR, which broadcast the Bills during four consecutive trips to the Superbowl. Perhaps history will repeat itself. More recently has put up some impressive shares, Men 25-54. Today's news certainly won't hurt.

In order to receive "Arbitron credit" for simulcasting, WBEN must simulcast 100% of the time on 930 and 107.7. No flip flops to WGR. Perhaps a trimulcast on 550, 930 and 107.7 as they did with the Sabres last season? But diluting the Bills between three stations would serve no real benefit for WGR. Recall the first year when the Bills were simulcast on WGR and then WGR-FM. Most of the listening went to 97 Rock. WGR really need the Bills ratings boost, so for the remaining three years the Bills were carried only on WGR-AM. 97 Rock continued to be involved in promotions and events.

Let's hope the schedule maker doesn't have the Bills playing 4 o'clock games in December. The WGR night pattern has a severe null to the east. But it's solid to Syracuse, Erie, Olean and Cleveland during the day. And strong in TO at night. Eh?

After reviewing predictions from the other thread, my money was on WBEN. Missed it by that much. (Props to Maxwell Smart.) SirRox called it. So he'll buy the pizza and beer for the rest of us. Cheers!

[heydaybegone]

SirRox called it. So he'll buy the pizza and beer for the rest of us. Cheers!

He can afford it!   (Trade deals etc..)

HDBG

[ThePickleReport]

In order to receive "Arbitron credit" for simulcasting, WBEN must simulcast 100% of the time on 930 and 107.7. No flip flops to WGR. Perhaps a trimulcast on 550, 930 and 107.7 as they did with the Sabres last season? But diluting the Bills between three stations would serve no real benefit for WGR.

I could see the trimulcast happening. Something might need to give if the Sabres/Bills have a game at the same time anyway.

WBEN isn't gaining a lot of traction by using 107.7, and a lot of us here think WGR would actually benefit more by using 107.7. Maybe this becomes the tipping point.

[SirRoxalot]

JPB called it with WGR's signal problems on the night pattern. I suspect that the Bills will insist on at least an FM simulcast, and a trimulcast allows 107.7 to be the FM. That would also help out coverage in a big chunk of the Rochester market if they decide to run the games on WROC. I could see a WROC/WCMF simulcast in Rochester even. Entercom Buffalo also has 'KB in their pocket in case of a Bills-Sabres conflict, so they wouldn't have to break the trimulcast.

As far as the pizza and beer is concerned, Simon Pure & pizza from The Roseland on Rhode Island for everybody!

[Element9]

The morale at James Casey must be at an all time high.  Break open the Dom.

[Bob1370]

Well, we all figured on Entercom getting its hands on the Bills broadcasts, though the flagship signal is different than a lot of us expected. Only questions now are;

1)Which station in Entercom's Rochester cluster gets the Bills? (My money is on WCMF although I
   could see a case to be made for either the Buzz or 98PXY...CMF has the infrastructure of
   people to do Bills-related chatter all week, something WBEN used to do in the old days that
   helped both the station and the team.)

2)Since Entercom's not a presence AFAIK in Syracuse or Erie, who gets the team broadcasts
   there? (Erie's really Browns territory, and Syracuse is divided between the Bills, Jets and
   Giants, with all of them taking a back seat to SU sports, so it may not be that important...)

3)Will Fan 590 in Toronto remain on the network? Or has lukewarm interest in the team in
   Southern Ontario, plus Rogers becoming a 50% partner in the Leafs and Raptors and therefore
   more interested in pushing their own product than Ralph Wilson's, mean the Bills either need
   a new home in T.O. or will have to hope WGR's strong north lobe grabs 'em?

4)Who will be John Murphy's partner? His continuing to be the play by play voice is a given, he's
   one of the crispest and smoothest in the league. The color slot may be open. Too bad CBS has
   Steve Tasker locked up... Kelso is OK, but the broadcast might benefit from the kind of
   foreground personality that the late Stan Barron used to be...

[SirRoxalot]

I think I've already addressed most of your questions, Bob, but I'll be interested to hear the opinions of others. One question I didn't address is the Murphy/Kelso "issue".

Why do you think that will be a change in the Bills broadcast team? They're hired by the BILLS, not by the radio stations. Murph & Kelso are solid, and that's unlikely to change. Kelso's not as exciting as some color commentators, but his NFL experience is invaluable and he explains complex concepts pretty well to the average fan. WGR will have plenty of opportunity to insert it's personalities as the sideline reporter, and on the pre and post-game shows. Any thought of Tasker giving up a national gig is an indication that somebody spent too much time in a heavy RF field.

There's even a possibility that some of the production people - like Doug Wolf and Greg Harvey - could end up on Entercom's payroll to smooth the transition. They've both worked for multiple owners in the market, and are known at Entercom. Bills broadcasts are complex undertakings, and planning and equipment purchases need to get underway now. Citadel/Cumulus hired them - and others - as specialists. Entercom would be smart to do the same. Game day in-house production will likely fall to those already on staff, although volume might induce them to bring another production voice into the fold at Entercom - at least during Bills season.

[audio4tv]

The bills are on WCMF. The CEO of the Bills Russ Brandon made the announcment this morning.

[LC]

http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/Bills-announce-new-broadcast-agreement-with-Entercom/60cbf1f0-30c6-4bde-9584-9bdc24ef9428

Oooh, the Russ Brandon Show!! Can't wait for that one...