Bills Moving to WGR

[Element9]

Television faces as much digital and on-line competition as radio, maybe more.  Hulu, YouTube and dozens of other sites affiliated with the networks offer immediate stimulation and gratification for news, weather and sports.  ESPN, The Weather Channel, CNN, Fox News, CBS, NBC, ABC and the ultimate reality check, DVR and On Demand create extreme challenges for over the air television.  Talk about viewers being in control, DVR gives them the ability to roll through commercial breaks at 4x and get back to programming.  John Murphy going back to radio isn't so hard to imagine.  It's where he came from and he has cred.  The question is, will WGR become a PR mouthpiece for the Bills.  Listeners and posters here often hung that rap on 97 Rock when it held the Bills radio rights.  With Murphy joining the Bills, what becomes of Chris Brown, another former radio guy who's been the lead journalist at Buffalo Bills.com for the last five years? 

[bbb]

What I don't understand when it comes to local TV news (which I have to admit I really haven't watched in 20 years or so) is that from what I know and the parts that I've seen, the weather has become way bigger than the sports.

It used to be the total opposite and everything I possibly would want to know about the weather can be done in 30 seconds. 

Here you have 2 major league teams, 4 D1 programs, other minor league pro teams, high school, etc. and from what I've heard, they now get a minute or two of time??

[Element9]

Here you have 2 major league teams, 4 D1 programs, other minor league pro teams, high school, etc. and from what I've heard, they now get a minute or two of time??

Women want weather, guys want sports.  Weather wins.  Murph and Ed get reeled in so Don and Kevin can preen.  But you're correct, b, there could be some balance.  Five minutes of maps, occlusions in Manitoba and Super Duper Double Digital Doppler is overkill.  TV insiders say there have actually been words between sports and weather people about their airtime.  Now there's some behind the scenes stuff that might make for interesting local television. 

[yugoidar]

Sports jockeys seem to be losing time on the air everywhere these days.  In my neck of the woods, the TV stations continue to make heavy investments in the latest radar technology - seems like a battle to outdo each other. 

I wouldn't be surprised if the people at the top are insisting that the folks in the station weather centers get the most on-air exposure to make those major cash outlays worthwhile.

[bbb]

I guess I'll never understand women, then.  All I need to know from the weather is what is the temp and what will it be like in the foreseeable future.........I also like a little historical perspective, so what was the high and low today, what are the averages for the day, and what are the records for the day.

One minute - done.  Just like the old days.

In sports, you can have highlights, opinions, etc. - all kinds of stuff that wouldn't necessarily be on your smart phone.

[heydaybegone]

In sports, you can have highlights, opinions, etc. - all kinds of stuff that wouldn't necessarily be on your smart phone.

Why wouldn't they be on the smart phone?  Ya want it..ya get it.
bbb..stick with never understanding women....that will stand up in debates. 

[Bob1370]

The reason sports has less TV airtime is that you no longer need to depend on the noon, 6 and 11 PM newscasts to get all the scores and stories...there are plenty of places to get it instantaneously including, in large markets, sports stations like WGR which give you rundowns every 20 minutes and lots of sports talk and/or PBP the rest of the hour. Let's also not forget cable and the Web.

The same thing would be happening to news coverage as well except for a few things; 1) a typical full power, full service TV station has resources that few websites or radio stations can match, 2) newspapers are starting to make the big mistake of charging online readers for more than a small smattering of what they do, making the TV stations, news/talk radio stations and their websites more than competitive (and online newspaper websites superfluous for the typical consumer) because all they ask is for you to put up with some ads as the price for getting the full product...which these days is about as detailed and complete as most local papers anyway.

[John C]

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? 

Bringing this back up as I heard "the Bulldog" rip the Bills yesterday for their probable extension of the Toronto agreement.  To his credit he acknowledged the new relationship between his station and the Bills.  Feel free to let this thread drop to the back burner as I contemplate bringing the Stiffs thread back to page 1.