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It's all about building the brand.
That has been the goal and motivation of most every move made by UB Athletic Director Danny white over the past 12 months.
It's his belief that UB Athletics is already a prized possession, just one that is currently being undervalued by a market which is not aware of the schools place or it's potential. It's the largest state school in NY and has well over 125,000 living Alumni in the Empire state along with nearly a Quarter million alumni world wide.
It's a research center, an AAU member, yet the school is continuing to grow even more on the academic and civic fronts. White has worked to get UB Athletics more national notice by focusing on UB's state wide and national profile.
With an alumni base that reaches across New York, we felt it was time to capitalize on our status in the Empire State, similar to our peer AAU institutions that compete at the FBS level across the country. So we’ve developed and are testing a new wordmark that emphasizes the words "New York" in the university’s official name: "University at Buffalo, The State University of New York." - Danny White to the UB Reporter
Last season White moved UB to the Fan from WECK. The move then was motivated by WECK's transition from sports radio to a soft music format. Now a year later UB is moving again. This time the move is from one sports network to another.
UB is moving from The Fan to ESPN 1520. 1520 runs on the 50,000 Watt WWKB radio station which is significant increase over the 5K/1K signal they were getting from WHLD.
UB athletics also signed deals with radio stations in Rochester, New York, and Albany.
The deals signed today by Buffalo Athletics will bring UB football and basketball to the 130,000 Alumni living throughout New York State. Danny White and Athletics have also managed to get a commitment from WWKB, a Buffalo based station, to air a 30 minute coaching show every week.This will be an evening show which means it can be picked up throughout New England and the Mid Atlantic States.
So is an arrangement with a radio station a big deal? In the era of ESPN3, the MAC Digital Network, and dozens of other video streaming outlets how is sports radio stacking up?
The truth of the matter is that Sports Radio is a booming format which has fed from, and grown with, the availability of live sporting events on other media. The website Awful Announcing has noted that the number of sports radio formatted stations has nearly doubled over the past decade.
Why sports radio matters | Awful Announcing
Now, the genre has exploded to the point where almost 700 stations across the country are all-sports, up from 413 just 11 years ago. Some markets have not just one or two, but three or four sports radio stations. -- June 2013
Studies have found that the largest segment of sports radio listeners are affluent young, college educated males.Station owners like the format because sports radio is a hedge against iPods, Spotify and other music services which are hurt music stations more than ESPN3 could hurt a sports station.
White's moves have put UB games on a prime sports network in three New York population centers. The outlier is WMCA in New York City. Dedicated sports radio time in the countries biggest market might be a bit too rich for UB Athletics at this point but having all of the schools daytime games on a local New York City station dedicated to sports might be a bit out of the schools firing range, for now.
The only concern I have is the exposure on the station itself. Long ago when UB games on WGR the local shows never much bothered to mention UB in the course of their day time programming. Over the past season with the Fan UB has been treated like a centerpiece.
Here are the stations on which you can now listen to UB games.
Fact Sheets:
WWKB
Location - Buffalo New York
Power - 50,000 Watts
Format - Sports Radio (ESPN)
Current Sports Teams - Buffalo Bandits, Buffalo Bisons
WWKB is one of the more prominent radio stations in Buffalo and one of the more powerful radio transmitters in the United States. UB Athletics will be heard on throughout of Western New York and parts of Ontario and Pennsylvania during the daytime. At Night the range covers from the Carolinas in the south, to Massachusetts in the East, to Mid Ontario in the North, and finally parts of Ohio in the West. On a night when the conditions are right the signal has reached as far as Morroco.
In addition to football and men’s and women’s basketball games airing on ESPN 1520, the station will also broadcast a weekly 30-minute show with football head coach Jeff Quinn, as well as men’s and women’s basketball head coaches Bobby Hurley and Felisha Legette-Jack.
Because the show will be scheduled for the evenings it will get the benefit of WWKB's 50,000 nighttime Watt and the range that comes along with it.
The Stations owners, Entcom, also owns several other WNY properties: WGR 550, 930 WBEN, Kiss 98.5 and Star 102.5. These stations have don e a lot of cross promoting over the years.
This week the sports radio network WGR 550 came to campus for a live broadcast of the "Schopp and the Bulldog" show. The show went on while UB was in the midst of a ticket blitz and featured interviews with Danny White, Bobby Hurley, and Joe Licata.
Location - Rochester, New York
Power - 5,000 Watts
Format - Sports Radio (Fox Sports Radio)
Current Sports Teams - New York Yankees, Rochester Americans and Rochester Red Wings
WHTK is focused around local sports talk rather than National shows. The station's weekday lineup includes Brother Wease, Dan Patrick, Jay Mohr and John DiTullio.
On weekends, the station carries a variety of sports programming including the Sunday Morning Bullpen, the Canandaigua National Bank High School Sports Show (section V athletics which includes Buffalo High Schools), Pain Clinic (professional wrestling), Kick This! (soccer), Drop The Puck (hockey), The Golf Tee (golf), Answers for the Injured (law), and What's Going On (current events and issues).
WTMM
Location - Albany, New York
Power - 5,000 Watts
Format - Sports Radio (ESPN)
Current Sports Teams - New York Yankees baseball, Notre Dame Fighting Irish football, New York Jets football, Albany Devils hockey.
This is another ESPN formatted station which adds a couple of their own local shows. Sound-Off with Sinkoff, hosted by Brian Sinkoff, airs weekdays from 3:00pm–7:00pm. Sinkoff, is a one time Albany resident, has generated considerable buzz in his return to the Capital Region. "Sound-Off" pre-empts the second hour of The Scott Van Pelt Show.
WMCA
Location - New York, New York
Power - 5,000 Watts
Format - Christian Talk
Current Sports Teams - None
WCMA has a rich history, particularly going back to "The Good Guys" era when the station carried a top 40 format and was credited with Bringing "The Beatles" to American Radio.
In the 1960's the station went heads up against WABC to compete for the New York Market. For several years they beat out the broadcasting giant but eventually WABC started hiring away the talent and the station moved to a talk radio format.
Through the 70's and 80's they were a talk radio station which also featured the Yankees and Mets. Then in the late 80's after being sold the station went to a religious format. At the time WMCA was the last family-owned radio station in New York.
In 1988 Salem Communications, which immediately implemented a format that focused on religion then leased time programming for other purposes. Among the local non leased shows broadcast on the station are The Auto Lab, Men's Health, and Kevin McCullough Live!