High School Sports On CNY Radio

[WCWalker]

Do any of the Oswego radio stations carry area Oswego sports?

Do any of the Auburn radio stations carry Auburn area sports?

 

[BobRoss]

> Do any of the Oswego radio stations carry area Oswego
> sports?

I don't think so.

WRVO is an NPR affiliate. High school sports isn't their "thing."
WNYO is the SUNY Oswego student-run station. They only cover their own teams.

Looking outside of the city limits, three Oswego county stations are owned by Galaxy... WSGO-AM and WTKV simulcast programming from Syracuse stations WTLA (Music Of Your Life) and WTKW (TK99), respectively. The third station is WSCP Sandy Creek, which would be the obvious choice, but they seem to be tied up with NASCAR on the weekends. Their website mentions nothing about high school sports.

In Fulton, there's WBBS, which is B104.7, owned by ClearChannel. They're the #1-rated station in the Syracuse market, so you won't see them breaking format for high school sports anytime soon. Fulton also has WAMF-AM, which is a locally-owned small potatoes operation, where the signal is so weak, you'd be lucky to get it in Oswego.

I'm 95% sure that covers every radio station in Oswego County... so I think you may be out of luck. Not sure about Auburn.

 

[Dave4120]

> > Do any of the Oswego radio stations carry area Oswego
> > sports?
>
> I don't think so.
>
> WRVO is an NPR affiliate. High school sports isn't their
> "thing."
> WNYO is the SUNY Oswego student-run station. They only
> cover their own teams.
>
> Looking outside of the city limits, three Oswego county
> stations are owned by Galaxy... WSGO-AM and WTKV simulcast
> programming from Syracuse stations WTLA (Music Of Your Life)
> and WTKW (TK99), respectively. The third station is WSCP
> Sandy Creek, which would be the obvious choice, but they
> seem to be tied up with NASCAR on the weekends. Their
> website mentions nothing about high school sports.
>
> In Fulton, there's WBBS, which is B104.7, owned by
> ClearChannel. They're the #1-rated station in the Syracuse
> market, so you won't see them breaking format for high
> school sports anytime soon. Fulton also has WAMF-AM, which
> is a locally-owned small potatoes operation, where the
> signal is so weak, you'd be lucky to get it in Oswego.
>
> I'm 95% sure that covers every radio station in Oswego
> County... so I think you may be out of luck. Not sure about
> Auburn.
>
Hello...The only stations in the area that cover high school sports are WMCR in Oneida which covers mostly Tri-Valley teams such as Oneida, VVS, Hamilton, Cazanovia, etc.

ClearChannel Utica covers Games on their 4-AM stations. I freelance for them and we cover Rome Free Academy, and schools from the Utica area, and down in the Valley in the Herkimer area. We cover 4-6 football games a weekend, then we will begin basketball and hockey after Thanksgiving, and baseball next spring. We always have a long list of sponsors and the public loves when these games are on.

It's too bad no one covers any Syracuse or Oswego high school sporting events on the radio. Galaxy has the perfect opportunity to do so with WTLA-AM 1200 and I will be talking to Ed Levine about that possibility for next year. Airing high school sporting events on Syracuse radio and covering Syracuse area teams is a long time coming.

Dave

 

[meangene]

> Hello...The only stations in the area that cover high school
> sports are WMCR in Oneida which covers mostly Tri-Valley
> teams such as Oneida, VVS, Hamilton, Cazanovia, etc.
>
> ClearChannel Utica covers Games on their 4-AM stations. I
> freelance for them and we cover Rome Free Academy, and
> schools from the Utica area, and down in the Valley in the
> Herkimer area. We cover 4-6 football games a weekend, then
> we will begin basketball and hockey after Thanksgiving, and
> baseball next spring. We always have a long list of
> sponsors and the public loves when these games are on.
>
> It's too bad no one covers any Syracuse or Oswego high
> school sporting events on the radio. Galaxy has the perfect
> opportunity to do so with WTLA-AM 1200 and I will be talking
> to Ed Levine about that possibility for next year. Airing
> high school sporting events on Syracuse radio and covering
> Syracuse area teams is a long time coming.
>
> Dave
>
Hey Dave, when you talk to Ed about Syracuse suggest he do the same in Utica on WTLB so people can acctually hear the games at night. But if I'm not mistaken the old Sales Manager at Galaxy in Utica saie Sports never makes any
money. Good luck.

 

[Dave4120]

Hey Dave, when you talk to Ed about Syracuse suggest he do
the same in Utica on WTLB so people can acctually hear the
games at night. But if I'm not mistaken the old Sales
Manager at Galaxy in Utica saie Sports never makes any
money. Good luck.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. After doing this high school sports for about 30-years, I have no doubt in my mind that WTLA and WTLB could make money if they ever pursued it. And yes, there is no doubt that the signals they have would allow more people to hear the games than the very weak stations of Clear Channel in Utica, especially at night. However, Clear Channel in my opinion has done an outstanding job with their local sports talk and with their coverage of high school and college sports, despite their less than average signal strength at night. They of course are also streaming most of the high school games and I know that many people are listening on their computers, with several calls from people out of state who used to live in the area.

I must say that Fred Miller and Adam the Bull are doing one heck of a job with what they have to work with, and from a production point of view, I do not feel too many other stations anywhere come close. The play-by-play talent is excellent and could be in larger markets if desired, and the on-air production is not typical high school quality. Much better!! Don't find too many stations doing high school games where they use a $2000 Shure wireless mic system on the referee's to hear penalties over the air either. They also use the Comrex system and Marti for various games, so quality is outstanding. Obviously, there are some occasions when cell phone has to be used. Fred and Adam definetly have a good following on their talk shows, and I find them both informative and entertaining.

As far as comments that high school sports never makes any money. I can say without a doubt that high school sports has been the easiest programming to sell and always will be.

Dave

 

[BobRoss]

> I must say that Fred Miller and Adam the Bull are doing one
> heck of a job with what they have to work with (....)
> The play-by-play talent is
> excellent and could be in larger markets if desired

That's when Adam actually makes it to the game on time... leaving the station late, then stopping for a second or third dinner (likely on trade) and huffing his way up the bleacher steps to the press box 10 minutes into the game is unacceptable.

 

[meangene]

>>
> I must say that Fred Miller and Adam the Bull are doing one
> heck of a job with what they have to work with, and from a
> production point of view, I do not feel too many other
> stations anywhere come close. The play-by-play talent is
> excellent and could be in larger markets if desired, and the
> on-air production is not typical high school quality. Much
> better!! Don't find too many stations doing high school
> games where they use a $2000 Shure wireless mic system on
> the referee's to hear penalties over the air either. They
> also use the Comrex system and Marti for various games, so
> quality is outstanding. Obviously, there are some occasions
> when cell phone has to be used. Fred and Adam definetly have
> a good following on their talk shows, and I find them both
> informative and entertaining.
>
> As far as comments that high school sports never makes any
> money. I can say without a doubt that high school sports
> has been the easiest programming to sell and always will be.
>
>
I agree with on thing Dave, Fred does a great job. But how can you lump Adam the bull into that praise. I beleive Adam is just using what was left for him by the original Program Director, Mean Gene. Under his watch he expanded local sports with fred. They started using the comrex when Mike Antonellis did the blue sox games. They have always used the marti, since it came with WRNY in the sale to CC. You would think with the resouces of the cluster that yes, spots for games would be good. Gene I beleive was the one who finally started using WLFH for valley games. The internet? That come on almost a year and half ago, under Gene and Fred. And let's see what Adam has failed to do as prgram director. No more local sports updates in the morning after that weird morning show. Any new liners or promo's since Gene left???? Did the voice guy die? Or is it to much trouble to type new ones. The legal ID is a good example. All Fred could do when Gene left was take old liners and edit out his name, Now going on 10 monthes, it's sounds bad. Lets continue, Lots of dead air. Shows disappearing before they are done. He changed weekend shows that have run at the same time for 4 years, now most don't even run (ie: The Pit Reporters, possibly the best NASCAR show on radio) Spot breaks not covered up on Fox Sports or the Jime Rome Show. Hey I like music as much as the other guy, but 3 or 4 minute breaks with music on a sports station. And lets not forget the Joel Oriend Project. How could any self respecting PD give him his own show with no direction, no plan, no clue! Did anyone hear Joel's liners, not even good enough for a high school station, just some freind of Joel's. Ever hear of an air check Adam. So come on Dave, give credit where credit is due, TO Fred and the former PD with a clue. Gene may not have not been mister stats guy on the air, but he knew what makes good sounding radio.

 

[meangene]

> > I must say that Fred Miller and Adam the Bull are doing
> one
> > heck of a job with what they have to work with (....)
> > The play-by-play talent is
> > excellent and could be in larger markets if desired
>
> That's when Adam actually makes it to the game on time...
> leaving the station late, then stopping for a second or
> third dinner (likely on trade) and huffing his way up the
> bleacher steps to the press box 10 minutes into the game is
> unacceptable.
>

Makes one wonder why he switched from the morning drive, to afternoons, to nights, for his show. Apparently did not want to get up in the morning. Fred was always right, he was always wrong in the afternoons. And he probably wanted to work at night, just like he did at WIBX. When it comes to Clear Channels montra, "Less is More" thats Adam. Less work, more free time.

 

[Dave4120]

> > > I must say that Fred Miller and Adam the Bull are doing
> > one
> > > heck of a job with what they have to work with (....)
> > > The play-by-play talent is
> > > excellent and could be in larger markets if desired
> >
> > That's when Adam actually makes it to the game on time...
> > leaving the station late, then stopping for a second or
> > third dinner (likely on trade) and huffing his way up the
> > bleacher steps to the press box 10 minutes into the game
> is
> > unacceptable.
> >
>
> Makes one wonder why he switched from the morning drive, to
> afternoons, to nights, for his show. Apparently did not
> want to get up in the morning. Fred was always right, he
> was always wrong in the afternoons. And he probably wanted
> to work at night, just like he did at WIBX. When it comes
> to Clear Channels montra, "Less is More" thats Adam. Less
> work, more free time.

At this moment in time,let me say that I must agree with many of the things you and Bob have said. I think Fred is stuck in a tough situation, cannot do a thing about it, and has to roll with the flow. I have made my opinons known, and I wil leave it at that for now. And speaking of the Marti system that Clear Channel uses, one of the Marti's is mine that I paid $2200 for. I let them use it 12-months a year. In addition, I have my own $569 Sennheiser play-by-play headset mics (3-pairs) and the shure wireless for the ref is mine. But again, they treat me well, and everything with any operation is not going to be perfect. I just do my thing and leave the internal and external stuff to them.
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