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WGR PROGRAMMING: KEVIN SYLVESTER/SABRES SHOW

G

GeorgeKramer

Guest
So today was the debut of WGR's new Buffalo Sabres program from 10am to noon on 550 AM.

Kevin Sylvester, a Buffalo Sabres employee and a former WGR staffer, is the host.

The show broadcasts weekday mornings from The Sabres Store in First Niagara Center.

Wondering what the early reaction is to the concept, the choice of Sylvester as the host, if this program can make it year-round (think about those mid-August days when everyone is either on vacation or talking about the Buffalo Bills in training camp) and what type of agreement/arrangement was negotiated for the 10 hours of programming that was agreed upon by Entercom Buffalo and the Buffalo Sabres organization.
 
For starters, the fact that Sylvester is a Sabre's employee tells you an awful lot about how interesting the commentary will be. ::)

I do wonder what kind of deal was worked out and how he was simultaneously pulled from the TV broadcast and inserted in WGR's daily lineup. Coincidence?

I also think that the energy of the show will be hindered by him doing it from what is in all likelihood a ghost-town at this time of year: the Sabre's store at the arena.

In short, this show and the potential of this show, does not excite me. Not eve a little.
 
Element9 said:
These are the times when I (almost) miss the comments from our friend intheeknow.
Click to expand...

9, it took me a second but then it clicked. ;) Nice.

As for comments, I think Jas hit it on the head. Aside from the die-hards who know who's available in the draft or free-agency I can't imagine there will be much excitement to this show, especially in the off-season.
 
John C said:
Element9 said:
These are the times when I (almost) miss the comments from our friend intheeknow.
Click to expand...
9, it took me a second but then it clicked. ;) Nice. As for comments, I think Jas hit it on the head. Aside from the die-hards who know who's available in the draft or free-agency I can't imagine there will be much excitement to this show, especially in the off-season.
Click to expand...
Jas and John C put it together nicely.

It appears the Sabres brass last season assessed Sylvester's performance as fill-in PBP caller (a no-win proposition, especially at this point of his career) and pregame and intermission host. Sylvester seems to be a likeable guy and has said all the right things about his transition to radio in what appears to be a demotion. He's still receiving a paycheck and part of the Sabres team, so in this regard he's lucky because the Sabres could have put him on waivers.

The Buffalo News story about the Sabres' changes revealed an interesting point that many posters here have emphasized on several occasions concerning talent development. Sylvester transitioned from college radio at SUNY Fredonia to WGR having no prior small market commercial radio experience calling play by play or reporting. As such, he didn't have the foundation of legacy play by play men such as Van Miller, who worked in Dunkirk before joining WBEN radio and John Murphy, who worked in Lockport before getting called up to the big clubs. Small market developmental experience also helps talent refine their skills and smooth the rough edges. It also helps one appreciate the ascent to a larger market.

Seeing the attention and time that WGR was allocating to the Buffalo Bills, the Sabres appear to have stamped their feet, pounded on the table and told WGR they weren't happy playing second fiddle. The line from Fatal Attraction comes to mind, "I won't be ignored, Dan."
 
The best thing to come out of this? A local voice instead of canned Cowherd in mid-days at WGR. Even a Sabres sales pitch is likely to be more interesting to local folks. If Sylvester can make golf on the radio interesting, he should be able to make the Sabres earth-shattering. I'm sure that the content of his show will also be available on the Sabres site via podcast, and some of the special video features he does for MSG and the web will be part of the audio presentation.
 
Thing I don't get is, why limit Kevin Sylvester to hockey talk during a season when all the sports action is centered around baseball, the NBA finals--and of special interest to Buffalo sports fans, the OTAs and the run-up to training camp for the Bills and the rest of the NFL?

Right now, we don't even know if there WILL be an NHL hockey season this fall because the league's owners seem bent on repeating their near-death experience of 2004. A second major work stoppage could kill the future of hockey in the United States...the game just isn't in the minds of very many people south of New York City and west of the Mississippi, even if SoCal got to take the Stanley Cup home this time. And it still isn't even Buffalo's main sports pre-occupation. Football is, has been for 50+ years. Name one major U.S. city where hockey is the main sport--you can't.

The man is capable of talking about lots more than the Sabres. Let him do it. He may soon have to.
 
Bob1370 said:
The man is capable of talking about lots more than the Sabres. Let him do it. He may soon have to.
Click to expand...

Herein lies the problem: He is an employee of the Buffalo Sabres.

I'm not sure what the arrangement is between the Sabres and WGR regarding who was promised what, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, it's hard to believe Sylvester's landing a new radio show just happened to coincide with the termination of his TV broadcast duties.

I would love to know under what conditions this show came to be and what the actual purpose of the show is. If the Sabres organization has any say about it, ol' KSly will not be doing much of anything outside of talking hockey in August.

I do wonder to what degree this "new show" was a bone thrown to the Sabres. I also wonder what bargaining chip there was for the Sabres to have the clout to inject a Sabres propaganda minister into the daily lineup. Was there a chance the Sabres could move to.....where? 97 Rock? Doesn't seem like they want to be in the sports business any longer, and no other station is going to give the Sabres as much coverage as WGR, even with the Bills stealing attention away.
 
WGR has 22 hours a day to talk about the Bills. Seems like the Sabres want at least a little slice of the broadcast day.

The Sabres did go to WHTT for a few years in the 90s. I doubt that Cumulus is ready to pony up any dollars to bring them over to James E. Casey Drive, but they might be an attractive package for Town Square. They'd pump up Jack's numbers nicely, and add a little more to what's likely to be a decline in 97-Rock's numbers since they won't have the Bills inflating their Sundays. Hey, Pegula might even pull a Dan Snyder and BUY a station. I'll bet that Dick Greene would cut him a heck of a deal for the AM / FM translator that is WECK.
 
The John Murphy show on WGR=the Kevin Sylvester show on WGR. Obviously to me they are both "value added' programs to their respective Bills and Sabres contracts. Call it what you will. Content is king though, we'll see how relevant they become.

As for Kevin's PBP ability, I'm not a fan-boy, but I thought he did a great job. Listen around the NHL to teams who don't have a Rick Jeanneret or a Mike Lange of Pittsburgh and I didn't think Kevin was that bad at all in comparison.
 
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