WGR

WGR Sports Radio 550
City Buffalo, New York
Broadcast area Western New York
Branding WGR Sports Radio 550
Slogan Western New York's Sports Leader
Frequency 550 kHz
Repeater(s) 98.5-2 WKSE-HD2 (Niagara Falls)
First air date May 22, 1922
Format Sports
Power 5.000 watts
Class B
Facility ID 56101
Callsign meaning World's Greatest Radio
Affiliations Sabres Hockey Network
Westwood One Sports
Cumulus Media Networks
Buffalo Bills Radio Network
Owner Entercom Communications
(Entercom Buffalo License, LLC)
Sister stations WBEN, WKSE, WWKB, WTSS, WWWS, WLKK
Webcast Listen Live
Website wgr550.com

WGR, or WGR Sports Radio 550, is an all sports radio station in Buffalo, New York that broadcasts on 550 AM. It is the flagship station of the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres, carrying a mostly locally originated sports talk and play-by-play lineup. Its studios are located in Amherst, New York, and transmitter in suburban Hamburg, New York. Although it has a power of 5,000 watts, during the day its signal can be heard as far north as Barrie, Peterborough and Kingston, Ontario, as far west as Windsor, Ontario, as far east as Syracuse, and as far south as Sandusky, OH and Youngstown, Ohio. At night its signal can be heard as far north as Sudbury, Barrie and Peterborough, Ontario, as far west as Guelph, Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario, as far east as Batavia, and as far south as Jamestown and Olean. In nearby Erie, Pennsylvania the station has a city-grade signal, primarily in Erie's eastern suburbs. Under ownership of Entercom, its studios are located on Corporate Parkway in Amherst, New York.

History

Early years

The history of one of Buffalo's earliest radio stations has its roots at sea. On April 1, 1921 the Governor, a passenger ship, sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean after collision with a freighter, the West Hartland.[1] The passenger ship’s assigned radio call letters were WGR. Due to maritime superstition, the call sign was never reissued to another ship and reverted to a pool of available call signs for new radio stations.

That same year, the Federal Telephone & Telegraph Company (FTTC), headquartered in a sprawling manufacturing complex in North Buffalo, began marketing its first, completely assembled radio sets. To fill a radio void in the city, and to stimulate sales of their new "high-tech" products, the FTTC applied for (and received) a commercial radio license from the Department of Commerce. The station was named "WGR" after George Rand (founder of Remington Rand), a key investor in the FTTC. On May 22, 1922, WGR's broadcast operations commenced, beginning nine decades of continuous service to Western New York and Southern Ontario. It is the oldest continuously operating station in Buffalo. Published reports say that the first programs on WGR were: a clergyman’s lecture; a concert from Victor’s Furniture Store showroom; and a presentation on the advantages of a college education by Dr. Julian Park, from the University of Buffalo.

In the late 1940s, the station was bought by a consortium of Western New York families known as the WGR Corporation, which signed on WGR-TV (channel 2) in 1953. WGR Corporation bought several other television and radio stations in the 1950s, and eventually became known as Transcontinent Broadcasting. Transcontinent merged with Taft Broadcasting in 1964. Taft sold off WGR-TV in 1983 (it is now WGRZ-TV), but retained both WGR radio and WGRF (the former WGR-FM).

During its days as a full service radio station, its roster of personalities included "Buffalo Bob" Smith, later famous for TV's Howdy Doody children's show, and popular national TV and nightclub comedian Foster Brooks. The station's longtime music format combining Adult Top 40 hits and rock oldies and featured some of Buffalo's top radio personalities, talk hosts and news reporters including Stan Roberts, Frank Benny, Tom Donahue, Randy Michaels, Jim Scott, Jerry Reo, Shane, Joe Galuski, Tom Langmyer, George Hamberger, Tom Shannon, John Otto, Chuck Lakefield, Don Dussias, Lauri Githens, Wayne Smith, Sandy Kozel, Jane Tomczak, Tom Bauerle (as well as his brother, Dick Bauerle), Craig Matthews. WGR gradually evolved to news/talk during the late 1980s.

In 1987, Taft sold WGR and WGRF to Rich Communications, which was part of the Robert Rich family's business holdings, which also included a major processed-food company and a venture applying for a National League expansion baseball franchise (for which WGR was projected to be flagship station of the team's projected network). Although the Rich interests were the National League's choice for the new franchise they dropped out of the competition for an expansion team (which ultimately went to Denver, Colorado as the Colorado Rockies) for cost reasons. Soon after, WGR was eventually spun off to new owners.

The 1990s: News Radio 55

For much of the 1990s, WGR was a successful news/talk station, competing head to head with WBEN-AM 930. From 1990 to 1994, WGR owned the radio broadcast rights to the Buffalo Bills, the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bisons. The Buffalo Bills' four consecutive Super Bowl seasons were broadcast on WGR, whose Program Directors included Chuck Finney (1991–1993), Daryl Parks (1993–1995) and Jim Pastrick (1995–2000).

Through its news-talk era the WGR line-up featured a variety of programs such as Breakfast with Bauerle (Tom Bauerle), The Fabulous Sports Babe, Chuck Dickerson, Art Wander, Extension 55 with John Otto, Ron Dobson, John and Ken, Rick Emerson, Joey Reynolds, and several other local and national hosts. Syndicated talk radio host Leslie Marshall, controversial talk radio host J. R. Gach and future WFAN New York morning drive fixture Craig Carton also worked at the station. Jesse Ventura was at one time a candidate to host a show on the station, but lost out to Dobson.[2] The station was, from the network's inception, an affiliate of ESPN Radio, which it carried on the weekends from 1992 to 2013.

In 1995, Rich Communications which owned both WGR and its FM counterpart WGRF, sold WGRF to Mercury Radio headed by Charles W. Banta. Simultaneously, Rich Communications entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Keymarket Communications. The Federal Communications Commission approved the sale of WGR to Keymarket within twelve months of the LMA. Keymarket also owned WBEN, WMJQ, WWKB and WKSE. Keymarket merged with River City Broadcasting which was purchased by Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1997. Sinclair Broadcast Group sold its entire radio division to Entercom Communications in 1999. In February 2000, WGR changed formats from News-Talk to Sports-Talk.

Becoming an all sports station

In February 2000, WGR became an all-sports talk radio station. Bauerle, for a short time, was retained and paired with Chris "Bulldog" Parker, who joined from WBEN for the morning show. Chuck Dickerson maintained his afternoon drive show. Jim Rome, who was added to the WGR line-up in late summer 1998, was retained when WGR switched to all sports. Anne Burke, a frequent caller to the station's talk shows, joined Bob Gaughan to co-host middays. Mike Maniscalco and later Brad Riter hosted the evening shift.

From October 2000 to 2004, WGR competed with WNSA-FM, an FM station licensed to Wethersfield, NY in rural Wyoming county (with a 107.3 translator in Buffalo). The two stations battled for listeners and the rights to broadcast sporting events. Several teams' broadcasts bounced between the two stations, such as the Bandits, New York Yankees, and Buffalo Destroyers.

Schopp & Bulldog

WGR landed a coup when it signed WNSA's top afternoon host, Mike Schopp, from WNSA-FM in 2002; the event came at about the same time as when Rigas and Adelphia Communications were beginning to collapse under massive financial scandal. WNSA never recovered and eventually WGR took the upper hand in the local sports radio battle. Schopp was at first teamed with Chuck Dickerson in afternoon drive. When Dickerson departed WGR, Schopp was teamed with Chris "Bulldog" Parker. Bauerle moved from WGR to sister station WBEN, Gaughan joined Kevin Sylvester in morning drive (Burke had been released long before this). Riter was paired with sidekick Jeremy White in the evening and lastly The Tony Kornheiser Show (from ESPN) was added in Gaughan and Burke's old time slot. (Kornheiser would later be replaced by Colin Cowherd by ESPN.)

With the purchase of WNSA, WGR re-joined the New York Yankees radio network and for the first time since 1996, regained the radio rights to the Buffalo Sabres. Howard Simon, also from WNSA, joined in November 2004, with White moving from evenings to mornings to be Simon's sidekick. White has been a steadying presence for the often distracted Simon, and the duo's chemistry seems to grow stronger with each passing year. White is highly respected in the local Buffalo radio market and amongst his peers. Todd Drummond, a former classmate of White's, had this to say in 2012, " I remember Jeremy from high school. He had always wanted to be around sports. I played football and he was a waterboy. After the games we'd hit the shower and Jer would be standing there holding a basket to collect our jock straps. One time I put my jock over his head and pulled the waist band. It left a red mark on his chin, but he never complained because he was a team player. I'm glad to see Jeremy still holding the jocks, and doing it for the pros now."

AIn 2006, the Sabres and WGR renewed their broadcast agreement through 2012, and Yankees rights were dropped by 2007. In 2007, host Brad Riter was fired after failing to report for work, and he joined rival WECK in March 2008. A series of WGR staffers, as well as past and present Buffalo media personalities such as former WNSA and Empire host (and former KOHD-DT morning anchor) Jim Brinson and WIVB-TV sports director Dennis Williams, hosted the vacated slot. (WGR also tried to lure John Murphy, but because he was also at the time the radio host of the Bills, his contract prevented him from hosting the slot.) In January 2008, Williams was hired as the new evening host at WGR; WIVB declined to his contract shortly thereafter, and replaced him with Murphy. Williams left the station in early 2009 to enter the sales industry. On January 4, 2012 it was announced that WGR would become the Buffalo Bills Radio Network flagship station. With the addition of Buffalo Bills broadcast rights going to WGR, the evening time slot is now held by Bills announcer John Murphy.

WGR began a partial simulcast on Rochester sister station WROC in September 2008. Sabres games, Schopp and the Bulldog, and ESPN Radio were carried on WROC; Schopp and the Bulldog was dropped in 2011.[3]

In 2012, WGR secured the rights to the Buffalo Bills Radio Network after previous owner WGRF decided against renewing their contract. As part of the deal, John Murphy will begin hosting a nightly talk show dedicated to the Bills on nights when the Sabres do not play. At the same time, Kevin Sylvester will also return to the station as the host of a daily Sabres-oriented talk show, Hockey Hotline, which last aired in 2004.

WGR parent company Entercom moved the ESPN Radio affiliation to its own full-time affiliate, WWKB, in September 2013. It is not yet known what will air on WGR during overnights.[4]

In 2016 the formation of MSG Western New York was announced. A regional sports channel for Western New York the channel includes both Sabres and Bills programming. Two of the main WGR shows Sabres Hockey Hotline and The John Murphy Show began simulcasting on the channel on October 3rd, 2016. WGR and Pegula Sports and Entertainment reached a five-year contract extension for radio broadcasts not long afterward, keeping the Bills and Sabres broadcasts on WGR through 2021.

Broadcast signal

WGR's broadcast signal broadcasts at a power of 5,000 watts. During the day, the nondirectional signal, assisted by the Great Lakes, can stretch from Toledo, Ohio to Watertown, New York. At night, the signal is shifted to a directional north-to-south pattern aimed toward Toronto, Ontario.

In 2006, WGR resumed streaming its programming on the Internet after a four-year hiatus. WGR also broadcasts on the HD Radio digital subchannel of WKSE (FM 98.5).

Hosts and programs

Weekdays

Weekends*

**--weeknight and weekend programming subject to preemption by live sports play-by-play coverage

Contributors and regular guests

:00 and :30 (no longer 20/20 sports) anchors and producers

Live sports coverage

Much of the other sports programming WGR carried in the evening hours was displaced by The John Murphy Show, particularly the station's "Friday Night Lights" high school football package and select games from the Buffalo Bisons and, in various years, the New York Yankees. With Murphy moved to middays, the station has not yet indicated if it will re-expand its live sports offerings.

References

  1. ↑ Broadcast Station Calls With a Past, WILLIAM FENWICK, Radio Broadcast, July 1928, pg 150
  2. ↑ http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/story/663738.html
  3. ↑ Fybush, Scott. NorthEast Radio Watch. 18 August 2008.
  4. ↑ Pergament, Alan (September 5, 2013). Sabres games in NHL prospect tourney on new ESPN Buffalo. The Buffalo News. Retrieved September 6, 2013.

Coordinates: 42°46′04″N 78°50′39″W / 42.76778°N 78.84417°W / 42.76778; -78.84417

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