WGR550: Mickey Mouse Radio

[etiennep99]

Sabres in Florida.  Terrible play.  Where's Wayne Gretzky with his obligatory Mickey Mouse comment? Maybe he was home trying to listen to the dreadful WGR550 broadcast.

Most of the 2nd period went off the air last night.  A listener tweeted Paul Hamilton to ask why the game wasn't on WGR. Paul tweeted back "It is".   But it wasn't.

Talk about lack of situational awareness!   Paul was IN STUDIO and still didn't know that they weren't broadcasting the hockey game any more.

After the game, Paul's cell phone went off live on air.  Talk about a bonehead move!   Paul should be benched for the next game to see if he can get his head back on

straight.

 

Earlier in the year, the LA game as I recall, the 3rd period broadcast was ALL COMMERCIALS.  Well, the play-by-play finally reappeared with a like 4 minutes left, but

cut out again in the last minute of a nail-biter.  And when Koziel came on for the post-game show, he said, "Due to the lack of whistles, we're going to have to have

an extra commercial break."   And the feed cut for a second, only to come back to Koziel apparently oblivious to the fact that no commercials just played.

 

This WGR team is a mess.  Bush league.  They need to fire their GM.

 

Since I was forced to listen to the Lightning broadcast, I can say that they are not bush league.  I mean, man, they even have Newt Gingrich on Color Commentary !

Newt had his contract with America.  WGR550 needs to do a contract with their listeners.   Too bad WNY is part of the country that has taken a contract out on

America.

Edited November 26, 2019 by etiennep99

[bob_sauve28]

He turned Rob Ray into a newt! 

[etiennep99]

LOL

[Ross Rhea]

I live in Rochester and WGR is off air here from about 6pm until around 6am, give or take whenever they decide to flip the switch and turn it back on. 

 

Were almost in 2020 and a radio channel still turns off their distance or whatever projects the signal out further overnight, really! 

 

I pickup Toronto, NYC, Washington, Philly, and others way further than Buffalo, I don't get it why does WGR turn off and others don't? Kind of frusterating when you're in driving.

[pastajoe]

The Radio.com app that WGR switched to is terrible. I don’t blame the on-air people for a management/ owner decision. Often the app will just keep playing commercials, and I have to close and reopen it a couple of times to correct it. You can tell it’s stuck when no matter when you start it, it’s at the start of a commercial, and when you don’t hear local Buffalo commercials.

Also sometimes the podcasts don’t get posted, like the full Sabres postgame. You just get a couple of player interviews.

[etiennep99]

Yes, I'm out of range and listen on the app [via Alexa, via computer(s), via cell phones].

To clarify: the problem with last night was: a. 1st period was fine. b. Around 8:00 PM, the broadcast switched to what would have been on if not for the hockey game. And as I recall, the "On Air Now" section on the website didn't say a hockey game.

It happened on three different devices to at least two people. That doesn't sound like an app problem. It sounds like an automation issue. And if it's across the board, then a simple speaker in the station should reveal the problem.

Concerning the commercial "loop", OK, maybe that is an app issue, an issue that seemingly seems to cut in and out, and only on a few occasions. Bizarre.

That still doesn't excuse them from: 1. reporting the problem to the public.  2. correcting the problem(app). 

Paul's terse "It is [playing on WGR550]" is not enough.  It's quite condescending in fact.   

[Mini-rant: Paul's use of Twitter is a perfect example of why I hate Twitter: people often don't give any context, leaving you to have to dig through the thread to get the point.

It's like TV simulcasts on radio where it can be hard to follow the play, and you certainly cannot see any of the replays.  That's why I've always preferred RJ because he cut his teeth on radio and does a clearer play-by-play.  And Rob Ray, for all of his faults, also does a good job explaining plays.]

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by etiennep99

[Hawerchuk]

Radio.com app is COMPLETE GARBAGE!! Cannot even listen to games most of the time. Super frustrating.

WGR550 - "Home of the endless commercials!"

[Kruppstahl]

The new WGR "listen live" app with rewinding feature is garbage.  It's filled with glitches and doesn't really work.

My advice is to google search other online radio streaming apps that will stream WGR-550, and use those.

That will defeat online ads, and the common problems with the new radio player at the WGR website.

I use this one:

https://mytuner-radio.com/radio/wgr-550-sports-radio-404063/

[spndnchz]

I’ve had no issues with the radio com app personally. 

[shrader]

9 minutes ago, spndnchz said:

I’ve had no issues with the radio com app personally. 

I wonder if you might get a different performance from the app local vs. non-local.

[Mustache of God]

3 hours ago, pastajoe said:

The Radio.com app that WGR switched to is terrible. I don’t blame the on-air people for a management/ owner decision. Often the app will just keep playing commercials, and I have to close and reopen it a couple of times to correct it. You can tell it’s stuck when no matter when you start it, it’s at the start of a commercial, and when you don’t hear local Buffalo commercials.

Also sometimes the podcasts don’t get posted, like the full Sabres postgame. You just get a couple of player interviews.

I have the same experience with the app, getting caught in an endless loop of commercials....so frustrating. Sometimes es I'll turn it on in the background and only be half listening and then after 10 minutes realize ifs been not stop ads. Such garbage.

[triumph_communes]

New app has never once worked for me.  Utterly useless

[OhMyDahlin]

8 hours ago, triumph_communes said:

New app has never once worked for me.  Utterly useless

App works for me more than the website does.

[triumph_communes]

13 hours ago, OhMyDahlin said:

App works for me more than the website does.

I haven't had the website work for years longer..  didn't specify that part =D

[elcrusho]

It's 2019........stream the game.........

[sabremike]

If the Radio.com app sucks pull up the NHL app, all radio calls from both teams are streamed free.

[LabattBlue]

I rarely listen on the radio unless I'm in the car.  Did all the problems occur with their broadcast radio signal, or are they all related to the radio.com app? 

[KC Scouts]

There is a lot wrong with WGR. The sad thing is that WGR is WNY's one true broadcast media outlet. When is Pegula going to get his head out of his A** and realize he could create his own local sports network like the old Empire Sports Network? They already have some content thats on MSG, its not much of a stretch to include UB Football, Little 4 Basketball, Bisons (They are still an entity aren't they?) and High School Sports. I'm sure its probably not much of a financial winner but Its probably not a huge loser either, Im just saying it would be nice to have that back again. 

[SwampD]

13 minutes ago, KC Scouts said:

There is a lot wrong with WGR. The sad thing is that WGR is WNY's one true broadcast media outlet. When is Pegula going to get his head out of his A** and realize he could create his own local sports network like the old Empire Sports Network? They already have some content thats on MSG, its not much of a stretch to include UB Football, Little 4 Basketball, Bisons (They are still an entity aren't they?) and High School Sports. I'm sure its probably not much of a financial winner but Its probably not a huge loser either, Im just saying it would be nice to have that back again. 

If it was going to happen, it would have already happened. I have to believe that they have already run the numbers, and they weren’t favorable to starting a network.

[Taro T]

On 11/28/2019 at 12:36 PM, KC Scouts said:

There is a lot wrong with WGR. The sad thing is that WGR is WNY's one true broadcast media outlet. When is Pegula going to get his head out of his A** and realize he could create his own local sports network like the old Empire Sports Network? They already have some content thats on MSG, its not much of a stretch to include UB Football, Little 4 Basketball, Bisons (They are still an entity aren't they?) and High School Sports. I'm sure its probably not much of a financial winner but Its probably not a huge loser either, Im just saying it would be nice to have that back again. 

There is a lot of capital outlay for a non-broadcasting company to begin a new network.  Once those initial equipment purchases are made though, they become sunk costs. 

It made a lot of sense for Adelphia to start up Empire (and then help stabilize / eventually buy the Sabres).  It made ZERO ####ing sense for Adelphia to kill Empire during the bankruptcy.  They would have made money selling it and creditors would have been better recompensed, but the trustee decided that LT Adelphia would lose as they'd then have to pay rights fees to broadcast Empire post bankruptcy.  It was friggin' obvious that Adelphia was toast in WNY (to everybody but him) and it screwed their employees, their customers, and pretty much all Upstate NY sports fans around the country.

But, unless either Fox Sports or MSG REALLY want a presence in WNY it is a tough sell as Bison (and possibly Red Wing & Sky Chief) baseball won't keep viewers tuning in during the summer with no pro football nor hockey, nor even college hoops, indoor lacrosse, nor HS sports.  If Bob Rich had landed the Rockies or Marlins like he should have, we'd have a regional sports network.  (Or if the bankruptcy trustee wasn't a ###### monkey, we'd still have one anyhow.)

(And trustee is probably the wrong term, sorry, but it's late and I'm heading to bed.  You know of the role I refer to.)

[Taro T]

And the local population isn't really big enough to justify another WNSA starting back up to go hth W/ WGR either (especially w/ ni summer sports).  Sadly.

[Rico7]

On 11/26/2019 at 3:01 PM, Mustache of God said:

I have the same experience with the app, getting caught in an endless loop of commercials....so frustrating. Sometimes es I'll turn it on in the background and only be half listening and then after 10 minutes realize ifs been not stop ads. Such garbage.

I've had the same issue. The app is terrible. 3 Chord Bourbon commercial crazily gets repeated over and over.

[shrader]

7 hours ago, Taro T said:

And the local population isn't really big enough to justify another WNSA starting back up to go hth W/ WGR either (especially w/ ni summer sports).  Sadly.

And can you imagine the "state run media" complaints that we'd be flooded with?

[Lanny]

On 11/28/2019 at 11:36 AM, KC Scouts said:

There is a lot wrong with WGR. The sad thing is that WGR is WNY's one true broadcast media outlet. When is Pegula going to get his head out of his A** and realize he could create his own local sports network like the old Empire Sports Network? They already have some content thats on MSG, its not much of a stretch to include UB Football, Little 4 Basketball, Bisons (They are still an entity aren't they?) and High School Sports. I'm sure its probably not much of a financial winner but Its probably not a huge loser either, Im just saying it would be nice to have that back again. 

The John Murphy Show and Instigators are their content, on WGR and MSG. In my opinion both are un-listenable. 

Edited December 4, 2019 by Lanny

[...]

The Pegulas have a nice deal with MSG and control a lot of the programming as it is.  

This page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSG_Western_New_York provides details. One of the prime take-aways is this:

"MSG as part of the agreement pays $19 to $20 million per-year in rights fees to broadcast Sabres games and programming, as well as Buffalo Bills programming..."

To juice any more out of that nugget they'd have to take that $19 to $20 million and invest it in creating and marketing programming.  As @SwampDpoints out above, they have run the numbers, and are content with what they get out of their relationship with MSG.

It would take significant effort and an outlay of money to do any more than they already do.  It's not unlike the hockey club - you need real talent to increase the quality of the output and that talent costs money. The broadcasting industry is not known for paying money to retain talented people. They will pay personalities at the top of each tier, to a point, and the executives will pay themselves, but after that, the money disappears.