5 Things To Know About Buffalo’s New Sports Station

@trendingbuffalo First day of all-sports radio on 1270 AM, including local show 12-3pm, and WGR is also going local 12-3pm. YOUR Thoughts?

— Dan Meyer (@MeyersMusings) January 7, 2013

Fine.

I posted a quick piece about “Sports Radio 1270 The Fan” yesterday but here’s some more to consider.

• It’s not just a new station. CBS Sports Radio is a new NETWORK that debuted last Wednesday, assembling air talent from previously existing entities like ESPN, FOX, and Sirius NFL Radio. The Fan is a piece of the bigger picture.
• The biggest coup for CBS was drawing Jim Rome away from Premiere Radio. For now, Rome’s show remains on WGR because there are rules about this sort of thing. As soon as possible (next January?), expect Rome to migrate from 550 to the CBS affiliate at 1270. There’s certainly a loyal base that will follow him. Between now and Rome Day, expect a lot of ideas to get kicked around and local management’s vision to clarify.
• The Fan launches with just one local show, hosted noon to three by Rich “Bull” Gaenzler. Gaenzler’s talent and opinions make him far more versatile than just introducing Alice in Chains songs, as he’s done for years on 103.3 The Edge. It’ll be good to hear him spread out, even if it’s just on a temporary basis.
• While the station could certainly survive as an inexpensive throwaway national network affiliate, it could have WGR in its sights. The decision to put its only live/local show at noon (the one slot WGR currently fills with syndicated programming) shows an awareness of what could be perceived as a hole in the lineup on 550.
• I can’t vouch for signal strength throughout the area or at different times of day, but it sounded fine in my car this morning in downtown Buffalo. Really though, The Fan’s best chance for traction likely revolves around working its way into WNY’s collective consciousness via social media. The fact that the station is already streaming is a good start.

The story here is that a full-sized radio company is venturing into the Buffalo sports talk realm with a backbone made up of CBS Sports Radio’s programming. This structure allows for growth and change over time, at whatever pace deemed necessary.

Don’t concern yourself with the current lineup.

Logic states that, if local management is serious about this project, much of the national and local programming that’s rolling out in The Fan’s earliest incarnation is nothing more than a placeholder.