HEAR YE…HEAR YE…

One of the biggest pet peeves we’ve always had at Howlings has been the tremendous lack of support the Wolf Pack received from their radio home, ESPN 1410AM. The radio side of the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” seemed to preempt Pack game broadcasts for just about everything. It’s been so bad, that there were multiple occasions that Wolf Pack playoff games didn’t make it to the air or were cut short so the station could broadcast New York Yankees spring training baseball and we don’t have full confirmation, but we believe the left handed tiddle-e-winks regionals bumped them also. It was a disgrace. Hadn’t anyone ever told them they were a local station and they were covering the area’s ONLY professional sports team? Call us crazy, but had anyone there ever heard of tape delay? But we digress. In any event, it was just awful. It didn’t help the Wolf Pack and it didn’t help the local hockey fan.

Well thankfully, those days are over. In a release just obtained by Howlings from the team, the Pack have made a significant change that will remedy that and a slew of other broadcast issues in a major way.

Perhaps Hartford’s premiere radio station combos, WTIC AM/FM has entered into a partnership deal with the Wolf Pack that will get the team better exposure both on the air and on the net. Instead of the “oh-yeah-we-have-their-games” approach as they’ve had in the past, the team will now be a cornerstone component of their broadcast partners’ local identity in new technology. This can only help the team.

As a avid listener of hockey, if you’ve not experienced Bob Crawford’s broadcasts and his masterful on-air presentation you’ll have a far better opportunity to do so.

Here’s how it’s going to work. All Wolf Pack games will be available on the internet as they were last season. Also, all games will be available to those people driving around with the HD2 technology on their radio. There will also be select games that will be heard on the regular AM outlet at WTIC-AM.

If you are a season ticket holder, you’ll get a new radio free from the team for your car including the installation. For the rest, you’ll need to purchase the radio and have it installed.

Crawford tells Howlings, “I am thrilled with the opportunity to work with the great people at WTIC, and to be associated with their legendary AM outlet, WTIC NewsTalk 1080, and their entire family of stations. It’s exciting for me as a broadcaster to have a chance for some of my work to be heard on a blowtorch like WTIC NewsTalk 1080, and to have our entire schedule carried via HD radio. My feeling is, that puts us in the forefront of what the future holds in broadcast technology. And even more important is the bevy of cross-promotional opportunities that exist for the Pack with CBS Radio’s array of stations. That lineup allows us to get our promotional message out to large segments of all of our key demographic groups on a consistent basis.”

This is a big deal for this franchise and should help build interest in such a great product.

Here’s the official release.

WOLF PACK ENTERS NEW BROADCAST PARTNERSHIP WITH WTIC NEWS TALK 1080 AND WTIC-FM

* * * * *

Wolf Pack Action Featured On-Air and Online and Promoted Across Hartford’s Leading Stations

Northland AEG announced today a new partnership with WTIC-AM and WTIC-FM to air all 2008-09 Hartford Wolf Pack American Hockey League games. All of the Wolf Pack’s regular-season and playoff games will air on 96.5 WTIC-FM’s HD 2 channel and will be streamed on-line at www.wtic.com. Select games will be carried live on the 50,000-watt AM powerhouse, WTIC NewsTalk 1080.

To ensure that the Wolf Pack’s biggest fans have the capability to access the HD 2 broadcasts, every Wolf Pack 2008-09 full season ticket account holder will receive a free HD car radio courtesy of the two stations and the Wolf Pack complete with installation courtesy of Jo Di’s Sound Center.

The partnership goes further to include a weekly segment on WTIC’s “Sports Talk” and promotional support by not only WTIC AM & FM but sister stations WRCH FM and Hot 93.7 FM. Combined all four CBS RADIO stations reach nearly 700,000 people on a weekly basis.

“This is a tremendously exciting deal for the Wolf Pack,” said Northland AEG Senior Vice-President and General Manager Chuck Steedman. “This puts the Pack ‘ahead of the curve’ in the way we deliver our games to our fan base, utilizing the fast-growing technology of the HD radio platform. The array of promotional opportunities and synergies with CBS RADIO’s four stations, too, and the varied audiences they allow us to access, are invaluable.”

“Live local programming is the cornerstone of our broadcasting philosophy,” said Suzanne McDonald, CBS RADIO Hartford Senior Vice President/Market Manager. “Expanding our sports lineup to include coverage of hockey’s rising stars will be great for listeners, fans and the community.”

Returning for his 12th season of calling Wolf Pack play-by-play is veteran broadcaster Bob Crawford, who has been the “Voice of the Wolf Pack” since the franchise’s inception in 1997.

(Bob Crawford photo courtesy of Hartfordwolfpack.com)