Choose an area:

« back to press releases

WBUQ Comments On Airing Basketball

To the Editor:

We must first compliment Joe Lucadamo, News Editor, and Dave Berryman, Managing Editor, for their well-written coverage in last week's issue of The Voice in regards to the need to keep Husky basketball on the air. As always, their writing has shown the highest class and great forethought.

Unfortunately though, neither Mr. Lucadamo nor Mr. Berryman has the advantage of knowing the whole story behind the decision not to broadcast Husky basketball on WBUQ 91.1 FM. That is why we, as WBUQ's Executive Staff, feel a need to respond to these articles.

When Mike Progin, WBUQ's General Manager, spoke with Jim Hollister initially, he told Hollister that this was a programming concern and that he would take it up with the rest of the staff to get their opinions. However, with all the problems at the beginning of the year and with arising funding concerns, we decided to turn it down, for now.

We told Hollister that we would reconsider if one of the other better-equipped stations had not already accepted the programming package before the first tip-off. We knew that the equipment at our station was quickly deteriorating. Had we accepted the package, we knew that Husky basketball would not have had the quality broadcasting that the community has come to expect and that Jim Doyle has always delivered.

We would need to have a DJ in the studio before and after the broadcast just in case the game ended early or went into overtime. As scheduling goes, this tends to be a nightmare.

In addition to programming concerns, as the articles mentioned, we were dually concerned with the equipment necessary to run the phone lines. The entire broadcast would be run over the phone lines for both home and away games.

The phone system is about 10 years old, and we didn't think that it could withstand being on for three hours at a time, three times a week, for the entire season. Many DJs also use this phone line for their shows, and if the phone system were to go out, it would put a great strain on our station.

WBUQ only reaches a listening radius of 10-15 miles with 600 watts. We reach all of Bloomsburg, and parts of Danville and Berwick. WHLM, which previously aired Doyle's broadcasts, reached Scranton, Reading, and past Williamsport. WHLM has a wattage of 50,000, and a listening range of well over 50 miles. Certainly Doyle's broadcasts would not have reached the amount of loyal fans with WBUQ that he did with WHLM.

Jim Doyle is one of the top sportscasters in the state, as Mr. Berryman so aptly pointed out. It is our perception that a great sportscaster needs great equipment to perform at their potential.

We just didn't think that an already below average, 10-year-old phone system could possibly do justice to a man who has broadcasted sports in all his eloquence for the last 30 years.

Both articles in last week's Voice portrayed WBUQ's decision as a definite "no." However, this is not at all the case. Both Mike Progin and the rest of the Executive Staff are open to further discussion on the matter, and we will entertain a further request by Hollister if the need arises.

Respectfully submitted,
WBUQ Executive Staff