Story Created:
Jul 7, 2008 at 10:38 AM EST
Story Updated:
Jul 7, 2008 at 10:38 AM EST
SOUTH BEND — Notre Dame football has a new local radio home — and a familiar one, at that.
WSBT 960 AM, the original Irish football radio partner back in 1922 and intermittently in the 86 years since, is back teaming with ND football, beginning with the Irish-San Diego State game on Sept. 6.
The six-year agreement to be ND’s exclusive local radio home for football, announced Monday morning, runs through the 2013-14 school year and also includes men’s basketball and hockey, and related programming for all three sports.
“Notre Dame sports are important to this community in a variety of ways,” said Sally Brown, vice president and general manager of the WSBT stations. “And we are really pleased to be able to offer another valuable service to the community by being the exclusive local radio broadcast outlet of Notre Dame football, men’s basketball and hockey.”
The Irish radio broadcasts had been carried on stations owned by the Artistic Media Partners since 1998 - most recently WNDV-FM (92.9) and WDND-AM (1490). The parties announced the end of their relationship in June.
The new lineup will look like this:
Notre Dame football games will be broadcast on both WSBT 960 AM and Sunny 101.5 FM. Locally originated GameDay SportsBeat and ISP Sports’ nationally syndicated pregame show will both be part of the extensive game-day coverage. A postgame show with interviews, analysis and caller feedback will be broadcast as well, though plans for a specific format and which of the WSBT stations it will air on are still being finalized.
Notre Dame men’s basketball will be carried on WSBT 960 AM.
Notre Dame hockey will be carried on Cat Country 99.9 FM.
The Notre Dame Football Friday Live Show will be carried on Cat Country 99.9 FM, while the Notre Dame Football Coaches Show and the Men’s Basketball Coaches Show will be carried on WSBT AM 960 on weeknights during their respective seasons. GameDay AM will be broadcast on WSBT 960 AM and Sunny 101.5 FM on home-football Saturdays only during the season.
Notre Dame football made its local radio debut on Nov. 4, 1922 - a 27-0 Irish victory over Indiana, when Knute Rockne was the Irish head coach and eight seasons before Notre Dame Stadium opened for business. WSBT carried the game, though on a different frequency in those days.
“We feel like Notre Dame football is back where it belongs,” said Bob Montgomery, program director for WSBT 960 AM. “We were the very first radio station to broadcast a Notre Dame football game. To be able to get it back was something we’ve felt for a long time we needed to do.”
WSBT will maintain its strong commitment to high school sports, Montgomery said. The WSBT stations are still under contract to broadcast Indiana University men’s basketball games, and the station will honor that contract - working out any potential conflicts with ND games once the Irish schedule is released.
The announcers for all three ND sports will be familiar. Don Criqui will handle play-by-play for football, with former Irish standout running back Allen Pinkett handling color commentary.
For men’s basketball, play-by-play man Jack Nolan teams with former Irish All-American LaPhonso Ellis, while Mike Lockert remains the play-by-play voice for hockey.
A twist in the new agreement is that fans will be able to hear the annual Blue-Gold spring football game on radio, with the WSBT 960 AM sports team doing the announcing.
“It gives the average fan a close look at the team,” Montgomery said, “whether they can’t make it to the game or if they do go to the game, they can take their radios with them and get some analysis during the game.”
“We’re excited to partner with WSBT in relation to Notre Dame athletics,” ND interim athletic director Missy Conboy said. “The WSBT stations hold great positions and have a strong tradition in the market, particularly when it comes to covering sports. This makes this relationship a natural.”
Sunday, Nov 9 at 8:33 AM I no loner listen wrote ...
bring back the sportsBeat post game show. Nolan and crew are brutal-reading e-mails not taking calls? Which programming genius sold this current show? When the games end so does my listening.