A true story by Art Vuolo, Jr.
In a stunning turn of events, the University of Michigan had to find a new radio home for their football and basketball games after the 2005 season when 50,000 watt WJR-AM (760) abruptly announced on Thursday, October 13, 2005, that they would no longer be carrying any U of M sporting events.
Even more shocking was the news that The Great Voice of The Great Lakes had signed a new five-year deal to carry the Michigan State Spartans! The reason it all took place was MONEY. The answer to almost every “business decision” is money. There was simply more “GREEN” coming out of East Lansing than Ann Arbor!
Insiders felt that basketball was the driving force behind the move. The MSU basketball program is, generally speaking, stronger and there are more than twice as many basketball games as football. More games equal more spots (commercials) and that equals more money. Simple economics.
The news thrilled the Green and White MSU fans and caused great distress to thousands of Maize and Blue Michigan fans at the same time. The deal was put together by, WJR’s former president and general manager, the late Michael D. Fezzey. Sources say that Michigan State had been lusting after the mega-power WJR for many years. The Spartans had been aggressively perusing WJR since the spring of 2005. It was also thought that the station was not getting as much “love and respect” from the Wolverines as they felt was deserved. That seemed like a sure-fire recipe for defection. Some insiders felt the Wolverines had become somewhat complacent regarding the U of M’s relationship with the radio station. Others felt the culprit was the network coordinator Host Communications, but that could not be confirmed, nor is it considered feasible. Today the games are produced Learfield/IMG College.
The Michigan Athletic Department was completely blind-sided by the move. Former Athletic Director Bill Martin actually heard the news first on his radio…WJR radio! It was incredible news since he was dealing with the station and, at the time, its network arm, Host Communications, in “good faith,” or so it seemed.
The trio of broadcasters who cover the U of M Football games; Frank Beckmann, Jim Brandstatter and Steve Courtney, were also stunned by the news. The staff of WJR was taken by bus to East Lansing, unsure of what was going to happen. While en-route, the bus was pulled over at a rest area near Fowlerville, by a State Trooper. This action was pre-arranged so that Beckmann, Courtney and Paul W. Smith could be pulled off the bus and receive the news separately since it was thought this move would affect them the most. It did. Smith is a 1975 U of M graduate and a huge Michigan fan. Beckmann felt betrayed and like a “lame duck” for the rest of the 2005 season.
They were all taken to the Spartan Stadium where the MSU band was on the field playing the fight song and the WJR logo was already up on the electronic scoreboard. They were treated to a warm reception at the MSU stadium and then were taken to an elegant dinner at the home of Michigan State President Lou Anna Simon. It appears that the Spartans wanted to express their deep appreciation for this new association in a first-class manner.
Fans no doubt compared this to when the Tigers and the Red Wings moved from powerful WJR to the far lesser signal of sports WXYT-AM (1270). Those teams lost all their fans in Indiana, Ohio and Ontario. WJR was perceived as a “turn-coat” by many U of M fans at that time, and some still do. They had been broadcasting Michigan football and basketball since 1976 when the late Bob Ufer segued over from Ann Arbor’s WPAG, now WTKA-AM (1050). Michigan fans can be pleased that an extensive network of stations have kept the Wolverines within earshot of most!
Back on October 13, 2005, when the big radio switch happened, I was flattered to be asked to help find a suitable replacement for news-talk WJR-AM (760). Because no station is bigger than ‘JR, I recommended that the games segue to an FM signal which is as strong after sundown as it is in the daytime. That cannot be said about any AM stations in SE Michigan. My exact words were “Boys, it’s time to take these games to FM.”
The station I strongly recommended was WOMC-FM (104.3) home of Detroit’s Greatest Hits. It was also suggested (by myself) that WOMC could now stand for Where Only Michigan Counts! Sadly, that slogan was never actually used on the air.
There was a long delay in consummating that deal due to negotiations with WJR management over the university’s desire to have Frank Beckmann call the games while remaining a key mid-morning talk host on 760 AM. Jim Brandstatter, who is a free-lance talent, would have no problem remaining with Frank. They have a magical chemistry and most fans love ‘em. Steve Courtney, who is WJR’s morning sports reporter on the Paul W. Smith show is no longer working with B&B, but now does the pre-game tailgate shows for MSU. The new field reporter is WXYT’s mid-day sports co-anchor Doug Karsch, who lives in Ann Arbor in the shadow of the Michigan Stadium and is well-connected with the Michigan Athletic Department. The Learfield/IMG College Network is still carried on local station WTKA-AM (1050) in Ann Arbor. WTKA has a very long-standing relationship with Michigan sports coverage.
As of early August of 2011, the five-year deal with WOMC had expired and no new station had been secured to carry The Wolverines. The University wanted to continue its relationship with CBS Radio Detroit but programmers of their FM stations did not want to interrupt their music formats for six to seven hours of football coverage. The CBS AM stations are WWJ-AM 950 (all-news) and WXYT-AM 1270 (CBS Sports) with the star-player being FM sports powerhouse WXYT-FM (The Ticket) at 97.1. The Ticket has a full dance card with the Tigers, Red Wings, and Pistons. So, Michigan football and basketball struck a deal with WWJ-AM 950. Fans, spoiled by HD television and high-quality digital audio, miss the clarity of the powerful FM signal, but stay tuned. In 2017 Entercom Media took over CBS Radio nationwide, including Detroit.
Michigan games can also be heard border to border and coast-to-coast because U of M currently has a contract with SiriusXM Satellite Radio. Games can be heard clearly on 97.1 FM HD-2, which is WWJ-AM on FM. Finally, a huge plus is the ability to hear Michigan Football games on-line: University of Michigan Athletics https://www.mgoblue.com/