In October of 2011, Allan Davis left his position as Vice-President of Programming for Genesis Communications radio stations in Tampa and Orlando to become the Program Director of all-sports WGR Radio in Buffalo. He brought an impressive resume of programming with him to Western New York and, over a decade later, the station continues to be a smashing success.
When you ask him about his time at WGR, all Davis can do is smile from ear to ear.
“I’m very happy,” said Davis. “It’s been a great 11 years. The fan base here is extraordinary. They love the Bills. They love the Sabres. It’s the primary topic around town day in and day out whether you’re in-season or not and WGR benefits from that. The station is doing really well.”
The station is thriving for a number of reasons and one of them is the passion of the great sports fans in Buffalo and throughout Western New York. As fans of the Bills and Sabres continue to wait patiently for that elusive first major pro sports championship in the city of Buffalo, there is an excitement in the air these days. The Bills are a Super Bowl contender and the Sabres are in contention for a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After a win or after a loss, the fans are ready let their feelings out and WGR is there for them.
“I love the fans calling into the station,” said Davis. “I love the fans connecting and engaging in the station whether it’s over the phone or through Twitter or any other social media platform.”
To that point, sports fans these days can go just about anywhere to talk sports. They can have a full-fledged conversation at the water cooler with co-workers, they can engage with radio hosts, sports writers and other fans on social media or they could just pick up a phone and call their local all-sports radio station.
For fans in Buffalo, WGR is the destination and Davis’ lineup of hosts makes it very easy for them because they stick to a radio philosophy that works and isn’t only successful in “top 40 music” formats.
They “play the hits”.
“Our strategy is for the guys to remain focused on the Bills and the Sabres every day hour-in and hour-out,” said Davis. “If you want to talk about Lebron James and him becoming the all-time leading scorer in the NBA, that’s going to get a mention on the radio station. There’s no doubt about that. But it’s not going to be the topic. We’re still going to stay with the Bills and we’re still going to stay with the Sabres and it’s going to be the same thing throughout the entire calendar year.”
It should not be a surprise that Davis has enjoyed the success he has achieved at WGR because he’s been successful everywhere he’s been including 1080 The Fan in Portland and 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City.
But it was what he did, north of the border, in September of 1992 that really opened up eyes throughout the radio industry.
As the Toronto Blue Jays were on their way to their first World Series title, Davis brought the all-sports format to Canada for the first time when he launched The Fan 590 in Toronto.
“It was an exciting time,” recalled Davis.
Before Davis flipped CJCL to all-sports, it was a hybrid of music and sports. He already had the well-known sports personality Bob McCown working afternoons at the station so the station had two huge building blocks in place.
“We built the station around him and the Toronto Blue Jays,” said Davis.
Before the flip the station had a cume of 12+ of just over 120,000. After the launch of The Fan and the Blue Jays winning the World Series, the cume grew to over 700,000 and would eventually settle in on around 400,000 through the ensuing years.
Davis flipped the switch to all-sports, but he knows he had a lot of help from everyone involved.
“It was an exciting time and it was a lot of work putting it together. It was new for everybody,” said Davis. “We were throwing darts at the board a lot of the time but so were a lot of other smart people here in the United States doing the same thing as they were flipping to all-sports stations as well so I wasn’t alone in that.”
Today, as fans in Buffalo wonder how the Bills can overtake the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs and what moves the Sabres might make before the NHL trading deadline, there is also the question of who is going to be talking about these tops during mornings on WGR.
Legendary morning-show host Howard Simon has announced his retirement after 18 years at the station with his final show set for this Friday March 3rd.
Those are going to be big shoes for Davis to fill.
“I don’t think I can really quantify how much he has meant to the radio station,” said Davis. “Howard has been outstanding. It didn’t matter what the weather was. It didn’t matter how he felt. He was always on point and as a morning wake-up person, I couldn’t have asked for anything better. He was always well-prepared. He’ll be missed a lot.”
So, how does Davis replace Simon?
“You can’t really replace Howard,” said Davis. “That would be hard to do. I don’t try to do that. I just try to look at who’s out there and who’s next and build around that team. You move forward. There have been a tremendous number of great talents who have gone through our industry in any format.”
And that’s why a good program director is always channeling his or her inner Goldberg uttering an iconic wrestling catch phrase…
“Who’s next?”
“You always are preparing for who might be next,” said Davis. “This is a great opportunity for WGR, at the same time, to bring in new talent, to promote from within potentially as well…talent that has been waiting. We could fill and we will and WGR will remain healthy and WGR will continue to proper and move forward.”
Buffalo is a great sports town and perhaps there will be a day in the near future when some of the most passionate sports fans in North America will get to celebrate a championship. The Buffalo Bisons have been one of the most successful minor league baseball franchises in the country and the Buffalo Bandits are a perennial championship contender in the National Lacrosse League, but sports talk in Buffalo is driven by the Bills and Sabres.
And when the fans dial-in to WGR to talk about their beloved teams, they’re not left waiting very long to discuss the topic at hand.
“I think that’s one of the reasons why WGR is successful because the fans are just so passionate about the Bills and the Sabres and we don’t make them wait when they tune in,” said Davis. “When they tune in, they know we’re going to be talking about the Bills and talking about the Sabres. The interaction with the fans is critical to that. Everybody is together. It’s a family type of atmosphere.”
For 11 ½ years, Allan Davis has presided over that family atmosphere at WGR in Buffalo. Now, the only question is when that family gets to celebrate and talk about hoisting a trophy.
Peter Schwartz writes weekly sports radio features for Barrett Media. He has been involved in New York sports media for over three decades, and has worked for notable brands such as WFAN, CBS Sports Radio, WCBS 880, ESPN New York, and FOX News Radio. Peter has also served as play by play announcer for the New Yok Riptide, New York Dragons, New York Hitmen, Varsity Media and the Long Island Sports Network. You can find him on Twitter @SchwartzSports or email him at DragonsRadio@aol.com.
