News: Media

Philadelphia Flyers switch radio affiliates to Greater Media Philadelphia stations

Comcast-Spectacor, the parent company of the Philadelphia Flyers, reached a multi-year agreement with Greater Media Philadelphia for the broadcast of all Philadelphia Flyers regular season and playoff season games starting next season.

Greater Media’s 97.5 The Fanatic will be the flagship station, along with simulcast AM station 950 ESPN Radio. Several Flyers games will also be broadcast on legendary rock station 93.3 WMMR-FM.

For the 2012-13 season and beyond, Flyers game broadcasts on 97.5 The Fanatic and 950 ESPN Radio will include 20 minutes of coverage prior to face-off and 40 minutes of coverage after the game concludes, thanks to a new 10 minute pre-game show and 30 minute post-game show, which will bookend the game broadcast itself. The post-game show will include player interviews and a live broadcast of Flyers Head Coach Peter Laviolette’s post-game press conference.

“We’re thrilled to be working with a partner that is 100-percent committed and excited about the Philadelphia Flyers,” said Comcast-Spectacor President Peter Luukko. “We’re also happy that the Sixers have moved over to Greater Media Philadelphia along with us. Greater Media is an incredible partner that offers extensive promotional support for the Flyers on all their stations.”

“Greater Media Philadelphia and its radio stations continue to increase their ratings and are a dominant force in the Philadelphia Region, which will help us continue to expand our audience and increase our fan base,” added Luukko. “We are truly looking forward to our new partnership with Greater Media Philadelphia.”

In addition, the Flyers and Greater Media will work cooperatively to build a radio network outside the immediate 97.5FM and 950AM radio signal areas to enable more sports fans in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware to catch all the action of Flyers home and away games on radio.

“We are delighted that the most passionate and intimidating fans in sports, Flyers fans, will find themselves tuning to 97.5 The Fanatic and 950 ESPN Radio to catch all the excitement of Flyers games,” said Greater Media’s John Fullam. “With the addition of Flyers play-by-play to 97.5 The Fanatic and 950 ESPN Radio, this is yet another significant step forward in fulfilling our commitment to offer Philadelphians the finest in sports programming.”

As part of the agreement, all Greater Media Philadelphia stations, which also include 102.9 FM WMGK and 95.7 WBEN-FM, will become promotional partners with the Flyers.

Tim Saunders will handle the play-by-play and Chris Therien will handle color analysis.

About Greater Media:
97.5 The Fanatic and 950 ESPN are owned by Greater Philadelphia Radio, Inc., a subsidiary of Greater Media, Inc., the parent company of 22 AM and FM radio stations in the Boston, Charlotte, Detroit, New Jersey and Philadelphia markets. Greater Media also owns a group of weekly newspapers in central New Jersey and several telecommunications towers located throughout the United States.

Comcast-Spectacor:
Comcast-Spectacor is the Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment company which owns the Philadelphia Flyers (NHL), the home arena for both the Flyers and the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, the Wells Fargo Center, and four Flyers Skate Zone community ice skating and hockey rinks. In addition, Comcast-Spectacor is also the principal owner of Global Spectrum, the fastest growing firm in the public assembly management field with more than 100 facilities throughout the United States and Canada; Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage service provider; New Era Tickets, a ticketing and marketing company for public assembly facilities; Front Row Marketing Services, a commercial rights sales company; FanOne, a digital fan marketing company; and Paciolan, the leading provider of venue enablement, ticketing, fundraising and marketing technology solutions.