Ted Black certainly knows how to open. The third #BasementBrigade blog summit had a very interesting start with Black breaking the news on a number of very interesting pieces of information pertaining to a number of media-related additions for the 2012-13 Buffalo Sabres season.
The bombshell came with the announcement that the Sabres will lead the charge for a new two-hour radio show called Sabres Hockey Hotline airing on WGR at 10:00 am Monday through Friday. This is a year-round show which means that Colin Cowherd will no longer be heard on Buffalo’s air waves. Thank God.
From the Sabres:
We are very excited to add yet another platform for our fans to get original Sabres content,” said Buffalo Sabres President Ted Black. “Sabres Hockey Hotline will give fans an additional 350+ hours of Sabres programming each year that we know fans will love. It’s an ambitious undertaking for our organization and that’s why we put Kevin in charge of producing and hosting the show. He brings an important level of experience and passion for Sabres hockey that will make the show a great success.
With Sylvester bumping to his new role, Brian Duff will take over as the full-time studio host for the Sabres broadcast. This is great news for a guy who I’ve come to know quite well and having Duff on full-time is totally awesome news.
In addition, Rob Ray will be moving to color-commentary full-time, taking over for Harry Neale this year. So there’s that too. Neale was a very interesting addition after Jim Lorentz’s incredible chemistry with RJ (who will be back next year). Neale will remain in a studio analyst role with Mike Robitaille and Danny Gare, which may be the best fit him at this point with Buffalo’s direction for I always felt Neale never found his niche with the Sabres broadcast and his departure was probably a necessary choice as the entire broadcast team continues to move forward.
Black also touched on a new feature called Sabres ICE Network which sounds to be an interactive community experience that is centered around new media. That is certainly an interesting topic because obviously the Sabres are recognizing the need to expand their already impressive web presence beyond where it currently is. How the Sabres ICE project will play out is something that will develop as the year goes on. Still, this is one of those cool new trailblazing things that can really put the organization on another level.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
