UConn sports have new home for radio

School reaches deal with 97.9 ESPN

UConn sports have found a new radio home.

Coverage of the school’s men’s and women’s basketball, football and men’s hockey games will move to 97.9 FM, ESPN’s Hartford affiliate, as part of a 10-year, multimillion-dollar deal. The move was made after IMG, which is UConn athletics’ multimedia rights-holder, could not reach a deal to continue broadcasting games on WTIC-1080, which has been the home of UConn sports for 26 years.

“It’s our job to represent the university and brand as best as possible,” said Doug Fillis, IMG’s associate vice president for the east region. “I can assure you, we did that every step of the way. The brand in New England down to New York is extremely strong. We know the strength of the UConn brand is tremendous. I can tell you the offers that came to us were extremely strong. We’ve got a lot of people interested and would love to be a part of this program.”

“WTIC has been a great partner for a long period of time,” said UConn athletic director David Benedict. “They’ve been committed to delivering UConn broadcasts for over 30 years. This was a very difficult decision. At the end of the day, we made the decision to make the change. But WTIC has been a great partner.”

On-air talent has yet to be determined and won’t be until after the current basketball seasons are over. Currently, Joe D’Ambrosio and Wayne Norman serve as the voices of UConn men’s basketball and football, while Bob Joyce and Deb Fiske handle UConn women’s games. Ken Sweitzer also serves as sideline reporter for football.

Benedict sees the potential for greater exposure for the programs as similar to the decision to make UConn women’s games televised on SNY.

“I think most people have seen that’s been tremendously beneficial to our program,” he said.

Partnering with an allsports station like 97.9 ESPN, rather than the largely news-radio platform of WTIC-1080, will also be an advantage to the programs.

Benedict was quick to point out, however, that ultimately the decision wasn’t UConn’s but rather IMG’s.

The transition will begin in the 2018-19 academic

year. The new home will also broadcast preand postgame shows, as well as radio shows for men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie, women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma, football coach Randy Edsall and hockey coach Mike Cavanaugh.

In addition, iHeartMedia plans to broadcast select UConn Olympic sports contests.

In the event of conflicting game schedules, iHeartMedia will broadcast UConn athletics events on an affiliate station. Fans will also be able to tune in to UConn sports broadcast on their mobile devices via the Tunein App and on Sirius/XM radio.