Islanders, Hofstra believe radio deal will work

The Islanders are not the first major pro franchise to place their games on a college radio station. Charlie Finley beat them to it in 1978 when his Oakland A's spent a month on the University of California's 10-watt outlet, KALX.

But the Islanders' new deal with Hofstra's WRHU (88.7-FM), even if it is not unprecedented, is a more carefully considered arrangement, one certain to last more than a month.

The team believes fans will benefit in two ways:

First, the station's signal is an upgrade over WMJC, partly in terms of strength but more so in location. It covers all of Nassau County and parts of eastern Queens and western Suffolk.

Previously, fans had complained that postgame shows barely could be heard in Nassau Coliseum lots.

Second, unlike last season, when television audio was simulcast on the radio, the Islanders are back to dedicated radio play-by-play calls, featuring veteran announcer Chris King.

The element that has raised eyebrows and led some fans to fret over the image of the franchise is that Hofstra undergraduates are heavily involved in the production.

That includes not only technical work and interviewing players and coaches but working the game itself.

For the first two games, Anthony Barra, a junior, served as a color analyst alongside King.

"This is probably the coolest thing that's happened since I've been at Hofstra," Barra told the Hofstra Chronicle. "If you had asked me when I was coming in to Hofstra if I'd ever think I'd be calling professional hockey, I would have said you were crazy."

A senior, Mitch Merman, worked Wednesday night's game. Barra will do tonight's game against Pittsburgh.

College kids with neither pro playing nor pro announcing experience on NHL games? Really?

"I think anyone that heard the first two games that had that perception would have a totally different attitude," King said.

Hofstra knows that to make this work, it must allow only its most talented, experienced students on the air, a task that falls largely to veteran radio man Ed Ingles, the station's "professional in residence."

But even budding broadcasting stars usually are works-in- progress at that age, aren't they?

Paul Lancey, the Islanders' senior vice president of sales and marketing, cautioned against stereotyping.

"The movie that's No. 1 in the market, I think it's called 'The Social Network,' is about the founder of Facebook," he said. "I think he was a sophomore at Harvard when he founded it."

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg made billions; Hofstra students will settle for experience. The Islanders deal is sure to be a recruiting edge against schools such as Fordham and Syracuse that are known for producing sports broadcasters.

"Kids are going to be coming from Sweden and Finland; Russians are going to be coming here," said Ingles, exaggerating for effect. "How many places can you go for this opportunity?"

What's in it for the Islanders? For one, the cost of putting games on WRHU is lower than commercial stations. (The Devils pay dearly to be on WFAN.)

But Lancey said the bigger motivation is cultivating a new, younger fan base. Games already stream on WRHU's website, but the plan is to expand to handheld devices once the rights to do so are secured.

King will cover West Coast games alone.

When there are conflicts with Hofstra sports events, those games will move to a station in Greenwich, Conn., and the Islanders will remain on WRHU.

"I think this is a landmark decision we did here," Lancey said. "It wasn't an easy one. We knew we'd get some heat. But two games into it, it looks pretty damn good from our shoes."