Wow, this is a huge change. WGR has long been one of the few AM stations in the market that still regularly reached the Top 10 - an achievement that was almost certainly tied to being the Voice of the Buffalo Bills. What this does to their ratings will be fascinating to watch. 

Which makes the timing of the FM simulcast all the more interesting. From what I understand, WLKK does not have a very good signal and is often considered something of an also-ran. It will be worth watching if WGR begins referring to itself solely by its FM frequency, as so many stations that simulcast their signals wind up doing. 

Alan Pergament's column also contains this surprising statement from the head honcho of the teams' Business Operations. 

"He didn’t rule out WGR remaining as an affiliate but said it could be any Buffalo station. He added the Bills and Sabres could have different affiliate radio stations in the market."

Pergament's story is also worth a read. 

Bills, Sabres leaving WGR-AM as flagship station to sell and produce own games 

RadioAaron wrote:

It's actually two FM frequencies, one that sits in between Rochester and Buffalo, rimshotting each, and a downtown Buffalo repeater. So they may be branding with 3 frequencies.

Sounds like those IDs will be longer than the games they replace!

Makes sense for WGR to want simulcast on WLKK-FM, though it's nothing like the big coverage 550 gives. Even at night where I live in Toronto, 550 is crystal clear whereas WLKK is very weak. Now, I wonder which FM operation WBEN might be eyeballing for its future survival? WBUF-FM could be an option but has no signal into Toronto, though I'm not sure that would be much of a consideration as they don't solicit advertising from here, though they do acknowledge having an audience.

Fitz wrote:

RadioAaron wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

Sounds like those IDs will be longer than the games they replace!

Ha! The 107.7/104.7 simulcast actually originates on WSKE's HD2 and WGR itself is on WSKE's HD4. So we're up to five sets of call-letters for the legal. 

Not sure what you mean by that RadioAaron. WLKK HD 1 and analog carry the Country music format as does 104.7.
 

104.7 is licensed as a translator; it can only simulcast an existing local station. So it simulcasts WKSE's HD sub-channel, technically the originating station for the country format.

https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=W284AP&x=13&y=7&sr=Y&s=C

 

Fitz wrote:

RadioAaron wrote:

Fitz wrote:

Not sure what you mean by that RadioAaron. WLKK HD 1 and analog carry the Country music format as does 104.7.
 

104.7 is licensed as a translator; it can only simulcast an existing local station. So it simulcasts WKSE's HD sub-channel, technically the originating station for the country format.

https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=W284AP&x=13&y=7&sr=Y&s=C

 

I see now that you wrote WKSE's HD 2 but I was thinking WLKK's HD2 which I believe is a remnant of the old Star 102.5.  However I still don't understand why 104.7 can't be called a translator for the main 107.7 ( which I presume is the originating station for the country formay) as opposed to the HD2 for WKSE as indicated by the link you included.  
 

My guess is that it's because 107.7 isn't technically local.

Evuguy wrote:

Makes sense for WGR to want simulcast on WLKK-FM, though it's nothing like the big coverage 550 gives. Even at night where I live in Toronto, 550 is crystal clear whereas WLKK is very weak. Now, I wonder which FM operation WBEN might be eyeballing for its future survival? WBUF-FM could be an option but has no signal into Toronto, though I'm not sure that would be much of a consideration as they don't solicit advertising from here, though they do acknowledge having an audience.

WBUF is owned by another company. Plus also, don't forget that Audacy no longer owns 102.5.
It was sold, so that's one less powerhouse to select.  

Last edited by Radiowiz (February 5, 2026 3:20 pm)

I won't be surprised one bit to see the Bills and Sabres be on different stations.

Hansa wrote:

But it does appear WGR hasn't necessarily lost the broadcasts, but since the teams are taking production and sales in house and will seek new broadcast partners they will not only likely be bidding against other stations for the Buffalo broadcast rights but they'd also find them less profitable if they get them (particularly if they aren't allowed to put them online as the Bills and Sabres will be using their own apps and websites for live streaming) - not quite as bad as CBC's deal with Rogers but still not the license to print money that it once was. 

The team, through their syndicator, will be buying the time on the station(s) they choose.
 

I follow a message board regarding the Buffalo Bills, and when the news broke it generated well over 350 replies on the subject.  A large part of that was baseless speculation about the change being driven by Bills ownership and management dissatisfaction about how the team was covered.  The two morning show hosts and the Bills GM got into an animated discussion last April over team needs, so many forum members tried tying that blowup as the reason for the Bills changing their operations of media coverage.

The forum thread:
https://www.twobillsdrive.com/community/topic/264473-bills-ditch-wgr-as-flagship-station/

The forum topic page:
https://www.twobillsdrive.com/community/forum/1-the-stadium-wall/