TBN: WGR's Paul Hamilton no longer travels with Sabres

Buffaloed

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Feb 27, 2002
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Column: WGR's Paul Hamilton no longer travels with Sabres; opener for team gets strong rating

WGR sports reporter Paul Hamilton has been shut out from traveling to Buffalo Sabres road games for the first time in recent memory.

Hamilton declined comment and passed the question to Greg Ried, the local leader of Entercom stations. Ried hasn’t responded to an email or a telephone call.

However, Hamilton has told many people who have covered the Sabres that he has been pulled off the road because of a corporate Entercom edict to save expenses and he will work away games from the station’s studio.

I think the quality of his work has improved since the season began. Some of the articles he wrote during the offseason were really poor.
 

Husko

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Jun 30, 2006
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Greenwich, CT
This cuts both ways.

On one hand, if Entercom is no longer sending it's "beat reporter" on the road to save a few thousand dollars, that's really sad and may mean the company is in big trouble.

On the other hand, if this is just them slowly phasing Paul out to be replaced by someone younger (and cheaper), great news.
 
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Buffaloed

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Feb 27, 2002
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Parody Alert
Newly hired Entercom spokeman Larry Quinn insists that the station has grounded Hamilton for medical reasons. It has nothing to do with money said Quinn. We'd love to have him cover away games but WGR's doctors won't give him clearance to fly. We've taken this action because we care about Paul, not to save money. This stalemate could last all season unless another broadcaster makes a deal for Hamilton. The Rangers are rumored to be interested.
 
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SackTastic

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Mar 25, 2011
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On one hand, if Entercom is no longer sending it's "beat reporter" on the road to save a few thousand dollars, that's really sad and may mean the company is in big trouble.

Entercom is in fact in big trouble. They have been cutting personalities/talent left and right for about a year now.

With Hamilton, Entercom's only ongoing costs to send him on the road was a hotel room; WGR has slots on the Sabres team charter that come with their rights deal for the broadcast.

I wouldn't be shocked if Entercom files for bankruptcy or starts selling off stations within the next 12 months if a Marriott bill is too much for them to handle.
 

Beerz

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Jun 28, 2011
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Entercom is in fact in big trouble. They have been cutting personalities/talent left and right for about a year now.

With Hamilton, Entercom's only ongoing costs to send him on the road was a hotel room; WGR has slots on the Sabres team charter that come with their rights deal for the broadcast.

I wouldn't be shocked if Entercom files for bankruptcy or starts selling off stations within the next 12 months if a Marriott bill is too much for them to handle.

Food bill too... :popcorn:
 

GameMisconduct

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Jul 20, 2006
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Not that I would in any way want Paul Hamilton involved with it on any level, but if Entercom is in trouble and this cutback is a harbinger of worse things to come, one cool but admittedly unlikely possible upside might be that deterioration of the product their radio rights holder provides could be a (small) additional prod to for the Sabres/Pegulas to just go it on their own ala Empire Sports network 2.0 (One Buffalo Sports Radio?).

In any event I will shed zero tears for the loss of Phams insightful opinions on the road trips as we weren't really getting those anyway (at least the insightful part). As long as someone posts line changes, player updates etc I can't imagine any real impact for most people.
 

Taro Tsujimoto

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Jan 6, 2009
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Parody Alert
Newly hired Entercom spokeman Larry Quinn insists that the station has grounded Hamilton for medical reasons. It has nothing to do with money said Quinn. We'd love to have him cover away games but WGR's doctors won't give him clearance to fly. We've taken this action because we care about Paul, not to save money. This stalemate could last all season unless another broadcaster makes a deal for Hamilton. The Rangers are rumored to be interested.

Too cheap to buy a second seat. :sarcasm:
 

jputt99

Registered User
Nov 24, 2016
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Charlotte NC
So , does that mean he has to make his own travel arrangements ? Seriously , I appreciate the media coverage , but maybe it's time for some new blood .
 

Djp

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Jul 28, 2012
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Alexandria, VA
This cuts both ways.

On one hand, if Entercom is no longer sending it's "beat reporter" on the road to save a few thousand dollars, that's really sad and may mean the company is in big trouble.

On the other hand, if this is just them slowly phasing Paul out to be replaced by someone younger (and cheaper), great news.

Im uncertain on the costs....

If he travels with the team on their plane then it might be cheaper. Them traveling on the road costs more like $30,000 a year at least for lodging, meals, and flights.
 

Dex

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Dec 5, 2011
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Without commenting one way or another about Hamilton's ability or lack thereof, I can't imagine that the Pegulas would tolerate a broadcast that did not have a decent post game locker room presence on the team's radio broadcast. A couple of posts upthread there was mention of PSE perhaps purchasing WGR. I'd endorse that thought, FWIW - which is nothing. I'd also add that they should pick up WWKB 1520 to simulcast Bills and Sabres games or provide an option when there's a conflict. I like the idea of Empire coming back.
 

Husko

Registered User
Jun 30, 2006
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Greenwich, CT
Im uncertain on the costs....

If he travels with the team on their plane then it might be cheaper. Them traveling on the road costs more like $30,000 a year at least for lodging, meals, and flights.
I guarantee he flies on the team charter. But even if he didn't, 30k is crazy. That's nearly a thousand bucks a game. There's no way it costs $1000 to fly somewhere roundtrip, eat, and get a hotel for a night, even assuming he flew back the day after every game, which he wouldn't. You can fly basically anywhere in the country for a few hundred these days.
 

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