Gary Ayd, a senior broadcasting major who hosts a sports talk show on WNYO, will also have his show broadcast on WTOP.
Ayd’s show will employ the same techniques he uses on radio. The only difference is that cameras will be present, Ayd said. On Wednesdays his radio show will air 5- 6 p.m. on WNYO and 9- 10 p.m. on WTOP.
"I get the start of primetime and the end of primetime," Ayd said. "I like that."
The process is known as "live-to-tape," which means that a show is recorded live on radio then broadcast on T.V. later that same night.
Ayd said that T.V. is too structured for a debate. T.V. is too bullet-point oriented, and doesn’t leave room to establish the depth of an argument.
"Sports fans love a good debate," Ayd said.
Radio, he said, provides the time for hosts to voice their strong opinions and have a good debate.
"If you pair the two together then you have the ultimate sports debate," Ayd said. "You have the visual of television and the time of radio."
Kait Tyler, production manager for WTOP, said that the show has been fairly easy to coordinate. The planning, which is usually the hardest part of putting together a program, ran smoothly for Ayd’s show. The most difficult part, Tyler said, has been deciding what steps to take to make the planning a reality.
"The whole set-up is really easy, we’re only using one camera," Tyler said.
Tyler and Ayd started planning the project after Ayd pitched his idea to her on pitch day earlier in the semester. After talking to WNYO to get approval, they began planning the show.
"I think it’s going to be definitely really different to watch," Tyler said. "It will bring a lot to ‘TOP and our media family together."
Justin Laird, general manager of WNYO, also said that setting up the show wasn’t difficult. No changes needed to be made to WNYO’s studio to accommodate WTOP’s cameras.
"Clearly there’s some sort of demand there for this type of programming," Laird said. "You can see that by the type of sports programming in the afternoons. If Gary wants to bring some of that to campus, then we applaud that effort."
This is Ayd’s fifth semester hosting his radio show.
Ayd’s show covers a variety of sports from Oswego State basketball to national teams in the NHL and NFL.
"I like to stay as current and as up-to-date as possible," Ayd said.
Ayd’s show is based around human interest. He focuses more on the players and their stories, rather than the games and statistics themselves.
"I’m not a typical sports show host," Ayd said. "I’m not big on stats and breaking down the game. I’m more focused on the human interest and the story behind the story. I use the stats to support my argument about the story, not the stats to make the story."
There are currently no plans to expand this format to other radio shows.
However, Tyler said she would be interested in working on another program like Ayd’s show.
"If people want to do them, definitely," she said. "I’m game to work with any organization who wants to pursue it."
Ayd’s show will begin airing on WTOP next Wednesday.
