WGR WGR , or WGR Sports Radio 550 , is an all sports radio station in Buffalo , New York that broadcasts on 550 AM . It is the flagship station of the Buffalo Bills , Buffalo Sabres , and Buffalo Bandits , and is currently the only full - time sports talk station in the city of Buffalo . Its studios are located in Amherst , New York , and transmitter in suburban Hamburg , New York . Although it has a power of 5 , 000 watts , during the day its signal can be heard as far north as Barrie , Peterborough and Kingston , Ontario , as far west as Windsor , Ontario , as far east as Syracuse , and as far south as Erie , Pennsylvania and Cleveland and Youngstown , Ohio . At night its signal can be heard as far north as Sudbury , Barrie and Peterborough , Ontario , as far west as Guelph , Kitchener and Waterloo , Ontario , as far east as Batavia , and as far south as Jamestown and Olean . History . Early years . The history of one of Buffalo ' s earliest radio stations has its roots at sea . On April 1 , 1921 the " Governor " , a passenger ship , sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean after collision with a freighter , the " West Hartland " . The passenger ship ’ s assigned radio call letters were " WGR " . Due to maritime superstition , the call sign was never reissued to another ship and reverted back to a pool of available call signs for new radio stations . That same year , the Federal Telephone & Telegraph Company ( FTTC ) , headquartered in a sprawling manufacturing complex in North Buffalo , began marketing its first , completely assembled radio sets . To fill a radio void in the city , and to stimulate sales of their new " high - tech " products , the FTTC applied for ( and received ) a commercial radio license from the Department of Commerce . The station was named " WGR " after George Rand ( founder of Remington Rand ) , a key investor in the FTTC . On May 22 , 1922 , WGR ' s broadcast operations commenced , beginning more than 85 years of continuous service to Western New York and Southern Ontario . Published reports say that the first programs on WGR were : a clergyman ’ s lecture ; a concert from Victor ’ s Furniture Store showroom ; and a presentation on the advantages of a college education by Dr . Julian Park , from the University at Buffalo . WGR is the oldest radio station in Buffalo that is still in operation . During its days as a full service radio station , its roster of personalities included " Buffalo Bob " Smith , later famous for TV ' s " Howdy Doody " children ' s show , and popular national TV and nightclub comedian Foster Brooks . From 1964 until 1987 , WGR was owned by Taft Broadcasting . The station ' s longtime music format combining Adult Top 40 hits and rock oldies and featured some of Buffalo ' s top radio personalities , talk hosts and news reporters including Stan Roberts , Larry Anderson , Frank Benny , Tom Donahue , Randy Michaels , Jim Scott , Jerry Reo , Shane , Joe Galuski , Tom Langmyer , George Hamberger , Tom Shannon , Tom Bauerle , John Otto , Chuck Lakefield , Sandy Kozel , Don Dussias , Lauri Githens , Wayne Smith , Jane Tomczak and Craig Matthews . WGR gradually evolved to news / talk during the late 1980s and early 1990s . In 1987 , Taft sold the station to Rich Communications , which was part of the Robert Rich family ' s business holdings , which also included a major processed - food company and a venture applying for a National League expansion baseball franchise ( for which WGR was projected to be flagship station of the team ' s projected network ) . Although the Rich interests were the National League ' s choice for the new franchise they dropped out of the competition for an expansion team ( which ultimately went to south Florida ) for cost reasons . Soon after , WGR was eventually spun off to new owners . The 1990s : News Radio 55 . For much of the 1990s , WGR was a successful news / talk station , competing head to head with WBEN - AM 930 . From 1990 to 1994 , WGR owned the radio broadcast rights to the Buffalo Bills , the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bisons . The Buffalo Bills ' four consecutive Super Bowl seasons were broadcast on WGR , whose Program Directors included Chuck Finney ( 1991 – 1993 ) , Daryl Parks ( 1993 – 1995 ) and Jim Pastrick ( 1995 – 2000 ) . Through its news - talk era the WGR line - up featured a variety of programs such as " Breakfast with Bauerle " ( Tom Bauerle ) , " The Fabulous Sports Babe " , Chuck Dickerson , Art Wander , " Extension 55 " with John Otto , Ron Dobson , John and Ken , Rick Emerson , Joey Reynolds , and several other local and national hosts . Syndicated talk radio host Leslie Marshall , controversial talk radio host J . R . Gach and future WFAN New York morning drive fixture Craig Carton worked at the station . Jesse Ventura was at one time a candidate to host a show on the station , but lost out to Dobson . The station has been , since the network ' s inception , an affiliate of ESPN Radio , which it has carried on the weekends since 1992 . In 1995 , Rich Communications which owned both WGR and its FM counterpart WGRF , sold WGRF to Mercury Radio headed by Charles W . Banta . Simultaneously , Rich Communications entered into a Local Marketing Agreement ( LMA ) with Keymarket Communications . The Federal Communications Commission approved the sale of WGR to Keymarket within twelve months of the LMA . Keymarket also owned WBEN , WMJQ , WWKB and WKSE . Keymarket merged with River City Broadcasting which was purchased by Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1997 . Sinclair Broadcast Group sold its entire radio division to Entercom Communications in 1999 . In February 2000 , WGR changed formats from News - Talk to Sports - Talk . Becoming an all sports station . In February 2000 , WGR became an all - sports talk radio station . Bauerle , for a short time , was retained and paired with Chris " Bulldog " Parker , who joined from WBEN for the morning show . Chuck Dickerson maintained his afternoon drive show . Jim Rome , who was added to the WGR line - up in late summer 1998 , was retained when WGR switched to all sports . Anne Burke , a frequent caller to the station ' s talk shows , joined Bob Gaughan to co - host middays . Mike Maniscalco and later Brad Riter hosted the evening shift . From October 2000 to 2004 , WGR competed with WNSA - FM , an FM station licensed to Wethersfield , NY in rural Wyoming county ( with a 107 . 3 translator in Buffalo ) . The two stations battled for listeners and the rights to broadcast sporting events . Several teams ' broadcasts bounced between the two stations , such as the Bandits , New York Yankees , and Buffalo Destroyers . WGR landed a coup when it signed WNSA ' s top afternoon host , Mike Schopp , from WNSA - FM in 2002 ; the event came at about the same time as when Rigas and Adelphia Communications were beginning to collapse under massive financial scandal . WNSA never recovered and eventually WGR took the upper hand in the local sports radio battle . Schopp was at first teamed with the vitriolic Chuck Dickerson in afternoon drive . When Dickerson departed WGR , Schopp was teamed with Chris " Bulldog " Parker . Bauerle moved from WGR to sister station WBEN , Gaughan joined Kevin Sylvester in morning drive ( Burke had been released long before this ) and Parker joined Schopp in the afternoon show , releasing Dickerson in the process . Riter was paired with sidekick Jeremy White in the evening and lastly The Tony Kornheiser Show ( from ESPN ) was added in Gaughan and Burke ' s old time slot . ( Kornheiser would later be replaced by Colin Cowherd by ESPN . ) With the purchase of WNSA , WGR re - joined the New York Yankees radio network and for the first time since 1996 , regained the radio rights to the Buffalo Sabres . Howard Simon , also from WNSA , joined in November 2004 , with White moving from evenings to mornings to be Simon ' s sidekick . In 2006 , the Sabres and WGR renewed their broadcast agreement through 2012 , and Yankees rights were dropped by 2007 . In 2007 , host Brad Riter was fired after failing to report for work , and he joined rival WECK in March 2008 . A series of WGR staffers , as well as past and present Buffalo media personalities such as former WNSA and Empire host ( and former KOHD - DT morning anchor ) Jim Brinson and WIVB - TV sports director Dennis Williams , hosted the vacated slot . ( WGR also tried to lure John Murphy , but because he was also at the time the radio host of the Bills , his contract prevented him from hosting the slot . ) In January 2008 , Williams was hired as the new evening host at WGR ; WIVB declined to his contract shortly thereafter , and replaced him with Murphy . Williams left the station in early 2009 to enter the sales industry , the time slot is currently held by reruns . On January 4 , 2012 it was announced that WGR would become the Buffalo Bills Radio Network flagship station . WGR began a partial simulcast on Rochester sister station WROC in September 2008 . Sabres games , " Schopp and the Bulldog " , and ESPN Radio will be carried on WROC . In 2012 , WGR secured the rights to the Buffalo Bills Radio Network after previous owner WGRF decided against renewing their contract . As part of the deal , John Murphy will begin hosting a nightly talk show dedicated to the Bills on nights when the Sabres do not play . At the same time , Kevin Sylvester will also return to the station as the host of a daily Sabres - oriented talk show , " Hockey Hotline " , which last aired in 2004 . Broadcast signal . WGR ' s broadcast signal broadcasts at a power of 5 , 000 watts . During the day , the nondirectional signal , assisted by the Great Lakes , can stretch from Toledo , Ohio to Watertown , New York . At night , the signal is shifted to a directional north - to - south pattern aimed toward Toronto , Ontario . In 2006 , WGR resumed streaming its programming on the Internet after a four - year hiatus . WGR also broadcasts on the HD Radio digital subchannel of WKSE ( FM 98 . 5 ) . Thomas Meka , 2012 Summer Intern - nicknamed Intern Tom