FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas is upset that its Northwest Arkansas radio affiliate took the Razorbacks’ women’s basketball team off the air Sunday.
The Hog Sports Radio Network chose to broadcast the AFC and NFC championship games Sunday instead of Arkansas’ women’s basketball game against LSU. Dan Storrs, general manager of the radio station, said he decided to go with the football games after The Hog Sports Radio Network secured a contract earlier in the week to broadcast NFL games in the region.
The Hog Sports Radio Network has an agreement with the university for airing women’s basketball games, which Storrs admitted the radio station broke Sunday. The network typically broadcasts Arkansas women’s games on all four of its Northwest Arkansas stations, including KAKSFM, 99.5, and KUOA-AM, 1290, both in Fayetteville. But none of the stations carried the game Sunday.
“We felt the AFC and NFC championship games would be more well-listened to than a women’s basketball game,” Storrs said. “We really appreciate our affiliation with the university. It was a one-time thing. We felt it was what we needed to do for the radio station.”
The Arkansas women’s basketball game, which the Razorbacks won 72-52, was aired in Little Rock on KABZ-FM, 103.7. General Manager Justin Acri said his station doesn’t have a choice in what to air, unless a women’s basketball game is superseded by a men’s game, a UALR men’s game or something like a high school state championship game.
“If they have a game on, it’s going on the air,” Acri said. “We’re in a spot where we don’t have a lot of choice in the matter.”
The game also was televised by Fox Sports Net.
Storrs said Tuesday that his station had not received any complaints from listeners regarding the decision to not broadcast the Arkansas game.
Storrs also said the station had pretty much decided on airing the football games heading into the weekend, but he put off telling the university until sending an e-mail Sunday morning, when he made the final decision in favor of the NFL games.
After receiving the news, the university released a statement through Kevin Trainor, the school’s associate athletic director for public relations, expressing displeasure over the decision made by The Hog Sports Network.
“Razorback Athletics regrets that an independent decision made by its Northwest Arkansas women’s basketball radio affiliate, The Hog Sports Radio, prevented fans from listening to the Arkansas-LSU game on Sunday afternoon,” the e-mail read. “Representatives of the women’s basketball network were made aware of the station’s decision to air national programming, rather than the Razorbacks, less than two hours prior to the scheduled 2 p.m. tipoff. Unfortunately, attempts to secure an alternative station within the remaining limited timeframe were not successful. We would like to apologize to Razorback fans for any inconvenience caused by this affiliate issue.”
Trainor declined to say who authorized or authored the e-mail, saying it was the statement from the athletic department. He referred all questions about the situation to IMG College, which holds the broadcast rights for Arkansas sports.
Ryan Gribble, general manager of Razorbacks Sports Properties, criticized Storrs’ decision to go with the NFL games instead of Razorbacks programming.
“What good reason is there to do this?” Gribble said. “How else should the university respond to this? Hog Sports Radio made a commitment to women’s basketball and broke that commitment. In my mind, that is unacceptable.”
Gribble said Storrs’ late notification of the station’s decision showed a “lack of professionalism.”
Storrs said he understood the university’s displeasure regarding his decision, but he was upset with the university’s e-mail.
“I felt it was a shot across the bow,” Storrs said. “I felt some of the wording wasn’t necessary. We didn’t do what they wanted us to do. They wanted to try to embarrass us.”
Storrs said the station’s two-year contract to broadcast women’s basketball games expires after this season. He said talks to extend or renew the contract haven’t begun, and Gribble said Sunday’s decision would be a factor.
“That’s a discussion we have to have with the university about how they feel about moving forward with Hog Sports Radio,” Gribble said. “It is what it is.
“They didn’t make a mistake. They made a decision.”
Information for this article was contributed by Troy Schulte of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Sports, Pages 19 on 01/25/2012