Georgia State’s partnership with Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) will affect the amount of basketball games WRAS 88.5 will broadcast this season.
WRAS will air only 17 basketball games via the Georgia State Sports Radio Network out of the 64 games combined from the men’s and women’s teams this year.
Thirteen of the games will be men’s basketball matchups and the women’s team will have four broadcasts on 88.5.
In previous seasons, prior to the agreement where GPB Radio, WRAS would air all men’s and women’s basketball games on its weekday from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Here is a list of the matchups WRAS will broadcast: Listen in on the WRAS stream here or at wras.org.
· Friday, Nov. 14 vs. Tennessee Temple, 7 p.m. (men’s)
· Saturday, Nov. 15 at UNF, 7 p.m. (women’s)
· Monday, Nov. 17 at Iowa State, 9 p.m. (men’s)
· Friday, Nov. 21 at Colorado State, 9 p.m. (men’s)
· Monday, Nov. 24 vs. Thomas, 7 p.m. (women’s)
· Wednesday, Nov. 26 at Oakland, 7 p.m. (men’s)
· Wednesday, Dec. 3 vs. Kennesaw State, 7 p.m. (women’s)
· Wednesday, Dec. 17 at Old Dominion, 7 p.m. (men’s)
· Saturday, Dec. 20 vs. Lasalle, 6 p.m. (women’s)
· Tuesday, Dec. 30 vs. UL Monroe, 7 p.m. (men’s)
· Monday, Jan. 5 vs. Texas State, 7 p.m. (men’s)
· Thursday, Jan. 8 at UL Lafayette, 8:15 p.m. (men’s)
· Monday, Jan. 19 at Arkansas State, 8:30 p.m. (men’s)
· Thursday, Jan. 29, at UT Arlington, 8:15 p.m. (men’s)
· Thursday, Feb. 5 at Georgia Southern, 7:30 p.m. (men’s)
· Thursday, Feb. 26 at UALR, 8:30 p.m. (men’s)
· Thursday, March 5 at UL Monroe, 8 p.m. (men’s)
All broadcast will occurr at night and during the day when student programming still airs on the radio station.
WRAS also will air any men’s and women’s games that take place during the Sun Belt Conference championship in New Orleans if either team qualifies.
The tournament will take place from Mar. 12˗15.
Georgia State’s men’s team is expected to qualify for the conference tournament this season as it is ranked as one of the premier mid˗major teams in the nation.
The Panthers came within one point of winning the conference last season when they lost to Louisiana˗Lafayette in the Sun Belt championship game.
Alayna Fabricius, general manager of WRAS, says a final decision on which games the station would broadcast occurred after a pair of meetings with Athletics.
Those meetings also included Assistant Director for Student Media Bryce McNeil, Georgia State Athletics communications director Jerry Trickie and veteran Panthers play-by-play voice Dave Cohen.
Fabricius tried to aim for an equal amount of men’s and women’s games and that her plan was originally for 20 total to be aired over 88.5., but said that the final decision on games came from Athletics.
She also disclosed that Athletics has set up an online stream that will air games not being broadcasted via WRAS.
Previously, the radio station would air up to 20 baseball games that would also air online. WRAS streamed six softball broadcasts during last year’s season.
“The online stream for basketball gives Athletics more flexibility and would have happened anyway even if Georgia State didn’t enter into the agreement with GPB,” Cohen said. “But, most likely, the baseball and softball streams will most likely handled in the future by Athletics.”
Even though WRAS student programming is not airing on the analog signal, it’s still available via its HD2 feed.
Fabricius said that airing sports broadcasts on the HD2 feed was never something she considered.
“I want to make sure that the HD2 frequency is reserved solely for Album 88 programs,” Fabricius said.
Cohen said he wished that WRAS would be able to air all basketball games that fell outside of the window for GPB Radio, but Fabricius wanted there to be balance between days where WRAS aired basketball broadcasts and days they aired student programming.
The Signal, through Open Records Request (ORR) documents sent by #SaveWRAS representative Lynn Medcalf on Sept. 26, found out that WRAS student DJs will lose the extended weekend hours they obtained as a caveat of the agreement with GPB.
“In the past, it was a given that 88.5 would air all of the men’s and women’s games, but with the GPB situation has made things somewhat complicated,” Cohen said.
The entire slate of men’s games will air on Dickey Broadcasting’s WIFN˗AM 1340 The Fan 3, whom Georgia State inked a radio contract with starting last year. All Sun Belt conference games on the women’s side will also air via 1340.
Football games also air on 1340 and 88.5, but a University press release could only guarantee that home football games would be carried on WRAS due to the GPB partnership. WRAS has aired all Georgia State football games this season, home and road.
“Georgia State football and basketball will continue to be available as they have been. It may not be at 88.5, but it will [be] broadcasted throughout the metro,” university president Mark Becker said in an interview with The Signal in June.
WRAS broadcasts at 100,000 watts and has a coverage area that stretches throughout North Georgia. The reach of 1340 barely extends out of the immediate six˗county area of metro˗Atlanta, according to Radio˗Locator.com.
The Signal conducted a survey over the summer in which roughly three-quarters of students preferred broadcasts of Georgia State sports air on WRAS. The remaining 25 percent said they preferred 1340 to be the primary station airing the Panthers.
