Friday, October 26, 2007

Hockey Beacon On Long Island

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Mike Savino (left) visits Rob Kowal at NY Hockey TalkThe station is WGBB, 1240 on the dial and it is powered by a 1,000 watts station located in Freeport, LI. The radio station is located on Route 109, south of the Sunrise Highway in West Babylon, LI, New York. Drive too fast and you will go right by it as it is nestled between two business concerns, one an auto repair. The sign on the building is WYNG, which technically owns the building. This is the home of New York Hockey Talk with Rob Kowal.

Rob Kowal is the young, energetic founder of New York Hockey Talk. Truth be known, Rob Kowal is New York Hockey Talk. He is the producer, director, the host and the driving force behind what could become the finest hockey radio show in the metro area. His assistant is an engineer named Dave , never got a second name. Dave was behind the glass directing us, actually me, with hand gestures like too low, get closer, up to the mike, keep it moving and what I think was good job. Who knows, I was never good at charades.

In one hour, every Sunday night, between 9-10 you will hear more hockey than that heard in a month on WFAN. The guests have been a combination of announcers, writers and ordinary fans, the bloggers. Rob took over on 9/23/07 and his first guest was John Dellapina. He has had top announcers like Sam Rosen, Rick Jeanneret the Sabres TV guy for over twenty years, Jeremy Noeson, the Sabres radio guy plus Bob Crawford the voice of the Hartford Wolfpack.

Rob has also had the four minor league coaches of the four area teams. Rob puts the Buffalo Sabres area team. He has interviewed Ken Gernander, Wolfpack, Kurt Kleindiest, Lowell Devils, Randy Cunneyworth, Rochester Americans (Sabres) and Jack Capuano, Bridgeport Sounders (Islanders). In addition he has had Ranger Ryan Callahan and ex Islander Mike Bossy and ex Isle and ex Sabre Pierre Turgeon.

The bloggers have been many, representing all four teams. The one hour is broken up into three segments. It usually starts with Rob doing a ten minute review of the four teams for the past week with the highlights and a commentary. Then it becomes the guests turn. Some are prerecorded, some phone in and some like me, are live.

Think about the last time you heard a hockey report for an hour? Times up. You never heard one. Forget the post game reports, I'm talking a regular show about hockey.This show has a great opportunity to blossom into something unusual. In Boston, my friend Kevin of Insidehockey.com has put together a great hockey show serving the Boston area with great guests. New York HockeyTalk has a chance to be that in the New York metro area. If they don't make it, it's not because Rob Kowal isn't trying or working at making it better. It's the best thing that has happened for hockey fans in the New York Area and you don't want to miss it.

To listen to the show go to http://www.nyhockeytalk.com



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