WGR-AM morning sports co-host Howard Simon announced Monday that he is cutting his schedule from five to three days a week.
The days – Monday, Tuesday and Friday – appear to be designed to focus on sports talk with Jeremy White, his co-host for the last 18 years, before and after Buffalo Bills games.
In a brief telephone interview, Simon gave multiple reasons for the decision to cut back: He turned 60 in June, has been in sports radio for 30 years and the job isn’t as easy as many listeners believe it is to talk about sports for four hours daily.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” said Simon. “It has been difficult to live up to the demands of the job. It’s a lot of work, a lot of preparation.”
He acknowledges his decision to cut back comes when Buffalo’s sports teams are improving,
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“The Bills are going to be very good, and the Sabres are going to be better,” said Simon.
Joe DiBiase, who has an increased presence on the station, is expected to take Simon’s place as co-host on Wednesdays and Thursdays. (Full disclosure: DiBiase is a SUNY Buffalo State graduate who took one of my sports journalism classes.)
Simon’s immediate future is to “sleep in” past 4 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursdays.
His long-term plans are unclear. He applauded the station’s bosses for being very understanding and added he and they will talk at the end of the football season “to figure out the next step.”
Among the options: Leaving broadcasting to do something else.
“Everything has to come to an end at some point,” said Simon.
Alan Pergament
TV Critic
Alan Pergament has had a variety of roles at The News since 1970, including as a news and sports reporter. He has been the TV columnist since 1982, with more than year off for good behavior. He is a member of the national Television Critics Association.
