Wednesday, Sep 21, 2011
Minor league hockey makes a homecoming to New Jersey this season, with the celebrated return of the Trenton Titans. Rider’s 107.7 The Bronc will carry all of the team’s exciting radio action.
by Sean Ramsden
During their first run, from 1999 to 2007, the Trenton Titans hockey team quickly became a community fixture, drawing large crowds to the Sun National Bank Center on South Broad Street while involving themselves in civic activities throughout the Capital City.
Now, the Titans have returned to Trenton, and have joined with another community staple, 107.7 The Bronc, the campus radio station of Rider University, as its broadcast partner. The Bronc will air all 72 of the Titans’ games during the 2011-12 season as the Philadelphia Flyers’ ECHL affiliate attempts to capture the league’s championship trophy, the Kelly Cup. The announcement was made at a press conference on Rider’s Lawrenceville campus on Wednesday, September 21.
“This station is special,” said Rich Lisk, president and CEO of the Titans, about 107.7 The Bronc. “I have experience working with (station manager) John Mozes and the Rider people, and we’re assured of a highly professional presentation in all areas of our game broadcasts.”
Mozes said The Bronc’s local sports résumé is already strong, boasting Rider men’s and women’s basketball, Trenton Steel arena football and Mercer County high school football action among its programming lineup, but the chance to add the Titans was too strong to pass up.
“As soon as I found out the Titans were back, I knew I wanted to be on board,” said Mozes, whose relationship with Lisk extends to the 1990s, when both worked for the American Hockey League’s Philadelphia Phantoms. “They always drew good crowd and did great things in the community. We feel this is a partnership that will flourish.”
Mozes said the hockey games will be heard over the air on 107.7 The Bronc, unless there is a conflict with Rider basketball. In such instances, fans can follow all the Titans action via streaming audio on 1077thebronc.com. The station’s coverage includes the Titans’ two preseason games, against the Elmira Jackals on October 7 at Pro Skate in Monmouth Junction, N.J., and when they host the Reading Royals at the Sun Center on October 9.
“We really love the fact that we’ll be working with the students, too,” Lisk added, in reference to the station’s staff. “We want them to learn to be engineers, and put together the broadcast of a game.”
Daryle Dobos, known to fans as the radio voice of Rider’s women’s basketball and the Trenton Steel, will call the Titans games on The Bronc. The Fairless Hills, Pa., native has also done play-by-play for the USA Hockey Championships for several years.
From their inaugural season until 2007, the Titans were affiliated first with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers, then the New York Islanders. After being purchased by the New Jersey Devils, the team became known as the Trenton Devils. This rebranding, which saw the franchise forfeit its distinctive logo featuring the “Trenton Makes” bridge, seemed to alienate the team’s previously loyal fan base – which also happened to be heavily populated with Flyers’ fans. After several years of declining attendance, the Trenton Devils ceased operations in July 2011, and the parent club returned the franchise to the ECHL.
The Flyers were eager to renew their affiliation with the ECHL franchise in Trenton, and the Titans were reborn in the summer of 2011. The team will retain its previous Titans branding scheme, including the iconic bridge pattern running form shoulder to shoulder on the team’s jerseys.