Howard Simon Just Wants To See Somebody Win

The people of Buffalo are tired of losing. The Music City Miracle, 47 Wide Right, No Goal, those are just a few of the agonizing moments that have kept the Bills from winning a Super Bowl and the Sabres from a Stanley Cup. But there’s a belief in sports radio that the teams you cover need to be either really good or really bad, since both create storylines. It’s the mediocre seasons that causes the fans and listeners to lose interest. 

But not every show host believes in that theory. Howard Simon, co-host of Howard and Jeremy on WGR 550 in Buffalo is one of those that doesn’t. Much like his listeners, he’s tired of losing. Though the rest of the country might look at Buffalo affectionately with all the sports misery they’ve suffered, a 17-year playoff drought for the Bills doesn’t equal a giant payoff for local sports radio. 

“I really don’t know who says that,” said Simon. “If it’s a sports talk show host I’d love to meet them because I can’t stand losing. I’m tired of it. I kind of kid here, but maybe Boston sports talk show hosts are bored? I have no idea. I would much rather talk about winning teams. The early 90s around here with the Bills were fantastic. 

“Nobody wanted to talk about a playoff drought from 2000 to 2017. We got tired of it and we got tired of being reminded about it. We got tired of bringing it up every year at training camp. Coaches and GM’s getting fired every three years, quarterbacks changing, that sucks. Sure it gives us great shows and quarterback discussions are always fascinating when there’s a controversy, but no, I don’t think it bonded anyone together. If anything we get tweets every now and then from people who feel sorry for us because we have to talk about the Bills and Sabres. I kind of look at us as therapeutic, like a communal psychiatrist. We’re just like a bartender. You go to the bar, you get a drink and you spell your woes to them about how bad your teams are. We allow people to vent and cheer. If you need someone to be with you in your time of need as a sports fan, we’re there. Because we’re going through all the sports stuff with them.”

Simon has been with WGR since 2004, which serves as the flagship for both the Bills and Sabres. In this Q&A we cover if Bills fans are as crazy on the radio as they seem on the internet, how the station handles training camp and a whole lot more. 

TM: So you’re the flagship of the Bills. Obviously, the recent past hasn’t been easy for this team. Are you able to accurately describe the pain that fans are feeling and be critical about decisions made by ownership on the air? 

HS: If you’re wondering if we’re given a directive to go easy because were the flagship, no. In fact, quite honestly, there’s been more bad than good here. During the Bills’ drought, if we thought a coach was bad, we said they should fire him. If we thought a GM was bad, we said they should fire him. If they had a draft pick we didn’t like, we’d be outspoken about it. We just always speak our opinion.

That’s the nice thing about our bosses, they’ve never once said to us that we can’t say things because were the flagship and our contract is almost up. Last year‘s hockey season was one of the worst in franchise history, so we’re not going on the air to sugarcoat that. We said the coach should be fired and he was. If the team is really bad, we’ll say they’re bad. Fans are smart and they see through that stuff. It comes down to credibility and you have to have it at the end of the day.

TM: So when the Sabres are bad, I’m going to guess you find yourself going deeper on the Bills earlier than normal. When that’s the case, is it tougher to keep it fresh since you don’t have a hockey team to steal the big stories of the day during the winter?

HS: Well, yes, but the good news is we’ve had a lot of practice. There’s been plenty of hockey seasons that crapped out January 1st or February 1st. The thing I think around here, and this is getting back to how passionate people are around here about football, it’s become a 12 month a year thing. More than any other sport, as soon as you get done with the season you start talking about the combine in February. Right after that, you talk about the free agency period. Right after that, you dive into a month and a half of NFL Draft. After that, you dive into rookie minicamp, OTA‘s and mandatory camps. So usually there’s always something to talk about with football. It’s not really hard for us, if the Sabres are playing well, that’s great. But if not we have to get a little creative.

TM: Is there a third-biggest team in town? 

HS: Honestly there’s no clear-cut answer. It really is a Bills and Sabres town. We don’t consider ourselves a satellite Toronto market. I guess if you want to pick baseball there’s more Yankees fans in Buffalo than any other Major League Baseball team. From a basketball standpoint it’s a mixed bag. This would not be considered a secondary Raptors market. It’s very Bills NFL and Sabres NHL centric.

TM: Bills Mafia videos during tailgates have really taken a life of their own. Does that craziness shine through on the call line?

HS: I grew up in New York so I listened to New York talk radio when I was growing up. I worked in Toledo and listened to Detroit talk radio when I was there, so in terms of craziness, I don’t think anybody would top New York or even Philadelphia. I think the fans here are mostly like other fans, they are very passionate. Maybe it’s a little bit different here because we’re talking about a city that has two major professional teams as opposed to New York City having eight, Philadelphia having at least one in every single pro league, Boston has a bunch, but there’s no MLB or NBA team here. So maybe the fever is a little higher.

Maybe the intensity and pressure is a little greater on the Bills and Sabres because you don’t have a third and fourth professional team to help you out if you’re struggling. In terms of the people that are calling our station, you get your occasional crazy caller but I think that happens in every talk market in the country. People aren’t calling us as they’re jumping into a table. They’re passionate fans and I think they enjoy the crazy fans label they get but it’s not like crackpot is calling all the time.

TM: With Bills training camp being in Pittsford, New York (A little over an hour from Buffalo) how are your shows covering training camp? 

HS: We have a Bills beat reporter and he’s also the sideline reporter on the broadcast, so he’s out here. When the Bills are there, he’s out there. As far as the shows, it depends what their practice schedule is. If they’re practicing in the afternoon, the afternoon show will do their show live from camp. We have seven shows here from camp. Seven morning practices during the week so we’re here for those seven shows.

TM: Though it may cost money and a few more resources, how important is it for your station to be on-site during those opportunities? 

HS: Yeah I like it, I really do. I can only speak for me but I like seeing practice. Our beat reporter is great and now with Twitter and the Internet you can read reports from every single media person or blog member who’s out here. But I just think it sounds really good. If a fan is listening and the morning show comes on and they say, “hey, good morning we’re at Bills Training Camp,” it just sounds good. I think that always sounds appealing to the fan. We’re out where the stories are.

When we’re out here, we get players on as well as national media guests that are here. It’s very active and I feel more connected when we’re out at training camp. It’s just cool and beneficial to say, hey, here’s what the offensive line looks like today, or here’s what Josh Allen look like today. Things like that, Cole Beasley look very good today. Ed Oliver is knocking offensive lineman over. It just sounds good.

TM: Being in western New York and on the border in Canada, is Buffalo a really unique place to do sports radio, in terms of, yeah, you’re in New York but the teams in NYC are six hours away? 

HS: Yeah we’re around 400 miles away from New York City. It’s funny, I think sometimes when players get drafted by Buffalo teams they think they’re in a suburb of New York City. Then they get here and realize it’s this far away and don’t realize it. In terms of location, I like it and think it’s a good location.

You have the teams here, but in terms of what’s around us, Cleveland is three hours away, Pittsburgh is 3 1/2 hours away, Toronto is two hours, we’re in an area where there’s a lot of other professional teams and cities around us. That might also be a reason why we have a mishmash in the fan base, because there are so many cities within reach that you can be attached to their teams.

TM: Speaking of players being mistaken where Buffalo is, has there been anyone more famous than Marshawn Lynch for doing that? What was the fan reaction to that? 

HS: He’s not the only one. I can’t give you any names off the top of my head but it seems like it’s happened to more football players than hockey players. There have been plenty of rookies that come here, and when you talk to them, they were planning on going to see a Broadway Show or even to hangout in Manhattan. You then have to explain to them that they can, but it’s an hour plane flight. Marshawn is probably the highest profile guy to do it, but he’s far from the only one that’s made that mistake.

TM: The Bills are No. 1 and rest of the NFL storylines are No. 2 at this point in the year for you. So does that leave any room to talk college football? Does there need to be a guy like Khalil Mack playing for the University of Buffalo for you to even mention them? 

HS: We have not talked a lot of college football, because, quite honestly, for most of UB’s 20-ish years at the FBS level they’ve struggled. As it turns out, yeah, Khalil Mack made people more aware of UB but they need to win more games. Our college football talk is more geared towards watching guys who we think we’re going to be talking about come NFL Draft talk. Like, when we knew the Bills were going to draft a quarterback two years ago, we went all in every weekend watching Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield Lamar Jackson, Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen. I’ll watch college football because I’m a big fan, but our conversations tend to sway more to “hey, the Bills need a wide receiver and you’ll never guess which one I watched this weekend.” We still incorporate college football talk into Bills talk.

TM: You’ve been around the market for several years so you must like the area and your gig. But what do you like most about doing sports radio in Buffalo? 

HS: (Laughs) It’s a bad time to ask that question, we’ve been in a real bad stretch. I’ve been a sports fan for over 40 years so I like talking about sports and watching the games, as well as talking other people about it too. It’s really cool to connect with the fans. Having been here for 30 years it’s a great place to live and it’s a great fan base. The sports fans are really good, they’re knowledgeable and passionate. They can be critical when they need to be, but they’re not over the edge crazy. It’s a fan base that I think really appreciates the work we put in and the product we put out.

Honestly I think we enjoy doing the show because we realize how much people enjoy listening to the station. The one thing I would say, I would just love to see someone win around here because the fans have put up with a lot of really rough years of football and hockey. No Stanley Cup. No Lombardi Trophy. They really do deserve it here and I hope to live to see the day when someone wins a championship. If that happens the city would go absolutely crazy.