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When the University of Albany basketball team visits Saint Francis on Saturday, it will mark a homecoming for the Great Danes’ radio broadcaster.
Rodger Wyland grew up in Altoona, got his feet wet in radio and TV here, and, feeling he needed a stepping stone, moved to Albany in 1986.
Though his big break after that never came, it didn’t need to: Wyland created a considerable niche in Albany that has fulfilled his career.
In addition to serving as the sports director at WNYT, an NBC affiliate, and hosting a three-hour morning radio show on WOFX (980-AM), Wyland is in the midst of his 18th season as the play-by-play voice of Albany basketball.
He’s called the Great Danes’ four trips to the NCAA Tournament and covered three Super Bowls since the New York Giants trained in Albany.
“I would have liked that one crack at a really big market, like Pittsburgh, where there’s actually professional teams to cover,” Wyland said earlier this week. “I kind of feel that’s the only thing I’ve missed out on, but I really enjoy the play-by-play because it’s so different and fun.”
Saturday, he returns to his roots. He played as a reserve for the Altoona Mountain Lions, under John Swogger, in the late-1970s, and later spent three years coaching Lady Lion basketball under Art Taneyhill.
“I was Art’s first assistant – kind of a trivia question,” Wyland said. “I worked with the jayvees and did basically whatever he needed me to do. He would send me everywhere to scout. My parents wondered if I was getting mileage.”
Wyland laughs at the memory.
While he was still in high school, Wyland started at WTAJ as a fill-in, sometimes for Big John Riley, then became its weekend sports anchor. He said general manager Tom Conners encouraged him, and Wyland backed up Mike Matters, who went with ESPN as a producer when the all-sports network launched in 1979.
After Matters left, Wyland became the sports director before he even graduated Penn State.
“They paid me $10,500, and I thought that was unbelievable, working in my hometown and making that much money,” he said. “I thought I had my dream job.”
He started the Friday night high school football highlight show that still exists. He also covered Penn State football, interviewed Joe Paterno weekly (Wyland and the late Bill Wilson of WJAC each got five minutes one-on-one on Wednesdays), and did WTAJ’s first live shot from the 1983 Sugar Bowl.
“It was a great era,” said Wyland, who was followed at WTAJ by Jim Gregory and Paul Alexander.
Prior, Wyland cut his teeth in radio.
He worked for Tom Casey at WRTA and Tony Booth at WFBG.
“I was doing mid-day lunch with the oldies,” he said.
His determination and willingness to do whatever it took to advance made an impression.
“Rodger was the hardest worker of anybody I ever saw – ever,” Casey, now retired from both radio and TV, said. “He was a bulldog. You give him a project, and he would get it. If you wanted him to work Christmas, he’d work Christmas. If you needed him in the middle of the night, he’d come in. He did anything to get on the air.
“I don’t know anybody in any line of work who worked as hard as he did. And a nice kid, too.”
That “kid” is now 53, and firmly entrenched in the Albany community.
“He’s definitely the senior sports anchor here and because of the number of hats he wears, he’s established himself as the sports guy in the market,” Pete Dougherty, who writes a TV sports column for the Albany Times Union, said. “He might be more recognizable than all the news anchors in the market. He does an awful lot of work.”
Wyland has been to Saint Francis a couple of times to broadcast football – “it was the Pine Bowl then,” he said – but not basketball.
“Growing up there, I remember covering some great games with high school, and for the longest time, I kept in touch with (former Red Flash coach) Dave Magarity,” he said. “I remember not wanting to leave (Altoona), but people convinced me I should probably take the next step.
“I thought I’d spend five years (in Albany) and maybe go to a big market. I always wanted to get to Pittsburgh, but I never did. Tried for years. You had all those older, veterans guys, and it was hard to get in, and the more years I spent here, it was harder to make the transition to go back.”
Entrenched and happy – he also coaches his kids in youth sports (he has two older children to his first marriage) – Wyland no longer looks for openings in larger markets.
“My resume tape that I sent here (in 1986) was on a three-quarter inch tape,” he said, “and we don’t have a machine to play it anymore.”
Rudel can be reached at 946-7527 or nrudel@altoonamirror.com.