Northern Illinois Athletics and its multimedia rights holder, IMG College, have renewed the university’s agreement with Chicago sports radio powerhouse WSCR 670-The Score to broadcast Huskie football.
Jeff Compher, NIU associate vice president and director of Athletics, and Mitch Rosen, program director of The Score, made the announcement Monday.
The multi-year agreement extends a relationship between Northern Illinois and WSCR that dates back to 2005. The Score, a 50,000-watt station owned by CBS Radio, will broadcast Huskie football games to a coverage area that reaches across the Midwest, to as many as 38 states and an audience in the millions.
Compher said the arrangement with WSCR works because the relationship benefits both the station and Northern Illinois.
“The Score has been a tremendous partner for Northern Illinois Athletics and a wonderful home for our football radio broadcasts over the past seven seasons,” Compher said.
“WSCR gives us a coverage area that is unmatched in this part of the country, and NIU provides Score listeners with some of the most exciting college football action in the nation,” Compher added. “I am extremely happy that thanks to the efforts of the Score’s Mitch Rosen and Mike Dodson of our multimedia rights holder IMG College, Huskie fans and college football fans throughout the region and beyond will be able to hear Northern Illinois football games on the Score over the next two seasons.”
“The Score and CBS Radio Chicago are proud to continue our partnership with Northern Illinois University Athletics, specifically NIU Football,” Rosen said. “This is more than an on-air carriage agreement, this is a friendship-partnership with Jeff Compher and his athletic staff. We are proud to say that the state of Illinois’ number one college football team plays on Chicago’s No. 1 sports radio station, The Score.”
The new agreement also includes a provision that will move Huskie football games in their entirety to an alternate Chicago area station whenever any part of the game cannot be carried on The Score due to its other contractual obligations.
Several of Northern Illinois’ September games, including the season opener versus Iowa on Sept. 1, will air on WYLL AM 1160 in Chicago.
In addition to football game broadcasts, The Score will air “NIU Weekly,” the 30-minute interview show featuring Compher and NIU coaches, 18 times during the year. The show will air on Saturday mornings, beginning Sept. 1.
An all sports talk radio station, WSCR 670 AM is consistently rated as the most-listened-to sports radio station in Chicago. In addition to Huskie Football, the Score is the home of Major League Baseball’s Chicago White Sox and DePaul University basketball.
IMG College, the leading collegiate multimedia, marketing and licensing/brand management company in America, represents more than 200 of the nation’s top collegiate properties including the NCAA and its 89 championships and leading conferences.
Headquartered in Winston Salem, N.C., IMG College, a division of IMG Worldwide, produces nearly 30,000 hours of radio programming on the largest sports network in the country, manages nearly 5,000 hours of local television programming, is the leading publisher of college sports publications, and is the largest manager of university athletic websites.
For more information on Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.
