Billy Packer to manage 'national' Conference Call

Gilbert Nicholson   Staff

Popular Southern AM radio sports talk show Conference Call will go national in December, managed by a company owned by CBS basketball analyst Billy Packer.

In Birmingham, the show is already scheduled for dramatic changes, switching Sept. 24 from WJOX SportsRadio 690 (http://www.wjox690.com) to WYDE Talk 850. The Birmingham Business Journal reported the station change last month. The three-hour show will broadcast live on WYDE from 7-8 p.m. and on tape-delay from 8-10 p.m.

WJOX program director Brent Seale says he didn't like the direction the show was taking.

"They're changing from a Southeastern Conference show to a national show. Why do I need USTN (United SportsTalk Network, Conference Call's parent company) when I've got ESPN, which is the leader in national sports radio?" Seale asks.

He adds that most of the programs remaining this month will likely be pre-empted by Atlanta Braves baseball games. This has been a constant gripe of area college football fans, who prefer programming dedicated to Southeastern Conference football.

The station switch is another boost to the sports-talk efforts of WYDE, which added former Alabama quarterback Jay Barker to its afternoon lineup in August. Barker joined host Scott Moore for a new show, "The Winning Edge," from 3-7 p.m.

Meanwhile, Memphis-based Conference Call, co-hosted by CBS college football anchor Tim Brando and ABC college football analyst and former Auburn head coach Terry Bowden, will move to Charlotte under the management of Packer's Time Out Inc., according to the show's Web site (http://www.ustn.net).

Corrigan Sports Enterprises Inc. in Columbia, Md. will direct sales. The network will be built by Corrigan and TotalMedia Communications of New York, the Web site says.

Already on 75 affiliates in 13 Southern states, the show will go national Dec. 3 from 7-10 EST.

"We are the largest and most-listened to regional sports talk radio network in the U.S.," USTN chairman David Fite says on the Web site. "Our research has convinced us that there is a huge national market for our product and no one but us to deliver it."

USTN president David Hersh says Packer, who appeared on the show as guest analyst during basketball season, is the best person to take the show national.

"While Billy is best known for college basketball, his business acumen and relationships with the NCAA and its conferences make him the ideal person to lead this initiative," Hersh says.

Says Packer, "We want to expand (Conference Call's) focus to become the voice of college sports, where inside information and facts replace rumor and gossip. As the only daily college sports talk show, we can provide the insight on why your team is No. 2 and not No. 1 in every major college sport."