Villanova University basketball and football games will air this season on pop music station WBEN 95.7 FM.
The Philly Business Journal reports Beasley Media Group, the owner and operator of BEN and five other Philadelphia stations, did not disclose financial terms of the one-year deal.
“The affiliation with BEN FM expands our reach in the Delaware Valley and gives the Nova Nation a prominent new home on the FM dial,” said Drew Young, General Manager of Villanova Sports Properties.
The question, though, is whether there will be sports to air. Villanova is a member of the Big East Conference, whose board of directors announced on Aug. 12 the cancelation of the league’s entire fall sports schedule due to the continuing Covid-19 pandemic. Football is one of 11 Villanova varsity sports programs impacted by that decision, though Big East officials and member institutions have said they are evaluating moving fall sports competition to the spring.
Villanova football is the one sport not part of the Big East but rather the Colonial Athletic Conference, competing on the 1-AA level instead of the Division 1 station the school maintains for all of its other programs. The CAA also suspended football competition and is looking to possibly move it to the Spring.
The NCAA did announce a start date of Nov. 25 for men’s and women’s basketball but the Big East has not yet announced schedule details.
Broadcasts of Villanova Basketball, the 2016 and 2018 NCAA national champion, will feature Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby for their 23rd season together. Football coverage includes play-by-play announcer Fannon and analyst Kevin Reilly.
Villanova football and basketball could be heard in recent years on 610 ESPN (WTEL-AM). Beasley leased that station in August to rival radio station operator iHeartMedia, which will use it for its Black Information Network, a recently launched national audio news service dedicated to providing a Black voice and perspective.
WTEL has been branded as 610 ESPN, giving Beasley a second sports station to go along with 97.5 The Fanatic (WPEN-FM), which is the radio home to Philadelphia 76ers and Philadelphia Flyers games. Villanova basketball games would most likely conflict with some of those broadcasts, so Beasley had to choose between BEN FM, rock station 93.3 FM (WMMR), classic rock station 102.9 FM (WMGK), country station 92.5 WXTU or talk station WWDB (860 AM).
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