WTMM hires Sinkoff to do sports talk show

PHOTOGRAPHER: Ken Schott

Three months after he was let go by WTEN (Ch. 10), sportscaster Brian Sinkoff is returning to the Capital Region airwaves on a full-time basis.

Sinkoff has been hired by WTMM-FM (104.5) to host an afternoon drive-time sports talk show, the station announced Tuesday. He will also named the program director of the Capital Region’s ESPN Radio affiliate.

Sinkoff’s show, entitled “Sound-Off with Sinkoff,” will air from 3 to 7 p.m. beginning Monday. It will replace a yet-to-be-named show from 3 to 4 p.m. (Steven A. Smith’s show is ending Thursday), and “Sports Nation,” which is on from 4 to

7 p.m.

“It’s something they wanted to do, after being in the market on the FM for [over] a year,” the 37-year-old Sinkoff said. “They were getting good ratings, and kind of building momentum. From there, they were thinking about doing something like this. They approached me.”

Sinkoff had been sports director at WTEN for over two years. He was one of several employees let go by Young Broadcasting, owners of the station, right before the start of the February ratings book.

Since then, he has being working as a sideline reporter on Time Warner Cable channel 3 sports broadcasts, and has filled in for Rich Becker as host of the Huck Finn “Capital Region Bowling Show” on WXXA (Ch. 23).

“They knew I was a free agent, and had seen me on Time Warner,” Sinkoff said. “I was still here, and they knew what happened at [channel] 10, and wanted somebody who had been in the market and had the

ties, and knew where the bodies were buried locally.

“It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a little different. There’s going to be contests, very caller-driven, e-mails and guests. I think it’s

going to be an avenue where my personality can shine. In TV, you only had 31⁄2 or four minutes. Here, I’m going to have four hours. It’s going to be a chance to let the personality shine.”

After going years without a local sports talk show, “Sound-off with Sinkoff” is the second program to be added by WTMM, which had been at 1300 AM before moving to the FM dial at the start of last year. “The Varsity with Anthony Mormino,” a Sunday morning show, started in February.

“The addition of a local sports talk show in afternoon drive has been our goal since we launched 104.5 ‘The Team’ on the FM dial last January,” said Robert Ausfeld, vice president of Regent Communications, owners of WTMM, said in a release. “All of our research tells us the show will be a success. Sinkoff brings the energy and experience that finally gives the Capital Region sports fan the chance to sound-off on the drive home.”

Dan Murphy, who Sinkoff replaced at WTEN, had a two-hour afternoon sports talk show on WOFX-AM (980) for over a year. That ended in December.