Local Sports Radio Use Prior Game Broadcasts

     Many South Florida sports format radio stations have reached to different alternate programming to fill in their schedules. One of the items to be used are prior sports game broadcasts by team flagship radio stations.

     560 WQAM-AM became the first local radio station to try this concept. They began programming previous Florida Panthers game broadcasts at the evening slot in March from earlier this season with play-by-play announcer Doug Plagens giving a new pregame preview of each contest. WQAM later added University of Miami football games with radio voices Joe Zagacki and Don Bailey, Jr. 

     Sports Talk 790 The Ticket WAXY-AM began to transmit Miami Heat game broadcasts in April with radio play-by-play announcer Mike Inglis. In the past two weeks, they added previous classic NFL game broadcasts from Westwood One. 

     Miami Sports 940 WINZ-AM also went to previous game broadcasts in April. They played prior Miami Marlins 2019 season contests with play-by-play announcers Dave Van Horne and Glenn Geffner. 

     Fox Sports 640 South Florida WMEN-AM decided to rebroadcast contests from their new property they acquired in 2019. The station has played previous Florida Atlantic University football games that have occurred over the last couple of years with radio voice Ken LaVicka on Saturdays since early May. 

Real Radio Changing Frequencies

     Real Radio talk format on WZZR-FM in West Palm Beach will be moving down the radio dial to 92.1 FM from 94.3 FM on June 1. A Spanish language adult contemporary music format will be used on the 94.3 FM frequency.
     The Real Radio brand has some sports programming on their airwaves. They do have Westwood One broadcasts of NFL games which includes the Super Bowl and the Saturday midday program WZZR Locker Room. The Greek is part of The Penthouse midday show on Real Radio and hosts a mid-afternoon sports show on Miami Sports 940 WINZ-AM in Miami.

Nick O'Leary Put On Reserve List

     Former Miami Dolphins tight end Nick O'Leary might be near the end of his National Football League career. He is on the Las Vegas Raiders for the past two months and was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list on Thursday.
     O'Leary played tight end in high school for the Dwyer Panthers. He helped them win the FHSAA Class 4A state title in 2009. It was their first football championship in school history.
     He played college football with the Florida State University Seminoles. O'Leary contributed to the Seminoles winning the 2013 BCS National Championship over Auburn University. He received the John Mackay Award as the top tight end during his senior year in 2014.
     O'Leary, the grandson of golf legend Jack Nicklaus, was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the 2014 NFL Draft. He was with them for three seasons.
     He signed with the Miami Dolphins in 2018 and played 1 1/2 seasons with them. O'Leary had 12 catches for 123 receiving yards in 19 games with the Dolphins. He finished the 2019 season with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Florida Panthers Regular Season Recap

     The Florida Panthers reached the cusp of the Stanley Cup Playoffs based on an announcement made by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Tuesday. The Panthers ended up fourth in the Atlantic Division and 10th in the Eastern Conference during the regular season. Florida will play the seventh-seed New York Islanders in the play-in round of the postseason should it occur.
     The regular season was suspended by the league back on March 12. Jonathan Huberdeau led the club with 55 assists and 78 points this season. Mike Hoffman had a team-high 29 goals while Aaron Ekblad put up a +12 plus/minus ratio. Huberdeau, Hoffman, Keith Yandle, Evgenii Dadanov, Frank Vatrano, Brett Connolly, Anton Stralman and Colton Sceviour played in all 69 regular season games this campaign for Florida.
     On the power play, Huberdeau had 29 points and 24 assists with the man advantage. Hoffman and Dadanov both shared the top spot with 11 power-play goals.
     Noel Acciari compiled a club-high five game-winning goals while Vatrano led with two shorthanded goals and points.

Florida Panthers Make Qualifying Round

     The Florida Panthers will be part of a qualifying round best-of-five series to compete in the Stanley Cup Playoffs should the National Hockey League begin play again. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced on Tuesday that it was officially approved by the NHL Board of Governors and the NHL Players Association. The remaining last three weeks of the NHL regular season was eliminated.
     There was no announcement on when or where the qualifying round of the playoffs will be held. Two hub cities would host the entire playoff schedule, which will likely be one hub city per conference. It would prevent travel restrictions along with an accessible safe area to conduct games for the players.
     Both conferences would have 12 teams instead of eight teams represented for the upcoming 2019-20 postseason. The seedings of each conference would be based on winning percentages during the season.
     There will be five rounds of postseason play instead of the usual four rounds which has been used since the 1974-75 season. The top four seeds in each conference would receive a bye in the first round and play in round-robin contests. The next eight seeds of each conference will play in a best-of-five series in the qualifying round.
     The Florida Panthers ended up with the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference. They will face the seventh seed New York Islanders in a qualifying round. The winner of the series would challenge one of the top four Eastern Conference seeds in the first round.
     The Panthers have made the playoffs five different times during their franchise history prior to this season. They appeared in the postseason back in 1996, 1997, 2000, 2012 and 2016. The club has not won a playoff series since 1996 season. Florida last made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2016 and fell to the Islanders in six games during a first-round series.

Chris Moore Returns To WFAN

     Former original Florida Panthers radio voice Chris Moore returned to WFAN-AM in New York City over this past weekend. He also did work nationally on CBS Sports Radio on Saturday. Moore was furloughed by Entercom Communications back in late March because of the coronavirus pandemic.
     Moore was the radio play-by-play announcer of the Florida Panthers from 1993-94 until 1998-99. He was the radio voice of the New Jersey Devils for five seasons prior to that.
     He entered the sports talk realm as a midday co-host on 560 WQAM-AM in 1997. He teamed up with current ESPN play-by-play announcer Jon "Boog" Sciambi.

Green Bay Packers Sign Jonathan Garvin

     The Green Bay Packers have signed defensive lineman Jonathan Garvin to a deal. He was drafted by the team during the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
     Garvin played high school football with the Lake Worth Trojans. He moved on to the University of Miami Hurricanes and helped them capture the 2017 ACC Coastal Division title. Garvin was with the Hurricanes for three seasons.