The Syracuse University athletic department’s recent merge with WAER Sports has left listeners to the free online Web casts and many students at the station frustrated.

Katie Carmichael, a junior Spanish major at State University of New York Binghamton, has been listening to SU’s basketball games from WAER’s Web site since the beginning of the semester.

Carmichael, sister to Sara Carmichael, a sophomore broadcast journalism major at SU, is a native to the Syracuse area and has been a longtime fan of the basketball team.

‘I thought listening to games broadcast for free on the Internet was great since I am not in the area to see them myself,’ Katie Carmichael said. ‘I won’t be able to do that anymore.’

Because of the merge, WAER, a station with professional management and a student-run sports department, can no longer stream SU football, basketball and lacrosse games for free on its Web site. Instead, WAER Web streams will be included in the athletic department’s Orange All Access, a $79.95 online service that also includes exclusive game highlights, interviews and press conferences.

Unfortunately for Brandon Fierro, a senior broadcast journalism major, his parents can no longer listen to his broadcasts for free at home. Fierro’s hometown, White Plains, is too far away to pick up WAER’s radio signal.

His mother, Diana Fierro, said she is extremely disappointed that she can no longer hear her son’s Web streams for free.

‘I have been listening to Brandon for the past three and a half years,’ she said. ‘He is now at the end of his college career and reached a higher level of professionalism. It is poor timing from our point of view.’

As previously reported in The Daily Orange on Dec. 7, Sue Cornelius Edson, director of athletic communications, said the SU athletics department and WAER are in the process of creating a private account for reporters’ families, but progress has not been made because SU had not been given a list of reporters’ names.

Christopher Villani, a junior broadcast journalism major, said his parents in Boston will also no longer be able to listen to his broadcasts.

‘I probably don’t call home as much as I should, so listening to me call a game is the only way for them to hear my voice,’ he said.

For Dan Bumpus, a junior broadcast journalism and economics major, the merger will not affect his family as much as other students.

Because Bumpus is from Liverpool, he said his parents can listen to WAER on the radio and therefore do not have to rely on its free Web cast. Even still, Bumpus said the merger is upsetting.

‘Am I happy it happened? No,’ he said. ‘From a business standpoint, I think the athletic department is trying to protect their investment.’

However, not all students are upset by the change.

Ralph Aversa, a junior broadcast journalism and marketing major, said he is honored the athletic department has included WAER on its Web site. In spite of this, he said he is disappointed his family and friends will have to pay money to here his first broadcast.

‘Orange All Access is a great service for Syracuse University fans, and I’m happy that the athletics department wants WAER to be a part of it,’ he said. ‘However, when I call my first game, I want my family in Niagara Falls, N.Y. and close friends to be able to hear it through the Internet without having to pay a fee.’

Villani said even though the Web casts will no longer be offered on WAER’s Web site, the station will still be available on the radio dial.

‘Our central mission is radio broadcasts. People may now have to pay to listen online, but it’s not a big deal. It’s more the feeling behind it,’ he said. ‘WAER and the SU athletic department are on the same team, but sometimes it doesn’t always feel that way.’

Published on December 8, 2005 at 12:00 pm