Art Wander is a television and radio sports analyst, and former

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

programmer, from

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

Life and career

Raised on the East Side of Buffalo, Wander took an early interest in radio, skipping classes to watch

Foster Brooks Foster Brooks (May 11, 1912 – December 20, 2001) was an American actor and comedian best known for his portrayal of a lovable drunk in nightclub performances and television programs. Early life Brooks was born in Louisville, Kentucky on ...

and

Buffalo Bob Smith Robert Emil Schmidt (November 27, 1917 – July 30, 1998), nicknamed Buffalo Bob, was the host of the children's show ''Howdy Doody''. Biography Born in Buffalo, New York, as Robert Emil Schmidt, he attended Masten Park High School. Schmidt g ...

perform their radio show on

WGR WGR (550 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Buffalo, New York. Owned by Audacy, Inc., its studios and offices are located on Corporate Parkway in Amherst, and the transmitter site—utilized by WGR and co-owned WWKB—is in Ham ...

live from the

W. T. Grant W. T. Grant or Grants was a United States-based chain of mass-merchandise stores founded by William Thomas Grant that operated from 1906 until 1976. The stores were generally of the variety store format located in downtowns. History In 1906 the ...

department store. After serving in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

, he produced radio programs for the

Veterans Administration The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers and ...

hospital system. In 1956 he joined WKBW as a news reporter, and in 1958 hired a young Irwin Weinstein, who returned to Western New York after a stint in West Virginia, as his assistant. Weistein, later shortening his name to "Irv," eventually became an iconic Buffalo news anchor. Wander went on to program radio stations in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Baltimore, Atlanta, Tampa and Memphis. At WOR-FM in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

he met the

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

and became a friend of

Brian Epstein Brian Samuel Epstein (; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was a British music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1962 until his death in 1967. Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put him i ...

, their manager. In the 1980s Wander returned to Buffalo radio as a programmer and as an on-air personality in sports radio at WGKT where he earned the nicknames "the Tiny Tot of the Kilowatt" and "your private pope", which was inspired by a fan made theme song. After a quarrel with

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

general manager

Bill Polian William Patrick Polian Jr. (born December 8, 1942) is an American football executive. He rose to league prominence as the General Manager of the Buffalo Bills, building a team that participated in four straight Super Bowls—the most consecutive ...

, Wander was hired by

for a sports talk show, and, starting in 1996, worked in television for

Empire Sports Network Empire Sports Network was an American regional sports network that was owned by the Adelphia Communications Corporation. The network was available on cable providers in much of upstate New York (stretching from Buffalo to Albany), as well as pa ...

(and eventually Empire's radio arm, WNSA). He retired from Empire and WNSA in 2002. Wander was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2008. For much of the early 2010s, Wander appeared regularly as an analyst on the

WBBZ-TV WBBZ-TV (channel 67) is an independent television station licensed to Springville, New York, United States, serving the Buffalo area. It is owned by ITV of Buffalo, a company controlled by former news photographer Philip A. Arno. WBBZ-TV's stud ...

program "All Sports WNY" (hosted and managed by his former boss at Empire, Bob Koshinski) and writes commentary for the program's website; his last commentary is from March, 2017.

References

External links

Art Wander columns on "All Sports WNY"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wander, Art 1927 births Living people Sports commentators Radio personalities from Buffalo, New York