Bob Koshinski
Encyclopedia
Bob Koshinski is an American broadcaster and multi-media communications specialist from Niagara Falls, New York
, best known for his involvement with the Empire Sports Network
, having a prominent role in the network through its entire time of existence. He also served as a sports anchor at WKBW-TV
at the peak of the channel's popularity in the 1980s.
. Bob Koshinski was Vice President/General Manager of Empire Sports Network from 1998 until its closing in 2005. Koshinski also served as Assistant GM, Executive Producer and Program Director over his 15 year career with Empire Sports Network
which ran from 1991 to 2005 when Adelphia Communications terminated operations.
One of Koshinski's significant contributions to the history of Empire Sports Network was the creation of the Fan-TV concept.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMMYbBVW-AM Fan-TV was a daily, two and a-half hour live program hosted by Howard Simon and Jim Brinson. The program featured hourly segments on the Buffalo Bills
, Buffalo Sabres
and local and national sports stories. Fan-TV helped Empire Sports grow beyond the Buffalo region by featuring teams and players throughout New York state.
Koshinski also hosted several shows on Empire Sports such as "Not Just Sports" and "Fan Forum". "Fan Forum" teamed Koshinski with Buffalo Broadcast Hall of Famer Art Wander and included segments with NFL Network writer Vic Carucci and former Buffalo Sabre Danny Gare. Koshinski also co-hosted "Live From The Aud"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbSVNZXIgE4 with Jennifer Smith for one NHL season. "Live From The Aud" was a Buffalo Sabres postgame show that was televised live from Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium after home Sabres games.
Koshinski also hosted the Thurman Thomas Show and Cornelius Bennett
Show and anchored numerous live special station events over the years.
was the flagship station for the Buffalo Sabres
National Hockey League
games, but featured a wide range of live events, live sports news and talk shows. Empire also aired a significant amount of programs covering the Buffalo Bills
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBf12pEmJoo of the National Football League
, which included the Thurman Thomas Show and Cornelius Bennett
Show, both hosted by Koshinski. The Frank Reich
Show, Don Beebe
Show, Marv Levy
Show, Bill Polian
Show,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5YBK5CJP6U&feature=related John Butler
Show, Wade Phillips
Show and The Bills on Monday Show. Empire Sports also produced and televised live play by play of the Buffalo Destroyers of the Arena Football League, the Pittsburgh Pirates
of the National league, the Buffalo Bisons
, Rochester Redwings and Syracuse Chiefs of the International League AAA, AHL hockey, and NCAA basketball. Buffalo Bandits
lacrosse also received limited coverage on the station. Games of the Toronto Raptors
of the NBA also aired for several seasons until January 2005. In 2004, the station also aired live Canadian Football League
Friday Night Football games and on a tape delay Saturday mornings.
Empire Sports Report, was also a successful live studio program produced by the network. The Sports Report aired seven days a week with original anchor Mike DeGeorge anchoring Monday through Friday. DeGeorge then left the network in 2000 and was replaced by Josh Mora. Weekend reports were anchored by Bremante Bryant and Jason Bristol.
The most popular program on the network for 14 years was Hockey Hotline,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-N-KYT1LLc the Sabres' postgame call-in show hosted by NHL veteran Mike Robitaille
and later with Brian Blessing and Josh Mora.
Other popular shows were Fan Forum with Bob Koshinski and Art Wander, which aired from 1991 to 1998.
Pros and Cons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucAw23FZUtM&feature=related was created by Bob Koshinski and was one of the first shows produced by the network. Koshinski recruited WGRZ-TV's Ed Kilgore, then radio talk show host Art Wander and award winning writer and columnist Larry Felser
to be regulars on the program. The show also featured a guest panelist each week and ran from 1992 to 1996; in a real sense, it can be considered a predecessor to ESPN
's hit talk show Pardon the Interruption
.
Several national and professional sports announcers also worked for Empire Sports including former Buffalo Bills
punter and ESPN NFL analyst Paul Maguire
, who hosted the Budweiser Sportsline for 14 years. Also on the network were current NHL announcers Pete Weber
and Danny Gare
, Toronto Raptors
color analyst Jack Armstrong and former Buffalo Bill
Steve Tasker
, now of CBS
.
Koshinski put WNSA-FM in the thick of the Western New York radio wars with several unique promotions which included the Western New York Sports Symposium. The WNY Sports Symposium was a yearly, two day event held at an event center which included participation by the Buffalo Bills
, Buffalo Sabres
, Buffalo Bisons
and most of the Buffalo area colleges. The Symposium featured two days of sports talk from the event location and numerous round table discussions with dozens of notable Buffalo sports team players, coaches, alumni, and announcers. The Symposium created hours and hours of rich discussion on Buffalo's sports history.http://www.staffannouncer.com/airchecks.htm
Another of Koshinski's WNSA-FM on-air promotions was the creation of a radio fantasy hockey game called "Sabres Showdown" that pitted the Buffalo Sabres 1975 Stanley Cup
finalists against the 1999 Sabres finalist squad. The game, which first aired April 9, 2001 prior to the 2001 playoffs
, featured actual Sabres play-by-play man Rick Jeanneret
and analyst Mike Robitaille
calling the action as well as staged and archival interviews with Sabres players and management from both eras; players that were on the 1975 Sabres team and also were part of the Sabres's broadcast team at the time (Jim Lorentz
and Danny Gare
) were held out of the broadcast to make it seem as if they were in the game; they were replaced by other WNSA personalities, including Mike Schopp
and Howard Simon. In addition, classic archived audio clips of past interviews of players and owners Seymour and Northrup Knox were played during sports updates, interspersed with the real sports news of the day, leading up to the game. The taped broadcast was a hit and sounded incredibly real, to the point where it was replayed in April 2002. The game was first created on a video game (EA Sports
's NHL 2001
) with rosters created from players from both the 1970s team and that from the 1990s. Jeanneret and Robitaille watched the replay of the computer generated contest to create a realistic sounding broadcast. The game actually foretold several rule changes that would later be implemented by the league, including the use of dark home jerseys (the 1975 Sabres were said to be wearing jerseys virtually identical to the current Sabres alternate jerseys), and the implementation of a penalty shootout
to decide the winner. The fictional game was won 4-3 in a shootout, with Gilbert Perreault
netting the game winner.
prior to joining Empire Sports. Koshinski was hired by WKBW-TV
in 1983 as a part-time sports producer and after six years was named Sports Director. Koshinski was named Sports Director in 1989 after the legendary Rick Azar
retired.
During Koshinski's 8 years at Ch 7 he earned a reputation as a hard working investigative reporter. Koshinski broke several key Buffalo sport stories such as the Buffalo Bills signing of Jim Kelly
and Bills' owner Ralph Wilson's demand for a new stadium. Koshinski was also known for his good humor as an anchor over his years at WKBW-TV
and was a popular choice for Master of Ceremonies duties throughout the area.
Koshinski's titles included producer, reporter, weekend sports anchor and 5 PM anchor prior to being named Sports Director.
Koshinski left WKBW to join Empire Sports in 1991. Succeeding him was John Murphy
, best known as the voice of the Buffalo Bills Radio Network
.
on October 31, 1998.
from 2005 to 2007. Koshinski was also Senior Assistant to Erie County Executive Joel Giambra
during that period of time.
2008-2009 Koshinski served as Communications Specialist for New York State Senator William T. Stachowski from the 58th District (Buffalo, West Seneca, Cheektowaga and Hamburg).
Koshinski is now serving as Director of Public Relations and Communications for Niagara County Community College in Sanborn, New York.
Koshinski has been Master of Ceremonies for the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame Dinnerhttp://www.buffalosportshallfame.com/ from 1995 to 2005. He has also served in that capacity for such as events as Jim Kelly
's placement on the Ralph Wilson Stadium Wall of Fame,http://www.truveo.com/Jim-Kelly-Wall-of-Fame/id/1182027068 President Bill Clinton
's speech at the HSBC Arena, Marv Levy
's retirement banquet, Thurman Thomas celebrity roasthttp://www.hanessupply.com/ThurmanThomas.asp and many, many others.
Niagara Falls, New York
Niagara Falls is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 50,193, down from the 55,593 recorded in the 2000 census. It is across the Niagara River from Niagara Falls, Ontario , both named after the famed Niagara Falls which they...
, best known for his involvement with the Empire Sports Network
Empire Sports Network
Empire Sports Network was a regional sports network on cable television which served upstate New York from Buffalo to Albany, parts of northern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio...
, having a prominent role in the network through its entire time of existence. He also served as a sports anchor at WKBW-TV
WKBW-TV
WKBW-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliate for the Buffalo, New York television market, and is one of many local Buffalo TV stations seen over-the-air and on cable in Canada. Its transmitter is located at 8909 Center Street in Colden. The station is owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, who...
at the peak of the channel's popularity in the 1980s.
Empire Sports career
Koshinski is best known for his time as Vice President/General Manager of the former Empire Sports NetworkEmpire Sports Network
Empire Sports Network was a regional sports network on cable television which served upstate New York from Buffalo to Albany, parts of northern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio...
. Bob Koshinski was Vice President/General Manager of Empire Sports Network from 1998 until its closing in 2005. Koshinski also served as Assistant GM, Executive Producer and Program Director over his 15 year career with Empire Sports Network
Empire Sports Network
Empire Sports Network was a regional sports network on cable television which served upstate New York from Buffalo to Albany, parts of northern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio...
which ran from 1991 to 2005 when Adelphia Communications terminated operations.
One of Koshinski's significant contributions to the history of Empire Sports Network was the creation of the Fan-TV concept.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMMYbBVW-AM Fan-TV was a daily, two and a-half hour live program hosted by Howard Simon and Jim Brinson. The program featured hourly segments on the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...
and local and national sports stories. Fan-TV helped Empire Sports grow beyond the Buffalo region by featuring teams and players throughout New York state.
Koshinski also hosted several shows on Empire Sports such as "Not Just Sports" and "Fan Forum". "Fan Forum" teamed Koshinski with Buffalo Broadcast Hall of Famer Art Wander and included segments with NFL Network writer Vic Carucci and former Buffalo Sabre Danny Gare. Koshinski also co-hosted "Live From The Aud"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbSVNZXIgE4 with Jennifer Smith for one NHL season. "Live From The Aud" was a Buffalo Sabres postgame show that was televised live from Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium after home Sabres games.
Koshinski also hosted the Thurman Thomas Show and Cornelius Bennett
Cornelius Bennett
Cornelius O'Landa Bennett is a former American football linebacker who played for the Buffalo Bills from 1987 to 1995, Atlanta Falcons from 1996 to 1998, and the Indianapolis Colts from 1999 to 2000...
Show and anchored numerous live special station events over the years.
Empire Sports Network
Empire Sports NetworkEmpire Sports Network
Empire Sports Network was a regional sports network on cable television which served upstate New York from Buffalo to Albany, parts of northern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio...
was the flagship station for the Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...
National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
games, but featured a wide range of live events, live sports news and talk shows. Empire also aired a significant amount of programs covering the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBf12pEmJoo of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
, which included the Thurman Thomas Show and Cornelius Bennett
Cornelius Bennett
Cornelius O'Landa Bennett is a former American football linebacker who played for the Buffalo Bills from 1987 to 1995, Atlanta Falcons from 1996 to 1998, and the Indianapolis Colts from 1999 to 2000...
Show, both hosted by Koshinski. The Frank Reich
Frank Reich
Frank Michael Reich, Jr. is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League for the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, New York Jets, and the Detroit Lions. For a time, he had the distinction of having led his team to the biggest comeback victory ever in both the collegiate...
Show, Don Beebe
Don Beebe
Don Lee Beebe is a former American football wide receiver who played for the Buffalo Bills , Carolina Panthers and the Green Bay Packers of the NFL....
Show, Marv Levy
Marv Levy
Marvin Daniel Levy is a former American and Canadian football coach, front office executive and author.He is a former professional football coach, in the CFL as head coach of the Montreal Alouettes , and in the NFL as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills , coaching the Bills...
Show, Bill Polian
Bill Polian
Bill Polian is the Vice Chairman of the Indianapolis Colts NFL team. He rose to league prominence as the General Manager of the Buffalo Bills, building a team that participated in four straight Super Bowls, losing each time...
Show,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5YBK5CJP6U&feature=related John Butler
John Butler
-Arts and Entertainment:*John "Picayune" Butler , American performer*John Butler , American artist*John Butler , member of the English alternative rock band Diesel Park West...
Show, Wade Phillips
Wade Phillips
Wade Allen Phillips is the defensive coordinator for the Houston Texans and former head coach for the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, and Buffalo Bills. He was also an interim head coach for the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons...
Show and The Bills on Monday Show. Empire Sports also produced and televised live play by play of the Buffalo Destroyers of the Arena Football League, the Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
of the National league, the Buffalo Bisons
Buffalo Bisons
The Buffalo Bisons are a minor league baseball team based in Buffalo, New York. They currently play in the International League and are the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets...
, Rochester Redwings and Syracuse Chiefs of the International League AAA, AHL hockey, and NCAA basketball. Buffalo Bandits
Buffalo Bandits
The Buffalo Bandits are a team in the National Lacrosse League . They play at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York. The Bandits played in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from 1992 to 1997, until the MILL turned into the NLL in 1998....
lacrosse also received limited coverage on the station. Games of the Toronto Raptors
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are a professional basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1995, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, as part of the NBA's re-expansion...
of the NBA also aired for several seasons until January 2005. In 2004, the station also aired live Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
Friday Night Football games and on a tape delay Saturday mornings.
Empire Sports Report, was also a successful live studio program produced by the network. The Sports Report aired seven days a week with original anchor Mike DeGeorge anchoring Monday through Friday. DeGeorge then left the network in 2000 and was replaced by Josh Mora. Weekend reports were anchored by Bremante Bryant and Jason Bristol.
The most popular program on the network for 14 years was Hockey Hotline,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-N-KYT1LLc the Sabres' postgame call-in show hosted by NHL veteran Mike Robitaille
Mike Robitaille
Michael James David Robitaille is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He played in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks...
and later with Brian Blessing and Josh Mora.
Other popular shows were Fan Forum with Bob Koshinski and Art Wander, which aired from 1991 to 1998.
Pros and Cons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucAw23FZUtM&feature=related was created by Bob Koshinski and was one of the first shows produced by the network. Koshinski recruited WGRZ-TV's Ed Kilgore, then radio talk show host Art Wander and award winning writer and columnist Larry Felser
Larry Felser
Larry Felser is a former sports columnist and writer for the Buffalo Courier-Express and later, The Buffalo Evening News, where he was a football beat writer, a columnist, and rose to the position of Sports Editor.Felser covered every one of the first 37 Super Bowls, until his retirement, and was...
to be regulars on the program. The show also featured a guest panelist each week and ran from 1992 to 1996; in a real sense, it can be considered a predecessor to ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
's hit talk show Pardon the Interruption
Pardon the Interruption
Pardon the Interruption is a sports television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels, TSN, ESPN America, XM, and Sirius satellite radio services, and as a downloadable podcast. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top stories...
.
Several national and professional sports announcers also worked for Empire Sports including former Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
punter and ESPN NFL analyst Paul Maguire
Paul Maguire
Paul Leo Maguire is a former American football player and current television sportscaster.-Early sports career:Maguire attended Ursuline High School in Youngstown,Ohio and was recruited to play at The Citadel by the late Al Davis who was then an assistant coach and chief recruiter...
, who hosted the Budweiser Sportsline for 14 years. Also on the network were current NHL announcers Pete Weber
Pete Weber (broadcaster)
Pete Weber is the play-by-play voice of the NHL's Nashville Predators, a position he has held with the organization since the team's first season ....
and Danny Gare
Danny Gare
Daniel Mirl Gare is a retired National Hockey League player, most notably of the Buffalo Sabres. During a 14-year professional career, Gare also played for the Detroit Red Wings and Edmonton Oilers. He was a two-time All-Star right winger who twice scored 50 goals for the Buffalo Sabres,...
, Toronto Raptors
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are a professional basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1995, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, as part of the NBA's re-expansion...
color analyst Jack Armstrong and former Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...
Steve Tasker
Steve Tasker
Steven Jay Tasker is a broadcaster for CBS Sports, who previously was a wide receiver/gunner in the National Football League. He was drafted in the ninth round of the 1985 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers. He played college football at Northwestern...
, now of CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
.
WNSA-FM 107.7 FM
Bob Koshinski was also General Manager of all-sports FM radio station WNSA from 2000 to 2004. Adelphia purchased then WNUC 107.7 FM in Wethersfield Township, in 2000. Koshinski was part of the management team that totally re-built and re-formatted the new FM all-sports station. The rare FM all-sports format had success against Buffalo's other sports talk station WGR-550 AM until Adelphia sold the station to WGR's owner, Entercom Communications, in 2004.Koshinski put WNSA-FM in the thick of the Western New York radio wars with several unique promotions which included the Western New York Sports Symposium. The WNY Sports Symposium was a yearly, two day event held at an event center which included participation by the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...
, Buffalo Bisons
Buffalo Bisons
The Buffalo Bisons are a minor league baseball team based in Buffalo, New York. They currently play in the International League and are the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets...
and most of the Buffalo area colleges. The Symposium featured two days of sports talk from the event location and numerous round table discussions with dozens of notable Buffalo sports team players, coaches, alumni, and announcers. The Symposium created hours and hours of rich discussion on Buffalo's sports history.http://www.staffannouncer.com/airchecks.htm
Another of Koshinski's WNSA-FM on-air promotions was the creation of a radio fantasy hockey game called "Sabres Showdown" that pitted the Buffalo Sabres 1975 Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
finalists against the 1999 Sabres finalist squad. The game, which first aired April 9, 2001 prior to the 2001 playoffs
2001 Stanley Cup Playoffs
The 2001 Stanley Cup playoffs, the championship of the National Hockey League , were played from April until June. The Colorado Avalanche defeated the New Jersey Devils to win its second Stanley Cup....
, featured actual Sabres play-by-play man Rick Jeanneret
Rick Jeanneret
Richard "Rick" Jeanneret is the television and radio play-by-play announcer for the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres and its broadcast network, the Sabres Hockey Network. Having started with the team on radio during the 1971–72 season, he is the longest-tenured announcer in the NHL...
and analyst Mike Robitaille
Mike Robitaille
Michael James David Robitaille is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He played in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks...
calling the action as well as staged and archival interviews with Sabres players and management from both eras; players that were on the 1975 Sabres team and also were part of the Sabres's broadcast team at the time (Jim Lorentz
Jim Lorentz
James Peter Lorentz, Jr. is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played 10 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres. He won the Stanley Cup with Boston in 1970. He was the color analyst for the Sabres on the...
and Danny Gare
Danny Gare
Daniel Mirl Gare is a retired National Hockey League player, most notably of the Buffalo Sabres. During a 14-year professional career, Gare also played for the Detroit Red Wings and Edmonton Oilers. He was a two-time All-Star right winger who twice scored 50 goals for the Buffalo Sabres,...
) were held out of the broadcast to make it seem as if they were in the game; they were replaced by other WNSA personalities, including Mike Schopp
Mike Schopp
Mike Schopp is an American sports radio personality,. Mike was born and currently lives in Grand Island. He is the current afternoon co-host of the sports talk show Mike Schopp and The Bulldog which runs weekdays from 3-7 p.m. Eastern on WGR in Buffalo, New York and WROC in Rochester. His co-host...
and Howard Simon. In addition, classic archived audio clips of past interviews of players and owners Seymour and Northrup Knox were played during sports updates, interspersed with the real sports news of the day, leading up to the game. The taped broadcast was a hit and sounded incredibly real, to the point where it was replayed in April 2002. The game was first created on a video game (EA Sports
EA Sports
EA Sports is a brand of Electronic Arts that creates and develops sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to mimic real-life sports networks by calling themselves "EA Sports Network" with pictures or endorsements of real commentators such as John...
's NHL 2001
NHL 2001
NHL 2001 is a video game released by Electronic Arts on September 28, 2000. It is the successor to NHL 2000. Add-on Elitserien was released on March 8, 2001 that added Swedish and Finnish hockey league's and teams to the game.-Features:...
) with rosters created from players from both the 1970s team and that from the 1990s. Jeanneret and Robitaille watched the replay of the computer generated contest to create a realistic sounding broadcast. The game actually foretold several rule changes that would later be implemented by the league, including the use of dark home jerseys (the 1975 Sabres were said to be wearing jerseys virtually identical to the current Sabres alternate jerseys), and the implementation of a penalty shootout
Penalty shootout
The shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to penalty shots in that a single player takes one shot on goal...
to decide the winner. The fictional game was won 4-3 in a shootout, with Gilbert Perreault
Gilbert Perreault
Gilbert Perreault is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played for seventeen seasons with the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. He was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990. Known for his ability to stickhandle in close quarters, he was regarded as one of the...
netting the game winner.
WKBW-TV
Koshinski is also well known in Buffalo for his time at WKBW-TVWKBW-TV
WKBW-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliate for the Buffalo, New York television market, and is one of many local Buffalo TV stations seen over-the-air and on cable in Canada. Its transmitter is located at 8909 Center Street in Colden. The station is owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, who...
prior to joining Empire Sports. Koshinski was hired by WKBW-TV
WKBW-TV
WKBW-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliate for the Buffalo, New York television market, and is one of many local Buffalo TV stations seen over-the-air and on cable in Canada. Its transmitter is located at 8909 Center Street in Colden. The station is owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, who...
in 1983 as a part-time sports producer and after six years was named Sports Director. Koshinski was named Sports Director in 1989 after the legendary Rick Azar
Rick Azar
Rick Azar is an American broadcaster who spent 31 years at WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York.- WKBW-TV career :Rick Azar was the first voice heard on WKBW-TV on November 30, 1958...
retired.
During Koshinski's 8 years at Ch 7 he earned a reputation as a hard working investigative reporter. Koshinski broke several key Buffalo sport stories such as the Buffalo Bills signing of Jim Kelly
Jim Kelly
James Edward Kelly is a former American football quarterback in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills and the USFL's Houston Gamblers....
and Bills' owner Ralph Wilson's demand for a new stadium. Koshinski was also known for his good humor as an anchor over his years at WKBW-TV
WKBW-TV
WKBW-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliate for the Buffalo, New York television market, and is one of many local Buffalo TV stations seen over-the-air and on cable in Canada. Its transmitter is located at 8909 Center Street in Colden. The station is owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, who...
and was a popular choice for Master of Ceremonies duties throughout the area.
Koshinski's titles included producer, reporter, weekend sports anchor and 5 PM anchor prior to being named Sports Director.
Koshinski left WKBW to join Empire Sports in 1991. Succeeding him was John Murphy
John Murphy (announcer)
John Murphy is an American sportscaster from Buffalo, New York.Murphy is best known for his association with the Buffalo Bills, where he currently serves as the play-by-play announcer for the team's radio network...
, best known as the voice of the Buffalo Bills Radio Network
Buffalo Bills Radio Network
The Buffalo Bills Radio Network is a broadcast radio network based in Buffalo, New York, the official radio broadcaster of the Buffalo Bills. The network's radio broadcasts are currently flagshipped at WGRF in Buffalo, New York, a station owned by Cumulus Media...
.
WKBW's War of the Worlds
Bob Koshinski has also become one of the foremost authorities on WKBW radio's 1968 version of War of the Worlds.http://wkbwradio.com/warintro.htm Koshinski has written numerous articles on the subject and hosted and produced a 30 minute special on the broadcast that aired on WNED-TVWNED-TV
WNED-TV is a Public Broadcasting Service member Public televisionstation in Buffalo, New York. Owned by the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association, it broadcasts on digital channel 43 from studios in downtown Buffalo and a transmitter located in Grand Island, New York...
on October 31, 1998.
Career in communications
Bob Koshinski served as Communications Director for Erie County, New YorkErie County, New York
Erie County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 919,040. The county seat is Buffalo. The county's name comes from Lake Erie, which in turn comes from the Erie tribe of American Indians who lived south and east of the lake before 1654.Erie...
from 2005 to 2007. Koshinski was also Senior Assistant to Erie County Executive Joel Giambra
Joel Giambra
Joel Giambra is the former County Executive in Erie County, New York. The county seat is Buffalo, New York, where Giambra currently resides.-Early life:...
during that period of time.
2008-2009 Koshinski served as Communications Specialist for New York State Senator William T. Stachowski from the 58th District (Buffalo, West Seneca, Cheektowaga and Hamburg).
Koshinski is now serving as Director of Public Relations and Communications for Niagara County Community College in Sanborn, New York.
Koshinski has been Master of Ceremonies for the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame Dinnerhttp://www.buffalosportshallfame.com/ from 1995 to 2005. He has also served in that capacity for such as events as Jim Kelly
Jim Kelly
James Edward Kelly is a former American football quarterback in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills and the USFL's Houston Gamblers....
's placement on the Ralph Wilson Stadium Wall of Fame,http://www.truveo.com/Jim-Kelly-Wall-of-Fame/id/1182027068 President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
's speech at the HSBC Arena, Marv Levy
Marv Levy
Marvin Daniel Levy is a former American and Canadian football coach, front office executive and author.He is a former professional football coach, in the CFL as head coach of the Montreal Alouettes , and in the NFL as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills , coaching the Bills...
's retirement banquet, Thurman Thomas celebrity roasthttp://www.hanessupply.com/ThurmanThomas.asp and many, many others.