JOHNSTOWN — Bishop McCort’s run to the state championship football game last season inadvertently benefited the Richland program.

When the football season extended into mid-December as the Crushers advanced to the Class A title game against Clairton at Hersheypark Stadium some playoff games were moved from WNTJ 1490 AM to its sister station on FM. The FM coverage was so well-received that Forever Broadcasting will double its workload and carry all of Richland’s games on the radio this season.

“Last year, when Bishop McCort went to the state finals, we did some of those games on the FM station because of some scheduling conflicts,” said Terry Dietz, Forever Broadcasting’s vice president and general manager.

“We received huge compliments on the fact that people were able to tune in from farther away and listen.

“It’s a good way for us to expand local coverage and bring more notoriety to the local high school.”

The expanded coverage will include Bishop McCort’s 13th season on the air, but this year the Crushers will be on Hot 92.1 FM. Dietz will do play-by-play while Denny Altimore will provide color commentary for his 13th season. Don Stanton will provide on-field sideline reports.

Richland games will be carried on WNTJ 1490 AM. Forever Broadcasting Production Manager Al Steele will move from the Bishop McCort booth to Richland while handling play-by-play. A contest was held to name additional announcers and a fielder reporter. Raymond Peace won and will be a color/play-by-play man, while Ed Zimmerman will be a field reporter, and Terry Hubbard, who formerly did some work covering Greater Johnstown High School, will be a back-up play-by-play man.

“We’re excited to be working with the Richland Rams,” Steele said. “We’re excited for sports fans who will have the opportunity to listen to Richland as part of our coverage on Friday nights. We saw a great opportunity for us to expand our sports broadcasting, and we’re very excited to also bring the Richland Rams to the airwaves. We also continue our long-standing tradition of covering Bishop McCort football.”

The “Voice of Richland Football” contest was held Aug. 11 at Nyko’s restaurant in Richland Township. Thirteen contestants entered the event. A small crowd attended the contest, Dietz said.

Seven judges – coaches and radio personalities – made their choices.

“We had local judges from the area,” Dietz said. “We wanted to find people and give them a chance to get into a radio broadcasting career. Instead of us just naming people, we thought it would be great to find some people who had some insight into Richland football. The biggest reason we did the contest was because we wanted to get some local people involved.”

Forever Broadcasting also will continue its Football Friday Final show on Rocky 99 FM. The recap show begins at about 9:30 on Friday nights and includes reports from various games, including call-in coverage from Tribune-Democrat sports reporters.

There will be plenty of additional radio coverage this football season.

Rick Speicher will call Johns-town High games for his ninth season on WCRO 1230 AM, the station owned and operated by Greater Johnstown School District.

Joining Speicher in the booth at all Trojans games will be Vince Pavic, who provides color analysis for a third season.

WCRO airs a weekly coach’s show with first-year Trojans head coach Tony Penna Jr. The station also broadcasts University of Pittsburgh football games. Pitt has three area players on its roster, including Johnstown graduate Antwuan Reed, a safety with the Panthers.

The WQZS 93 Sports team will carry Somerset County games for a 13th season on 93.3 FM.

The station carries a combination of WestPAC and Somerset Area High School games. Hank Sembower and Dan LaSota are play-by-play announcers. John Jacoby provides color for WestPAC games, and Chris Yutzy, for Somerset contests. John Zadzora is a field reporter. Jim Mayer also is part of the team.

The WQZS 93 Sports group had been part of the former CDM Sports Network for 10 years. This is the third season under the WQZS 93 Sports banner, Zadzora said.

WQMU 92.5 FM in Indiana will carry a Heritage Conference Game of the Week throughout the season. The same station, also known as U92.5, features all IUP football games.

WLCY 106.3 FM covers all Blairsville games in the Heritage, and WCCS 1160 AM has all the Homer-Center games in the conference. WDAD 1450 AM in Indiana carries all Indiana High games.

Bishop Guilfoyle plays mostly area teams in the Laurel Highlands Conference. The Altoona-based school has its games carried on Blair County Forever Broadcasting stations. Most of the Marauders games are on WVAM 1430 AM while others are on WFBG 1290 AM.

WAYC 100.9 FM and WSKE 104.3 FM are two Bedford County stations that carry scholastic games from that county. Veteran sports writer Sam Shuss will begin his 11th year in the broadcast booth as play-by-play man at WAYC. His color commentator is Jesse Topper. Mike Eichelberger does play by play at WSKE, with Terry Diehl providing color.

The Edge will carry games in northern Cambria County. Hugh Conrad is a veteran broadcaster and sports writer in the booth.

The games will be on WKGE 850 AM and WWGE 1400 AM.