Sportscaster, Writer
Ralph Hubbell’s first sportscast was on WEBR in 1935. When he started at the station a short time before by reading poetry over the air (“the Wandering Poet,” he was called) no one would’ve guessed that over half a decade later Hubbell would be considered the voice of Buffalo sports.
Hubbell left WEBR a year later and after a short stint at WBNY, he landed at WGR in 1939. He did play-by-play of all Bison home games and recreated the road games from Western Union messages. At WGR he also did a nightly sportscast which rapidly became a Buffalo institution. His annual readings of letters to Santa were eagerly awaited each Christmas Eve, as were his flights of fancy with a mythical character he called “The Old-Timer.”
In 1948 Ralph again changed stations, moving to WBEN where he would remain for 18 years. He would do a nightly sportscast, as well as cover Friday night wrestling matches at Memorial Auditorium, local college football and basketball, and help host a weekly sports show on Channel 4 with Chuck Healy, Dick Rifenburg and Don Cunningham.
After leaving WBEN in 1966, Ralph went on to work at WHLD in Niagara Falls, WBTA in Batavia, and then back to WGR again. In 1986, at an age when most have retired to slippers and rocking chairs, Ralph undertook a nightly music and sports program on WECK.
Now retired from WECK, Ralph still keeps active, writing a weekly column for the West Side Times and the Buffalo Rocket, as well as a monthly column for the Buffalo Bisongram.
Hubbell is also a member of the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame committee. He is also a prolific author, with several books to his credit including Three Strikes You’re In and his latest, They Can Still Smell the Roses.