Rutgers basketball: WFAN 660-AM is new radio home

Rutgers basketball has a new radio home – and it’s a spot on the dial Scarlet Knights fans know well.

Starting this coming season, game broadcasts will be heard on WFAN (660 AM, 101.9 FM), which has been airing Rutgers football since 2022.

Appropriately, Jerry Recco broke the news on the station Tuesday morning during an in-studio interview with head coach Steve Pikiell and freshman guard Dylan Harper. Recco, a Hazlet resident who has served as Rutgers basketball’s play-by-play voice since Pikiell’s tenure began in 2016, is a longtime mainstay on WFAN.

The move comes after Rutgers’ previous radio home, WCBS 880-AM, signed off after nearly six decades on the air as ESPN New York took over the frequency.

“It’s exciting that Rutgers basketball is going to join Rutgers football on WFAN in what is such an anticipated season,” Recco said by phone. “Being on 880 was pretty cool, but moving over to WFAN, which is the biggest sports presence in New York, is awesome.”

Recco joined WFAN in 1997 and is part of the station’s “Boomer and Gio” morning show. His crisp tenor has provided the soundtrack to Rutgers’ rise from the ashes under Pikiell. This year’s squad, featuring incoming McDonald’s All-Americans Harper and Ace Bailey, is a preseason Top 25 candidate. The season opens Nov. 6 against Wagner.

“Given the way they teach defense at Rutgers and now you’re adding firepower offensively, the anticipation is through the roof for a good reason,” Recco said. “I’ve already told my friends: Don’t ask me for tickets this year.”

During Tuesday's 30-minute interview, Recco asked Harper what Big Ten road trip he is most eagerly anticipating.

"Indiana," Harper responded, without hestitation. "Knowing that crowd, how hostile it is."

As a follow-up, Recco asked which place older brother Ron Harper Jr. warned him about the most.

"Like I just said, Indiana," Dylan deadpanned.

Recco has been there, of course. He is seemingly everywhere, between mornings on WFAN, his work as a Dallas Cowboys studio host and traveling the country for Rutgers hoops (he also runs a popular cornhole league in Keyport ). Having the Scarlet Knights unite with WFAN is something of a full-circle development for him.

“The Rutgers job is some of the most fun I’ve ever had,” Recco said. “A lot of it is how we’re treated by Steve and his staff and how respectful the kids are. They’ll have to fire me to leave that job. I love it. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve done in this business.”

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com .

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers basketball: WFAN 660-AM is new radio home