This post was co-written by me and one of my co-hosts, Ryan Collins for a class project. I decided to share it on here, as I wanted to highlight the radio show I’ve been a part of since my freshman year on this website and this felt like the perfect opportunity.

VIC Radio is one of two radio stations at Ithaca College. The station centers around indie-alternative music, but sports radio is very prominent here at Ithaca, and takes up a chunk of the schedule. While most of this programming is utilized for live games, a few hours every Saturday and Sunday are dedicated to weekend sports talk: sports shows hosted by various students that cover a wide variety of topics across the industry. 

Andrew Roberts came to IC with a vision to start his own professional sports radio show. The rules under former sports director Nick Lubrano stated that you had to participate in radio for one semester before doing this, but once spring semester came around, Roberts began brainstorming. The first thing he’d need was a co-host.

He recruited a fellow class of 2026 sports media major, his friend Ryan Collins. Given their differences in sports fandom, with Roberts being a Boston fan and Collins being a New York fan, they decided to make a show about the best cities in sports, Boston and New York. They would cover all four major sports in those cities: baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. It would be called Cities of  Champions.

Before beginning their show, Collins and Roberts were looking to bring in one more co-host who could also board-op the show. Their friend from Intro to Sports Media class, Connor Smith, had board operating experience and the perfect mix of Boston fandom and unbiased takes. The three of them started making episodes together and never looked back.

“Working on a show like Cities of Champions has been such an awesome experience. I already love talking about the NY and Boston sports rivalry so the opportunity to do it with friends and over the air for a live audience has been such a fun time,” said Smith. “I truly look forward to waking up early once a week to just talk ball with the fellas.”

Today, Cities of Champions, often referred to as Cities, is a two-time nominee and one-time winner of the Best VIC Weekend Sports Talk Show award. In addition, Roberts, Collins, and Smith have all grown from the experience, whether it be as on-air talent or on the production side.

The show features the three hosts in debate regarding the four major sports, including basketball, football, baseball, and hockey. Roberts and Smith are usually defending their Boston teams; meanwhile, Collins will argue in favor of his favorite New York teams. Outside of debate Cities will also often preview major national sports events, such as March Madness.

Cities of Champions often includes all four major sports in an hour long episode, which usually allows for each segment to get about 12 minutes when accounting for breaks in between segments. This provides enough time for the talent on the show to talk about both Boston and New York.

While Smith (who went to L.A.), Roberts (who went to London), and Collins (who occasionally has rugby games during the show) have all had to take time away from the show at various points, it has allowed Cities of Champions to expand its on-air talent beyond the original trio. Guests on the show have included other Ithaca sports media majors like Zach Todd, Jonathan Falco, Noah Abraham, Morgan Spriggs, Luke Fitzpatrick, and Colin Martin. This is used to bring takes from both Boston and New York fans onto every episode, while maintaining a three-person crew. These guests have all had unique experiences in their time on Cities.

Todd stated that “being on Cities means a lot to me, I mean I don’t come on very often but when I do the atmosphere is just electric. Whether it was with Andrew or Smitty just arguing about sports against a Boston fan made my day.”

Martin was used for most of Spring 2024, the semester that Roberts was abroad, while Fitzpatrick, Todd, Falco, Spriggs, and Abraham have appeared on a more rotational basis. Martin also appeared once again in Spring 2025 with Smith in L.A., when Collins and Roberts utilized a rotation of all the above guests to fill his spot. 

In the most recent episode on May 4, 2025, Roberts and Collins opted to feature their outgoing sports director, Tobiah Zboray, who is also an avid Boston fan. This would be Zboray’s final appearance on a VIC weekend sports talk show, and Roberts and Collins wanted to give him a proper sendoff.

They began with a show in their usual format that touched on all 4 major sports.

The breakdown started off with an 18 minute basketball segment. It featured a recap of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, specifically Knicks vs. Pistons and Celtics vs. Magic. This was followed up by a prediction segment in which the show previewed the Knicks taking on the Celtics in a matchup featuring “Cities of Champions.” It was the first playoff series between a Boston team and a New York team in the three-year history of the show. Per usual, New York was backed by Collins, while Boston was backed by Roberts. Zboray showed his Boston fandom and backed up Roberts.

The next segment, around 14 minutes long, featured quick NFL and NHL updates, allowing these sports to get about seven minutes despite no Boston or New York teams currently in action. The NFL portion was mostly an early look at the upcoming 2025 season for the Patriots, Jets, and Giants with the recent NFL Draft in mind. The NHL discussion was mostly regarding coaching with the New York Rangers hiring Mike Sullivan to take over the reins from Peter Laviolette. Then the Bruins were mentioned as a team who was in the market for Sullivan and could possibly fire general manager Don Sweeney if things do not turn around.

The final segment of the show was focused on MLB. It first covered how the American League East has mostly been floundering with the New York Yankees leading the division, just a few games over .500; meanwhile, the Baltimore Orioles were at the bottom of the division sitting just below .500. The Boston Red Sox still sat within striking distance as they too were hovering around an even record despite losing first baseman Triston Casas. The story was different for the Mets, who held one of the best records in baseball to this point. At the time of the recording the Mets were in second place behind the Dodgers, with the best pitching staff in baseball as their starters had an ERA nearly under 2.10. 

The show ended with a specialty outro for Zboray, arguably one of the most influential people Ithaca College Park School of Communications has ever known. He saved sports radio by rejuvenating interest, opportunity, and communication after a down year. 

While Zboray will be missed greatly, he leaves with trust that the sports department is in good hands. His successor will be none other than Cities’ own Connor Smith, who will return from LA in the fall. Smith is also excited to return to Cities of Champions, reuniting the trio that began this show almost three years ago.

“It’s been a long journey out in LA, but I’m excited to get back and start talking ball with the fellas again,” said Smith.