Seven days to kickoff, and FAMU still can’t say where fans can hear the game

FAMU football broadcast team Albert Chester
and Brian Fulford (AI-generated image).

Three key takeaways

• FAMU football is seven days from kickoff without a clearly announced radio broadcast, despite a tradition that has connected generations of Rattler fans to the program.
• FAMU Athletics allowed its Cumulus Media agreement to expire June 30 and has shifted its emphasis toward television and streaming, with all 12 games scheduled for ESPN networks, SWAC TV or HBCU GO.
• The bigger problem may be the silence. Athletic Director John Davis and FAMU Athletics have offered little public explanation about the radio situation, leaving fans to piece together what is happening from Facebook posts, sources and speculation.

On Aug. 10, 19 days before FAMU is scheduled to open its 2026 football season, Albert Chester, the FAMU Hall of Fame quarterback who led the Rattlers to their only NCAA football national championship, took to Facebook with news that immediately caught the attention of Rattler fans.

“I have some very DISAPPOINTING news,” he wrote.

Then came the announcement, repeated for emphasis:

“I was just advised by the athletic department that the 2026 FAMU Football season WILL NOT, I repeat WILL NOT be broadcast via radio.”

For generations of Rattler fans, radio has been more than a way to follow a football game. It has been the soundtrack of Saturdays — heard in cars, kitchens, workplaces and anywhere else a television wasn't available or convenient.

But what began as a straightforward announcement has since become something of a mystery.

Nearly three weeks later, FAMU fans still do not have a clear picture of whether radio is actually gone for the 2026 season, whether a broadcast deal is being negotiated behind scenes or whether the whole matter has simply been left sitting somewhere in the athletic department.

And that is where the story gets particularly curious.

Radio silence from athletics.
There has been radio silence from Athletic Director John Davis and FAMU Athletics about the status of the broadcasts.

No detailed explanation. No announced replacement for Cumulus Media. No clear public timeline. Just silence.

The problem is not necessarily that FAMU is moving away from radio. College athletics is changing, and the shift toward television and streaming is hardly unusual.

The problem is that FAMU Athletics has not been straightforward with the people who care most about the program.

The television schedule is clear. The radio schedule isn't.
FAMU allowed its agreement with Cumulus Media to expire June 30 and did not renew it. Instead, the department has emphasized television and streaming, with all 12 football games scheduled to be available through ESPN networks, SWAC TV and HBCU GO.

That sounds modern.

It sounds strategic.

It may even make perfect financial sense.

But none of that explains why the athletic department seems so reluctant to simply tell its fan base what is happening with the radio broadcast. This is the sort of thing a university should be able to explain in a news release.

But FAMU hasnt.

And with kickoff approaching, in just seven days, that silence is becoming harder to dismiss as an oversight.

Instead, fans have been left trying to determine whether radio is gone, coming back, being negotiated or simply sitting somewhere in the athletic department's inbox waiting for someone to answer the phone.

HBCU GameDay, this week reported, that sources familiar with the situation say Davis never completely ruled out radio and that efforts to assemble a broadcast package have continued.

If that is the case, one might reasonably ask why the athletic department has not simply said so.

That would seem to be the easy part.

FAMU has been here before
This is not the university's first attempt to move away from terrestrial radio.

2021, the Rattler Sports Network moved toward an online-only model, ending its long-running relationship with WHBX-FM, 96.1 Jamz.

At the time, FAMU presented the move as a forward-looking digital strategy.

The university said its new online audio network would provide football broadcasts, coaches' shows and other athletic programming while reaching Rattler fans, alumni, prospective students and student-athletes around the world.

Then something interesting happened.

The fans wanted the radio back.

Last year, the Eddie Jackson 220 Quarterback Club helped make that happen, contracting with Cumulus to carry FAMU football on 96.1 FM.

It was a reminder that technological progress and customer preference are not always the same thing.

This year, the 220 Club handed the responsibility back to FAMU Athletics.

The department apparently decided not to renew the Cumulus agreement.

Fair enough.

But why not just tell the fans?

John Davis isn't inheriting a communications problem. He is creating one.
There is nothing particularly mysterious about changing a media strategy.

If FAMU believes radio no longer makes financial or strategic sense, say so.

If the university believes streaming offers greater reach, explain it.

If radio negotiations are ongoing, announce that.

If a deal is expected before the opener, tell fans to stay tuned.

Instead, FAMU has offered very little.

And that is what makes this episode more frustrating than it should be.

Fans should not have to learn about a basic football broadcast decision from a Facebook post.

They should not have to rely on unnamed sources to determine whether their team will be on the radio.

And they certainly should not have to guess whether the athletic director has a plan.

Davis, who was named athletic director in November 2025 and formally took over in January, has already found himself under scrutiny for his handling of the canceled 2028 football game with the University of Georgia.

Georgia canceled the game, which had been scheduled since 2020 and was expected to pay FAMU $650,000.

Instead of receiving the contractual cancellation payment, John Davis agreed to terminate the agreement without collecting the money.

Davis signed the agreement permitting Georgia to walk away.  Even more shocking is that Davis signed this agreement after less than two weeks on the job.

That decision generated criticism from Rattler supporters and questions about the athletic department's handling of a significant financial obligation.

Now comes a much smaller matter: radio.

But the same underlying issue is beginning to emerge.

Communication— or the lack of it.
The question is no longer simply whether FAMU football will be on the radio.

The question is why the people running FAMU Athletics seem so reluctant to give their own supporters a straight answer.

There is an understandable temptation in college athletics to avoid saying anything until every detail is finalized.

But that approach has consequences.

When an athletic department doesn't communicate, someone else will.

In this case, that has meant Facebook posts, fan speculation and sources familiar with the situation filling the vacuum.

And the longer FAMU remains silent, the more ridiculous the situation becomes.

This is not a classified government operation.

It is a football broadcast.

The university knows when the season starts. It knows the television schedule. It knows the streaming partners. It knows its previous radio contract ended June 30.

Presumably, somebody knows whether the Rattlers will have a radio broadcast.

The fans would like to know, too.

Seven days and counting

The first game of the season is now only seven days away.

FAMU Athletics has spent considerable energy talking about expanding its brand, maximizing multimedia opportunities and reaching Rattlers around the world.

All of that may be true.

But there is a simpler audience sitting much closer to home: the people who buy tickets, donate money, follow the program and spend their Saturdays caring about Florida A&M football.

They deserve more than silence.

And John Davis, as the person responsible for the athletic department, deserves to answer a very simple question:

Will FAMU football be on the radio?
After all, the season starts in seven days.  It shouldn't require a detective to find out.