After signing off the air, the ‘Voice of Binghamton Radio’ is exhausted and emotionally drained. Roger Neel has been dancing in his chair for the last 2 1/2; through a Bearcat lead, a Hartford run and a Mike Gordon game-winning 3-pointer, he’s called the shots of every twist and turn for viewers listening at home. Finally, Neel gets a moment to reflect.

In the world of sports broadcasting, excitement can sometimes be tough to come by. It’s difficult to make a 30-point blowout sound exhilarating, but Neel excels at infusing his own energy into such broadcasts. Yet there’s no substituting for the genuine energy provided by a packed crowd and suspenseful end to a game. Not surprisingly, Gordon is one of Neel’s favorite players.

While covering the Bearcats, Neel has met and interviewed famous sports personalities, including Tony Kornheiser, Stan Van Gundy, Dean Smith (‘a great gentleman,’ according to Neel), K.C. Jones and his childhood hero, Pittsburgh Pirates radio announcer Bob Prince. But Neel’s favorite interview subject wasn’t any of these sports celebs ‘ it was Binghamton University President Lois DeFleur.

‘A lot of schools would kill to have a president who is that involved with athletics,’ Neel said.

He should know. As a student at Westminster College, he experienced small-time athletics firsthand, playing offensive tackle and first base for the football and baseball teams. His football team won the small-college national championship, and as a speech and communications major, he broadcast Westminster basketball in the offseason.

After graduation, Neel found part-time work bouncing around Pennsylvania’s local radio stations, announcing everything from semi-pro hockey to Division II basketball to high school football. Sometimes he’d work late nights as a conventional music deejay.

‘I would work nights from 6 to 10 at one station, drive 50 minutes to another station and work from 11 at night to 5 in the morning,’ Neel said. ‘At night I’d get so lonely that I would call the bank thermometer line to listen to their automated message, ‘*italicize*it is one, thir-ty one, temperature thir-ty nine,’ *italicize* just to hear somebody’s voice.’

In 1978, his hockey broadcasting experience brought him to WNBF in Binghamton, covering American Hockey League teams in the area.

WNBF began to broadcast Bearcats hoops games when Binghamton joined NCAA Division II, at first covering only home games. Neel may be the only person outside of the coaching staff who has never missed a Binghamton Division I game, because as the Bearcats transitioned to D-I, the station began sending Neel to away games as well.

It’s a good thing WNBF took the gamble, because Binghamton basketball, and Neel’s now-popular broadcasts, exploded onto the college hoops scene on Dec. 16, 2001. On that day, the Bearcats took host North Carolina down to the final minute before falling 61-60. Binghamton fans and alumni who tuned in to Neel’s broadcast may have been confused.

‘I turned to my broadcast partner at the time and said, ‘People at home are going to think we’re nuts, they’re going to think we have the score wrong,’ Neel said.

If the UNC game proved anything, it’s that more people listen to radio when the team is winning. Conversely, losing teams can be tough to broadcast. But just as Knicks fans watch their mediocre team religiously for the witty phrases of announcer Walt Frazier, Neel can illuminate the most tedious game.

Neel keeps his shows fresh with some trademark phrases of his own ‘ a big dunk becomes a ‘*italics*monster slaaam *italics*,’ or better yet, a hot shooting might prompt him to ‘*italics* call a doctor. *italics*’

For those who can’t make it to Boston for the America East tournament, there’s no doctor necessary. The remedy is on bubearcats.com ‘ just click the ‘live radio feed’ link.

Roger Neel on:

The hardest things about sports radio:

‘When you see a kid and you know he’s hurt, but you don’t know how badly, the last thing you want to do is say, ‘Looks like he might have broken a leg!’ because you don’t know and he could have his parents or grandparents listening.’

The trip to North Carolina:

‘When we went to North Carolina, there were bright blue skies, and you walk in and the whole arena is blue. It was right before Christmas, so Santa Claus comes out, and he’s dressed in Carolina blue instead of red. You’re thinking, no wonder it’s so hard to win here.’

Another career path:

‘I was close to getting into coaching myself, so I have a lot of respect for coaches. To me, three words of respect are father, grandfather and coach, because a coach is, to a lot of these kids, a father or grandfather.’