AM stations on "High School Football" Power

[FreddyE1977]

I'm trying to think if I EVER heard high school football on AM back then.

Check out an old Pittsburgh newspaper from any Friday 25 or 30 years ago, and you'll see no fewer than
two dozen games scheduled for broadcast in the sports section. The vast majority of these were on AM's
(since every little podunk mill town around here seemed to have one). There was even one station that would
broadcast a double-header on Fridays, followed by a high-school football talk show all Saturday morning, followed
by a Saturday afternoon game from some school with no lights, if there was one.

 

[BigDave]

I'm trying to think if I EVER heard high school football on AM back then.

Check out an old Pittsburgh newspaper from any Friday 25 or 30 years ago, and you'll see no fewer than
two dozen games scheduled for broadcast in the sports section. The vast majority of these were on AM's
(since every little podunk mill town around here seemed to have one). There was even one station that would
broadcast a double-header on Fridays, followed by a high-school football talk show all Saturday morning, followed
by a Saturday afternoon game from some school with no lights, if there was one.

Most cities outside metro atlanta in Georgia broadcast High School football games on at least one radio station

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

"I dunno. But it is now a regular Friday night feature of our 50,000 watt clear channel
legacy station that begins with a "K"" We've been doing it for about 20 years on 1520 KOKC (KOMA-AM). Would that be the station ?

 

[jd]

I think it's KDKA.

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

Wow... Very cool!

 

[FreddyE1977]

I think it's KDKA.

Yep, with former Pittsburgh Pirate broadcaster Lanny Frattare at the mike.

 

[charlestondxman]

Here in the Charleston area we have one of our biggest local high schools on the air (where John McKissick, the winningest football coach ever coaches), and their games are popular enough to air on our local news-talk FM.

They've carried the games for years, only missing one game that conflicted with a Panthers preseason game. Their games have been on radio for decades.

As recently as 2005 or 2006, we had as many as seven local stations doing games. One station did a game of the week, and the others did particular teams. There were some big games that aired on THREE local stations.

This year we're down to just two in our area. Both get a lot of listeners. There is a lot of talk though on local radio.

In most of the rest of the state, every small town carries the local school's games.

 

[317C50KW]

In Dallas/Fort Worth 5 school districts have their games on respectable signals, 2 on AM (770 and 1190) and 3 on FM (88.5, 95.3 and 100.7), plus a variety of contests heard on assorted tiny signals. There are a few internet only or "pretend" broadcasts (as I call them).
And like anything else the quality of the broadcasts vary from "really good" to "meh." I know that two of the broadcasts are extremely well funded. There remainder wouldn't be on if they weren't making money. Most are brokered time broadcasts. We have one district that wants $ to broadcast from their stadiums (for phone line rental). I'll be there in a couple of weeks on an Access/4G set up. I can't wait to tell the stadium manager "phone line....we don't need no stinkin' phone line!"

 

[crainbebo]

I heard KOFI's HSFB last week. Sounded like a telephone line. Absolutely awful. Listening to Vancouver, WA HSFB on KKOV/1550 sounded like a college football broadcast, with great announcers, and you can HEAR the cheering!

-crainbebo