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no high school football in orlando

O

ok walters

Guest
I am carrying high school football in Leesburg, but there is nothing on the air in Orlando and hasn't been for a few years. There was play by play back on WORL 660 in 2007-08, but nothing since. The Orlando Sentinel had a postgame show on 540 but that is long gone as well. Why no high school football on in a town that has four sports stations? Do they all think they are worth more than they really are? I was over in Lake Mary last night and got static on 810 - ???
 
OK...

There's not enough money in High School Sports and too many variables in each High School Broadcast Booth technically.

Too much work for too little money...
 
So it is all about money? I offered several times to send the games to the station - all they needed was a board op to make sure it stayed connected. CC wanted $1500 per game - how much do they make with their normal evening programming? How much does that board operator cost? I guess that was their way of saying they didn't want to do it even though it would take almost no effort on their part. I do understand that many broadcasters don't want to be bothered - many of them rely heavily on satellites for most or all of their programming as well, so any extra effort is just not in the cards as they may not even have enough people available. There is also a pretty high percentage of foreign language stations in the area, which further reduces the number of stations that would even consider it.

Our broadcast rig is a base station like cell phone that has very clear reception, a JK Audio phone box, and two mics/headsets. It sets up in two minutes and you carry it in a duffel bag. Don't even need an electrical outlet - it can run on batteries for 25 hours. Don't know what "variables" you are referring to - it works everywhere we go without fail, and a kid could run it. It is only complicated if you want it to be. A live game doesn't need to be in stereo quality, so a simple rig is sometimes best.
 
High school football is still a staple in smaller markets where radio stations have not lost their identity. At the station I supervise, we put on high school football, selected basketball games and am the official voice of a local collegiate baseball league. The local AM's do nothing because its cheaper to put a satellite feed on the air. Besides, they need board ops and God forbid you pay some kid minimum wage to do that. Our station, WTBR-FM, is different because (a) we're a 400 watt high school FM and have devised a system where we need no board ops and everything is done from the site via internet, one laptop computer, a small mixer with two headset mics and a crowd mic. Done. True, we don't need local revenue but do pull in underwriting money from clients who love the idea of local sports on the air. Our play-by-play is done by one adult and one student. The student gets the experience and the adult gets something nifty for his resume. AND we do this on FM. We also do "away" games...which is more important then you know. Again, I can understand why larger stations in larger markets don't put high school sports on the air but smaller markets know the value.
 
WRLK said:
High school football is still a staple in smaller markets where radio stations have not lost their identity.
Click to expand...

That's the truth.. I left Orlando a couple years ago to program a station in a smaller southern market. Literally every FM and almost every AM carries High School football on Friday night. We contract with the schools to carry all of their games as does the other cluster in town. I even have my night jock come in after the games to run down all the scores, take phone calls, ect. It makes us A LOT of money.
 
I worked for WMGR in Bainbridge GA for a time and you would think Friday night high school football was a college bowl. The stadium filled up early and the station made a lot of money on those games. In fact, they were sold out. I was asked to sit in the booth and keep track of scores, players, etc. Fun stuff.
 
Apopka Blue Darters football is on WBZW 1520. Only 350 watts @ 1520 at night, it still covers Apopka farily well.
 
Betcha mom's, dad's, grandparents and others will tune in to hear junior run a touchdown in. They'll also hear spots from local merchants. Captive audience. Rah Rah Rah
 
That's disgusting! What I wouldn't give to see a radio station in Orlando start carrying High School Football again?
 
Those of you on this board who were working for Clear Channel Maitland, and 740 in particular, I'm sure I don't have to remind you how awful the ratings for "The Post-Prep Show" were back in 2000-2004.

Fritz and Dickerman were basically doing that show for free, and I lost count of how often we'd get calls during the show that were basically "will you please hurry up and get back to Fox Sports Radio, I wanna hear the SEC Preview Show."

Orlando is a city of transients. Nobody cares about Dr. Phillips or Astronaut High, even the students who go there.
 
HS football works best in small markets where it's the only high school in town... our town vs. neighboring town... you lose that when there are multiple high schools.

We (rural Iowa) run the local team on one FM. The other FM carries a game from neighboring communities. We sometimes get complaints from people in these town that we're running some other team more than their team. (Sometimes it's because the other team is better, sometimes because the other teams is supported better by sponsors.)

I remember years ago in Des Moines, they were down to one little AM doing a "game of the week" trying to pick the best game from the numerous metro schools. They finally gave up and ran the Catholic high school every week... much easier to sell and audience tuned in each week.
 
Imagine this post on Facebook from last week - kind of negates all previous discussions .... ESPN 580's Southeast Steel Appliance Warehouse Friday Night High School Football Game of The Week is set for a match-up between Lake Brantley High School and University High School (Orange City). Live coverage from Lake Brantley starts Friday at 6:30p, game kicks at 7p.
 
japman said:
Imagine this post on Facebook from last week - kind of negates all previous discussions .... ESPN 580's Southeast Steel Appliance Warehouse Friday Night High School Football Game of The Week is set for a match-up between Lake Brantley High School and University High School (Orange City). Live coverage from Lake Brantley starts Friday at 6:30p, game kicks at 7p.
Click to expand...

Somebody ponied up a fortune for that.
 
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