• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Way too much coverage of high school sports in NWA, radio & media....

You know what I don't understand? Flipping through the stations and hearing the game on 92.1, 93.3, and 107.9.
 
For clarity and perspectivem, the discussion was not about how those of us on this board spend our Friday nights or any of our leisure time. It was about the logic of airing coverage of High School football. Just as folks playing music--regardless of format--seldom play only the songs that they like, it's about trying to please as many people as possible.

And, for the record, it's more than likely that I've been in radio since before you were a gleam in your daddy's eye.
 
Nice discussion everyone.....When I first got involved in doing high school football back in the late 1970's, it was honestly, not that big a deal. It was a good revenue producer, but not great. As time went by, however, I started noticing the demand for high school sports rising. As stated earlier by some posters, I could go out and call on an advertiser at any other time of the year and they didn't have a desire to advertise....mention high school football or basketball and it was one of the quickest sales made. When I got out of that part of the business in 2005, it was still hot.

Today, it has gone to a whole new level. It simply amazes me.
 
I sold radio and television for twenty years before I finally got out of the media mess. The emotional buy attached to high school sports is as easy to cash in on as anything you will ever sell. The people here in Northeast Arkansas have always supported it wherever I was, whether times were good or bad.
The biggest overkill I see in high school sports is to be driving out of Little Rock and hear that Farm Bureau sports show that Grant Merrill does on Friday nights on 95% of the stations in the state. I hit scan about the time I hit Lonoke and in addition to KARN it was on NINE other stations between Little Rock and West Memphis. Four of them were owned by the same company. I mean just because you run high school football do you have to simulcast the scoreboard show on every station you own? In their defense though it is light years better than Randy Rainwaters show I just dont understand the logic of it being on so many frequencies
 
I guess the original complainer has never driven through Texas, especially on a Friday Night....They did not call the Book and Movie "Friday Night Lights for Nothing". I must also agree with a number of other responder....CHANGE THE STATION if you don't like it. If you don't like that UPDATE YOUR 8-TRACK COLLECTION.
 
LongLiveAM said:
The biggest overkill I see in high school sports is to be driving out of Little Rock and hear that Farm Bureau sports show that Grant Merrill does on Friday nights on 95% of the stations in the state. I hit scan about the time I hit Lonoke and in addition to KARN it was on NINE other stations between Little Rock and West Memphis. Four of them were owned by the same company. I mean just because you run high school football do you have to simulcast the scoreboard show on every station you own? In their defense though it is light years better than Randy Rainwaters show I just dont understand the logic of it being on so many frequencies
Click to expand...
More frequencies, more coverage, more revenue. Overkill? Maybe, but if I were a large advertiser, someone like Farm Bureau, and wanted to reach as many prospects as possible for my money, I would insist on the widest coverage possible. What you need to remember is that neither you nor I are average users of radio. We know the secrets, we know how it works. Goes back to the original issue brought up.......HS football is king.....and on Friday nights, it's everywhere....like it or not.
 
Personally, I could care less about sports, high school or otherwise. I've never had any interest. But I'm totally supportive of high school sports coverage on local radio for two simple reasons:

1) It's LIVE, LOCAL programming! I'd much rather hear a live, local, REAL RADIO broadcast vs automation or a satellite feed from Dallas or Denver.

2) It provides these stations with much needed REVENUE. Which allows the stations to employ REAL HUMANS and provide additional LIVE, LOCAL programming.
 
There are several solutions for you.
1.) Turn off the radio and read a good book. You'll learn something instead of listening to the same tired old playlist.
2) Satellite Radio. Far better than any thing coming out of the speakers in Arkansas.
3) I-Pod. nifty little invention that lets you play your own music.
4) Computer. Surf the net, listen to some really good products streaming.
 
jharmon said:
There are several solutions for you.
1.) Turn off the radio and read a good book. You'll learn something instead of listening to the same tired old playlist.
2) Satellite Radio. Far better than any thing coming out of the speakers in Arkansas.
3) I-Pod. nifty little invention that lets you play your own music.
4) Computer. Surf the net, listen to some really good products streaming.
Click to expand...

That was not a very warm and fuzzy response... and it wasn't clear which message-writer you were trying to give the "bum's rush". This thread has probably presented the basic picture about as many ways as it is possible to do: People in certain parts of our nation, Arkansas included, love their local, home-town sports. Radio stations have to include now and then at least a "Daily Minimum Requirement" of things people love or need.. That can be sports, that can be music, that can be critical information needed by the listener.

You do not grow the listener by suggesting that the radio business in Arkansas is (1)sub-standard and that listeners should turn to books, satellite and Internet. (2) not interested and sensitive to what people living in the shadow of their towers might think of the product being broadcast.
 
I found that 98.3 is a good station now for music when I don't have the satellite radio going. that is what I listen to most of the time. i have found that 98.3 plays good music and does not repeat songs over and over again. It is kind fresh to have something new instead of the same ole stuff over and over again. XM still gives you better variety. I like the local sports coverage of HS football. Like I said before it is local and creates extra revenue and that is what people want, not just voiced track radio stations that are run like robots.
 
Hey Goat,

Didn't mean to diss anyone in Arkansas radio. This post was complaining about something than easily be fixed.

Local sports is a money maker for small market stations everywhere.
Can you imagine KSSN doing high school football on Fridays?

The other alternative is to punch a button and change the channel or as I suggested, satellite, Ipod, computer, etc.
 
Just curious, did anyone here ever work the board on a high school football Friday night? Fortunately for me, I never did, but I remember being at the station one Friday evening receiving calls from board ops at other stations giving me the scores of the game(s) that they were carrying, and asking for updates of the game(s) that we had on. I'm not sure that I could have handled the hectic pace! In addition to carrying the games, our on-duty board ops had to sync the (otherwise) automated FM with the AM, since the games were simulcast. In addition, they had to tape the games, and dub some of the big plays onto cart (this was the early '90s!) for use on the post-game show! I am almost positive that that particular station's board ops could not possibly have been paid enough for all that they were forced to do on a typical Friday evening! The pressure that they were under must have been unbelievable!
 
firepoint525 said:
Just curious, did anyone here ever work the board on a high school football Friday night? Fortunately for me, I never did, but I remember being at the station one Friday evening receiving calls from board ops at other stations giving me the scores of the game(s) that they were carrying, and asking for updates of the game(s) that we had on. I'm not sure that I could have handled the hectic pace! In addition to carrying the games, our on-duty board ops had to sync the (otherwise) automated FM with the AM, since the games were simulcast. In addition, they had to tape the games, and dub some of the big plays onto cart (this was the early '90s!) for use on the post-game show! I am almost positive that that particular station's board ops could not possibly have been paid enough for all that they were forced to do on a typical Friday evening! The pressure that they were under must have been unbelievable!
Click to expand...


It has been a number of years since I did that...but yes, I ran the board on Friday night football for two to three years while I was in college during the late 1970"s. While running one game live, usually had one running on tape delay. While all of that was going on..usually trying to run down other local scores. There were times that is was an absolute zoo, but I loved every minute of it.
 
Monty,

Those were the "good ole days" and especially when we were competing against each other.

Up here in the Northeast, we do four games simultaneously on our website; of course, just one on the AM and our translator. But, I tell you what... revenue, revenue, revenue. Gotta love it.

As long as you have the competent play by play crews, the advertising support, and of course... listeners. You will make money.

Sometimes, I enjoy running the board and calling around getting the scores. Keeps you on your toes. Keeps you honest too.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom