High school football always has homes on smaller AM stations. It's a good money maker for them. The big ones, like WTAM, tended not to broadcast play-by-play action. On Thursday 12/04/2025, WTAM broadcast a big game from the OHSAA. Did someone pay WTAM to run the game or did WTAM want in since it featured a highly successful team from the area? I didn't listen for long, so I didn't hear any of the commercial content.
-
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
WTAM High school football game
- Thread starter johnbasalla
- Start date
I have noticed them broadcasting more and more sports events lately. Cleveland Charge, CSU basketball, Cleveland Monsters, etc. Is it possible it's cheaper for them to air these games than to pay on-air talent and support staff? It's no secret IHeart is hurting financially and have laid off/let go of many staff.
Sports play-by-play is one of the only things keeping AM radio alive.
Isn't this the kind of local radio that people lament is no longer there? However it's done, I applaud it.
In the mid 1970's in Youngstown, on a fall Friday night every one of the then major AM stations, WKBN, WFMJ, WBBW, WHOT, WHHH all had different high school games, and sometimes the spillover went to their FM affiliates. What's wrong with that?
In the mid 1970's in Youngstown, on a fall Friday night every one of the then major AM stations, WKBN, WFMJ, WBBW, WHOT, WHHH all had different high school games, and sometimes the spillover went to their FM affiliates. What's wrong with that?
Per The Ohio High School Athletic Association website: https://ohsaaweb.blob.core.windows.net/files/News/Media/BroadcastRates.pdf
And this is what irks me:
Spectrum and the NFHS Network are official partners of the OHSAA and they have already paid rights fees, therefore they do not pay single-
game fees at the site of the contest.
Come football playoff time, the big shots of broadcasting/cable, who wouldn't even know what county the school they're covering is in or the team name, MOST of the time, shut out the small guys. Oh sure, they can tape it and show it or listen to it on a delayed basis but what the hell? The small local independent cable or radio station that covers a local team week after week and where I would say MOST if not all rarely gets paid or gets thrown a few dollars to cover gas, gets a big "F*** you!" from OHSAA. And sometimes get thrown OUT of their own section of the press box that they've occupied week after week.
And this is what irks me:
Spectrum and the NFHS Network are official partners of the OHSAA and they have already paid rights fees, therefore they do not pay single-
game fees at the site of the contest.
Come football playoff time, the big shots of broadcasting/cable, who wouldn't even know what county the school they're covering is in or the team name, MOST of the time, shut out the small guys. Oh sure, they can tape it and show it or listen to it on a delayed basis but what the hell? The small local independent cable or radio station that covers a local team week after week and where I would say MOST if not all rarely gets paid or gets thrown a few dollars to cover gas, gets a big "F*** you!" from OHSAA. And sometimes get thrown OUT of their own section of the press box that they've occupied week after week.
In general, they just pay the rights fee, and go find another sponsor or two to fund that.
I remember 1100 carrying the D-I state final between St. Edward and Springfield two years ago. It was the neutral OHSAA Radio Network call with current Ohio U football broadcaster Marty Bannister and former Buckeye QB Greg Frey. I had covered the previous game and listened to a lot of their broadcast driving back to Columbus from Canton until I hit WTAM's cancellation zone.
And having covered high school sports for 25+ years, it is noticeable and somewhat irritating how the statewide media that knows little to nothing about some of these teams basically pushes aside the local crews who do know the kids and who are known by the fans.
And having covered high school sports for 25+ years, it is noticeable and somewhat irritating how the statewide media that knows little to nothing about some of these teams basically pushes aside the local crews who do know the kids and who are known by the fans.
Not really. Collegiate and professional sports are, in a vast majority, handled by the league, the team or sports marketing companies who just buy time on stations to carry the play by play. While that is good income, it is not the base for overall profitability.
Soccer gets even shorter shrift. When our school hosted a tournament game [D-III, which at the time was the smallest division with the smaller schools] THREE radio stations from their area came up to do play by play, all smaller mom & pop stations. I was very surprised that ANY station was interested in soccer. I just remember that when I mentioned that I used to be in radio all three instantly offered me a job. My first thought was "Sheesh, how desperate are you guys if you're offering me a job?" If they had been a little bit closer.....well more than an hours drive away......I might have taken them up on the offer. Plus I had a feeling the pay wasn't going to be that great.
Down here in central Ohio, there is an online-only outlet in Lancaster and Fairfield County that will do soccer, volleyball and I think even wrestling in addition to the more traditional radio-friendly sports. Stations in places like Delaware, Mount Vernon and Newark do some games but it is very limited outside football. I guess if there's a market, do it, but yeah the $ has to be almost nonexistent.
I know I have been amazed when I have covered football games in northeast Ohio, specifically around Canton and Massillon, and you will have two or three radio stations crammed into the box for a single game not focused on both teams, but rather just covering one of them. Different world than around here.
I know I have been amazed when I have covered football games in northeast Ohio, specifically around Canton and Massillon, and you will have two or three radio stations crammed into the box for a single game not focused on both teams, but rather just covering one of them. Different world than around here.
The radio station I work for in Kentucky has had pretty good success selling soccer and volleyball. BUT, and this one is huge, a lot of these are moving to online webcast (such as YouTube or Facebook). These less popular sports don't get covered like football, where the radio station generally covers every game. And both of these can generally be covered OK by a single fixed camera and audio from the PA.
A lot of schools will sell rights to HS football when there are multiple stations like this. Which makes some sense. If there's enough money in the marketplace for competition, there's also enough for the school to recapture some of that money.
It's easier for radio stations to cover football games, as there are usually 10 games -- once a week-- not including playoff games. Other high school sports can occur multiple times within a week, which makes it harder and more costlier to cover.
There's is nothing wrong with it IF it's one of the local, small town stations or small local cable companies [or smaller corporation] doing it. It's when it come down to playoff time the "Big Guns" come in and say "Get outta the way, kid, ya bother me!" and the stations either get booted out of the picture completely or relegated to "Well, you can TAPE it and play it after the game is over and after our broadcast is over and only if it's after midnight." Unfortunately, when it comes to tournament time, it's the OHSAA's show and the schools are stuck on the sidelines and really don't have much say in the matter. My school system used to host tournament games as a neutral site [The school hosting has no association with the schools playing]. But the mere pittance that OHSAA paid for field "rental" plus having to pay for workers, refs, score keepers, announcers, police, ticket takers, maintenance, etc. [band people were the only people NOT paid as the ran concessions and made a small fortune off that, not sure who runs the concessions at other schools] made it a money losing proposition and since it wasn't fair to our taxpayers to have them end up paying for any losses incurred for NON-LOCAL teams we declined hosting them anymore. And this was a number of years ago, so I am not sure what OHSAA is paying for "neutral" sites anymore. I would assume it has increased a bit by now.
I have friends whose son broadcasts a lot of play-by-play high school and small college sports games via their school's respective websites. And yes, he was sort of shut out when his alma mater high school was in the playoffs, and OHSAA nixed the "official" broadcasts on said school website. Undeterred, he did an audio-only play-by-play on his own YouTube channel during the school's run in the football playoffs. He had no sponsors, but I'm sure word got around that he would continue to do the broadcasts "underground" and his listeners followed.
I'd much rather listen to a sports game with people who actually are well familiar with the school they are broadcasting for. Especially on the high school level.
I'd much rather listen to a sports game with people who actually are well familiar with the school they are broadcasting for. Especially on the high school level.