Blog 9: Narrowcasts, Facebook, and Zuckerberg's Wallet

Problogue: I've been so blessed to have broadcast sports beginning in the late 70s on AM radio, through the current broadcast boom on the internet.  The internet, I think, has extended my time on the air by 20+ years.

Plus...a thanks to Albany TV, and Mark Zuckerberg holds his breath for six and a half hours...

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I've started a number of broadcast networks for online sports.

It may have been a bit audacious to call them "networks", since they normally had just one way to share the programming.  But, in typical marketing fashion, it sounded good.

My networks have always been connected to one school or one team, becoming the "voice of" that school or team.

(Quick aside: why aren't video broadcasts known as the "eyes of" the team?)

As an announcer, being associated with one school or one team is really a lot of fun.  It is your team, you live or die with them, you can be partial on the air (to a degree) and you normally get to know the people around the team pretty well.

And you get to know the parents, friends and family for which the broadcasts are intended.

That's why I try to sometimes use the term "narrowcast" instead of  "broadcast".  Our team broadcasts are intended for the parents, friends and family.  And those that are stakeholders in that team, like alumni. And, of course, the same kind of audience from the opponent on any given day.

But we certainly never, ever expect to see viewers in the thousands or millions.  We don't deal with advertising folks who insist on doing business in Cost Per Thousand.

Over the years I've become very comfortable with narrowcasting.

I'm not sure that I treasure anything more than just doing the job, except for maybe getting a sincere compliment from one of the stakeholders of the broadcast.

Here's the one of the best compliments I ever received:

After a basketball game on the William Jewell College Sports Network, the opposing coach came across the floor immediately after the game and shook my hand.  Before he talked to his team.

"My wife was watching the entire game and said it was wonderful, " he said.  "She wanted me to come right over and thank you, and now I can't wait to watch the replay."

That's what it's about.  You can't replace that feeling I had with money or followers or retweets. (Punchline: his team lost the game that night.)

May you have the same experience someday in your broadcasting life...

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On Monday, NCMC broadcast student Jaden Varner and I were in Albany, Missouri visiting Albany TV and visiting with their producer Jered Rolves before a local softball game.  Albany TV streams their sports broadcasts on Facebook, and by now you know what happened to Facebook Monday...

Albany TV of Albany, MO

If you don't know what happened to Facebook Monday, they were shut down from approximately 10:40 a.m. CDT until around 5:00; Jered was facing the rare dark side of online broadcasting, a situation in which he might not have had a home platform for his broadcast.  And he was going to let viewers down because of it.

He was a lot more composed than I would have been, honestly, and FB came back just in time for the first pitch...although Albany TV had the option of recording the game and showing it later, in athletics live is everything, which is the subject of a coming blog.

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Did you hear this, although I don't know how it could be official: given the information (all bad, it seems) about Facebook recently, and given the outage on FB Monday...Mark Zuckerburg's net wealth dropped six BILLION dollars while FB was down.

The Zuck

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Speaking of Monday...I sure missed the Mannings on Monday Night Football....you?

Blog 6: What I Do at North Central Missouri College as Digital Media Specialist

Problogue: I'm a dreamer.  Mostly realistic, I think, but still a dreamer.  As I've gotten older I've seen many of my early dreams contained within my reality but still not disappearing.  It's like what Bob Segar said in the song "Against the Wind": 

Well those drifter’s days are past me now
I’ve got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in, what to leave out

Had a birthday the other day and turned 59.  But I'm still dreaming.--RC

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When I was a kid, I dreamed of being a professional athlete, playing baseball, basketball and football at the same time.  I would win the world championship and be the MVP every year!

As I got just a bit older, I thought being a radio announcer must be pretty cool also.

Time went on.  I wasn't a good athlete but I was extremely interested in sports, and I still thought being on the air would be cool.  

Circa 1978

I got a job at my hometown radio station in Sidney, Nebraska at the end of my sophomore year.  It was cool! And I got a chance to be exposed to sports announcing as well as playing records (late 1970's disco!) reading news and doing time/temperature on the mighty KSID AM/FM (right).

Radio certainly fit me better than playing sports.  So radio became my dream.  And doing sports on the radio was the nice convergence of the two dreams in a nice package.

I was KSID's Sports Director at age 19, working in that role for two and a half years before deciding to pursue teaching and coaching.  But I always found work while I was pursuing my degree at Chadron, Nebraska and at Wayne, Nebraska, and also while I was actually teaching.  The broadcast bug never went away.

Fast forward to the fall of 2019.  I came to Kansas City with the idea that I would simply teach, with no extra duties and no broadcast schedule.  That idea didn't last long.

TEAM Sports era

My wife and I formed a video broadcast company, TEAM Sports (right), that ultimately evolved to online broadcast networks for summer collegiate baseball in the MINK League, Rockhurst University basketball, William Jewell College's entire athletic program, and now the new Digital Media and broadcasting program at North Central Missouri College in Trenton, Missouri.

And at North Central Missouri College, I'm looking for students that might want a similar experience to the one I've had.

So there's that.  But, here's something else.

I want to form the best Junior College broadcast team in America. 

Is that arrogant?  Stupid?  Ego-driven?  Sometimes I get the blank stare and an eye roll afforded to someone who dares to mention something so audacious so loudly.

I've been doubted in the past.  I've failed before...but I've also succeeded before.  And I have a outline for success at NCMC.

 Here's the plan:

·        Build a broadcast team, just like a basketball or softball team, that allows students to perform roles they are passionate about as they learn about digital media through hands-on training and some coursework for college credit.

·         Cover all aspects of NCMC life with feature stories, social media posts, and live broadcasts of events.

·         Use the talents of our team members, working alongside full-time staff, to make NCMC the best and the most unique broadcast team in the country at the JUCO level.

Specifically for our live sports broadcasts, here's what will make us the best:

• The drama of each game will be the centerpiece of the broadcast.
• We'll use students to run a multiple camera system for our live events, and not a simple "one-camera-shoots-all" broadcast.
• We know that our opponent, watching their team on the road, is a big part of our audience, and we include them in our game plan, featuring announcers who are (mostly) unbiased in their call of the game, and have taken time to know not only NCMC athletes and coaches, but also the opponent.
• We will feature announcers who believe telling the game story is more important than showing off how cool they are.
• We'll have a game on when we say we'll have a game on.

That's not arrogant, stupid, or ego-driven.  That's a plan that has worked before for me, when William Jewell College was the leader in NCAA D2 video streaming.

Pirate students will make the difference at NCMC, just as students made the difference at William Jewell.

Now we have to find the students.  And keep the dream alive.

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Know of a student who's interested in college media and broadcasting?  Get in touch with me at rcole@mail.ncmissouri.edu or call/text 816.589.8500 or contact NCMC Admissions.