[PAmedic]

*sorry if this was posted elswhere*

The Flames Sports Network Releases 2006 Baseball Schedule

February 9, 2006 · Lynchburg, Va.

Both home and away games will air on WWMC 90.9 FM “The Light” beginning with the home opener on Tuesday against Longwood. The games can also be heard online on the World Wide Web at www.thelightonline.com.

The tentative schedule includes away night games at Virginia on March 21 and Virginia Tech on May 3 along with Big South home clashes with Coastal Carolina on April 22 and 23 and Birmingham-Southern on April 30th.

The Flames open their 2006 season with a three-game series at Wofford this upcoming weekend, before returning home to face Longwood in the home opener on Tuesday. First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Flames Baseball Radio Schedule
Feb 14 vs. Longwood
Feb 15 vs. VCU
Feb 26 vs. Rider
March 1 at James Madison
March 5 vs. Hartford
March 8 vs. Virginia Tech
March 21 @ Virginia
March 29 vs. George Mason
April 2 vs. VMI
April 5 @ William & Mary
April 11 vs. James Madison
April 19 @ Richmond
April 22 vs. Coastal Carolina
April 23 vs. Coastal Carolina
April 25 @ George Mason
April 30 vs. Birmingham-Southern
May 3 @ Virginia Tech
May 6 vs. William & Mary
May 16 vs. Richmond
May 20 vs. High Point
May 21 vs. High Point
May 24-27 Big South Baseball Championship, Conway, S.C.

[Rocketfan]

Just a few years ago i used to call just about every home game. We also called are fair share of road games as well. They really need to just hire someone to travel with the team, over the past few years i can't say i was greatly impressed with the on air talent calling the baseball games.

[BJWilliams]

Just a few years ago i used to call just about every home game. We also called are fair share of road games as well. They really need to just hire someone to travel with the team, over the past few years i can't say i was greatly impressed with the on air talent calling the baseball games.

Well I think you'll like it this year my friend. Nick is starting to come into his own on the sports side of things. I will be working with him on many of the broadcasts as well (especially the weekend series)

[SuperJon]

I was listening to my music I had on the computer for PA announcing the other day and it got me in baseball mode. I just wish I had a place to announce from this year.

[Rocketfan]

I will admit i do like Nick and i look forward to hearing you. I will say though baseball was a big challenge week in an week out. No one knows how hard filling 3 hours of material is, especially with an injury delays, weather delays etc. We were on the road @UNC where we lost in like 13 innings and it was almost a 5 hour broadcast......good luck!

[Ed Dantes]

Yeah Rocket, and there were three people doing that broadcast, too... It wasn't bad, except the ride home.

[Rocketfan]

I was going to mention you in the post since we did it together, however i didn't know you wanted everyone to know about the pile-up you caused on UNC campus??? Now that is something i will never forget. That and our side-arm phenom blowing the lead in extra innings.

[fsn32]

Ahh yes... the days where there was more play by play coverage of the foul balls than the ones that were fair... and then minutes of commentary on who it hit and which car it almost hit. I still can't believe you guys didn't win us a Marconi back then.

[BJWilliams]

Itll be Nick Pierce and Brian Kennedy on the call today with myself and Allen West back in the studio. You'll be hearing me a few times during baseball coverage this season, but youll be hearing me more when softball coverage starts next month

[Rocketfan]

You know better than anyone that during a 3 hour broadcast you gotta have some fun, and break of on a few tangents. I hope at least we made a few people laugh and hopefully not bored stiff. I remember during one of your soccer broadcasts a long tangent about the MLS - why do we broadcast soccer again or even discuss the MLS?? i wish there was a snoring smiley lol

[Guest]

You know better than anyone that during a 3 hour broadcast you gotta have some fun, and break of on a few tangents. I hope at least we made a few people laugh and hopefully not bored stiff. I remember during one of your soccer broadcasts a long tangent about the MLS - why do we broadcast soccer again or even discuss the MLS?? i wish there was a snoring smiley lol

Im actually going to talk to Jamie about me doing soccer next year so maybe things will be better

[Ed Dantes]

I was going to mention you in the post since we did it together, however i didn't know you wanted everyone to know about the pile-up you caused on UNC campus??? Now that is something i will never forget. That and our side-arm phenom blowing the lead in extra innings.

"Rocket" -- you and I (and Kurtz) both know that legally, that pile-up wasn't my fault. I pulled over (mostly) to the side of the road and had my hazards on. The car behind me stopped. The car behind that one stopped as well. Just because the idiot in the car behind her didn't stop, doesn't mean that I should be held accountable.

(and it's hard to broadcast a 13 inning baseball game when, at the back of your mind, you're wondering if A) your car is going to get towed for parking illegally, B) someone will realize that my car started the chain reaction and decide to slash its tires or C) the police will bust down the door in the press room. Not fun times.

And then there was our side-armer, single-handedly blowing a 3-run lead in the end. What a doofus.

[fsn32]

You know better than anyone that during a 3 hour broadcast you gotta have some fun, and break of on a few tangents. I hope at least we made a few people laugh and hopefully not bored stiff. I remember during one of your soccer broadcasts a long tangent about the MLS - why do we broadcast soccer again or even discuss the MLS?? i wish there was a snoring smiley lol

Im actually going to talk to Jamie about me doing soccer next year so maybe things will be better

Guest... unmask yourself.

[fsn32]

You know better than anyone that during a 3 hour broadcast you gotta have some fun, and break of on a few tangents. I hope at least we made a few people laugh and hopefully not bored stiff. I remember during one of your soccer broadcasts a long tangent about the MLS - why do we broadcast soccer again or even discuss the MLS?? i wish there was a snoring smiley lol

If I remember right, that was a 10-0 blowout win over Southern Virginia. A blowout in any sport can cause rabbit trails... we could have taken the Howard Cosell approach and talked about items at the concession stand. "James, have you tried the kielbasa... it is absolutely sentalating."


As far as your sentiments about the sport... only about 5 BILLION people disagree with you.

[Rocketfan]

Live across a large ocean last time i checked and probably aren't regular 90.9 listeners. Obviously basketball, baseball and maybe softball are decent on-air draws, but soccer.....sorry we both know that sport is sometimes hard to watch let alone trying to make it quality radio.

[fsn32]

Live across a large ocean last time i checked and probably aren't regular 90.9 listeners. Obviously basketball, baseball and maybe softball are decent on-air draws, but soccer.....sorry we both know that sport is sometimes hard to watch let alone trying to make it quality radio.

I understand that Soccer doesn't have the same appeal in the States as Football or Basketball... but they draw crowds as big or bigger than baseball or softball.

We are going to have to disagree on the line about it being hard to watch. I enjoy watching LU soccer and always have. I like soccer in general... I don't subscribe to MSL ticket or stay glued to FSN International, but when it comes to college soccer it is a fun game to watch. The atmosphere at one of our soccer games is pretty exciting and I can't imagine that all of those fans are from Europe or South America.

As far as on-air draws... we probably lose overall listenership when we put any sports broadcast on. But we gain specialized audiences that wouldn't tune in for our music programming. The same is true for soccer. So we have to program sometimes as a service to the university community, while keeping in mind feasibility and potential listenership.

Rocketfan... you might be surprised how many Americans actually like soccer... I have an idea, later this year there is a little soccer tournament that you might want to watch... you might get excited about the game... not many people know about it, but it's called The World Cup... check your local listings

Now as far as the baseball broadcasts... my favorite memory is of the lawn furniture behind home plate.

[A.G.]

Thanks for the reminder about THE world cup--the one with a BASEBALL that starts in less than a month. And I think FSN would be suprised at the number of people that could care less about s***r in the US, it is just the ones that ARE fans are very rabid about it. Same thing with hockey, (LU excluded). You can bet that most of the US could care less. (oops, did I say "bet" and "hockey")

[Rocketfan]

As i did attend the university for 4 years i agree, that soccer does draw decent crowds, however there are a lot of freshman at those games since they are new and like to experience college athletics for the first time. As far as the crowds go ( and a funny story) the largest crowd i ever saw at the soccer field was for the " Cow Crapping" raffle!!!! Now that is sad!

Soccer may be popular in america, but only when you also have a worldcup event doubleheader. Check out the stats of the top 10 MLS games of all time, all were doubleheaders or independence day.
http://www.kenn.com/soccer/mls/topten.html

The 2006 MLS schedule is out and its interesting to note, only 4 games( ESPN televised) are played in primetime but rather all during the normal work day. http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tvlist ... id=2067444
The key here is soccer is fun to watch, but fun to listen to with no TV, thats tough....
Bottomline is soccer is a secondary sports to most americans, the ratings will come out after is over and we can see spefically which areas of the country care.

Hockey draws a lot too, but will those games be called?

I really think, getting back to the topic, if we put more effort or as much effort into a baseball team that plays top #25 teams in its own confernce it could get big quick. CCU and Winthrop could both be in the top #25 does any other sport have that? You just have to have quality broadcasts and live updates just like other broadcasts to bring it up to par. Just my two cents.

[fsn32]

Hockey draws a lot too, but will those games be called?

I really think, getting back to the topic, if we put more effort or as much effort into a baseball team that plays top #25 teams in its own confernce it could get big quick. CCU and Winthrop could both be in the top #25 does any other sport have that? You just have to have quality broadcasts and live updates just like other broadcasts to bring it up to par. Just my two cents.

"Hockey draws a lot too, but will those games be called?"

We have already done 3 hockey games in the last month, and planned a 4th but it was called off b/c of weather... you need to visit the old website more often.

"I really think, getting back to the topic, if we put more effort or as much effort into a baseball team that plays top #25 teams in its own confernce it could get big quick. CCU and Winthrop could both be in the top #25 does any other sport have that? You just have to have quality broadcasts and live updates just like other broadcasts to bring it up to par."

More effort or as much effort as what? I'm a little lost on what you mean.

[Rocketfan]

I know we call hockey now, but we didn't when it was in roanoke and thats really not that far.

I mean make a cool opening for it like we have for womens basketball. Let the nicer equipment be used so you can actually shield the wind from the mic, so you don't sound like you are calling the game during a hurricane. Work it into the budget to travel to major away games like we do for other sports.( everyone would love to listen to UNC, NCST, VT etc) Stuff like that. We just put some much efforts to some sports and not a lot to others is all i am saying. Again thats just my personal opinon.

[BJWilliams]

You know better than anyone that during a 3 hour broadcast you gotta have some fun, and break of on a few tangents. I hope at least we made a few people laugh and hopefully not bored stiff. I remember during one of your soccer broadcasts a long tangent about the MLS - why do we broadcast soccer again or even discuss the MLS?? i wish there was a snoring smiley lol

Im actually going to talk to Jamie about me doing soccer next year so maybe things will be better

Guest... unmask yourself.

My bad...that was me that made that comment but I forgot to log in. BUt I would like to talk to you about possibly doing men's or women's soccer home games next fall

[givemethemic]

Well all I can say is that the effort is there trust me I put way more into radio then I do school... it's just a fact... we have taken things to a new level over the last 2 years and we will continue to do things better than what they have ever been done before and that's no disrespect to the guys before us who have paved the way... trust me I have a apprecation for what the guys ahead of me did... I just want to take advantage of all of the new equipment that his been available for us to use.... my point is that just like everybody else that was before we want to take FSN to new places and make it be as good as possible.. and like I said before the effort is there... Sorry for the rant...

[fsn32]

I know we call hockey now, but we didn't when it was in roanoke and thats really not that far.

I mean make a cool opening for it like we have for womens basketball. Let the nicer equipment be used so you can actually shield the wind from the mic, so you don't sound like you are calling the game during a hurricane. Work it into the budget to travel to major away games like we do for other sports.( everyone would love to listen to UNC, NCST, VT etc) Stuff like that. We just put some much efforts to some sports and not a lot to others is all i am saying. Again thats just my personal opinon.

A few things... we did do games in Roanoke when it was at the Civic Center. As a student, I did several back in the good old days and we had done some since then when Dave and Dave were here. The Ice Station was almost impossible to broadcast from, but we did even attempt to do games from there a few times. The main reason there were not more hockey games on the last 4 years was because of a lack of interest from our student staff. We just didn't have anyone experienced in calling hockey games or knowledgeable of the sport. With the new Ice Center, our guys stepped up and jumped into the hockey broadcasting business cold, but by next year I think we will have a good team with some games under their belts.

As far as the baseball broadcasts... there is no drop off in equipment or at the most it is minor. The phone interface we are using is the same one we used for basketball the last four years. At home games, we have a direct line from the stadium to the station... which is the exact same set-up as the Vines for basketball. This is as high a quality connection as is possible and on the same level as what you would hear in major league baseball. The head-sets are not identical to our basketball set-up but they are still high quality broadcast level headphones... they are just a bit more rugged for the outdoor conditions. As far as the wind... like I said on the other thread... you could have a $1,000 studio mic, but if you are broadcasting outside at the top of a hill on a windy day, you are going to hear wind.

I understand that from the outside, someone could say... "Do all the games on the road and build your own facility at home." But from the inside, the campus radio station's budget is, well, the budget of a campus radio station. The baseball team is helping us with the travel to the "day of" games we are doing but ultimately there just isn't money to travel a 70 game schedule. We are also a training station for more than just sports and a ministry to youth and young adults, so we do have music and other programming that has to be considered as well.

As the Athletic department continues to grow, I'm sure an effort will be made to help in the expansion of broadcasts... but right now we do what we can and quite frankly, we do more than just about every school in our conference with the exception of Winthrop and Coastal. And I'm guessing with their success in the sport, money is not as much of an issue.

As far as the Va Tech's and UVA's... they are on the schedule... home and away. Take a look above at the first entry on the thread. I will also put in a request for a "cool open" with our sports guys... we will test their production abilities.

I appreciate your interest... I just didn't want those out of the loop to think we weren't putting in any effort or that we were treating baseball as second class citizens.

[PAmedic]

all things considered I think you guys do a very nice job, its nice to be 400 miles away and be able to tune into a game live. Quality up until today was good too, and its far beyond anything I would've imagined back in the day!

keep up the good work

[SuperJon]

If you guys ever want a "roadie" or someone to entertain you on a trip, I'm up for helping. I'm serious too. I'd love to help out. I'm not a coms major or anything like that but I've done PA announcing and have always loved helping out with anytime of sports broadcasting and junk.