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FSCC, KSEK say agreement good for all
The SKIL Resource Center, owner of KSEK radio, and Fort Scott Community College announced details of their media agreement during a media conference held at the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center Tuesday afternoon.
KSEK's Mike Snow, who will be the play-by-play voice of the Greyhounds, spoke first, announcing not only the formal details of the agreement but also the shift in format of KSEK's AM and FM stations.
As of Tuesday morning, KSEK's ESPN Radio Network programming shifted from 1340 AM to 99.1 FM. The FM signal transmits on more power from a location near Girard. Meanwhile, 1340 AM became a "non-political" news/talk format, although it will air some sports programming.
Greyhound athletics will be broadcast on the stronger FM signal and it essentially the cornerstone of the new "99.1 FM ESPN The Ticket."
But the signal expansion isn't targeted to only Fort Scott and Pittsburg, Snow said. The move to FM is also meant to increase the quality of signal to Joplin, which lost its ESPN affiliate a few months ago and currently doesn't have an all-sports station.
"We've had a lot of success with ESPN (Radio) in Pittsburg," Snow said. "The one complaint was that as soon as someone left Pittsburg, they couldn't pick it up any more. ESPN was taken off the air about 15 months ago in Joplin and so if you figure in Greyhound athletics and that there was no sports talk (station) anywhere around, all those things kind of added up."
Sports and talk radio are also ways for both KSEK AM and FM to be more successful, Snow added.
"No matter what type of music you play, there's 10 other stations that play the same type of music," Snow said. "This gives our sales staff a unique selling point. It was our No. 1 seller in Pittsburg, so we decided to put it on FM and expand it."
In addition to Greyhound football, KSEK also plans high school football coverage during the fall with 30 coaches shows from schools around southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri, a game of the week and a two-hour scoreboard show. Coverage will begin at 3 p.m. every Friday and continue through 11 p.m.
Greyhound game-day coverage will begin one hour before kickoff with a show that will include interviews with both teams' coaches and FSCC players. After the game, there will be an hour-long scoreboard show that will include scores from the Jayhawk Conference, MIAA, Big 12 and the Top 25.
Each Thursday night at 6 p.m., there will be a one-hour show featuring FSCC head coach Jeff Sims. The week of home games, the show will be aired via remote from a local location. There will also be a weekly athletic update from FSCC Athletic Director J.D. Ettore.
Snow also announced that 12 FSCC men's and women's basketball doubleheaders will be covered each season. Also, any FSCC team that advances to post-season play will receive coverage of its playoff games, even if there was no regular-season coverage. There may also be coverage of select baseball and softball games.
During basketball season, men's head coach Michael Cook and women's head coach Diana Couch will each have weekly 30-minute coaches' shows.
KSEK has also assisted in launching a new website devoted to FSCC athletics, www.991espnfortscott.com, which is already up and running. Snow also said that games will be broadcast live over the Internet and all FSCC programs will be archived so that fans may listen to them at any time. There will also streaming that will simulcast games via iTunes, iPhones or iPads. Snow said this met with success during high school football last season.
FSCC President Clayton Tatro said that the agreement with KSEK makes sense because of how the world of media has expended, particularly with the Internet.
"It was a difficult decision for us to put this out on bid," Tatro said, referring to the relationship the college had with former rightsholder Fort Scott Broadcasting. "But the reality is that media have changed in the sense that the expectations of recruits, parents and fans have changed. The partnership with (KSEK) will allow us to broaden our reach into some key areas in terms of our recruiting. The partnership (KSEK) has with 30 high schools; that's important for us. It gets our name out there.
"Having the opportunity to go beyond athletic coverage just for football -- basketball was very important to us. It gives our marketing efforts a greater reach in terms of marketing the entire athletic program, not just one sport."
Clayton also noted the opportunity for streaming online the agreement presents. Parents of players who come from distant cities will be able to follow them easier. Alumni will be able to follow the Greyhounds easier.
Ettore said that this will bring the presence of Fort Scott athletics up to par with other Jayhawk Conference schools that have an extensive Web presence.
"We need to keep up with them; we can't fall behind," Ettore said. "ESPN allows us to make up a lot of ground pretty fast."
Tatro also noted that this will allow the community of Fort Scott to be promoted on a broader basis. Ettore also hit on that point.
"It's not just great for Greyhound athletics," Ettore said. "It's great for the town of Fort Scott. It helps elevate the entire town. People, like our alumni from the 1970 championship team, don't have search all over the Internet. They can tell their neighbors about it They can say, 'This place in Fort Scott I talk about is really a great place.' They can hear not only about the sports but about the town.
"This deal makes our program better, makes our college better and makes our town batter and for that I'm very excited."
Fort Scott Community College has been given the No. 1 ranking among junior college football programs in the Sporting News College Football 2010 magazine. There are also photos of Fort Scott High School graduate and current Greyhound Jeff Johnson and former FSCC All-American Jasmin Hopkins (now at Northern Illinois) in the article.
Defending NJCAA national champion Blinn is No. 3 while Butler is No. 5. The 'Hounds open the season at Blinn on Aug. 28, then host Butler the following weekend.