Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 28, 1990 TAG: 9007280026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer answers that question with his checking account.
Beamer, dissatisfied with his show in the past but sold on what TV exposure can mean to a program, literally has made the show his.
"I'm totally in charge of the show now," Beamer said. "I'm buying airtime and I'm selling advertising. I'm paying the people. . . . If we come up short, it comes out of my pocket.
"A show is a very important vehicle to talk about Virginia Tech football. It helps in recruiting, not in a direct way, but indirectly. No kid has ever told me he'd sign because he saw or liked the TV show, but whether you have a show or not has an impact on your program. I just feel strongly we have to have it if we're going to continue to build."
Beamer and basketball coach Frankie Allen are entering their fourth seasons as Tech head coaches. After the Hokies' athletic program went through financial problems and NCAA probation, the school decided to remove coaches' TV shows from the strained budget. When Bill Dooley resigned under fire in 1986, he was earning $60,000 annually for his Tech football show. Under the new administrative accountability, if a coach wanted a show, it was up to him to do it.
Allen said recently he might not have a show this season, citing the past problems and the time crunch of basketball season. Beamer made his decision to take over his own show after Impact Productions of Roanoke, which formerly produced the show, failed to come through with financial commitments to Beamer and others involved.
"I think Frank feels strongly that the problems with the show reflected on him, and on Virginia Tech," said WSLS (Channel 10) sports director Greg Roberts, who will return as the show's host. "It was `The Frank Beamer Show,' and if his name was going to be on it, he wanted to make sure things were done right."
Beamer figures to have a personal commitment of about $25,000 for the 12-week series, which will have several notable changes from 1989.
The show will air Saturdays, instead of Sundays, at 11:30 a.m. on WSLS and cable's Home Team Sports. Beamer also will be in the studio with Roberts. Bill Roth, the Hokies' radio voice, will do feature reports and interviews. Beamer's administrative assistant, John Ballein, is helping Beamer with sales.
Beamer's first show will air Sept. 1. At the end of the show, viewers will be able to switch from WSLS to WSET (Channel 13) and watch Tech's opener at Maryland as part of the ACC telecast schedule.
A source said Beamer is paying $400-500 a week to WSLS for the airtime. The show will be taped Wednesday evenings at Channel 10. He also is paying HTS $100 a week. WSLS will handle the production work, and the game tape will be shot by a university crew. Beamer will pay for those services, as well as the work of Roth and Roberts.
Most coaches' shows air on Sundays, less than 24 hours after the featured game. By waiting until the next weekend, Beamer's show loses some immediacy on game highlights. But there are positives, too.
With a Sunday show, a coach has to tape late Saturday night or in Sunday's wee hours after a night game. "The way we're doing it, we can watch the film, be more knowledgeable about what happened, and talk about it," Beamer said. "We'll have players on when we can, and we'll do a lot to preview the game coming up that day."
Beamer's show will serve as a lead-in to the college football day, which begins with games at noon. He became sold on the Saturday concept after learning that Florida State's Bobby Bowden has a Saturday show, as did Steve Spurrier at Duke before he moved to Florida, and Jimmy Johnson at Miami before he left for the Dallas Cowboys.
Another plus for Beamer - and a reason he's buying airtime - is the locked-in time slot. Last year, WSLS fit the shows of Beamer and Virginia's George Welsh into its schedule around NFL games or Sunday late-night programming. "I think it's important to have a definite time, where people can expect to see the show, or those who are attending a game can set their VCRs," Beamer said.
Beamer knows he is taking a gamble, but not a much bigger one than going for it on fourth-and-one at midfield.
"I guess what we're doing is a little different, but we've got sponsors, and next year we hope to expand to more stations. I've never made much on a TV show, and I'm not expecting to this year. But I wanted to have a show, and right now, this seemed like the best way to go."
Despite Virginia's best football season a year ago, area fans of the Cavaliers experienced an almost-weekly frustration - finding the UVa football show floating around the WSLS schedule.
That won't be a problem this year. Welsh's show will air Sundays at noon, beginning Aug. 26. It's an excellent time period, leading into NBC's "NFL Live."
"We really struggled in Roanoke and a couple of other markets last year," said Kim Record, UVa's associate athletic director for external operations. "We got complaints, and I know the station got complaints. We're pleased we could work things out. The consistency of having the show at the same time weekly is very important to us."
UVa will deliver a pre-packaged show to WSLS, and is paying the station in the $450-500 range for weekly airtime.
Besides Roanoke, Welsh's show will air on stations in Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Richmond and Norfolk, and cable's Home Team Sports.
by CNB