Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9409020038
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV17 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Indians are marching toward another score. Bzzz-zuuzuuz-buzz
The Demons are lining up to kick off after the touchdown. Bzzz-zuuzuuz-buzz
The Bobcats' defense has held once again. Bzzz-zuuzuuz-buzz
Listeners may hear sounds like these when they turn an ear to the radio in the New River Valley on fall Friday nights.
Four area high schools will have live radio broadcasts of their football games this season - Pulaski County, Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Radford. That's one more than a year ago. A fifth, Floyd County, probably will have some of its games broadcast on a delayed basis the following afternoon.
The station with the longest history of doing high school football - about 50 years - is WRAD (1460 AM) in Radford. Once again this season, Rick Allen and Bob Thomas will call Radford High games. Air time is 7:15 p.m., with kickoff at 7:30 p.m.
WRIQ (101.7 FM), sister station of WRAD, has Pulaski County games. John Freeman is play-by-play announcer, with Brian O'Donnell as analyst. Broadcasts begin at 7:15, with the pregame show and the "Coach Joel Hicks Show." Kickoff for the Cougars is 8.
In addition, the stations will present a weekly look at high school football with "Hudson's Huddle" every Friday at 5:40 p.m. The 20-minute show features Ralph Berrier of the Roanoke Times & World-News, Dan Callahan of the Southwest Times and Thomas. "We're looking forward to both the show and the season," said Thomas, news director for the two stations. "Many of the people listening to us are in the stands. During the game, we'll ask the fans listening to the game to wave and a lot of fans will wave at us."
For the ninth straight year, Blacksburg football is on WKEX (1430 AM). Bob Smith and Mike Callahan will be behind the microphones. Air time for the Indians is 7 p.m., with kickoff at 7:30. "We get a real good response doing high school football," said Smith, the station's general manager. "We do it for the benefit of the people who can't attend the games. The team has quite a following. And we have the same loyal sponsors who stay with us year after year."
The new station in the football game is WBNK (100.7 FM). It's putting Christiansburg back on the radio after one-year absence. "John and John" - John Beamer and John Hale - will call the games. The duo broadcast the Demons when they were last on radio in 1992 on WJJJ (1260 AM). Air time is 7:15 p.m., with kickoff at 7:30.
"Christiansburg deserves to be on the radio like everyone else," said Bob Travis, station general manager. "One of the reasons we came back here [Travis' wife, Karen, is a Christiansburg native] is to put on a radio station that is part of the community and to do things like this."
At 9:30 on Saturday mornings, the station will air a call-in show discussing the previous night's high school football action and upcoming college and pro games. Plans to broadcast Giles High School football on Travis' station in Giles County (WNRV 990 AM) fell through.
Finally, daytime-only station WGFC (1030 AM) in Floyd hopes to broadcast some of the Buffaloes' games. But first it will have to find a replacement for play-by-play man Mark Hollingsworth, who has taken a TV job in Roanoke. "There's a good chance we'll carry some games," said station manager Dale Gallimore. "It works to create interest in high school football."
by CNB