I am very excited to announce that Huskermat.com is in the final stages of bringing a live audio webcast of a weekly wrestling talk show that will be available to all premium content members this coming season. The show is tentatively scheduled to air once a week. I am working on getting some other knowledgable hosts lined up. This is something that I've been working on for a few years and something I really wanted to be one of the main components of the site. I will be looking for sponsors that want to advertise on the show so if you're interested send me an email. We will probably look at getting the first show underway during the first part or middle of October when all the preview information gets going.

[This message was edited by HB on July 07, 2003 at 08:58 PM.]

And they have asked if the premium membership is worth it??!!!

You can count me in!

RR

Amazing what the power of the internet can do. We will now bring a live radio show to every wrestling fan in Nebraska whether you're from the west or from the Metro area. I can remember a time when the radio stations simply laughed and said no way to 5 minutes worth of airtime. I just believe that this is the next step towards media coverage for Nebraska HS wrestling. The good thing is you will either be able to listen live or if you miss that we'll put up an archived version to listen to as well.

Who are the knowledgable hosts you are going after?

HB:

This is great, because I have been wanting to start up a "Nebraska Wrestling Radio Network" with both college and high school wrestling since I worked for KBRX of O'neill back in 1994! It wouldn't take a whole lot...but now that you have come up with the same idea, but over the internet, I would like to let you know that I'd be glad to help you out any way I can from out here in Chadron. I work for Stereo A.M. 610 KCSR. We do extensive play-by-play coverage of the Nebraska State High School Tournament every year. Just let me know...here's how to reach me:

John F. Kant
KCSR Radio
226 Bordeaux
Chadron, NE 69337

johnk@chadrad.com
(308)432-5545

I know this will be a huge hit in the Nebraska Wrestling community!...Way to go!

i can't wait till it comes up i will for sure be getting an insiders deal. HB you do a ton of good things for our sport. i just want to make sure that you know it is appcreated (unlike my spelling).keep up the good work

Earl Mortensen

Wrestling is not just a sport it is a life.

Just my thoughts

Ross,

I did a regional wrestling talk show for two years up in Norfolk, and the response to the show was overwhelming to say the least. A statewide radio program was something that was on my looooong-range to-do list and I'm glad to see that you're going to give it a go on the Internet.

Anything you need on this end of things to help make it happen, including sponsorships, just let us know.

This is exciting stuff for Nebraska wrestling. What's next? Possibly an hour of television coverage each week dedicated to high school and college wrestling. This is not out of the realm of reality. I cn picture it now: Interviews with coaches and wrestlers, wrestling footage from exciting and high profile matches. I know you must walk before your run, but there is nothing wrong with dreaming.

Nice job to everyone involved with radio program. I am certain that the wrestling community will embrace your radio show.

Guest-don't know who the hosts will be but I am thinking of having one permanent person (probably coach) and one guest each week.

John-thanks for the encouragement. I know you guys out in Chadron provide some of the best coverage and broadcasting in the entire state. My cousin said you're by far the best play by play announcer he's ever heard when it comes to wrestling. I've seen your station's setup and it's pretty impressive. You can bet I'll need your advice at some time in the future.

Mike C-just another step for where we can take this thing. Big time wrestling coverage in the state has definitely arrived. Just the tip of the iceberg I believe.

Squirrel-thanks for the kind words. Hope you're having a great summer and getting ready for a great senior year.

Should be a lot of fun, HB...keep up the great wirk!

um..."work" I mean...HB your next step should be installing spell check on this thing!

Hey Lance that's what the edit button is for! Send me an email sometime and let me know how you're doing.

An absolutely brilliant idea here HB! Now, for some of us poorer preminum members...that don't have DSL/Roadrunner....is the show's quality (as sound quality) goin to be affected by the fact that I have dial-up?

Lance --- Last Wednesday I was up round that area. Had a job interview up at Osmond....hope to finally land something here soon.

Earl the Squirrel --- Hope all is well. Hope preparations for a stellar senior season are going good, make sure to stay active and do whatever it may be.

The Stallion and The Squirrel....sounds like a WWE Tag Team Combination....or a freaky version of Bonnie and Clyde.

Pain is temporary, pride is forever.

Dial up shouldn't make a difference. I have listened to streaming audio shows for several years over a diaup and not experienced a problem. I will ask my web people though and see if I can get a more precise answer. The only problem I would see is if your computer had very little RAM and how fast we send the information to you. You might just want to try listening a station on real player or windows media player and see how it works. I'll get back to you on this.

HB:

(The red-faced icon is me blushing)
Thanks for the compliment for our station and myself, though I'm not so sure about the latter! I've been doing high school wrestling play-by-play for almost 20 years now, and I've had the pleasure of even calling some Husker matches...so I've been blessed with allot of opportunities to cover the sport, and experience is what it's all about...especially in wrestling. It's difficult to be technical enough so that those that really know wrestling don't think you're an idiot, yet simplistic enough not to go over the heads of the grandmas and grandpas, and others listening that don't know much if anything about wrestling. But thanks again...I take a great deal of pride in what I do. Again I look forward to helping out any way I can. Good Luck!

P.S.
Something to think about down the road...as I thought about doing over the radio...how about a match of the week, or a match of the month in both high school and college...actually live play-by-play over the net? I know the first step is the talk show, but food for thought in the future.

Take it easy!

John

HB:

Something I should have touched on in my last post...I have a tremendous supporting cast to make those state wrestling broadcasts possible:

Craig Petersen of Rushville-provides color commentary on the matches I call and does play-by-play when there are multiple matches going on simultaneously.

Amanda Petersen of Rushville-took didgital photos of the action to be placed on our web site.

Dennis Brown(Owner of KCSR)-sent digital photos via laptop computer from Devaney Center to radio station.

Sheila Kant(My Wife)-constantly runs back and forth from broadcast area to press room to keep us completely caught up on individual results and team scores.

J.J. Archer-takes digital photos vial e-mail and posts them on our website www.chadrad.com

Plus you have the board operators, sales people for sponsors, and traffic managers to put it all together to be able to put it on the air.

As you can see...it's quite a large production to make me sound good and provide the level of coverage we do to our listeners. We could probably get by with less, but we want to provide the best and most extensive coverage possible.

Sorry to ramble on, but I thought it would be important for you and everyone else to understand what it takes to bring wrestling into peoples homes, vehicles, and work places. Believe me, it's worth every bit of it!

Take care and talk to you later.

John Kant
KCSR

As I mentioned before when we sit behind you up there in the Devaney it's clear that you guys know what you're doing. There's alot of research that needs to go into covering all the wrestlers out there. Does chadrad do any live coverage of wrestling during the season? I have wanted to do some live events for a while but the technology is just getting to the point where that's feasible. I know that now you can do an audiocast just using a cell phone. But at the same time unless you're covering a dual pretty much everyone else is out at their own meets on Saturdays so I'm not sure there would be alot of audience.

By the way are you and chadrad going to be making the trip to Clarks this year?

Ross,
The webcast is a very smart idea and huskermat.com is an extremely ambitious undertaking. Congrats!

Any idea yet what day of the week you are planning on webcasting? Just curious because I enjoy listening to Takedown Radio on wrestlingmall.com, but don't get to listen often because they air on Saturday mornings (of all times). They're broadcast and webcast, so they don't have the flexibility of a webcast. I know you can't make everybody happy , but just curious if you had any idea when?

mic

HB:

You can use what's called a marti unit...that transmits a signal directly to the station via the airwaves from close proximity, smarti...which is a marti quality signal transmitted through a standard phone line, a standard phone line itself, and a cell phone. We haven't done much in the past as far as regular season matches or tournaments go with the exception of the Chadron Invitaional a couple of times, mostly due to our packed programming schedule. Of course, things could change in the future making that possible. You're right, Saturday tournaments wouldn't have a great audience with everyone spread out at their own meets...besides, tourneys are so tough to cover. It would be best to select some high profile high school and college duals. I think the best way to do it would be to archive it somehow and allow people to click and listen at their own convenience, rather than live. That way, you could edit out allot of "dead time" if you want.

As far as Clarks is concerned...I'm a little out in the dark at this point about what is taking place there and when...Of course that would be a major road trip for us, but please do fill me in and we can always at least consider it.

By the way, it's nice to have you guys to talk to behind us at state. It can get a little boring in between the action...especially when you're there from the first match to the last every day.

John