I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Aug. 4, 1998
By Devlyn Brooks
Bemidji State University sports fans will need to tune in a different frequency this year to hear broadcasts of their favorite Beaver athletic teams.
BSU and R.P. Broadcasting -- owner of KKBJ 1360 AM, the Mix 103.7 and Real Country 98.3 FM, all of Bemidji -- announced Thursday the two entities have signed a contract naming R.P. Broadcasting's three Bemidji stations the exclusive broadcaster of Beaver men's ice hockey and official broadcaster of all other sports, according to General Sales Manager Dan Voss.
The broadcasting agreement was announced at a press conference held at BSU.
"This is marvelous. I like the idea it will be picked up all over north central Minnesota," veteran Beaver men's ice hockey coach Bob Peters said at the press conference. "This will build an interest in programs and will get the public involved."
The terms of the agreement were not disclosed by BSU or R.P. Broadcasting, both of whom said it was a private matter between the two entities.
"I would just assume our competitors not know what we're doing," Voss said in a telephone interview.
The deal will include live coverage of about 50 sporting events in the sports of men's ice hockey, women's ice hockey, football and men's and women's basketball.
However, the bulk of the coverage will focus on men's ice hockey, as this will be the first year Bemidji State will play as a Division I independent.
Most events will be carried on KKBJ AM Talk Radio 1360, including all of the football, men's and women's basketball and women's hockey events. Selective men's ice hockey contests will, however, be aired on Mix 103.7 to gain a larger audience.
In addition to the radio broadcasts, BSU enthusiasts across the nation will be able to tune in the sports broadcasts via the internet. BSU will be providing the sportscasts in real-time audio via its internet site so BSU alumni can follow their alma mater, according to the agreement.
According to Voss, R.P. Broadcasting added a 15-year veteran sportscaster recently so that it could pursue opportunities such as broadcasting BSU sports, and the move by the college to D-I hockey made the contract even more desirable.
"The recent move to the Division I ranks by the Bemidji State hockey teams solidified a perfect opportunity to develop a relationship with Beaver athletics and the Bemidji community as well," Voss stated in a BSU news release.
BSU's Vice President for University Advancement Dave Tiffany amplified Voss' statement, stating: "Bemidji State is extremely pleased to have been able to reach this agreement. This makes Beaver athletics available to over 75,000 people in north central Minnesota, and we have now strengthened our link to our fans and alumni nationwide through web broadcasts."
However, not everyone is as ecstatic as university officials are about the new contract, which switches the broadcasts from the former Beaver broadcaster, the university's own student-operated FM 90 radio station.
FM 90 Station Manager Adam Kendall said what he didn't understand was that he believes the bid his station submitted to the university would have cost BSU far less to have its games broadcast than its new contract with R.P. Broadcasting.
Secondly, Kendall said FM 90 was broadcasting games over the internet last year. So even thought its signal may be weaker than the new stations doing the coverage, people still had the opportunity to listen via the internet -- just as they will this year.
And finally, he said, the students of the university who used to do the sportscasting for FM 90 are losing a valuable learning opportunity, which is supposed to be one of the university's missions.
"We figured since we've done it for umpteen years in the past," Kendall said, "we'd be the No. 1 choice. Evidently, the university decided to go with (R.P. Broadcasting) instead of their own university station. It's going to be the university's loss in the end."
According to university officials, FM 90 will still have the opportunity to broadcast BSU sporting events that R.P. Broadcasting chooses not to. However, Kendall said the station could not afford to do only select broadcasts, and so the station most likely will not.
Kommentare