This is every high school football broadcast ever

[dixiehack]

It … it’s beautiful.

 

[SFIND]

Really?

The high school broadcasters in Ohio are (for the most part) very professional and nothing like that.

 

[Batman]

Really?

The high school broadcasters in Ohio are (for the most part) very professional and nothing like that.

The ones here in Mississippi vary. We're fortunate to have a couple of true radio professionals doing games (one of them calls games for a college program and moonlights as the play by play guy for the local high school), but there are also a couple of others who are pretty rough.

On a side note, I laughed at this clip because there is a Class 1A high school in Mississippi named Coffeeville.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Y’all are new to Coffeetown?

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

The announcers in Texas run the gamut as well. Some are first-class, others are just fans with mics.

 

[wicked]

How many proper radio stations are still doing high school games? How many of the broadcasts have moved online or to apps?

 

[Flip Wilson]

I was in the car today running errands, and came across the broadcast for the D3 team a few miles up the road. The old, former coach color guy kept saying stuff like, "We just didn't get to the ball fast enough," and "We looked good on that play." It got old pretty fast.

 

[Spartan Squad]

I used to work in a town that still did radio broadcasts. One night I covered a smaller team over the big school that had the radio broadcast. Small school got over early and I was hauling home to catch the end of big school. Because small school’s location, the radio didn’t work until I got to a certain point. When I did, all I caught was something about a kick off and then two men screaming like fans watching their team win Game 7. Even when the on air orgasm was over, it was a little difficult to sort out what happened (I found out later and it was epic). Still they were better than the woe-is-me juco women’s basketball coach who fancied himself the next Vin Scully who was sure to get picked up one day if he just kept at it. Spoiler, he never was picked up outside of the small town.

 

[Batman]

How many proper radio stations are still doing high school games? How many of the broadcasts have moved online or to apps?

In our area, I could probably scan through and find at least a half-dozen on any given Friday night. Maybe as many as 10, depending how deep a dive I do and how well the signals are carrying. The broadcasts are also streamed over the stations' app feeds, and most of the bigger schools have some sort of livestream video broadcast set up on top of it all.

There have been several times, usually in the playoffs when our teams are on the road and too far away to cover, that I've sat in the office or at home and watched at least one game on a livestream and listened to another on a radio app.
Almost wish I could do that every Friday. Without having to keep complete stats or shoot pictures I'm able to take notes, start writing as soon as the outcome of one game or another becomes apparent, and have three or four stories 90 percent finished by the time the games end at 9:30. Normally I'm not getting back from a game until 10 and still have to call several coaches, pull pictures, write four stories and finish the paper in about two hours.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

The only way a game is over at 9:30 these days is if they kick off at 6. At my game this weekend, the bands were still on the field at 9:30 and that was a 7:30 kick.

 

[rtse11]

The only way a game is over at 9:30 these days is if they kick off at 6. At my game this weekend, the bands were still on the field at 9:30 and that was a 7:30 kick.

Before the 2016 season our shop was purchased by GateHouse. One of the first changes our new publisher made was moving our Friday night sports content deadline from 11:30 pm to 10:30. "I've been going to high school football games for 30 years and I've never been to a game that wasn't over by 9:30," was his direct quote.
I responded with, "You need to get out more."
Hell I covered a game Friday night that kicked off at 7, the teams combined for 8 pass attempts, and we didn't finish until 9:40.

 

[Driftwood]

I run my school's press box on Friday nights, and have seen it all from broadcasts that would rival a major college to a couple of goobers with a tape recorder for playback on Saturday morning. I have it posted that my press box is a working press area, no cheering is allowed, and I will remove violators. I've thrown people out before. I've had people get mad at me, because for whatever reason, they feel like they can just come wandering in and hang out in the press box to watch the game. It's raining? Not my problem. Get out.
Locally, out radio outfit has three stations, so they do three different broadcasts and a pre/post game studio scoreboard show. One guy (the station owner) only ever does one school, and he's absolutely a homer... he's professional, does a good job, isn't a cheerleader, but is definitely a homer. Another guy goes to the "game of the week" and is first rate. He does college football and basketball, so he knows what he's doing. The third string, so to speak, is young, but he does a really good job as well.

 

[DanOregon]

There are three types of high school football broadcasts.

The student-run - which are professional sounding, the kid probably wears a tie and has a full chart with numbers and names to reference. Maybe even a buddy is working as a spotter.
The parent or local type - which typically is someone trying to be entertaining (mostly failing) and sounds like a fan with a running commentary - "Oh hey Al, good to see you....and the hand-off goes to the running back up the middle for a small gain - oh NOW they're saying we lined up OFFSIDES! Are you kidding me? They just gave them a first down folks. How's the pretzel tasting Josh, that's a biggun. Seriously, these refs...."

And the local station with a real radio guy - if its a younger dude who thinks he's on the way up, he's probably the first example, but probably didn't have time to do the full chart because he's working two other jobs to make rent and just has a roster. If it's an older guy, he's closer to the parent or local type who is constantly screwing up, knows it, but reminds people they should be grateful thatthe local station is even broadcasting these games and he's already worked a full 50-hour weeks.

 

[wicked]

I haven’t covered high school football in years, so I could be wrong. I live in a bigger metro area and almost all stations are now corporately owned. I think there are two or three stations in the region that carry games. I think there was a guy who was doing webcasts for a number of schools south of the city, not sure if he’s still doing that.

I lived in a smaller but not too small city c. 2008-09 where the station did a handful of games over the year but had webcasts every week.

I don’t even know if the cable public access channels do games anymore, or if the public access model is still a thing.

 

[Batman]

The only way a game is over at 9:30 these days is if they kick off at 6. At my game this weekend, the bands were still on the field at 9:30 and that was a 7:30 kick.

Finishing between 9:30 and 10 is definitely more common, but 9:30 is about average. I'm usually out of the stadium and back to the office by 10. Games kick off at 7. Maybe our teams run more than most, or something.

Last week we had a Thursday and Friday game that were both blowouts with running clocks in the second half. The Thursday game ended at 9 and the Friday game at 8:50. I think I was a little aroused when the final horn went off and I looked at my watch.

 

[Justin_Rice]

The team I do stats for is a Single Wing team. On Friday they played a Wing-T game.

Game was over at 9:15 (7 p.m. kick). Glorious!

 

[SixToe]

How many proper radio stations are still doing high school games? How many of the broadcasts have moved online or to apps?

After more than 50 years on a local station, my old HS moved to an online service. Mild outcry.

 

[Spartan Squad]

The team I do stats for is a Single Wing team. On Friday they played a Wing-T game.

Game was over at 9:15 (7 p.m. kick). Glorious!

2 hours and 15? What took so long?

 

[Justin_Rice]

2 hours and 15? What took so long?

Hey it was close! At 7:51, there was one minute left in the first half, and it slowed down. Plus there was an extended half time to honor the anniversary of a state championship team.

 

[NNDman]

My office is about 2 miles from the local team's stadium. The game on opening night featured innumerable penalties, injuries and cramps then toss in the 50-minute post game lecture each team got, I got back to the office at 10:30. The next week's game was 70 or so miles away. About the same number of cramps but not quite as many injuries. I was back at the office at 10:45.