Published: July 06, 2008 11:01 pm            

WVU athletic department: MSN proven product

Officials cite long-term, successful relationship, control over promotionscontrol over promotions

MORGANTOWN — Minds are harder to change than stations.

There has been a movement over the past year, headed by outgoing West Virginia University President Mike Garrison, to change the school’s philosophy from running its own broadcasting network — Mountaineer Sports Network (MSN) — and to bid out the rights.

While many prominent colleges including Pitt, Connecticut and Syracuse in the Big East sell the rights, WVU’s athletic department has resisted.

The network has been run by deputy director of athletics Mike Parsons, who has been under fire this past year, since 1981, but it goes much further back in history.

The network has linked WVU with the West Virginia Radio Corp. since the early 1940s, according to Dale Miller, the radio group’s general manager.

It is this long-term, successful working relationship and the control it gives the athletic department over its promotions through broadcasting that has caused them to cling to what they considered a proven product.

“The first time we got involved was in 1942 when Dyke Raese took his team to Madison Square Garden and won the NIT. We did all the games during that stretch. That was the catalyst to do games on a regular basis,” Miller said.

West Virginia Radio Corp. is now run by John Raese, Dyke’s son, and an influential businessman who recently failed in a bid to unseat Sen. Robert C. Byrd.

In 1947, Jack Fleming joined the station and served as “The Voice of the Mountaineers,” giving West Virginia broadcasts an unmatched flavor of play-by-play from the man whose call on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ “Immaculate Reception” remains an all-time classic.

Miller came from the St. Louis area in 1977. At the time, while the radio station and school were partners, Miller said it wasn’t exactly run with any precision.

“Before the 1977 season, (then WVU sports information director) Ron Steiner and Jack Fleming came to my office and said, ‘Hey, you know, we have to start doing these Mountaineer games here in a couple of weeks.’ I thought to myself, they were a little bit disorganized. We had two weeks to go and they hadn’t done anything,” Miller recalls.

He reorganized things. In 1979, Parsons returned to WVU from Florida State and in 1981 had taken charge of the university’s end of the network.

“That was the beginning of what I call the new era of MSN,” Miller said.

“It’s not something I created,” Parsons said. “Hopefully, I helped grow it.”

And grow it has. Women’s basketball has been added to football and men’s basketball, along with satellite broadcasts and Internet broadcasts. Baseball games are carried locally on the Morgantown outlet along with statewide coaches’ shows, pre- and post-game shows, press conferences and other features.

“While most of the colleges today sell their rights to marketing firms or a radio station, I think you’ll see we’re on the similar side of what they do in pro football, baseball or basketball. They use it as part of their whole in-house marketing,” said Parsons.

“Look at what the Big Ten is doing. They went out and created their own TV channel. The NFL did the same thing. So is Major League Baseball. You’re probably going to be seeing the SEC do it soon. I think that’s what you are going to see in the future. In certain ways, that’s what we’ve doing since Day 1, having our own media sources out there.”

The network is made up of from 45 to 50 affiliates, most of them within the state although some in Maryland and Virginia. The key to the network is the West Virginia Radio Corp., which has nine affiliates and handles all the technical aspects of the broadcasts — including satellite transmission — without charge.

“Our partnership is that we have zero costs related to any production. We don’t own any equipment,” Parsons said. “We use their equipment for satellite delivery, not only to their stations, but to other stations.”

The only expenses WVU has in the broadcasts is to pay for phone lines, announcers and travel expenses.

The contracts are quite simple, being set up on a barter basis.

Affiliates do not pay for the right to broadcast games. Instead, they are given 16 minutes of local advertising to sell in each game broadcast, football and basketball, while WVU sells the rest of the time, $1,500 and up per 30 seconds, according to Parsons.

The university also earns money, although not in any great amounts, by having its games broadcast on Sirius Radio and by subscription on the Internet.

“We wanted more games on in more places. That was more important to us. Our fans are loyal and want to listen to our broadcasts,” Parsons explained. “A lot of times you’ll only hear the home broadcast on Sirius, but we wanted to have our feed on all the time.”

The relationship with West Virginia Radio Corp. is a close one.

“Our arrangement with them is multi-faceted. To be honest, it’s a very good relationship,” Parsons said.

“We’re in the same footprint,” said Miller, referring to being based in Morgantown and serving the Morgantown market as well as reaching statewide. “What the Mountaineers do and what our network does is hand-in-glove. It’s developed over the years into a reciprocal, in-kind relationship.”

That being said, both claim that their deal is no different than any other affiliate other than the production arrangement.

“West Virginia Radio Corp. owns radio stations,” Parsons said. “They are treated just like another radio station. They have the opportunity to air our broadcasts on a barter basis, just like any other radio station.”

Miller reiterates that there are no special privileges that come with their agreement, not even any kind of exclusivity.

“We don’t have exclusive rights in the market. The university has bent over backward not to show favoritism to us, and I appreciate that. Right here in Morgantown, we have WAJR and WVAQ doing the games, and down in Clarksburg, we’re on with WLWW. But in between, they have WTCS in Fairmont and they’re on in Kingwood (WFSP-AM and FM). Most of the markets around West Virginia, the rights are exclusive, so we’re not getting any breaks,” Miller said.

Of course, neither is Fairmont or Kingwood.

Obviously, however, West Virginia Radio profits from the arrangement from such items as its Big East Today pregame show, the coaches’ shows, and the Statewide Sports Line that is entirely their own production.

“We have nothing to do with the Statewide Sportsline, zero,” Parsons said. “We supply guests sometimes, and it’s obvious that 95 percent of the topics are West Virginia.”

So, if the station benefits financially from it, WVU benefits from the promotion it provides.

“West Virginia Radio Corp. has a promotional obligation,” Parsons said. “They are obligated to get behind us on things such as if we are going to run a Gold Rush or other promotions.”

Parsons believes such promotional push is responsible for such things as the women’s basketball team selling out in Charleston against national power Tennessee last season.

The promotional help is a form of indirect revenue that Parsons believes he would not be able to necessarily get if he bid out the radio rights.

And why does West Virginia Radio Corp. feel it should donate its equipment and personnel and production skills for free and do promotional work?

“Obviously, people overpay for things like the Olympics because they think it helps their entire schedule. Well, that’s basically true for us. We do it almost for the emotional reasons,” Miller said. “We also think all the extra stuff we do around the Mountaineers is important to our affiliates. Our mission is to provide programming to our affiliates that they can make money with.”

Tuesday: Television has become the single most important driving force within the college football and basketball industries.

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.

        

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