Wbba

[bballjunkie1]

Just wondering if it is the home of the Saukees, or do they represent the area as a whole?

[CHUCK26]

I would say we represent Pittsfield, Pleasant Hill, Western, Griggsville/Perry, Brown County, Liberty, West Central, Calhoun, Carrollton, and a couple of other area teams. Are we bias towards our team when they are playing a team not considered in our area (because I think I know where this is going), yes. I am intrigued to know why you ask, Junkie.

[PhotoGuy]

WBBA is in a way a lot like KMEM in my area (Northeast Missouri), they regularly cover Scotland, Clark, Knox, Scuyler and Putnam County football and basketball... and they don't "homer" when, say, Scotland is playing Clark, since both teams are in their listening area.

When Scotland is playing Brookfield, however, which is outside the listening area (and therefore outside the area of the sponsors of the show) then there is a bias towards Scotland County.

Additionally, with KMEM, certain crews normally do specific teams. For example, our very own Sportcat here is the lead broadcaster for Knox County Football on KMEM. If needed, he will call other teams game as well (and he does a good job of it)...

If you want to know what the bias of a station is going to be, listen to the advertisements... if they are all "Proud sponsors of Pleasant Hill Wolves Basketball" then you can guess that Pleasant Hill is going to be the feature team... just like when you listen to the Cardinals Baseball Network... they will have a bias towards St. Louis and not Philly or San Francisco.

Stations like WBBA and KMEM have a good broadcast area, but it certainly isn't regionally large like TV stations such as KHQA.

[CHUCK26]

I want to add that we have 91 games scheduled to broadcast this year which makes it obvious that we are much more than a Pittsfield radio station.

[PhotoGuy]

I am going to hit up the WBBA guys for a "Lucky 7" interview in the near future, and I think I will base one of the questions around the idea of how hard it is to juggle enthusiasm for the team you are broadcasting for (and whose parents businesses are sponsoring your broadcast) with keeping the broadcast fair and enjoyable to fans and supporters of both teams.

Honestly, not very many Cubs fans are going to enjoy a Cardinals-Cubs game on the Cardinals Radio Network nearly as much as they will on the Cubs network... especially this year when we stomped the snot out of the Cubbies (OK, there's some media bias for you ;) ). The same is true with local radio.

91 games is a LOT of games... I think folks in the WBBA listening area are lucky to have these guys, just like here in Northeast Missouri, we are lucky to have KMEM radio.

[bballjunkie1]

I would say we represent Pittsfield, Pleasant Hill, Western, Griggsville/Perry, Brown County, Liberty, West Central, Calhoun, Carrollton, and a couple of other area teams. Are we bias towards our team when they are playing a team not considered in our area (because I think I know where this is going), yes. I am intrigued to know why you ask, Junkie.

Is Payson in the area? I have no problem with being a "homer" when it is against a team from out of the area. I completely understand that you back your area sponsors because without them you dont have radio.

[PhotoGuy]

Is Payson in the area?

You in Payson? I got a bunch of good shots of them (boys only I am afraid, was unavailable during the girls games) while they were playing at Knox on Saturday... let me know if you want to see more of them.

[bballjunkie1]

You in Payson? I got a bunch of good shots of them (boys only I am afraid, was unavailable during the girls games) while they were playing at Knox on Saturday... let me know if you want to see more of them.

Not from Payson, but I did see your pics on here. Very nice touch, maybe someone in Illinois will start adding some pics from the good side of the river. :)

[CHUCK26]

No, Payson is not considered in our broadcast area. We have carried Payson more this year than ever before, but only because they were in the Pittsfield Tourney and played Pittsfield in the regular season. The only reason we were able to carry any game Payson played in was because of the sponsorship of their opponent. I would like to know who your team is if it is not Payson, and futhermore don't know where you question if WBBA is just a Pittsfield station, because we carry more area games than any other station around. Does Pittsfield get more recognition? You bet, but like it or not, sponsorship determines what is being broadcast. I know for a fact that nothing was said that belittled the kids from Payson, who are extremely talented by the way.

The refs in the game, one of them which I regard as one of the best in this part of the state, were extremely inconsistent. And with the style of basketball Payson plays, I understand that you can't call every single foul, but in the fourth quarter of that game, I'm just glad no one was injured.

I would be happy for you to share your concerns with me more, Junkie. Email me any time chull89@yahoo.com. Thanks for listening!

[radiowaves]

Good evening everyone, and welcome to high school basketball on WBBA 97.5 FM, Pittsfield, Illinois(city of license) and wbbaradio.com on the world wide web. Tonights game is brought to you by the following business......And we do not ask you to just thank them, but spend your money with them, for without these sponsrs we would not be abel to bring you these gmaes.

My point is always this. My partner and I have invested over 1/2 million dollars in our business, we not only spend much of our time at the station, but on the road covering games. All three of my sons and my wife help me do games, my daughter in law helps produce the games, my partners daughter is one of our main sales people. And after seven years owning a station, I still get paid less than a coach for the hours spent. I and our staff do it to pay the bills, but mostly becasue we love the kids. It is also why I umpired for 27 years, have worked with youth baseball for most of my life, and will always do it. We try to cover a wide area, but towns without businesses and towns with no support make it hard to cover their games. Ask most of the schools in the state and see how many have many of their games covered on the radio each year. We do not ask for money from the school or the boosters club, but we would love to have donations from listeners who would like to send a donation. We appreciate you listening and cherious your words, send them to any of us at wbba@wbbaradio.com. Hope you enjoy your kids, your school and the broadcast. We hope we do a good job of allowing those wha can not be there a chance to hear the games. And if we upset you, the button on the left shuts us off and the one on the right allows you to select another station who might be covering the game, but there really are not that many choices.

[PhotoGuy]

...maybe someone in Illinois will start adding some pics from the good side of the river. :)

Well, I am going to be teaching a "class" here on the forum of how to take good basketball pictures with moderately priced equipment... hopefully a few of you guys on the side of the river closest to the Cubs and Wrigley Field will check it out and give it a go! Those of us here on the Busch Stadium side of the river already know how :)

Speaking of the Payson kids, they are big, fast and very agressive... which can win you a lot of ball games... or it can get you into all kinds of foul trouble, depending on the zebras you have working.

When they played here at Knox, the refs let em play... and there were lots of "hard" turnovers. Not spoiled grapes here, Payson was the better team on the floor that night... about as much better than Knox as the 20+ point score would indicate.

If a ref who calls every picky little thing does a Payson game, the Indians could have a long night because they just fly around the floor and sometimes it is hard to stop in mid-air.

[PhotoGuy]

...the button on the left shuts us off and the one on the right allows you to select another station who might be covering the game, but there really are not that many choices.

Ah... good tip, I always wondered what those little knob thingies were for.

Seriously, as a former media person myself, I don't think most people realize that the people on the other side of the microphone or the camera have to feed their families, and have to keep the lights on, the transmitter powered and the presses rolling. You do that by your advertisers. If a community is in your area of coverage, and if they have advertisers willing to support their teams and their local media, then you can cover the game... if not, then you really can't.

This website isn't that expensive to run, and it doesn't have ANY paid employees. Radio stations are HIDEOUSLY expensive to run, and people who work there need to eat and put clothes on their kids. That's just the way it is.

The great thing about America, though... if you think you can do it better, you are always welcome to pony up a million bucks or two and buy your own radio station and do it your own way.

Me, I will just listen to WBBA and KMEM. They both do a pretty good job IMHO.

[bballjunkie1]

The fact that payson is not in your area was all I needed to know. That is why I asked if they are in the area. I have listened to WBBA for years and will continue to listen to your broadcast. My whole point was that I wanted to know if Payson was in the area, because the announcers were laying into the refs the 4th qtr as Payson was making their comeback. Now that I know their area business does not sponsor WBBA I have no real issue with it. I have listened to WBBA announce for lots of area teams and you do a great job. I know it came accros as I was ripping WBBA but that was only if Payson was in the area. My point was just going to be that if their community was supporting your broadcast as well as Pittsfield, I just felt there should be a nuetral feel to it. That is not the point, so that is a mute point.
I have a ton of respect for the hours you put in, I have never been in radio but I have coached and I have put the many hours in that you were talking about. I have also watched and listened to you from Macomb tourny all day to the Winchester tourny all day.

[CHUCK26]

Well, on a somewhat similar line of thought, Payson's comeback doesn't happen if three things happen 1.) Pittsfield makes 3 easy layups that they missed 2.) The refs call the fouls that lead to turnovers on BOTH teams 3.) Pittsfield doesn't lose their defensive intensity in the second half after being up 41-18 at half.

Look, I think a lot of the ripping of the refs in a game like this is related to a game that we had to endure last season. You may remember the "miraculous" comeback by West Central when they scored 11 points in 1:15 seconds to to tie the game and then win in OT against Pittsfield. The Payson game looked like it was turning into a debacle like that, and brought back many bad memories. I just don't care for referees that try to make themselves more part of the game than they need to be.

Junkie, thank you for allowing this to be a civil discussion about your thoughts. I appreciate that out of this new forum.

[bballjunkie1]

Well, on a somewhat similar line of thought, Payson's comeback doesn't happen if three things happen 1.) Pittsfield makes 3 easy layups that they missed 2.) The refs call the fouls that lead to turnovers on BOTH teams 3.) Pittsfield doesn't lose their defensive intensity in the second half after being up 41-18 at half.

Look, I think a lot of the ripping of the refs in a game like this is related to a game that we had to endure last season. You may remember the "miraculous" comeback by West Central when they scored 11 points in 1:15 seconds to to tie the game and then win in OT against Pittsfield. The Payson game looked like it was turning into a debacle like that, and brought back many bad memories. I just don't care for referees that try to make themselves more part of the game than they need to be.

Junkie, thank you for allowing this to be a civil discussion about your thoughts. I appreciate that out of this new forum.

The fact that they are not in the area, I have no problem with calling the refs out. I have watched Payson play a few times this year and they do foul a lot. It is their style. Coach Tomhave even said it on the radio about the 3 missed layups. As for refs who like to be a part of the game, they drive me nuts too. I dont know which refs you had, but I could name a few that go out of their way to make sure they are noticed. The best refs are the ones you dont see at the games.

[nobody]

Most announcers will root for their home team.

[PhotoGuy]

Most announcers will root for their home team.

That's true, certainly, to a point... when both teams are not the "home team".

Here's an example. Donnie Middleton from KMEM FM 101.5 (this is my take on it, I don't want to put words in his mouth) did a broadcast from Knox County of the Knox County/Scotland County ball game on Friday night. KMEM is based in Memphis, which is the county seat of Scotland County... but both Scotland and Knox County businesses are supporters and advertisers for the station, and KMEM has a strong listenership in both counties. Donnie wasn't "rooting" for either one of these two teams during the broadcast.

Saturday morning, he went to the JWCC shootout and called the Knox girls game against Louisiana and the Knox boys game against Brussels, IL... and while I didn't hear the game (since I was there and not listening to the radio) I can tell you that while Donnie didn't "root" for Knox to win, he certainly broadcast the game as an announcer for a station serving Knox County... since the sponsors of that game were largely FROM Knox County and many of the people listening were IN Knox County.

Additionally, he has seen these kids play time and again and he knows how they play... whether they are playing up to their usual level or not... so he can give more insight into it.

That's exactly how it should work.

Donnie has agreed to be one of the interviewees on the Lucky 7 and I am going to ask him about this. He's on the board here as MrSports, and he has broadcast... literally... thousands and thousands of games over the years.

[bballjunkie1]

That's true, certainly, to a point... when both teams are not the "home team".

Here's an example. Donnie Middleton from KMEM FM 101.5 (this is my take on it, I don't want to put words in his mouth) did a broadcast from Knox County of the Knox County/Scotland County ball game on Friday night. KMEM is based in Memphis, which is the county seat of Scotland County... but both Scotland and Knox County businesses are supporters and advertisers for the station, and KMEM has a strong listenership in both counties. Donnie wasn't "rooting" for either one of these two teams during the broadcast.

Saturday morning, he went to the JWCC shootout and called the Knox girls game against Louisiana and the Knox boys game against Brussels, IL... and while I didn't hear the game (since I was there and not listening to the radio) I can tell you that while Donnie didn't "root" for Knox to win, he certainly broadcast the game as an announcer for a station serving Knox County... since the sponsors of that game were largely FROM Knox County and many of the people listening were IN Knox County.

Additionally, he has seen these kids play time and again and he knows how they play... whether they are playing up to their usual level or not... so he can give more insight into it.

That's exactly how it should work.

Donnie has agreed to be one of the interviewees on the Lucky 7 and I am going to ask him about this. He's on the board here as MrSports, and he has broadcast... literally... thousands and thousands of games over the years.

I see no problem rooting for a team in your area when they are playing a team out of area. Unless you are Dicky V and Duke is playing, most broadcasters are not one sided. When Pfield plays QND I see nothing wrong with them rooting for Pfield. Or Macomb ex...
I think Mr Wagy would be a good Lucky 7 guy to have. I am sure guys from WBBA would agree with that.