*RRSN Project

In one of our first classes at Vincennes University (Kathy Young's Introduction to Broadcasting) I had read an article in Broadcasting Magazine entitled 'Low Power Stations Find Their Niche' that essentially described how small stations employed micro-marketing techniques in order to meet the demands of their specific, smaller audiences. I was greatly inspired by this concept and focused my studies towards these ideals whenever I could.

A year and a half later, I had completed the on-air and production phases of my training and was studying the business and management aspects of the broadcast industry.  At the same time, I had begun studying Small Business Entrepreneurship in the business department and declared that division as my minor study emphasis.

The Entrepreneurship program required me to develop and run a fictional business starting with the business plan.  My department mentor would monitor my 'business' throwing monkey wrenches and problems in the way on a weekly basis, requiring me to figure out the solutions.  As fate would have it, I chose to develop a broadcasting based business so the Broadcasting Division staff allowed me to use the same business concepts and would also monitor my project from the Broadcasting Management progam's point of view.

The specific problem that I had identified was one that I had already seen in the local radio markets back home in NW Indiana.  The area radio stations had minimal staffs and often left the sports production to another staff member, such as a sales manager or production assistant.  The problem with this business model is that for a local station, local sports garners the largest listenership and has the largest opportunity for local advertising.  With the efforts that most radio stations were putting forward, their local sports revenues were lackluster at best.

Being familiar with WWJY radio in Crown Point from my summer internships, I used their structure as a working model.  I proposed that an independent contractor purchase air time and produce the sports as an outside vendor.  This way, the radio station gained guaranteed revenue from the purchase of air time while freeing up their staff.  At the same time, the sports production team could produce the sports programming and sell advertising to offset any costs.  With sales efforts dedicated to supporting the sports programs, the advertising revenue would sustain the sports production as a stand alone entity.

I worked on the business plan for 18 months, amassing over 300 pages of business plans, marketing concepts, promotional ideas, logistical strategies and lots of trouble shooting scenarios.

I garnered an 'A' for my efforts but most of all I was extremely proud of the wealth of information that I had gathered through the entire process.  All of this information was safely tucked away in a large medical book sized binder - (which I still have to this day).

After graduation, I worked as the sports director for US Cable of Northern Indiana and spent my mornings anchoring the news for WWJY Radio.  I often went back in the evenings for a chance to man the microphones for some of their sports productions.

It was during this time that I spoke with the sales manager, a man whom I had known for years, about the various problems that he was facing with supporting the stations needs.  He liked the sports best of all and made great income advertising on those shows, however he was tasked with selling everything from the morning news to the afternoon traffic report.  He couldn't devote the time that he needed to the one area of the station that was essentially supporting all of their efforts.  With his problems sounding very familiar, I shared my business plan with him and we decided to make the notes in that black binder a reality.  Regional Radio Sports was born!

The station owner was a little hesitant on giving up his radio station for the hours that we had wanted, however as good/bad luck would have it, I had a car crash during the summer and the settlement check wasn't much, but it was enough to purchase two months of air time, every Friday night from 6p-midnight and one hour every Monday for a Coaches' Box show.  Since we were both Brickie Alum, we focused on Hobart Football and saw great support from the community.  As we realized that our dream was becoming a reality, we put together a basketball season, then a baseball & softball season.  Overall, our inaugural year saw 110 games broadcast and really put RRS on the map!

We were on the map in such a fashion that soon another Gary based radio station inquired about our services... then one from South Bend... then one from Fort Wayne... and Goshen... and Nappanee.  We changed our name to the Regional Radio Sports Network and became the place to turn for high school sports coverage across the northern part of the state.

An interesting note: along the way, we identified a problem being that business' often chose to advertise in print media rather than radio for the simple fact being that they liked to have something tangible that they could see and touch.  Reverting back to Entrepreneurship 101 thinking, we simply made our own print media being the Regional Radio Sports Report.  Initially two interns from Crown Point High School (Jon Regashus and Jeff Vrabel) edited the first few issues for us.  We then invested in a stout computer system and Pagemaker program and I simply sat down in front of the computer for a weekend, devouring every tutorial that I could.  I brushed off my old high school journalism books and Viola!  I was the publisher of the Regional Radio Sports Report, a monthly sports publication handed out free at ALL high school sports events across Northern Indiana.  After the first year, we also published a football preview magazine that set the standard for positively promoting high school athletes and followed that with a basketball version as well.

I worked with RRSN for three years.  To me, it had become obvious that my partner was taking RRSN in a much different direction, than the original plans directed. The more I tried to police the efforts of the business back towards the student athletes, the more resistance I felt.  It finally got to a point where my 'partner' hired someone to do my publishing job behind my back in an attempt to gain more control of the company.  When I confronted him about it, I just got a bunch of denial and double talk.  At this point I just packed a box of my stuff, hit 'Reformat C Drive' on my computer and walked out the door.

With three television contracts, agency representation and a skill that was in demand, I continued to work steadily as a freelance sports announcer after leaving RRSN.  For a day job, I also managed a couple of radio stations and rebuilt some sports departments as a private consultant.  However, after seeing the effects of FCC Deregulation on the areas media industry, I chose to change careers while keeping my foot in the broadcasting door as a freelance voice artist and independent producer.