When it comes to video streaming of high school sports, our industry finds itself at a critical junction. For 50 plus years, radio stations have owned and delivered the play-by-play rights for high schools across the nation. The work those broadcasters produced has always been admirable with a commitment to quality broadcasting and service to communities. Indeed, our communities have trust radio to provide the very best coverage of high school sports. It’s a heritage that radio should be proud of.

But technology is like weather…it charts it’s own course and we cannot control its mood or its patterns. Because of the changing tides of technology, radio broadcasters must now act quickly to control their destiny as the leaders in HS Sports. Technology is such that virtually anyone can video stream HS Sports and the cost of entry is extremely low. For less than $5,000, anyone can video stream football games. In fact, big and small companies not only want in on what has been traditionally radio’s domain. They want in because HS Sports is prime real estate.

Now is the time for radio broadcasters to meet the challenges of new technology, and new competition, If not, radio will lose the prominence, the trust and the heritage they’ve built over the last half century. Not to mention the irreparable loss of those advertising dollars.

Radio faces three critical propositions:

1. Today, audiences demand a radio play-by-play simulcast with video. 
   This is similar to the migration of music from AM to FM from 1975-1980. Back then 80% of all music on the radio was on AM in 1975. By 1980 80% of all music had gone over to FM. This happened simply because the listeners demanded it!
   
   
2. With investment, radio can double revenue generation.
   Radio has been carrying sports for decades. Stations already have much of the equipment, the personnel and, most importantly, the relationship with the community. Cashing in on that is a very feasible and immediate goal.
   
   
3. Most Importantly….If today’s radio broadcasters don’t stream HS Sports immediately someone else will.
   If radio falters at this moment, those broadcasters will lose the ability to serve our communities and sell
   advertising to our clients.

Before we despair at this cataclysmic change in the media landscape and worry about the challenges we face, we need to remind ourselves that we have a great upside potential. Radio broadcasters know that:

1. We are the proven and trusted voice in our communities.
   
   
2. We are really good at Play-By-Play.
   
   
3. Our competitors in video streaming haven’t been good: they charge the community – kids, parents,
   grandparents – to watch the games. In short, their business model is flawed and radio’s is excellent.

Additionally, broadcasters need to recognize three (3) critical things:

1. Don’t be afraid to adapt, to change. It is what RADIO has done for 100 years and will continue to do for another 100 years.
   
   
2. Jumping into the video streaming waters will widen the scope of not only how you cover HS sports, but everything you do. This is an exciting opportunity and you will be amazed at how quickly you progress.
   
   
3. Out of the starting blocks, radio can and will crush the competition because broadcasters are public servants.
   We are LOCAL. And nothing says LOCAL like HS Sports.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Dave Arland for recognizing that our local radio stations are at a tipping point. We as Broadcasters need to embrace the concept of video streaming HS sports and we need to do it quickly. We need to take control of our own destiny and become the dominant video streamers before others snatch away our heritage and income. The moment is before us, and how we react to this adversity will define our future.
So….The process of video streaming is like any other evolutionary process: First crawl… then Walk… then RUN! Today with the help of the Oklahoma and Alabama Broadcasters we will discuss the mechanics you need to learn to be a video streamer.