After nearly three years in operation,
a Rockford-based broadcast company with an innovative method
of airing high school sports is still going strong.
Michigansportsradio.com uses streaming
audio via the Internet so long distance fans can keep up on
area games. "Our games are listened to all over the world,"
said Brock Konkle, who helped launch the business in 2005. "Mlive
has picked up all of our feeds as well. This has gone a lot
farther than I thought it would."
Former announcer and Rockford resident
Ross Maghielse has helped to expand the unique method of athletic
exposure on the east side of the state. "He's going to Oakland
University and he has taken this to the Detroit area, where
it's going great," said Konkle.
On any given Friday, six different games
throughout the West Michigan area are broadcast through Konkle's
business.
Last year they broadcast a game in the
Upper Peninsula between Kingsford and Coopersville and drew
1,500 listeners. Last year approximately 12,000 listeners tuned
into a broadcast between Rockford High School and Muskegon,
their "biggest audience by far" according to Konkle.
The business is supported through advertisers
who benefit by transmitting their message to their target audience:
parents, family and friends of the players.
Konkle is a 1983 graduate of Rockford
High School and sports nut who saw a chance to bring more exposure
to local athletics while also allowing anyone just about anywhere
in the world to keep up. "We provide an opportunity for people
who can't get out and go to the game an opportunity to listen
to high school athletics," said Konkle. "We like the fact that
people like what we do. I do it for the love of the game."
