April 4, 2013
THANK YOU CENTRAL
The first anniversary of THE CENTRAL STORY passed somewhat uneventfully as far as listeners are concerned. Matt Price handled his The Central Business Report on THE CENTRAL STORY on Tuesday, 4/2, with his usual aplomb (and, knowing Matt, a heaping helping of The Jambalaya Bistro’s jambalaya!). Off the air, it was a challenge figuring out where the radio equipment was to do the broadcast… no kidding! Maybe that is apropos for this program.—I guess it is fitting that one year to the date that the show debuted (April 2, 2012), there was major adversity off of the air to overcome.
Standard fare for THE CENTRAL STORY is that on the air, just about everything sounds real good (from my, admittedly biased perspective).—We’ve made some adjustments and have, in my opinion, our best lineup of shows, by far. Off the air, it’s been both exhilarating and exasperating. With regards to the former, we have some terrific sponsors, our present hosts are doing a real good job and a vast majority of the people of Central are great. With regards to the latter, I’ll just opt to celebrate our anniversary as we head into our second year… thank our wonderful sponsors again… praise our hosts for their talented efforts for limited remuneration
Kudos to the listeners out there who buy into our vision—many not from Central originally
Pastor Moore of WPFC gets lauded for giving us an opportunity to even have a show. So, we accentuate the positive, cryptically acknowledge certain obstacles to surmount--without present elaboration, and with both great eagerness and a little trepidation look forward to see what the second year of THE CENTRAL STORY and the city of Central has in store for Jon Fine Productions.
PRESS RELEASE
4/1/13… modified 4/4/13
Live Oak HS travels to Walker HS (NOTICE CHANGE IN VENUES) in high school baseball on Thursday night, April 4, and you can catch all of the action on Comedy 1210, Baton Rouge and on the Net at JonFineProductions.com.
The Triton Health Care Physical Therapy Pre-Game Show, at 6pm, will include interviews with Live Oak Head Coach Greg Briggs and Walker Head Coach Randy Sandifer. Plus, there’ll be an update from Denham Springs HS Baseball (Jim McChristian) and more information from Walker HS Baseball (with Wildcats Baseball color commentator Chris Ledoux.)
Jon Fine and Robbie Harrison bring you all of the play-by-play action. The second inning guest for this ballgame will be Livingston Parish News potential Pulitzer Prize winning sportswriter/columnist Sam Muffoletto, who will join Fine and Harrison on the air during the second inning
Live Oak HS Athletic Director/Head Basketball coach Brian Hargroder joins the broadcast either in the pre-game or in the 4th inning.
The Annison-Bitter Heating & Air Conditioning Eagles Cool Down will include interviews with Coach Briggs and a Live Oak player. Plus there’ll be post-game analysis from Fine and Harrison, with a Walker perspective offered by Ledoux.
For more information on Live Oak HS and Walker HS Baseball radio broadcasts, please visit www. JonFineProductions.com and/or check The Livingston Parish News sports section every Thursday.
PRESS RELEASE FOLLOWUP
This Thursday, 4/4 (tonight), our broadcast will be part of a package of 4 Live Oak HS Baseball regular season games (plus playoffs) to be broadcast on Comedy, 1210 and JonFineProductions.com. As you may know, we also are produce 4 Walker HS Baseball regular season broadcasts (and post-season). And, Walker is tonight’s opposition for Live Oak on this evening’s broadcast. Yet, this game will be broadcast from a Live Oak perspective (I’ll do my best to be neutral, but my broadcasting partner is the unofficial mayor of Watson, Robbie Harrison) and there will be largely Watson oriented commercials. So, it could produce a real confusing broadcast (nothing new for me, I suppose), especially for Walker fans.
For you Wildcats backers, you’ll get the chance to get even when Walker travels to Live Oak on Tuesday, 4/16. That game will be carried as a Walker broadcast.
On our last 2 regular season broadcasts, I’ll get to do play-by-play on both Live Oak and Walker games against Denham Springs HS—the school that has had its football game broadcasts produced by Jon Fine Productions 18 of the last 19 years. An announcement in the near future will make it 19 out of 20.—Did I just revel something? Also, I co-host and produce The Dru Nettles (Television) Show, most probably heading into its second season, this summer on Cox 4, Baton Rouge. Nettles is the A. D./head football coach at Denham Springs HS.
I know it is Baseball… but, if a tie is like kissing your sister, then I’m going to ask Ma Fine to adopt 4 women
That will give me 4 sisters… and, I’ll kiss them all!—one each for the 4 difficult broadcasts ahead! (LOL)
THE (VERBAL) WIZARDRY OF OS
You can read Scott Osborne’s column by scrolling down
Thursday night, you can hear Scott as he sits in for Steve Johnson on The Steve Johnson Show on THE CENTRAL STORY (5:30pm—6:30pm, broadcasting live from Zoe’s Pizza Buffet
WPFC, 1550AM, B. R. or JonFineProductions.com). If Scott’s color commentary efforts on Central HS Football broadcasts are any example of what we’ll hear on The Steve Johnson Show, you’re in for a treat. Scott is one of the truly talented announcers in the state of Louisiana. He has provided both strong knowledge with a real good sense of humor, while having an excellent rapport with Josh Ward on Central broadcasts. He really prepares for those broadcasts.—You can tell it by listening to them. A consummate pro.. Tune in tonight… And, here’s hoping that Scott continues with his efforts penning The Wizardry of Os and calling color commentary on Central Football broadcasts for years to come.
COULD THERE BE A CONTROVERSY BREWING?. Vic from New Orleans has a response to Dennis Dearie’s 3/21 column and a reader’s follow-up last week:
Jon - Having had reffed for over 30 years in 12 states I think I have a good feel for what LHSAA has done. When I retired here in the mid '90s I was surprised to see public street signs that pointed out private schools. I had never seen that before. Private schools were not afforded publicly funded signage. When I joined the local football and basketball associations I was even more surprised to find out that private and public schools where in the same conferences. Mt experience has been that states usually have the private and public schools separated. My last home, Virginia, had 3 "leagues", Public, Catholic and all other private schools. Many of them played each other but only in the regular season. Around Washington DC where I was, the "Catholic League" had schools in DC, Maryland and Virginia. Come playoff time the Catholic schools crowned a regular season "Catholic League" champion then the Virginia schools in that league started playing in the Virginia statewide Catholic playoffs. I favor the separation of the schools for sports. Unfortunately the biggest burden is on the parents since all parents of all schools will pay more in travel costs. The private school parents will pay once to their school and again, with the public school parents, when they pay their taxes. –
BROADCASTING SCHEDULE:
Thursday, April 4: 6pm: Live Oak HS at Walker HS Baseball
Comedy 1210, Baton Rouge
JonFineProductions.com
Jon Fine, Robbie Harrison (reports from Chris Ledoux—Walker HS, Jim McChristian--Denham Springs HS)
MONDAY—FRIDAY: 5:30PM—6:30PM THE CENTRAL STORY JonFineProductions.com
WPFC, 1550AM, BR
JonFineProductions.com
Thursday, April 4: The Steve Johnson Show (from Zoe’s Pizza Buffet)
Scott Osborne filling in for Steve Johnson
Friday, April 5: KandiLand: Kandi Johnson and Friends (TJ Johnson, Aaron Moak and Philip Ziegler)
Monday, April 8: Destined To Win (from The Jambalaya Bistro)
Steve Johnson and Pastor Rocky Bezet (The Rock Church)
Tuesday, April 9: The Central Business Report (from The Jambalaya Bistro) Matt Price
Wednesday, April 10: Looking Forward (from Zoe’s Pizza Buffet)
Brockwell Bone
SportsRadio—1310-KEZM-Lake Charles Programming of Interest
Monday, April 8: 3PM—5PM: Bayou Blitz with Alex Hickey and Miguel Gauthreaux
WE THANK YOU FOR DOING YOUR UTMOST TO PATRONIZE SPONSORS OF OUR PROGRAMMING. THIS HELPS US TREMENDOUSLY IN SUSTAINING OUR WEEKLY LINE-UP AND WILL ASSIST US IN ADDING MORE PROGRAMS IN THE FUTURE. KINDLY MAKE AN EFFORT TO LET SPONSORS KNOW YOU HEARD THEIR BUSINESS MENTIONED ON OUR BROADCAST(S).
THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach/Head Swimming Coach at Central High School
LSU baseball is halfway through the season and I was.....ummm… kind of right about what would have to happen for the Tigers to have a great year.
The prediction that has been totally false to this point was where I said Jacoby Jones would have to have a break out year. Considering he was thought to be an early round pick coming into the year, I wasn't exactly stepping out on a limb. Remarkably, the Tigers are off to the either the best or second best start in school history, yet Jones and Ty Ross (two of the most experienced hitters) are having horrible years at the plate.
Of course, the way LSU has overcome their lack of production has been amazing seasons from Bregman and Katz. Both players are on pace to have better seasons then Rhymes did last year. That last sentence should be enough to put their seasons into perspective.
My concern at this point would be what happens if those two players just have excellent second halves of the seasons instead of amazing? That being said, I am going to modify the statement I made at the beginning of the year that has been totally wrong. Jones is going to have to be better than average at the plate the second half of the year for the Tigers to make the CWS. Ross will as well.
For the record, nobody should expect LSU to keep up this pace. The schedule gets more difficult and baseball has its ups and downs. Overall, I love the make-up of this team. 2 aces, a lineup that can generate runs in a variety of ways, and a bullpen that closes games well are great ingredients.
As for the Final Four, I am proud of myself for getting two of the teams right this year. I had Louisville and Michigan. Going into the tournament I was actually more confident in Michigan than Louisville (even though I had Louisville as champion).
Louisville is the best team and is playing extremely well. Of the team left, I think Michigan has the best chance of beating Louisville. They may be the only team with the guards to keep up with the Cardinals. My advice though is to clear your schedule, and make sure you catch these games. Outside of the Wichita State versus Louisville game, I think the matchups are extremely fun and interesting.
HEY REF
By Dennis Dearie,
Veteran Louisiana High School Referee
Before I get too involved I just would like to calm some people down who’ve started talking about the LSU baseball team’s GREAT record and making reservations for Omaha. It’s way too early for either the talk or making your choice of which hotel to stay in.
As we all should know by now, baseball is my passion, COLLEGIATE BASEBALL that is! My reason is simple, because professional baseball, any professional sport for that matter, is no longer a game but a business. BIG BUSINESS! And I love to see the game played in its purest form possible.
Yes, money and greed has ruined the American game without a doubt. Look at some of the absurd contracts once again making “NEWS” on every sports show these days. It’s almost sadistic to watch the endless millions of dollars being poured out as if it were just pocket change to the owners and agents but at whose real expense? I’m well aware of player’s greed in the mix but once you step back and ask yourself if you were in their shoes “wouldn’t you take every dime put on the table”?
If you’re an honest person you just answered “yes” to that question. I mentioned “at whose REAL expense” because we all know all too well the cost of sitting in these billion dollar stadiums to watch an MLB game. I stopped going many years ago because a plain hot dog was $7.50, cheese added a dollar, chili another dollar and yes I love onions so lump an extra $3.00 onto my dog and OOOPPPSSS, forgot the government, so another buck ten and my one dog hit me for $11.10!!
I usually get a foot-long but at the time I didn’t qualify for the loan!! Want something to drink? You know you do so let’s ask for a small Coke, $5.00 (.52 tax), and I got a cup of ice with 3.5 ounces of the sugary brew, you get the picture? Yes you do and so many fans do too. If you pay attention to any televised MLB game BEFORE the All Star break you’ll see stadiums operating at 1/3 capacity at best.
So, when will all involved begin to understand no matter the amount you put on the contract it’ll take some very long cooking of the books to even begin attempting to dole out these obscene salaries? I believe the ownership is doing exactly what our President and Congress are doing and putting everything on a credit card because America can’t fail. BULLSHIT, less than 100 years ago it did and it took the whole planet down with it. Another World War was what became of all the book coking and I never want to see another human lose his life because of corporate greed.
The college game is almost getting to the level where more of us will have to stay home as just the cost of gas, insurance and maintenance on our cars is so high we just can’t afford anything but a trip to work and back. That is if we are lucky enough to have a job to go to. Those that love to sit in the stands and cheer their favorites on are becoming fewer at many games. Schools are offering discounts to lower tier games but jacking up the rivalry games as a way to get those dollars back or as I love to call it “Cooking The Books” because at “Hey Ref” we call ‘em like we see ‘em.
Didn’t mean to go off so far since I started by saying it’s too early to judge any team at this stage of the season. It is too early simply because of the number of meaningless games against lower competition only to build up the won-loss record. All schools do it not just LSU. Then signs are this year’s team could be better that the last two or three and I do believe this.
I don’t want to jinx this team because the workings are there that this could well be the beginning of a four year run at winning the final game up in Nebraska. I just am looking forward to getting deep into the SEC schedule and see if we hold up since the thing that’ll stop the Tigers or any other team is injuries. As in each year if we stay healthy and the pitching improves, we get timely hitting and solid defense which this team has all those characteristics then there’s no doubt I’ll be watching ESPN as the Tigers perform that ritualistic “Dog Pile” as they finish off another season and are crowned the World Series Champions!
I’m also pumped that we are finally down to the Final Four in the NCAA Basketball Championships. No, not because I’m a fan, OH HELL NO! It’s that each and every year for 20 or so years I’d use the Tuesday after the final game to open up my FOOTBALL RULEBOOK and start prepping for the upcoming season.
Unlike some believe every good official begins his training and rule reading months before the first kickoff. When spring games come around how many coaches do you think will give you a break because you’re not in mid-season form? Not a one I’ve ever had the pleasure to try and explain a ruling I just made. No, officiating is a perfectionist’s occupation. Don’t say I wrote that officials are perfect, we are long from that. But the good ones start early, the better ones don’t stop learning and the best ones are known to only the coaches.
That’s simple to explain, let me put it this way; it’s easier to fool Mother Nature than to fool a coach standing right behind you. We don’t always agree on the calls but I know when I go home I run the game thru my head and don’t go to sleep until I find my errors and find a way to correct them before the next kickoff!!!
Till next week… …
JON IS PROUD TO WORK AS A MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE FOR SPORTSRADIO-1310-KEZM-LAKE CHARLES, IN ESTABLSHING THE “DOLLAR A HOLLER” MARKETING PROGRAM AND HELPING SELL SULPHUR HS FOOTBALL BROADCASTS AND BARBE HS BASEBALL PLAYOFF BROADCASTS.
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