Play-by-play : radio, television, and big-time college sport / Ronald A. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Ronald A. (Ronald Austin), 1936-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mass media and sports--United States.

Mass media and sports.

College sports--United States.

College sports.

United States.

Physical Description:

viii, 304 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

Summary:

The phenomenal popularity of college athletics owes as much to media coverage as it does to drum-beating alumni and frantic undergraduates. Play-by-play broadcasts of big college games began in the 1920s via radio, a medium that left much to the listener's imagination and stoked interest in college football. After World War II, the rise of television brought network deals that reeked of money and fostered bitter jealousies between have and have-not institutions in the NCAA. In Play-by-Play: Radio, Television, and Big-Time College Sport, noted author and sports insider Ronald A. Smith examines the troubled relationship between higher education and the broadcasting industry, the effects of TV revenue on college athletics (notably football), and the odds of achieving meaningful reform.

Beginning with the early days of radio, Smith describes the first bowl game broadcasts, the media image of Notre Dame and coach Knute Rockne, and the threat broadcasting seemed to pose to college football attendance. He explores the beginnings of television, the growth of networks, the NCAA's control of football telecasts, advertising, the role of TV announcers, and the threat "Robin Hoods" and the College Football Association posed to NCAA television control. Taking readers behind the scenes, he explains the culture of the college athletic department and reveals the many ways in which broadcasting dollars make friends in the right places. Play-by-Play is an eye-opening look at the political infighting invariably produced by the deadly combination of university administrators, athletic czars, and huge revenue.

Contents:

1 The Media and Early College Sport 7

2 Marconi, the Wireless, and Early Sports Broadcasting 12

3 The Broadcasters 18

4 Graham McNamee and Ted Husing Dominate the Airwaves 23

5 The Radio Threat to College Football Attendance 28

6 In the Image of Rockne: Notre Dame and Radio Policy 34

7 Radio Goes "Bowling": The Rose Bowl Leads the Way 39

8 Sport and the New Medium of Television 47

9 Networks, Coaxial Cable, Commercialism, and Concern 54

10 Notre Dame Chooses Commercial TV 61

11 Penn Challenges the NCAA and the Ivy League 66

12 The NCAA Experimental Year 72

13 Networks: The Du Mont Challenge 79

14 Regional Conferences Challenge a National Policy 85

15 TV and the Threat of Professional Football 92

16 Roone Arledge and the Influence of ABC-TV 102

17 Advertising, Image versus Money, and the Beer Hall Incident 114

18 The Television Announcer's Role in Football Promotion 122

19 The Cable Television Dilemma: More May Be Less 134

20 TV Money, Robin Hood, and the Birth of the CFA 143

21 TV Property Rights and a CFA Challenge to the NCAA 152

22 Oklahoma and Georgia Carry the TV Ball for the CFA Team 162

23 TV, Home Rule Anarchy, and Conference Realignments 169

24 Basketball: From Madison Square Garden to a Televised Final Four 176

25 TV's Unfinished Business: The Division I-A Football Championship 191

Appendix Radio, TV, and Big-Time College Sport: A Timeline 205.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [235]-282) and index.

ISBN:

0801866863

OCLC:

45058740