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.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 304 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

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

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The phenomenal popularity of college athletics owes as much to media coverage of games 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 with it network-NCAA deals that reeked of money and fostered bitter jealousies between have and have-not institutions. 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 decision to control football telecasts, the place of advertising, the role of TV announcers, and the threat of NCAA "Robin Hoods" and the College Football Association 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:

Cover

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1 The Media and Early College Sport

2 Marconi, the Wireless, and Early Sports Broadcasting

3 The Broadcasters

4 Graham McNamee and Ted Husing Dominate the Airwaves

5 The Radio Threat to College Football Attendance

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

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

8 Sport and the New Medium of Television

9 Networks, Coaxial Cable, Commercialism, and Concern

10 Notre Dame Chooses Commercial TV

11 Penn Challenges the NCAA and the Ivy League

12 The NCAA Experimental Year

13 Networks: The Du Mont Challenge

14 Regional Conferences Challenge a National Policy

15 TV and the Threat of Professional Football

16 Roone Arledge and the Influence of ABC-TV

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

18 The Television Announcer's Role in Football Promotion

19 The Cable Television Dilemma: More May Be Less

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

21 TV Property Rights and a CFA Challenge to the NCAA

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

23 TV, Home Rule Anarchy, and Conference Realignments

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

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

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

Notes

Bibliographical Essay

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-8018-7692-3

OCLC:

70729796