My Friday Night Lights in 2012

2012 brings a new adventure to my broadcasting career. I’ll again be going behind the mic, but this time for the web. Specifically football in West Des Moines. Valley Stadium will be my home on Friday nights in 2012.

I’ll be doing home games on the internet for the West Des Moines Dowling Catholic Maroons and hold on to your hats, the West Des Moines Valley Tigers.

We experimented with the web last year at www.DowlingWebcasting.com and this year will expand to www.ValleyWebcasting.com.

Romelle Slaughter and I will be together each Friday, but our dancing partners will rotate. Some nights it will be the KWKY crew of Dave and Brian with our old pal Mark Amadeo returning to the radio. We will split some time in the pregame, halftime and post game and Mark and I may trade spots once a game for a few plays to keep things interesting.

My analyst is still being determined and it should be fun to have a new adventure each week.

I will likely only post game preview and reviews of the games I’m doing play-by-play. Here are the games you can expect coverage on this blog:

• August 24 – Southeast Polk at Dowling Catholic
• August 31 – Dowling Catholic at Valley
• September 7 – Ankeny at Dowling Catholic
• September 14 – Urbandale @ Dowling Catholic
• September 21 – Indianola @ Valley
• September 28 – Urbandale at Valley
• October 5 – Ottumwa at Dowling Catholic
• October 12 – Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson at Valley
• October 19 – Sioux City East at Valley

We have a couple of ways to watch our coverage.

For Valley home games on the web, go to ValleyWebcasting.com you can also follow the broadcast crew on Twitter @ValleyWebcast

For  Dowling home games on the web, go to DowlingWebcasting.com and for the Tweets follow @DowlingWebcast

Enough options yet?

I will provide start times for broadcasts once they are ironed out.

Graduations, returns and get wells for friends

The master, the doctor and the bachelor all together. (Photo from UNI.edu)

A few old friends are making news.

First we begin with my old English teacher (must not have been THAT great at his job if you visit this site on a regular basis) Roark Horn and his family recently hit a big milestone at the University of Northern Iowa. Horns aplenty is the title of this story. Mr. Horn, now head of the AEA 267, along with daughters Shannon and Megan all received degrees from UNI. One a PhD, a master’s and a bachelor’s.

I’ll never forget that speech from him at prom, back when the teacher’s still did a speech. He also was one of my baseball coaches and served as golf coach during my time at Jesup High School.

A friend from Wartburg who now lives in Jesup, posted the following story Thursday. The Today Show occasionally will put together a great story and not just blather about Arnold/Lindsey/Natalee Holloway.

This story was about a former Simpson College national champion wrestler named Nick Ackerman. He now is in a line of work helping others like him. Oh, did I mention he doesn’t have any feet? He’s an amputee giving others legs to stand on. He became a wrestling champ without legs; now he builds them for others.

A person I got to know in college while we were interns at WHO-TV, later became my boss at KWQC-TV in Davenport. April Samp came to the QC via OK City and Kansas City. She eventually moved on to Cedar Rapids to run the newsroom at KGAN/KFXA. During that time she became a mother. Becoming a parent changes a reporter or producer. She won’t admit it, but I think it changed her hard charging ways. April took a job in 2010 in Virginia at WAVY-TV as news director. Friday was her last day. She’s coming back to Iowa and for now, getting out of news.

Fran Riley and Paul Yeager in the KWQC-TV6 Newsroom in September of 2006.

And a note about another KWQC employee. Everyone’s friend Fran Riley is recovering from his brain tumor. The station did post this storyabout him awhile back.

I just wanted to make sure we all have the story on what happened to him. The full story is below as posted on KWQC.com.

Also, continued prayers for Paula Sands as she deals with ovarian cancer. The station has set up a place to send notes to Paula and Fran.

Click here to send a note to Paula.

Dave Marcoulier and Mark Amadeo in the Freirich Field press box in Urbandale. 2009 photo.

And finally I want to say congratulations to Mark Amadeo.

The real voice of the West Des Moines Dowling Catholic Maroons will be enshrined into the DCHS Hall of Fame at the football game with Ankeny. So, on September 30, we’ll have Mark back on the radio.

There’s another guy who is putting his family first as he stepped aside for a couple of years to see his son play football at Prairie City Monroe. This year, his son’s coach will be former DCHS assistant coach Greg Bonnett
Greg Bonnett. Greg was a standout player as a Mustang.

And now the full note on Fran.

Long-time KWQC-TV6 reporter Fran Riley was covering a story on a family struck by tragedy when suddenly, he found himself fighting for his own life. On Friday April 1st, Riley just wrapped up an interview with Don Reed of Morrison, Illinois. Reed’s father was murdered in a two-state killing spree in 2008. Riley was getting ready to head back to the station when he started to feel ill. He was taken to the hospital. Mr. Reed and KWQC-TV6 Photographer Mike Colon stayed by his side until Riley was transferred to University Hospitals in Iowa city where doctors determined he had a brain tumor.

On Thursday, April 7th Fran Riley underwent 12 hours of surgery to remove the tumor on the front of his brain. One week later, he is back at home, recovering. We kept quiet about the surgery out of respect for his privacy. But he recently granted a live telephone interview with Quad City radio personalities Dwyer and Michaels, and for those who know him, it’s no surprise that he was humble and gracious.

“This morning it was flowers, cards, food. The outpouring of support has been just tremendous,” said Riley who joked about the incident occurring on April Fool’s day.

Riley says he’s surprised by the response from the public because he’s “just a guy doing a job he likes to do.”

Riley credits everyone’s prayers, his doctors and his wife for pulling him through.

End of an era for radio broadcaster

An era ended this week at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines at the Iowa High School Boys State Basketball Tournament. And it goes beyond the last high school game of Ames standout Harrison Barnes.

KWKY Radio Football broadcast team, Valley @ Dowling at Drake Stadium, Des Moines, Sept. 11, 2009.

This era involves a voice you may have stumbled upon during a Friday night football game or basketball game or even during the summer talking baseball or softball.

This is a voice that’s been heard for thousands of athletic contests and probably millions of minutes on KWKY Radio. Many of those words were used in covering the West Des Moines Dowling Catholic Maroons, his alma mater.

Mark Amadeo called his last Dowling Catholic game for the near future Wednesday night, while court side at Wells Fargo Arena in a state tournament game against Southeast Polk.

Amadeo is stepping aside for a couple of years to watch his oldest son play varsity sports. He’s earned the right, he’s only been behind the play-by-play mic of Maroon events for 28 seasons. During the first five, he was the “color” guy providing commentary and analysis. After the first five, it was Amadeo who was the “Voice of the Maroons. Or as he puts it, “the Zabel Chair.” Mark even spent time coaching for Dowling Catholic, so this is man who’s been on both sides of the broadcast.

Dave Marcoulier and Mark Amadeo in the Freirichs Field press box in Urbandale at UHS. 2009 photo.

Mark guesses he called close to 350 football games and around 1,400 basketball games. The majority of them were Dowling games. He says “I’m still trying to call them the right way!!”

But Mark may not be done announcing games. He may get a chance to help out some other stations that cover his son’s team. And he hopes to return to call Dowling games in a couple of years. Plus, Mark will continue to make regular stops on the Iowa Sports Connection Radio show. He’s been known to grace the airwaves on a Saturday morning.

I’ve gotten to know Mark the last couple of years as I’ve transitioned into the KWKY radio family. Mostly I was the fourth guy on the crew, chasing down CIML scores, stats, extra spotter duties and beginning last year, operating the KWKY Twitter feed.

Mark Amadeo in the pressbox at Drake Stadium on the far left. September, 2009.

Mark knows Dowling Catholic sports history better than most people know their families. He’s always prepared, emotional about wins and losses and always there to help make sure any official comments are in a positive way. You won’t hear Mark be critical of the stripes. He’s a softball umpire as well. Mark works college and high school games, even getting the attention of Mike “Suitcase Sally” Newell during IPTV’s coverage of the Iowa State High School Softball Tourney a few years back. Mark always wants the story on my IPTV co-worker. Nicknames and stories about other broadcasters is always a fun part of working in the press box.

As Mark steps aside, I hope the endless parade of treats can still find their way to the pressbox from superfan Bev Whipple. I also thank Mark for the opportunity and chance to learn from him about broadcasting.

So in August of 2010 when you turn on the Dowling Catholic Maroons football broadcast on AM 1150 KWKY-AM, it may sound a little different. We’ll still have Dave Marcoulier and Brian Morris, but go easy on the new guy. He can’t begin to fill the shoes of Mr. Amadeo, but try on a new pair and hope they break in easy.