Tourney back on MPBC-TV Ed Fowler’s crew to broadcast EM B-C-D semifinals, finals

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It’s just a coincidence that Tournament Week happens to coincide with television’s February sweeps weeks for national and local Neilsen ratings, but tourney week holds the same kind of importance, ratings-wise and otherwise, for Maine public television.

Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation, now in the second year of a three-year deal with the Maine Principals’ Association, will air Eastern and Western Maine’s basketball tournament semifinals and finals in Classes B, C, and D next week for the 22nd time in the last 23 years.

In all that time, there has been only one executive producer of Eastern Maine tourney coverage. Whether his employer’s gone by Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation, Maine Public Broadcasting System, or Maine Public Television, Ed Fowler has been the man.

“We did it in 1979, then we didn’t in 1980, and I’ve been doing it continuously ever since,” Fowler said. “One of the main reasons we got into it originally was no one else was interested in doing them.”

There’s certainly plenty of interest now, but MPBS still has a big edge over its TV rivals when it comes to broadcasting approximately 36 hours of live regional tournament action over a four-day period: its schedule flexibility.

“It’s hard to clear that much programming. We have to do a lot of juggling to accommodate games in the afternoon and most of the evening ourselves,” Fowler explained.

It’s almost impossible for local network stations, since pre-empting popular daytime shows such as soap operas and “Oprah Winfrey” would likely generate a firestorm of viewer protest.

Numerous radio stations cover the tournaments, which begin in earnest today for both EM and WM teams, and commercial TV stations carry some games.

Although it does involve a lot of program juggling, the reward far outweighs the inconvenience as tourney telecasts are No. 1 in MPBS’ local programming in terms of popularity and ratings.

“In terms of PBS [network] programming, it’s also very high, but I’m not quite sure exactly how high up on the list it is,” Fowler said. “We start getting calls as early as December from people wanting to make sure we’re doing the tournament games again.”

Fowler said MPBS’ tourney coverage also attracts a lot of first-time and non-regular viewers who otherwise wouldn’t watch much, if any, public television.

Although the tourney schedule itself has changed a bit, MPBS’ coverage has not. Televised semifinal action still starts Wednesday.

There are changes in other areas, however. Veteran high school coach Ron Brown has opted to step away from his duties as analyst for boys games after six years on the job due to health concerns as he awaits his third kidney transplant.

Brown’s replacement is former Waterville Sentinel sports editor and current NEWS copy editor Ernie Clark, who has been a tourney sideline reporter/interviewer for MPBS the last four years. Clark will be the fifth broadcast partner for Holden’s Joe Gould, who is back for his 21st tour of duty as boys play-by-play announcer.

Gould has been working in radio and TV since 1968, when he began working at WLKN radio in Lincoln.

“The people I meet every year are the big draw for me, the coaches and a lot of the people who run, cover, or attend the tournament. That’s what I look forward to,” said Gould, a former WDME (Dover-Foxcroft) and WLBZ (Bangor) radio announcer who also called Maine Lumberjacks games.

The girls’ broadcast team remains unchanged as Keith McKeen is handling play-by-play duties for a 17th year while Bangor teacher-coach Lisa Richards returns for her 16th year as analyst.

Another change is good news for Camden Hills and Rockland fans as their local Adelphia Cable system has agreed to air MPBS’ coverage of the Eastern and Western Maine tournaments on two separate channels.

“Every year they carry our Western Maine coverage [from Augusta’s WCBB, Channel 10], but a lot of local viewers wanted to see Camden play, so they agreed to put both feeds on at the same time,” Fowler explained.

Fowler said he will again use 15 MPBS employees and 15 freelancers to put it all together. He’ll also utilize five cameras, a replay machine, and graphics generator for the broadcasts.

Despite the continuous refinements and improvements, Fowler still hears complaints.

“We get three criticisms: You don’t show the cheerleaders enough, don’t show the time [clock] enough, and you don’t show the score enough,” he said with a slight chuckle.

And then there’s the other one, which Fowler actually considers a backhanded compliment.

“They always ask if we’re going to do the quarterfinal games, but we’ve never gotten seriously close to doing them because we just can’t fit all those games on the schedule,” he said. “With the amount of time you’d need, the extra people you’d have to hire, and the programming you’d have to yank off the air … We just couldn’t do it.”

TELEVISION

MAINE PUBLIC BROADCASTING SYSTEM (MPTV) ? WMEB Orono (Channel 12), WMEM Presque Isle (Ch. 10) and WMED Calais (Ch. 13): All Eastern Maine Tournament Class B-C-D semifinals and finals plus Class B and D state championship games; WCBB Augusta (Ch. 10) and WMEA Biddeford (Ch. 26): All Western Maine Tournament Class B-C-D semis and finals plus B and D state championship games.

WABI-TV Bangor (Ch. 5) ? All Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinals, semifinals and finals plus Class A and C state championships.

RADIO

WABI Bangor (910 AM) ? All Eastern Maine Class A-B-C-D games.

WALZ Machias (95.3 FM) ? All EM games involving Calais, Jonesport-Beals, Shead, Washington Academy or Woodland.

WCXU Caribou (97.7 FM) ? All EM A-B-C-D games involving Aroostook County teams, including Katahdin and East Grand

WCXX Madawaska (102.3 FM) ? Same as WCXU (see above).

WDME Dover-Foxcroft (103.1 FM) ? All EM games involving Dexter, Piscataquis, Penquis, and Greenville.

WHCF Bangor (88.5 FM) ? All EM games involving Bangor Christian.

WHMX Lincoln (105.7 FM) ? All EM games involving Mattanawcook Academy.

WHOU Houlton (100.1 FM) ? All EM games involving Central Aroostook, East Grand, Hodgdon, Houlton, Katahdin, or Southern Aroostook.

WMCM Rockland (103.3 FM) ? All Western and Eastern Maine A-B-C-D games involving Belfast, Boothbay, Camden Hills, Georges Valley, Islesboro, Lincoln Academy, Medomak Valley or North Haven.

WMDI Bar Harbor (107.7 FM) ? All EM games involving Ellsworth or Mount Desert Island.

WNSX Winter Harbor (97.7 FM) ? Same as WMDI (see above).

WOXO Norway (92.7 FM) ? All WM games involving Dirigo, Lake Region, Mountain Valley, Rangeley and Telstar.

WQDY Calais (92.7 FM, 1230 AM) ? Same as WALZ (see above).

WRKD Rockland (1450 AM) ? Same as WMCM (see above).

WSYY Millinocket (1240 AM, 94.9 FM) ? All EM games involving Stearns girls.

WTBM Mexico (100.7 FM) ? Same as WOXO (see above).

WZON Bangor (620 AM) ? All EM A-B-C-D games not conflicting with University of Maine basketball/hockey broadcasts. All conflicting games will be aired live on WZON-I internet (ZoneRadio.com).