A new, monthly television show featuring the America East athletic conference will have a strong Maine flavor for its debut episode Monday evening, but succeeding episodes will also have a Pine Tree State influence.

“America East on Campus” is a feature-oriented, half-hour show produced by Kittery-based Cod Rock Media Productions, a company founded by Dan Hannigan, the radio play-by-play voice of the University of Maine hockey team, and Eric Frede, former sports director at Bangor TV station WVII.

The first of four shows will initially air on New England Sports Network at 6 p.m. Monday and re-air at 4:30 p.m. Thursday (Dec. 22). Afterward, shows will be available on the league Web site at AmericaEast.com.

“It’s a little different because this all grew out of the halftime features we’ve produced for their basketball TV games the last two seasons,” said Hannigan, who co-founded the company with Frede back in July of 2003. “Their whole idea is to showcase the features some other way besides at halftime and get a little more bang for what they’re doing with them televising 15 to 20 games a year [on the syndicated America East TV Network].”

Cod Rock, named after a rock near Hannigan’s parents’ house in Kittery that he climbed on as a child, specializes in producing audio-video presentations dealing with training, fund raising, marketing, and promotional material.

The media company also produces “Inside Hockey East,” which also airs on NESN and will begin its second season next month.

America East on Campus will attempt to feature some of the top personal stories beyond the athletic arenas, from some of the nine-member conference’s student-athletes, coaches and administrators.

The debut show will feature a segment on first-year University of Maine women’s basketball coach Ann McInerney and University of Vermont rookie coach Mike Lonergan.

“We went out to both of them pretty early on and they were nice enough to let us mike them during practices and games,” said Hannigan. “Ann was a little nervous about it because it was her very first game, but everyone’s been very nice and receptive to us in this.”

The other two segments in the debut show are on University of Hartford president Walter Harrison, chairman of the NCAA executive committee, and New Hampshire volleyball player Holly Young, who is battling a form of bone cancer called Ewing’s sarcoma.

“These positive stories represent just a few of the many from among the 3,500 student-athletes who compete at America East institutions each year,” said AE commissioner and former UMaine athletic director Patrick Nero in a press release.

“This is by far the most features we’ve done for them,” Hannigan said. “We did 10 our first year and four last year. These won’t be just basketball.”

Hannigan said there won’t be any shortage of potential story ideas for the four shows.

“The planning is somewhat split as far as story ideas. We have some we may think of and the league will have some and we’ll kind of come together, and things will also crop up during the season,” he said. “I think it could be a great show because there are so many stories out there. Sports lends itself to stories like these.”

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net