Traylor hitches ride to Georgia NESCOM graduate leaving Bangor’s WVII

A longtime auto racing enthusiast, Elgin Traylor is motoring his way south and trading pine trees for peach trees.

Traylor – a Palmyra native who has served as intern, part-time sports reporter, full-time reporter, and interim sports director the last five years at Bangor station WVII (Channel 7) – has taken a new job as news videographer for WRDW in Augusta, Ga.

For the 24-year-old Traylor, the change will be like going from racing at Hermon’s Speedway 95 to the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“I wanted to do something new and do something in racing, and racing is in the south,” Traylor said. “It’ll be tough to leave the area I grew up in, though.”

Traylor, a graduate of both Nokomis High School (1999) and Husson College’s New England School of Broadcasting (2003), finished his last day on the job at WVII on Tuesday. He’ll begin his new job in two weeks after a vacation.

“I look around and think of all the people and things I won’t be seeing anymore and it kind of makes me sad, but sometimes you need to make a change,” said Traylor, whose father lives in Augusta.

Eric Spivey, a former WVII employee, told Traylor about an opening at WRDW and since Traylor already has family in an area where his favorite sport (auto racing and NASCAR, in particular) is king, it seemed like a unique opportunity.

Traylor got the broadcasting bug early his sophomore year at Nokomis when he became heavily involved with the late Ray Dionne’s fledgling Nokomis Warrior Broadcasting club/program. His “big break” came six years ago as a sophomore at NESCOM.

“I interned with WABI [Bangor radio station, 910 AM] and it was all because [program director] George Hale gave me a break,” Traylor recalled.

In his 2 1/2 years as a part-timer and 2 1/2 years full time at WVII, Traylor helped beef up the station’s local auto racing coverage and strengthen its local high school sports coverage. This season, he and sports director Evans Boston attended just over 250 high school basketball regular season and playoff games.

“I’ve had the most fun with basketball tournaments, auto racing and the football season, but you can’t forget Maine hockey,” Traylor said.

WVII general manager Mike Palmer said he hopes to hire Traylor’s replacement next week, since applications, resumes and audition tapes have already been received.

Springing into the Sox

Fans wishing to either watch or at least listen to Boston Red Sox spring training games can do so on New England Sports Network (NESN) and Ellsworth radio station WDEA (1370 AM).

Both the regional cable and satellite TV network and the Ellsworth station are providing live coverage of selected Grapefruit League games. NESN is airing nine games in all with its next broadcast scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. WDEA is airing 15 games, including 1 p.m. games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

FYI: BCS on DVD

ESPN Home Entertainment and DVD Marketing Inc. have teamed up to produce a series of four DVDs featuring commercial-free footage and exclusive bonus material from the four Bowl Championship Series bowl games (FedEx Orange Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Nokia Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl) from the past college football season.

The DVDs contain a complete BCS bowl game ABC broadcast in full screen digital video. They also feature post game celebration coverage, interviews and other game highlights. The Rose Bowl national title game DVD features extras that bring its running time to 4 hours and 20 minutes while the other three are 31/2 hours each.

Each DVD retails for $19.95 (plus tax and/or shipping charges). They are available online at www.espnshop.com or www.championshipdvd.com as well as in selected stores nationwide.

“Scream” for Sox fans

Hollywood gave Boston Red Sox fans reason to head to the theaters last year with the release of “Fever Pitch,” but a new movie may send them right back to the security of their living rooms.

“Game 6,” (yes, THAT game six) stars Michael Keaton as a playwright in New York City with three strikes against him: His marriage is failing, his play is being assailed by a critic, and he’s a Red Sox fan. It’s 1986 and he decides to skip his play’s opening night to attend World Series Game 6 between the Sox and the New York Mets. Sox fans don’t really need to hear the rest.

The movie opens today at select theaters nationwide (top 100 markets) and, if it does well, will make its way to the Bangor market in two to three weeks.

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