Interscholastic Sports Network is set to tip off its second athletic season and its first of high school basketball coverage with 21 regular-season game broadcasts, but before those telecasts start up, ISN will start in with its expanded local hoop coverage.

The Bangor-area television and radio cooperative arrangement between St. Croix Video Productions, radio stations WHCF (88.5 FM) of Bangor and WHMX (105.7 FM) of Lincoln, and Adelphia Cable will team up to broadcast local high school games live on radio and tape-delayed on Bangor-area cable access TV. But before those broadcasts start Dec. 12, St. Croix and Adelphia will start on a winter TV sports package involving Husson College basketball on Saturday.

“We’re doing six games in all including Husson and we have the ability to expand it in the regular season and postseason,” said Maurice Brown, production manager and owner of St. Croix. “And of those 21 high school games on TV, 10 will be on WHCF as well.”

Last year, St. Croix produced a 20-game high school package, which aired on Bangor’s WBGR (Ch. 33).

Another change this year is the presence of advertisers’ support.

“The only drawback we had last year was we couldn’t get advertisers’ support, so I fronted it financially,” said Brown, who also took a hit on travel expenses as he drove from Calais to the Bangor area for many broadcasts. “We have it this year. Right now, it’s about half of what we’d like to have, but I hope to get more to at least cover the cost of producing the games.”

Two things Brown doesn’t have to worry about are mileage, since he now lives just across the street from the Husson College campus in Bangor, and broadcast costs, since Adelphia allows Brown to air the games on Adelphia’s cable access channel (Channel 12 on local cable systems).

“Gary Crosby has really gone out of his way to help us with this venture. He’s pretty community-minded,” Brown said. “Adelphia pays for the time that we’re using for our broadcasts between Augusta and Bangor. I could not afford to go out and buy the time, so it’s a huge factor for us.”

Brown estimates the cost of producing the entire high school schedule at approximately $7,000.

The first college game – Fisher College or the University of Maine-Augusta at Husson – will air Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The Husson vs. UM-Machias women’s game will follow at 9:30 p.m. Rich Nutter and Tom Winston will call the action.

Brown envisions other changes and expansion regarding the ISN and Husson broadcast arrangements. The most significant of those would be going to live broadcasts.

“We do have the capability of going live. All we need is a microwave transmitter,” Brown explained. “It’s just a matter of the extra cost of doing live games.”

A star is born

In an effort to inspire future sports reporters and teach them more about the industry, Fox Sports Net is launching its latest FanCaster program, in which students ages 13-18 are selected to participate in Boston Celtics broadcasts.

Starting Jan. 2, FSN New England will select a student to tape an on-camera introduction to that night’s Celtics “Heroes Among Us” presentation, during which the Celtics honor a community hero on the parquet floor. The student will also introduce that hero to game viewers on the air.

To enter this promotion, students interested in a media career must videotape themselves reading an audition script and sent it to FSNNE with an entry form. Both the script and entry form are available at the www.FSNNewengland.com web site. Entries and tapes labeled with the student’s age and personal/contact information should be sent to Fox Sports Net FanCaster, 42 Third Avenue, Burlington, MA, 01803. Materials can also be obtained by calling 781-270-7280.

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