With four radio stations, two Internet sites and Charter Channel 18 on the Colonel Sports radio package, the Nicholls athletic department is excited with the opportunity to expand its sports coverage across south Louisiana.
Last week, the Colonel Sports radio network added KTIB 640 AM to its radio package. KTIB, based in Thibodaux, joins KBZE 105.9 FM on the Colonels radio network covering the 2003 football season.
With the addition of KTIB, the Colonels radio network can now reach the cities of Thibodaux, Houma, Baton Rouge, Kenner, Metairie, Marrero, Raceland, Larose, Galliano, Morgan City, Bayou Vista, Franklin, Jeanerette, New Iberia, Donaldsonville, Plaquemine, Baker, Zachary and Port Allen. Several parts of Breaux Bridge, Lafayette, Covington, Hammond and New Orleans can also listen to Colonel Sports on the radio.
The four radio stations have a total of 61,500 watts, with KRLZ representing 50,000 of the total.
Rob Bernardi, Nicholls athletic director, thinks the thought of the entire southeastern portion of Louisiana listening to Colonel athletics on the radio.
“That is real exciting for us because we now have people in New Orleans and people way down in the bayou who can now hear the Colonels on the radio. It just creates a whole new market of people who comes to our games,” Bernardi said.
Gary Gallup, associate athletic director for external relations and the “Voice of the Colonels,” agrees with Bernardi and said the new radio agreement adds lots of benefits to the Colonel Sports radio network.
“We are always looking to expand our radio network because that gives the fans out there the opportunity to hear Colonel sports, and that also gives us an opportunity to attract more advertisers. For instance, when we got KRLZ and its 50,000 watts, we were able to pick up a lot more advertisers down in Houma because people can hear the games. That gives us an opportunity to make some additional dollars,” Gallup said.
“When you get in your car and you start to punching those knobs, you are going to find Colonel sports on there. You can get LSU almost on any station, but now you would be able to get the Colonels on at least four stations on the radio in your car, and that is very exciting.”
With the radio package expanding from one radio station four years ago to seven outlets today, Bernardi said the Colonel sports radio network would focus on improving the television broadcast of Colonels athletics. The only television station that broadcast Colonels sports is H-TV television station based in Houma.
“Honestly, with respect to the media, we have done a real good job with our radio. I am pleased with it, and now hopefully we will start concentrating a little bit more on television. For us, that is an area that we really would like to work with down the road with H-TV or some local cable operator. We will try to increase television broadcast to all of our games,” Bernardi said.
Bernardi hopes to make the television package of Colonel sports profitable just like the radio network.
“I don’t think you would find a Division I-AA football league school that has a better radio network and is more profitable than ours. I think we have done a really good job with it, and I would like to take that and the philosophies that we use on the radio and turn that over into television. Not only make it profitable, which I think we can do, but also distribute it across south Louisiana,” Bernardi said.
Listeners also can go to Colonels Sports on the Internet by logging onto http://kbze.com or http://krlzfm.com. Gallup said he has received many responses regarding the Internet broadcast.
“One of the reasons we got the young basketball player Kieran Gleeson from Australia was because he could hear the games on the Internet,” Gallup said.
“I received an e-mail from one of our baseball player’s moms who listened to our games in Holland. So Colonel sports is starting to get publicized out there.”
This season, Gallup will return for his third season in his role as “Voice of the Colonels.” He will cover football, men and women’s basketball, baseball and softball on the radio networks.
In his radio background, Gallup has broadcast professional sports from the Green Bay Packers to the Milwaukee Brewers to collegiate teams like the University of New Orleans to the University of Texas-El Paso.
Bernardi said Gallup has done a tremendous job making the game exciting as “Voice of the Colonels.”
“People need to read Gary’s biography and realize what he has done. He has an incredible resume of accomplishments, and it shows by the product that we put out there that he is very good,” Bernardi said.
Gallup said from all his responsibilities as associate athletic director of external relations to Colonel Club president, his job as “Voice of the Colonels” is the most fun.
“That is the really fun part of my job. It is a fun thing to be around the kids, and its fun because you get to go to all the games,” Gallup said.