news coverage for wrestling events

[coyotewrestlingclub]

At the start of wrestling season i submitted a request to our local media station clarksvillenow.com. to cover the take down jamboree at northwest high since all the clarksville area schools would be there. when I got no response and no coverage i thought ok its preseason i am sure there was a more pressing championship golf match somewhere in town.

So after trying to get coverage for our second annual team tournament i still get no response or coverage so I send another request to find out not only why we cant get any love but why they currently have eight articles on the site about basketball and have not posted a thing about wrestling since Feb 2014. That finally got a response:

 

 

Richard

 

Thank you for your email. I am a one-man sports staff and we concentrate on basketball because were broadcast a pair of high school basketball games each week on 100.7 FM/540 AM ESPN Clarksville, so naturally we are going to have more basketball coverage. More people in this town follow basketball and we place a premium on basketball, similar to what we did during football season. And guess what? That's likely not to change. I am also coming off a four day stretch where I was off, so I wasn't in the office to cover anything. And I don't see any wrestling results in my email from this tournament. It's hard to write about something if no one submits results. Just saying.

 

Jimmy Trodglen

Sports Director

ESPN Clarksville/ESPNClarksville.com

 

[StreetFan]

This is pretty typical for news coverage of local events by local media outlets. Football and basketball will always be king (they are easy to do and they`re easy to sell advertising for), but media doesn`t realize the numbers tournaments like "Clash of the Creek" generates.

 

First I would send him the Championship results (and even write his article for him, would bet a dollar to a donut one of the main reasons there is no article the director doesn`t know anything about wrestling) and ask if he can get them up. Now you have done his work for him and it should be easy. There is no excuse and better late than never. If he doesn`t respond you have a really good parent base there and turn it over to them. The wrath of a bunch of moms should get his attention.

 

And last be sure to make him aware which school in Clarksville is hosting the Regionals this year and invite him. If he had been there for the last match of the day he would see why there should be news coverage of these events.

 

I think if you send him a write up of the event he will print it, if not you always have your ace in the hole, the Moms!

 

Dean Johnson

atwsportscast.com

[salterjd]

We added our local media contact to our media links under our team in track wrestling. After we enter our results on track he gets an email; the paper has done several articles on our team. It does this for you automatically as long as you enter your results. We actually score live so he gets the results the same day as our event. By the way this is free.

[deadlift]

Lots of politics involved in getting coverage in Clarksville. I believe I can get it when needed but it has taken years developing the right relationships. Slamfest is covered because it has always been covered and is probably on a yearly calendar for the media. District Championship matches are normally covered as well as Region and State. In the past you could get scores in by simply forwarding to the Leaf Chronicle Sports Editor. I even got a decent article about our youth tournament posted in ClarksvilleNow last year but it definitely helps to have friends providing the coverage.

[Sommers]

Leaf Chronicle also does an all area team in the Spring

 

As far as tournaments make sure invited media attend the finals nothing more other than a fine hospitality room meal (^_-)

Edited January 6, 2015 by Sommers