Last night, my former play-by-play partner, Dan Roche, was hosting a
discussion on WRKO's SportsCall about whether college hockey gets
slighted in the Boston media.  Dan was pointing out that the BC hoop
team's trip to the regional finals was getting all the press and the
hockey tourney was virtually ignored, even though the area had 5 teams
competing out of the 12.  He asked why the three major Boston tv
stations were not planning to send any reporters to cover the Final
Four in St Paul even with Harvard and BU in it, while they are sending
reporters to hoop's Final Four in Charlotte even after BC was
eliminated.  And, why was Mass Lowell almost ignored completely after
their best season ever and near trip to St Paul.
 
These were all good points, especially when Boston is supposed to be
such a hockey hotbed.
 
The panel (actually only Gerry Callahan, I believe) suggested that
rather than the media slighting college hockey, they only report what
they believe the consumers want to hear.  Ed Harding of WCVB-TV5 (I
like this guy) came on and backed that up.  Harding said that the
sports department at WCVB is constantly conducting random surveys
throughout New England and one of the questions they ask is, "List 10
sports topics you want to see on our newscasts."  Harding went on to
say that college hockey never, ever makes the top 10.
 
As well, Harding and Callahan both agreed that what people want to
see, they get.  An example was the showing of 6 of the 8 games from
the regionals on local tv this past weekend.  Enough people called up
and asked for it, that the games were shown.  So the power of the
consumer still exists in this case.
 
But I think the "top 10" results point out just where things stand
right now.  In general, what you want is what you get - however, that
doesn't mean that because each of us is a big college hockey fan or
knows a lot of big fans, that we're going to get swamped with
coverage.  Like it or not, the majority of the consumers of tv news,
sports pages, etc. do NOT want to see college hockey or at the least
they just do not care.
 
But things are better than they were just a couple of years ago.  As I
said, the Boston area got 6 of the 8 regional games shown on tv - and
5 of those 6 were live.  In 1993, we got just 2, and in 1992, a big
fat goose egg even though Providence hosted the East Regionals.
 
NESN showed the championship game from each of the four conferences
this season and last season.  Before 1993, it was impossible to see
all four games without a dish.
 
And WHDH-TV7 gave the scores of almost all major college games
involving Boston area DivI teams (also Lowell, UNH, Merrimack, etc.)
on its nightly 11 pm newscasts, along with lots of highlights - and
not just of games that were on tv.  Channel 7 gets my vote for best
and most consistent coverage of the game in the Boston area this year.
On the other end, WBZ-TV4 often seemed not to know any games were even
being played throughout most of the season.
 
So things are getting better.  The pendulum won't shift 180 degrees
overnight.  Keep supporting coverage and let your local tv station,
newspaper, etc. know if you approve or disapprove.  But also be
realistic.
 
The funny thing is that if/when college hockey gets big in this
country, many longtime fans will suddenly shun it because it will no
longer be that best-kept secret in American sports that we often hear
about.  I certainly think part of the attraction of college hockey to
some is that it is NOT well known.
 
BTW, I guess you could call me a semi-member of the media because of
my work on Merrimack games, and I have become very, very aware of the
way hockey gets ignored even in the Boston area.  I believe we did a
total of 11 games (of 37) on the radio this season, which is pitiful.  The
commercial station that I worked for covering Merrimack games gives its
priority to high school sports.  Coverage of HS sports is important, but
I believe Merrimack needs a station that will make the program its top
priority (whether it be this station or another).  I lost track of the
number of times people asked me when the next game was going to be on,
because the haphazard schedule made it impossible for people to know.
 
People need to know that every game is going to be on - and this is what
Lowell's Bob Ellis does.  Of course, it also helps to have someone in
charge of the decision who is a friend of hockey, as Ellis is.  Our
station has a sports director who has a well known hate for hockey.
(The director used to be Roche, under whom hockey coverage was at
least very good, but he has moved up in the world to the Boston stations.)
Some call him the Eddie Andelman of the Merrimack Valley - Andelman is a
hugely successful Boston radio sports talk show host who never ceases
to make fun of hockey.  Something I will never forget was when Merrimack
coach Ron Anderson agreed to go on the station's local sports talk show
one Saturday morning 3 or 4 years ago to promote the team, and in the
middle of a sentence he was cut off by the host (same sports director)
because "we have the coach of the Methuen High School girls volleyball
team on the line!"
 
I'd better stop now, before I really fly off the handle.  But please
consider my earlier points.  Things are getting better, so be happy
about that - but don't hesitate to keep nudging them along in your own
way.  And to fans at other schools, be happy you don't have to deal
with the hassle and rigamarole we have had to go through just to get
11 games on the air this past season at Merrimack.  (btw, this is my
offseason project, to solve this problem once and for all.)
---                                                                 ---
Mike Machnik                                          [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                  *HMM* 11/13/93