Award-Winning Ferris Sports Update TV Show Returns For 12th Season This Fall With Major Visibility

Big Rapids, Mich. - The award-winning Ferris Sports Update show, a popular Ferris State University television program, will begin its 12th season with major visibility as the show is slated to air again each week during the 2022-23 season with broadcast coverage throughout most of Michigan.

A half-hour interview show profiling Ferris State Athletics, the Ferris Sports Update program will air across most of Northern Michigan on Local Fox 32 each Thursday night at 10:30 p.m. (ET) throughout the year starting this week (Sept. 8). The show is produced by Ferris State University's Television and Digital Media Production (TDMP) students in partnership with the Bulldog Athletics Department. The first of 28 weekly episodes airs this week as yet another season unfolds.

This fall marks the 12th-straight season of the show and thus far a total of 298 episodes and nearly 900 total interview segments have been produced since the series' debut back in 2011. A year ago, the program earned second place overall for best talk/scripted show in the Michigan Association of Broadcasters (MAB) annual awards program.

The host of the show is FSU Associate Athletics Director for Communications Rob Bentley, who also serves as the radio voice for the Bulldogs and is in his 23rd year working for Ferris State Athletics. FSU Athletics Communications Associate Harrison Watt, who is the voice of Bulldog Hockey, is the alternate host.

"It's exciting to be part of the show again this year and it provides us with an excellent platform to showcase our coaches, student-athletes and teams," said Bentley. "It's hard to believe this will be the 12th season of the show, which offers tremendous visibility for Bulldog Athletics and is an important part of our multimedia and broadcasting efforts.

"Having the show continue to air this fall continues to be important as we try to keep our fans engaged and informed," he added. "We're appreciative of the great work by our Television and Digital Media Production program in making this show happen each year along with the outstanding support we have across campus from several areas in funding this initiative."

In addition, for the 11th-straight year, it will be offered on Comcast Channel 900 at various times throughout the week, including typically on Wednesday (5:30 pm), Thursday (2 & 8 pm) and Friday (3 pm). The airings begin this week on Comcast Channel 900, which is available to Comcast subscribers in the state of Michigan, including the metro Detroit and Grand Rapids areas.

The 30-minute program is taped and produced in a studio within the Interdisciplinary Resource Center (IRC) Building on the FSU campus. In addition to airing on Fox 32 and Comcast, the show is also accessible via the Grand Rapids Community College cable channel in the greater Grand Rapids market on Comcast 903 (digital) along with AT&T Uverse Channel 99. Additionally, it will also be aired locally on Ferris' Cable Television Channel at selected times throughout the week.

Along with the broadcast coverage, free live on-demand streaming of the show is available over the internet on a continuous basis at www.ferrisstate.tv. Segments of the show will also utilized via the official FSU Athletics website and multimedia portal at FerrisStateBulldogs.com along with various university social networking platforms, including YouTube.

Ferris Sports Update affords a unique opportunity for Bulldog fans to get information pertaining to Ferris State athletics while also providing insight from the respective FSU varsity athletic programs from its coaches, student-athletes and support staff. The show will include features on Ferris State student-athletes along with selected highlights from Bulldog Athletics events.

"I believe the collaboration we have with this program is a "win" for all areas in benefiting current students, attracting new students and representing student athletes and programs across many parts of Michigan and the Upper Peninsula," said faculty advisor and department chair Glen Okonoski. "Our students function as a team in the studio, fulfilling each role necessary to create the show, and there is added importance placed on their learning when they know their product will be seen by a wide audience.

"We hope fans will tune in and see the professional production and engaging stories that are told on a weekly basis," he added.

The students in the class producing the show are under the direction of Okonoski with assistance from engineer Bill Jung.

Funding for the show is made possible thru a joint effort between FSU Athletics, the Ferris State Admissions Department, University Advancement and Marketing along with the College of Business.