Ferris Sports Update To Air On Fox 32

Big Rapids, Mich. - A popular Ferris State University television program, Ferris Sports Update, will have increased visibility throughout the 2011-12 athletics season.

Ferris Sports Update, which is a half-hour interview show profiling Ferris State Athletics, will air across most of Northern Michigan on Fox 32 each Thursday night at 10:30 p.m. (ET) throughout the year. 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 27 weekly episodes airs tomorrow night (Sept. 15) and will feature Bulldog head coaches Jeff Pierce (football), Matt Kellogg (soccer) and Steve Picucci (cross country).

The host of the show is current FSU Athletics Communications Director Rob Bentley, who also serves as a local radio voice for the Bulldogs and is in his 12th year working for Ferris State Athletics.  He's hosted a similar show and online segments produced by the TDMP program the last few years.

"I'm excited about the opportunity to help showcase our coaches, student-athletes and teams to a wider audience," said Bentley.  "This offers tremendous visibility for Bulldog Athletics and is an important part of our multimedia and broadcasting efforts."

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, plans are currently underway to make the show accessible via the Grand Rapids Community College cable channel in the greater Grand Rapids market and it will also be aired locally on Ferris' Cable Television Channel at selected times throughout the week (see times below).

In addition, free live on-demand streaming of the show will be 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 www.FerrisStateBulldogs.com along with various university social networking platforms.

"Producing Ferris Sports Update and broadcasting it on Fox 32 presents a tremendous applied learning experience for students in the Television and Digital Media Production program," said faculty advisor and department chair Glen Okonoski.  "They 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.

"Partnering with athletics in the creation of each episode, and leveraging student learning in this way, allows the University to deliver a show it probably couldn't produce otherwise," he added.

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.

The students in the class producing the show are under the direction of Okonoski with assistance from faculty professor Fred Wyman, engineer Pat Tobin along with streaming media professor Connie Morcom. Ferris Media Production faculty member Steve Cox coordinates the airing of the show on Ferris Cable.

Ferris Sports Update will also air locally via Ferris' Cable Television Channel (22 or 97) at the following times this fall:

Monday - 10 p.m.
Tuesday - 7 p.m.
Wednesday - 7:30 p.m.
Thursday - 10:30 p.m.
Friday - 10 p.m.

(All times are Eastern)