By Paige Ordway -- Eagle Staff Writer
As the athletes lace up their cleats and don their shoulder pads, a group of Franklin County High School students are behind the scenes running wires, checking cameras, and preparing to broadcast to www.crunchmvp.com.
In search of a well-run local sports broadcast, Crunch MVP turned to the Franklin County High School TV Production program to do so.
“It had first begun when Mike Bell, program director at WDBJ-7-My19, came up with the idea, because the station that carried the games had to give it up for other programming. Mike had worked with Ken Kilinski who was in charge of students who were involved in broadcasting and production” commented “Play by Play" director Dave Ross.
After Kilinski's departure, Ross chose to continue the program with FC's new media teacher Kevin Plaster. Students in TV Production 2 and 3 are eligible to become members of the Crunch crew. These students have heightened expectations on them to be professional and keep the show running, but Plaster indicated he's very happy with the work being done by his crew.
Students at Crunch use their 3 cameras to pre-record each football game, it gets edited the night of and posted the next morning.
“I am incredibly proud of the job they do and every week we do it. It's like we win every football game [because] every week we have a product to send out,” Plaster shared.
Crunch crew members enjoy the experience, too. “I think my favorite part is making memories with people I work with, watching the games and being able to put out film for other people to watch the game,” added junior Cody Spicer.
FC has been working with Crunch for more than 15 years under different outlets. It originally started on CBS before moving to FOX Sports. Eight years ago the program was officially switched to Crunch MVP.
FC students have been very appreciative of their opportunities to work under Dave Ross and Crunch MVP.
“I think that learning how to do everything...learning how to work with a team and also learning how to do everything with cameras. It gets you out of your comfort zone with certain things you do and Crunch is just great!” exclaimed Spicer.
Both Ross and Plaster are set to continue the legacy of the football broadcast for years to come.