The Urinal

[g-mann17]

Since we have seen an increase in coverage lately (thank you again Tom Gaffney) I am curious what everyone's opinion is on the impact that local media coverage can have on recruiting.I think it can have a tremendous impact, especially with the advent of the internet. If you are not from Summit, Medina, Portage, or Stark county and you get a letter from The University of Akron, you are probably looking up the school. When the only that comes up is the GoZips.com, Uakron.edu and Zipsnation.org, you have to wonder what kind of program is recruiting you. But when you do it and several legit media articles pop up, that have positive things to say about the growth of the athletics program, you probably end up with a good feeling about the program.Now I'm a proponent of bringing a network station back to Akron. How to do that I don't really know, but if you consider that the 4th rated news show in Cleveland would still be the 4th rated news show in Akron (and possibly the third since you would open yourself up to people concerned about local news like Canton, Ravenna, and Medina) how hard of a sell could it really be to bring one of those 4 network stations down here? Now 3 and 19 have prominent ties to Cleveland sports franchises. That leaves 5 and 8 (ABC and FOX) either of those would thrive as the lone network station in Akron. If we had major TV coverage, it would benefit recruiting as well. What is eveyone's opinion?

[Captain Kangaroo]

I don't think the Beacon has much effect of recruiting. Maybe if we were a Division 3 school that only recruited locally (I'm sure Terry Pluto's bust will one day appear in the Mount Union Hall of Fame). Relationships, facilities, curriculum, etc dwarf the impact of the local paper in D1 recruiting.The Beacon's biggest impact, IMO, is the image it conveys the general public. If the Beacon ignores UA, and beats the drum for OSU, like it or not that has a huge effect on people showing up on Zips game days. If the paper ignores you, and there's no local television coverage, and no local sports talk (except for Frenchy's 1 hour Monday extravaganza) no one knows what the hell's going on. Out of sight out of mind.And I'm not saying the Beacon needs to be a shill for UA. Having a local media that cares keeps people honest and on their toes.As far as TV coverage -- Akron people are Cleveland and Columbus wannabees. I think if the Columbus local news were broadcast in Akron it would get HUGE ratings. Unfortunately I don't think there's much interest in Akron news. You bring up an interesting idea in "stealing" a major network from Cleveland. If we got a "real" local TV station that was run like a first-class organization (not running infomercials and Gabby Hayes flics 24/7), MAYBE it could generate a following.

[RootforRoo44]

I don't think the Beacon has much effect of recruiting.

That's where i think you are wrong. Any recruit that does what was mentioned by the original poster and googles "Akron Zips" will get a wide variety of news articles (under google's "news" tab). And if you look down at those articles, many of them say "Akron Beacon Journal". To read a homer article like that certainly would do something for anyone anywhere around the country. The only problem is, this way of searching only would bring up the past few weeks or articles. If it were 2 months ago and you did this you would just get articles from the various opponents' home papers and websites. Also, I personally know that recruits do this because I myself only 4 years ago was being recruited by a few smaller schools in Ohio and the surrounding states. The first thing i did besides look at those teams rosters and where most of their players were from was google what news coverage i could find on them. Sure enough that did influence me a bit in my choosing of where to play baseball and i'm sure there are/were others like me. Just imagine the big time recruits who are expecting to become pro athletes someday. They know that such news coverage can bring notoriety to a school and perhaps pro scouts along with it.So let's hope the ABJ coverage keeps up and makes us look good. (btw i transferred to Akron after my freshman year and didn't continue my career here)

[skip-zip]

A couple of comments...g-mann.....to the best of my understanding, a local news station isn't suceeding here because of advertising revenue. It makes sense. With news stations in both Cleveland and Akron, potential advertisers will understandably jump on the Cleveland station, and Akron would get the leftovers. I'm pretty sure that's what it all boils down to, and it's a shame. We desperately need local public tv news. Captain, I think you capture most of the main reasons why out-of-town recruits choose Akron (facilities, coaches, etc.). But, don't discount the impact of having games on tv regionally and nationally. They can see us play while still in high school, increasing our exposure among potential recruits, and their hometown people can see them play once they get here. One such game that had a particular impact this year was the Can't game. That was on ESPN regional, and I was getting calls from friends several states away who were watching our game that day. We need as many of those kinds of opportunities as we can get. As far as good, local newspaper coverage is concerned....I think that has much more of an impact on fan interest than it does on local recruits. If you're a local high school football player, you have a pretty good picture of what Akron has to offer. But if you are a fan, who may have some interest in attending a game for the first time, the excitement generated through great newpaper coverage can make all the difference in the world.

[g-mann17]

g-mann.....to the best of my understanding, a local news station isn't suceeding here because of advertising revenue. It makes sense. With news stations in both Cleveland and Akron, potential advertisers will understandably jump on the Cleveland station, and Akron would get the leftovers. I'm pretty sure that's what it all boils down to, and it's a shame. We desperately need local public tv news.

Skip, you are right. A local news station isn't succeeding because of advertising. However, network affiliation drives advertising. The only network we ever had was competition for the Cleveland ABC affiliate. (and that was only during prime time). And when these stations go to sell time they show the network numbers not the news share. What I am saying is that Akron deserves one of the four network affiliates. Not a PAX news half hour. If your news rankings are the bottom of a market it's not going to hurt your station or the network to change news markets. The network would still be in the Cleveland TV market which encompasses all of Northeast Ohio. It's just finally the local news for that station would serve the million or so viewers that aren't in Cleveland or it's Suburbs.

[skip-zip]

g-mann....what you are saying makes sense. I don't know why nobody is trying to make this happen.

[Zipmeister]

g-mann....what you are saying makes sense. I don't know why nobody is trying to make this happen.

Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.

[RootforRoo44]

As far as good, local newspaper coverage is concerned....I think that has much more of an impact on fan interest than it does on local recruits. If you're a local high school football player, you have a pretty good picture of what Akron has to offer. But if you are a fan, who may have some interest in attending a game for the first time, the excitement generated through great newpaper coverage can make all the difference in the world.

and the more fans, the more money, and in the end more hype which helps draw those big recruits. Every little bit helps.