Longtime Cleveland sportscaster Bruce Drennan discusses his new sports talk show on SportsTime Ohio during a press conference Tuesday at the studios of WKYC. (West Life photo by Kevin Kelley)

SportsTime Ohio gears up to go 24-7 in second season
By Kevin Kelley
Sports
Published March 21, 2007

Last year, Jim Liberatore had only six weeks to get the Cleveland Indians new television network, SportsTime Ohio, up on the air. During that time, the Bay native had to negotiate agreements regarding carriage of the network with several cable and satellite companies as well as put together an announcing team and production crew.

Liberatore, the network’s president, succeeded on getting the network up before the first pitch. This year, he’s working on things he didn’t have time to even think about a year ago. Like putting the network on 24 hours a day.

“Even though we were on the air last year, I don’t even feel like we’ve started,” Liberatore said. “To me, April 1 is the start....We’re 24-7 and this is the start for us.”

Now Liberatore is concentrating on improving the Indians broadcasts and expanding the channel’s programming.

“The (Indians) telecasts are going to look completely different this year,” Liberatore told West Life. “From the talent, to the graphic look, to the different things we’re going to do during the game, because now we’ve had time to plan for it.”

Rick Manning and Matt Underwood will broadcast the games on STO. Mike Hegan moves exclusively to radio alongside Tom Hamilton. The contract of John Sanders was not renewed.

“We wanted people who were in the community who could also get involved with all of our ancillary Indians programming,” Liberatore said. “I think it’s a better chemistry, actually.”

Al Pawlowski will anchor an update desk to keep track of key Central Division games. And Jim Donovan will provide play-by-play for the 20 games carried on WKYC-TV. All other games except one, which falls into FOX Sport’s exclusive Saturday afternoon window, will be on STO. And all home games and all WKYC games will be broadcast in high definition.

A new graphics package will offer a crisper look to the games, Liberatore said. And a graphics company called Sports Media, which NBC Sports used on its Sunday Night NFL games to show close-up shots, will provide Tribe fans with binocular-like looks as close plays.

“We will have that zoom capability for close plays at a bag,” Liberatore said.

Plenty of new technology will allow the armchair manager to analyze the game. A batter’s “spray chart” will show where players tend to hit the ball. And an in-depth pitch tracker showing speed and location will be included in Tribe telecasts.

Tribe games will be rebroadcast during the overnight hours as well as the next day at noon.

Liberatore said the goal is to give Tribe fans information and insight they can’t get anywhere else.

“I think the productions are going to be more informative, more entertaining and more fun than they’ve ever been,” Liberatore said.

For example, manager Eric Wedge has agreed to provide special access, Liberatore said. “We told him we’d like to occasionally get ‘behind the curtain’ so to speak, and he’s agreeable to do things like that,” he said.

“All they have to do now is contend,” Liberatore joked. “We’ve got it all covered.”

Beyond the Tribe coverage, Liberatore wants the channel to reflect the viewpoint of the average fan at home.

The STO Web site will be a big part of the network’s relationship with the fans and eventually allow people to upload their own sports videos, Liberatore said.

Liberatore recalled the heyday of WMMS’ popularity in the 1970s to early 1990s in describing his vision of how he wants SportsTime Ohio to be perceived.

“It was the cool channel,” he said of the album rock radio station. “It was Cleveland’s channel. The Buzzard (logo) was one of the most recognizable bumper stickers out there. We would like to foster that exact kind of relationship where we are this region’s network.

“And chances are that you or a family member of a friend or someone has somehow participated with this network beyond just watching it,” he said. “You’ve been online. You’ve participated in a poll. You’ve sent your videos in. You’re on TV because you’re a high school athlete. We really want to touch as many people in Cleveland as we can.”

A 3 to 6 p.m. sports talk show — a “pre-pre-game show” for Tribe games —will be key to STO’s connection to the fans, Liberatore said. STO announced yesterday that longtime Cleveland sportscaster Bruce Drennan, who recently served a five-month prison sentence for filing false tax statements after not reporting sports gambling revenue, will be the host. The show’s title? “All Bets Are Off.”

STO is also planning an “American Idol”-style sportscaster talent search.

“There’s a ton of talented sports talk guys,” Liberatore said. “There’s just not many new Cleveland sports talk guys. So we want to find and identify a new one.”

Viewers will be involved and even be part of the voting. The winner will  get a paid daily talk show, Liberatore said.

“We want to be very heavily viewer interactive,” he said.

Another program being developed is “Ohio Top Ten,” a “Sports List”-style show reviewing the states 10 best trades, games, players and such.

Cleveland sports fans are know nationally for their loyalty, Liberatore said. Therefore STO’s focus will be on local sports.

“It’s all local. If it’s Ohio, it’s going to be us,” Liberatore said.

The network will expand its non-baseball programming with more high school sports; Cleveland Browns coverage; college sports including Ohio

State, John Carroll University and Youngstown State games; and more boxing and wrestling. And this summer STO plans to begin carrying games of Ohio minor league baseball teams.

Liberatore, who previously worked for the Madison Square Garden sports network and was president of SPEED Channel, said running a network that focuses solely on Cleveland sports fans is a great opportunity.

“We really want to deliver for the fans and do some great programming,” he said.

On the Web:

• SportsTime Ohio
• Press release announcing Bruce Drennan's new show
• Press release announcing STO Indians coverage

Previous West Life articles:

• Bay native to head up new Indians TV network (Feb. 22, 2006)
• Familiar voices to announce Tribe games in 2006 (March 1, 2006)