About
INTRODUCTION
Lone Star Gridiron began in 2004 with Chris Doelle’s passion for football and new media that has grown explosively over the last four years. With program host Chris Doelle, also known as “The Bandit”, and his long-time friend and high school football teammate, co-host “Mighty” Mike Wright, Texas high school football was finally covered statewide by two guys who have played it, love it and live to tell the inside story every week. Since that time, the coverage has grown from one midweek show and a “game of the week” to weekly audio shows and videocasts and up to a dozen bonus games across the state each and every week.
Recognition of Lone Star Gridiron’s expertise in coverage and predictions has grown along with their audience. In June 2006 their show was ranked on Yahoo PODCASTS as number 13 out of 30,000 podcasts. During the season, Dave Campbell’s Texas Football and a host of other media outlets use Lone Star Gridiron’s content on their Web site each week. Of those who predict the winners of 1A through 5A and six-man football in Texas, Lone Star Gridiron consistently proves correct in who they say will come out on top. In the last four years, Lone Star Gridiron has grown from Texas high school football podcasting pioneers to a respected and accurate source for high school football information across the state.
With growth comes change. Lone Star Gridiron starts the 2008 season with a larger staff, new Web site, an expanded number of shows recorded live at the games and the addition of a weekly videocast so you can see as well as hear the action.
THE AUDIENCE
Three target groups listen to Lone Star Gridiron across the state, and all three love high school football for both personal and professional reasons:
- FANS — These are the guys who just love the sport. They have played it, their best buddies have played alongside them, and they listen for the pure pleasure and nostalgia of the game.
- THE PLAYERS, THEIR PARENTS & RELATIVES — They want to hear a recap of the game with their player’s name mentioned, listen when they can’t make the game and hear about the competition. They want to hear the “shout-out” purchased from the Booster Club for their favorite player. Even mom will listen.
- COACHES — It’s difficult for coaches to cover enough games to gather the information they need on the competition. Lone Star Gridiron is their resource for statewide high school information in their division.
THE SHOWS
Lone Star Gridiron covers Texas high school football across the state every week with audio podcasts and video podcasts. The main weekly podcast and videocast cover the highlights of the best games across the state with coach interviews, best plays and players, current trends and predictions. These shows cover it all. Fan-submitted videos are welcome additions to the Web site and are encouraged. Live bonus audio podcast shows are produced by experts on their local teams. The calendar for Bonus Show podcasts can be seen by clicking the calendar link on the Lone Star Gridiron Web site.
With the Bonus Show the audience gets total local coverage of the game, the players and the coaches.
WHY ADVERTISE IN A PODCAST?
- Podcasting defined (short version): the technology used to push audio content from Web sites down to consumers of that content; they typically listen to it, at their convenience, on their iPods or other audio players that support mp3
- Arbitron/Edison Media Research’s latest report, in April 2008, on the podcast audience shows a growth of 38% for audio podcasts in the last year, and a growth of 45% for video podcasts. But the best part of this research in support of why you should advertise in a podcast is included in the following analysis by Edison’s Tom Webster:
• Podcasting is a viable alternative means to target attractive consumers who are otherwise proving difficult to reach with traditional advertising. Consumers who go through the process of selecting a program, downloading it and moving it to a portable device are exhibiting an increased level of engagement with the programs and hosts of the shows they select. This engagement may translate to an increased credibility and level of trust in the show’s sponsors and advertisers.
• Podcast consumers are extremely attractive advertising targets, though difficult to reach via traditional interruption models. Podcast users are far more likely to have attained at least a college degree, and are also more likely to live in households earning in excess of $75,000 per year, than Americans who have not consumed podcasts. Furthermore, Americans who have watched or listened to a podcast are more frequent online shoppers and spend more money online than other Americans. Podcast listeners and viewers are also far more likely to block pop-up ads, SPAM, and use non-traditional means to view TV.
Current research on the podcasting consumer confirms that podcast listeners are smart people who can afford not to listen to advertisements. Podcast listeners tend to be people who can afford cable and TiVo, so they are harder to reach with television ads; they’ve got iPods, so they are harder to reach with radio ads; and they get their news from the Internet, so they are harder to reach with print ads. But they don’t need an iPod: With the number of wireless devices ready for RSS feed in addition to laptops and desktop computers, a podcast is available anywhere, anytime, any device and any service.
