teetoppz28 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 30, 2025 12:46 pm
... Anyone familiar with WMPL ... ? Just curious, as it seemed incredibly chaotic.
...
@fairbankshockeypuck Note I'm trying to alert Fairbanks to my following thought too, since it's a college hockey fact. (Does the use of the @ sign do that in this software?) Maybe if I do this:
fairbankshockeypuck wrote:
For those that know my past, and why I have the statman nickname, in my college days at Ferris State, I worked for the SID (SID = Sports Information Director). Doing mostly official box score statistics, and post game media calls (newspapers, TV stations, etc.).
One of my tasks at home hockey games was to get the out-of-town scores during intermissions and game end, for the public address announcer, and radio crews (both home and away).
Mind you, this was pre-Internet. But there was a method to get such scores.
It was to phone the WMPL studio! They were the nationwide clearinghouse for college hockey scores.
I would call in with our score, and then ask for the other CCHA scores. Or if it was a slow night in the CCHA, then also the WCHA and perhaps other top 10 games.
Of note is that their professionalism was fantastic. They provided this service for all U.S scores. They weren't homers just for Michigan Tech, which was in the WCHA and thus not the same conference as Ferris at that time. My guess is that they had a clipboard pad with that evening's games on it, and they kept scratching or erasing the previous score when someone like me phoned in with an update. Likely wasn't even a computer spreadsheet in those days.
To conclude the thought of how I phoned TV stations, John McGowan at WWTV = TV 9 & 10 really appreciated the cadence we developed where I would get the final scores before phoning him. That way I'd provide all the results he'd put on his score graphic and in his script for the 11 o'clock telecast. Given the cable coverage, he'd want LSSU, NMU, and I think Tech results. I still feel bad that I forgot to call him one evening...not that he ever mentioned it subsequently. Mind you I was a teenager and thought it was cool to be on first name basis with someone on TV. Then again, I had swim lessons with at least one of his children when growing up in Cadillac. Honestly, we never met in person to where I introduced myself.
So it's because of college hockey scores that I'm familiar with WMPL. Reading about the morning show of late reminded me how simple they've apparently remained. ~~ Cheers! Statmanmi
