NEW YORK — Does local media still matter?
Who knew that the answer to this question would come while riding the F train from LaGuardia Airport to midtown Manhattan, by way of a first-time traveler to New York City who offers play-by-play of his local high school baseball team on the radio.
It was the Cincinnati Reds logo on the bright-red backpack that gave it away.
And, the accent, when he spoke to friends traveling with him.
This wasn’t a native New Yorker, yet he was able to assist a reporter in finding the MetroCard reader that would allow him to purchase a ticket for the swift Q70 train that connects to the speedy F train — resulting in a 45-minute trip from the airport everybody loves, LaGuardia.
A conversation was struck with Josh VanNorstran, who describes himself as an individual who loves the Lord, Family, Friends, Sports, playing music & watching his favorite ball players of all time — his boys — on Twitter.
VanNorstran resides in Corbin, Ky., a town along I-75 situated between Lexington and Knoxville. It’s on the edge of Appalachia, but not to far from London and Manchester — seriously.
Here, country music rules the radio, with a smattering of Hot ACs and a Classic Rocker thrown in for a little variety. It’s also a big market for religious programming.
Enter VanNorstran, the 14-year Director of Transportation for Corbin Independent Schools. He moonlights as the play-by-play announcer for the local high school’s baseball team.
The games air on WCTT-FM “T107,” a 50kw Class C2 station airing “Today’s Hits and Yesterday’s Favorites.”
WCTT-FM, along with WCTT-AM, are locally owned and operated by Encore Communications. That’s a broadcast arm of Eubanks Electrical Supply on South Main Street in Corbin, headed by husband and wife partnership Dallas and Betty Eubanks.
That’s about as local as one can get when it comes to radio.
VanNorstran talked about religious programming, in particular, and his love for it and how that can have a local connection, too. There is one local offering on the FM dial, at 92.3 MHz.
But, there is also WWLT-FM 103.1 in Manchester, Ky., an affiliate of the giant KLOVE network. VanNorstran spoke highly of KLOVE, but then switched the conversation back to local radio — and his love of high school baseball play-by-play.
This story, told on a Subway in New York, should be one told to every media buyer and media planner across Manhattan. It should be told on Nov. 21 at a symposium hosted by the Media Bureau of the FCC on the future of media ownership rules.
Radio is local. It always has been. It always will be … if we allow it to be.
The Eubanks family, and others like them, still play a vital role in the connective tissue of America’s communities, large and small. Their ownership of a local radio station should serve as a message to the captains of the broadcasting giants that they need look no further than a guy on the F train in Queens to consider that their past is their future.
Adam R Jacobson is the editor-in-chief of the Radio + Television Business Report. The New York native is based in Boca Raton, Fla.
