&Ae- (oats' ($aus&
PUBLICATION NO. USPS 707340 Published By WILDCAT NEWS COMPANY P.O.Box 7297 Lexington, Kentucky 40522 Second Class Postage Paid at Lexington, Kentucky 40511 and additional Mailing offices
Editor and Publisher
OSCAR L. COMBS Staff Writer
NICK NICHOLAS Staff Writer
TODD HALLUM
National Recruiting Columnist BOB GIBBONS Columnist LARRY VAUGHT Columnist BOB WATKINS
Columnist JIM GRIESCH Columnist MEL HOLBROOK
Columnist STAN TORGERSON Columnist DICKY SEAL Kentucky Basketball Recruiting RICK BOLUS Contributing Columnist
JAMIE VAUGHT Sport Hobby Columnist JACK MAIDEN Business Manager DONNA COMBS Composition Coordinator DON COFFEY Staff Photographer GARY CROMWELL Circulation Coordinator
WANDA HOOKER Crossword Puzzle Editor DAN KRUECKEBERG
Published Weekly: Sept. 14-April 12 Monthly: May. June. July, August
Advertising Representative WILDCAT NEWS COMPANY 2625 Regency Road Lexington, Kentucky 40503
Subscription Price $25.00 per year in USA $35.00 per year in Canada Phone:(606)278-3474
Postmaster: Send Address Changes to THE CATS' PAUSE.P.O. Box 7297. Lexington. Kentucky 40522
Statement From WAVG
(Following is a statement from Radio Station WAVG in Louisville concerning the UK basketball and football radio rights controversy. Two weeks ago, WHAS requested TCP to publish a statement concerning its position and last week, WAVG requested equal space. In accordance with our policy of fairness to all, we are publishing the following statement from Radio Station WAVG.)
All of us at WAVG-970 have been extremely pleased to have been a part of the University of Kentucky football and basketball broadcasts this season. Personally, it has truly been one of the highlights of my business career and of our ownership of WAVG.
In order to avoid any confusion let me first state that when you read the call letters of WAVG that was not a misprint. The call letters of the station were WAVE for 48 years, but due to an FCC regulation, when our company purchased WAVE Radio in 1981, we had to change the call letters and chose WAVG. Our station is a separate company from WAVE-TV3, but is a continuation of WAVE Radio, which has been on the air since 1933.
One of the questions which I get asked the most is what really happened between the Kentucky Network and WHAS? Obviously, it's no secret that the commitment which WHAS has had for UK has decreased dramatically over the last several years. In 1983, WHAS refused to carry the Jerry Claiborne Big Blue Line and we were asked at the last minute to air it, which we were glad to do. Anyone living in the Louisville area is aware that there has been very little promotion during the last several years by WHAS of UK outside of the station. In fact, the only billboards or buscards that I can remember that WHAS has done for UK over the last three years, mentioned both UK and the University of Louisville. In contrast, WHAS has done countless buscards and billboards exclusively for U of L. These are decisions that WHAS can't blame on the Kentucky Network or on UK officials.
Obviously I was not privy to all that happened between WHAS and the Kentucky Network. I have been told that WHAS ignored deadlines, stood up meetings and just basically pushed too hard a bargain. I do know that in previous years when WAVG approached the Kentucky Network we received a polite but cold shoulder due to a professional loyalty they had with WHAS. It seems to me that to go from that position to where the Network approached us, something had to have happened.
WHAS claims that they were forced to give U of L top priority. Even assuming for a moment that they were threatened with a lawsuit from U of L (which I honestly don't believe the U of L administration would have done) there is absolutely no reason WHAS had to give U of L priority for six years, since only two years remained on their U of L contract.
None of this is to say that the managers of WHAS are bad people. They're very competent at what they do and are professional broadcasters. Furthermore, I can't speak too badly about WHAS because my dad worked there in the 1940s and early 1950s. But it's just a plain fact that in recent years the University of Louisville has gained higher and higher priority on WHAS and UK has been delegated to a secondary position on the air and in promotion.
We were approached by the Kentucky Network in March, 1985, as to whether we would want to carry the UK games. My reply was that we weren't going to be coy and that we would love to have the games on WAVG. In fact, I told them if it would help to get UK on WAVG for me to lie down on the busiest expressway in Louisville at rush hour, just let me know where and when. (I was just kidding about this part and lucily they didn't take me up on it!) Seriously, I was born in Kentucky, grew up here and have lived in Kentucky my entire working career. My dad was an engineer on some of the UK games back in the 1950s. I have listened to the games and have been a fan of UK my entire life. So it was really a dream come true when we got the games on WAVG.
Would it hurt the University if WHAS was not on the network? WHAS is certainly not needed to cover the State of Kentucky since there are over 70 fine radio stations throughout the state that air the games. There is a need for UK to have a station with a more national signal, especially so that alumni throughout the country can hear the games. However, it is our understanding that WLW (a 50,000 watt clear channel station in Cincinnati) has agreed to carry the UK games on a live basis, starting next season. The signal of WLW is just as strong as WHAS and the live broadcasts of UK would be shifted to WAMZ. So, for approximately 30 to 50 percent of the UK games, the live broadcasts would not even be on WHAS should they be the University of Kentucky's station next season.
With the national coverage provided by WLW, the key question in the Louisville market becomes which radio station can do the best job of covering UK in our area. In the last five months,  WAVG has printed and  is still
distributing 250,000 schedule cards for football and basketball (if anyone would like one, just drop us a note). We have cards on the sides of buses going throughout Louisville promoting our coverage of UK and have given away UK/WAVG-970 t-shirts, done newspaper advertising and promoted UK extensively at the Kentucky State Fair. WAVG has also given aeway a lot of tickets to various UK games, has run a free bus to Lexington for the Midnight basketball practice and has given away the use of vans for going to the UK football games. These are just some of the promotions we have done on behalf of UK in the last few months.
On the air, WAVG is airing a daily Wildcats Sports Show, the Big Blue Line, all of the pre-and post-game shows, and, of course, Cawood Ledford and Ralph Hacker's call of the game. In addition, we carry the weekly Cats' Pause Sports Hot Line and the nightly Sports Call Show with Russ Small, which frequently is concerning the UK sports program. WAVG is always glad to air any public service announcements free of charge for the University and to air University produced programming that fits into our format. In summary, WAVG's commitment to UK is 100 percent.
Of real important to the University, our FM station, WLRS (LRS102), is the number one station in Louisville among people 12 to 34 years of age. This means the station could be very helpful to UK in reaching college students and prospective students and in marketing the academic as well as the athletic program in the Louisville area.
The big question now is obviously who will be broadcasting the UK games in the future in the Louisville area? There is so much politics involved it's hard, frankly to answer that question. In summary, here are our thoughts:
1. WLW will be providing national coverage for UK next season so the WHAS signal is not necessary to reach alumni.
2. WAVG will carry all of the games live, instead of bumping 30 to 50 percent to our FM station as WHAS will have to do.
3. WAVG and WLRS will definitely be the best stations to market and promote the University in the Louisville area. We will be promoting only one school, and that will be the University of Kentucky.
Signed,
Ed Henson, Jr.
President and General Manager Radio Station WAV970
Sky Walker On The Air