Published: August 01, 2009 11:05 pm         

Larry Fleming: NW, CHS find homes on the dial

The 2009 high school football season signals a new day on the local radio air waves, and the two schools involved are happy with their deals.

Northwest Whitfield has left Dalton’s WBLJ 1230-AM and shifted to 93.1 WOCE-FM, which is licensed out of Benton, Tenn., with its studio in Cleveland, Tenn. The station will broadcast home and away games, as did WBLJ. Stephen Gregg is scheduled to do the play-by-play on 93.1 — it’s his 11th season to do the Bruins’ games — and Chris Shiflett will provide the analysis for the fourth season.

WBLJ won’t be without prep football this fall though.

Christian Heritage, continuing to make strides in validating its football program, has stepped in and bought the Friday night time slot at WBLJ and will sell its own advertisements.

“There has always been a good underlying demand for Northwest broadcasts in terms of sponsorship,” said Gregg, whose broadcast career goes back 20-plus years to his days in Alabama. “This new FM signal gives us a broadcast range many times larger than WBLJ. It’s a range that will cover all of Whitfield County.”

Gregg said potential listeners found it almost impossible to pick up WBLJ when it switched to a weaker after-sundown frequency.

Gregg said the response from sponsors has “been overwhelming.” There are “many more” sponsors on board at this time than past seasons, he said.

“I come back to this, but we’re going to be reaching a lot more people and that’s the most important thing about our switch,” Gregg said.

Gregg said the ownership of Dalton radio stations also owns WOCE, which is known around the area as 93.1 Jack-FM.

Northwest opens the 2009 season at home against rival Southeast on Aug. 28.

As for Christian Heritage, which is coming off a Georgia Football League state championship, athletic director Chad Woodson said having the school’s game on radio will provide even more exposure for the Lions, who just recently completed a project to add lights to their stadium.

“It’s going to be a good way for us to get more exposure for our football program,” Woodson said. “And this is coming on the heels of us installing lights at the stadium. We’ve worked on getting the radio deal throughout the summer. They approached us with the opportunity and we wanted to see what we could make happen.”

The Lions, who went 12-0 and defeated the Crown Knights, 33-7, for the 2008 GFL state championship, opens their season on the road against Dominion Christian on Sept. 4.

Christian Heritage has played its home games on Saturday the past few years, but with lights in place, they will play all their regular games on Friday night this season.

Chris Bateman, who teaches Bible, serves as the school’s chaplain and was the interim athletic director prior to Woodson’s arrival from South Carolina in November 2007, will handle the play-by-play duties this season.

“It’s exciting for our kids to have the same opportunity as kids at other schools have,” Woodson said. “We’re taking the next step with our radio deal.”

There’s one more new twist to the Lions’ season. The GFL has decided to change its name to the Glory for Christ (GFC) football league.

� The St. Louis Cardinals optioned Daltonian Mitchell Boggs back to Triple-A Memphis on Saturday, just hours after he pitched against Houston on Friday night. Boggs threw 99 pitches, 44 of them balls, while walking five and striking out five in five innings and left trailing Houston, 2-1.

An Associated Press report on Friday’s game noted that Boggs has allowed 20 hits and 12 walks in 13 2/3 innings yet has kept the Cardinals in the game by allowing only five runs.

The Cardinals made the move with Boggs so shortstop Khalil Greene could be added to the active roster.

Larry Fleming is sports editor at The Daily Citizen. You can write to him at [email protected]

     

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