--------------

Not exactly DXCC, but still it was kinda, so I'll fill everybody in that they just might find to be an interesting, however not conventional, use of Amateur Television (ATV) as most of us think of today.  

Yes, that was indeed me at the forefront.  We had 3 cameras on the floor, one high up mid-court and a switcher all moved from the TV studio to Arkansas Tech's Tucker Coliseum.  I used my 10w ATV transmitter with a 4 element UHF beam pointed toward the CATV tower on Skyline Drive.  Had another 4 elements up there and brought it down to an ATV receiver and then to a VCR where I injected my video while a guy at the tower monitored the audio from the local AM radio station carrying the game that was also injected into the VCR.  I had to do it this way since I could not run the commercials on the ATV audio link.  We did have good game sounds from the Coliseum via the radio broadcast mics.  Back then thankfully, there were no advertising banners all over the Coliseum or on the court.  

During the commercial breaks, I had my switcher guy pop up a message about amateur radio and my callsign.  He would also put a "super" in the bottom right every few minutes with my callsign as well.  This all went out on the local cable channel 6 and in color.  I monitored the AM station and my own audio net in a pair of stereo headphones and would give the director and switcher the cue as to when the play-by-play was about to start back.  It was amazing that it actually worked.  The kids were great.  

Unfortunately, we did not put a tape in the old VHS VCR to document the event.  An oversight for sure.  We only had a few days, once the school decided to move the game to the Coliseum, to get it all pulled together and did not know if it would even be allowed until the AAA ruled that the school controlled broadcast rights for their games up until the playoffs.  Then we had to wait until about noon to see if it was a "sell out" before the school would authorize the TV broadcast.  At that point, the "advertising" blitz began on the radio station for the rest of the day.  And of course the play-by-play guy made sure Russellville residents that were listening were made aware that they could actually WATCH the game from home as well.  

I don't know how many folks watched, but probably hundreds due to the comments we received afterwards.  It was FUN.  It was our students first LIVE sports broadcast but at the time we were doing 3 or 4 live 15 minute news shows a week and one 30 minute entertainment show.  The big difference is that the game was NOT SCRIPTED and no run-throughs except for an afternoon of practice switching and camera movements.  There were some glitches, but overall nobody but us realized them.  

As always, I talk too much, but I don't think this has ever been really documented before.  It was a one of a kind event for me.  Thanks for sticking with me to the end.