Images, Shutterstock and Union City Schools, designed by TTR
By: Mike Hutchens, Union City Schools Communications Director
Union City High School has agreed to an exclusive contract with Forever Communications to have all of its football and basketball games live-streamed during the 2022-23 school year.
The broadcast agreement will include every home and road contest in both sports.
Video live streaming will occur on Froggy 99.3’s website (www.radionwtn.com) and on the station’s Facebook and YouTube pages. John Thornton and Jordan Taylor will provide audio play-by-play and color for the games.
Forever Communicators representative Jared Mims approached UC Director of Schools Wes Kennedy and Athletic Director Jacob Cross to partner in the venture that will provide coverage of the two programs for those unable to attend or fans/alumni who live in other regions.
There will be no charges for the services.
“For us, that was a big factor,” Kennedy said. “With other such video streaming and broadcasts, there are subscription fees, and it can become rather costly for that grandparent or other family member who lives away from here and wants to follow how our teams are doing in live-time. This version provides that free.”
The Forever group owns and operates several stations in Tennessee and has previous livestreaming experience in Kentucky. The company is also adding Henry County High School Athletics to the service this year.
“We’re excited to add and provide video live streaming for Union City High School football and basketball,” Mims claimed. “This is the wave of the future, and Golden Tornado sports is on the cutting edge of a growing industry.
“We’ll be using some Union City students as behind-the-scenes employees, too. We truly believe it’s a win-win partnership for both Froggy 99.3 and Union City Schools.”
Cross said he expects large in-person crowds to still attend all Tornado contests.
“In no way is this meant to encourage people to stay away from coming to the games in person,” the UCHS Principal said. “There is truly no experience like the in-person experience of high school football and basketball games.
“It’s more for our many proud graduates who live away from the area and for those occasions when local fans can’t make it to a particular game because of travel distance. More than anything, it’s another way we can highlight and promote our student-athletes and the many other great things we have going on at Union City Schools.”
Union City will open its 2022 football season Friday night with a trip to Lake County.