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The History of the Bobcat Broadcast Booster Club
By Ralph Wray, Chief Broadcaster

About ten years ago I received a call from a friend, Jim Pyzik, inquiring if I was interested in broadcasting the Picket County High School games. Of course I was interested. Having played a lot of basketball during my younger years I was delighted. Robert Huddleston for, HRN Cable Channel 10 and Donnie Cox, owner of local station WSBI were looking for someone.

So we started. My first goal was to find someone to assist me in the broadcasts. Initially, I even had Luke Dykas, after a referral from Donnie Cox, help out when doing a broadcast from White County. Luke, as many of you know is probably the best referee in the state.

We then located a couple of great people, “high pockets” Bob Nummery and Johnny Sells to assist us. Both did great jobs and Johnny is still working with us.

After a couple of years, Donnie sold WSBI and is now a meteorologist working out of Bristol.

What are we to do? The high school kids deserve these broadcasts as well as the community. Well we looked at it and decided to step up and see what we could come up with. So we did.

In observing those first two years, we concluded that with a couple of changes we could be successful. First was to change the ad fee structure for our advertisers and to cut some of our costs. We did both and it has worked out for us. Taking total responsibility was a large step. We would do all the broadcasts, sell the ads and pay the bills. It has worked out well. So we then formed a non-profit called Bobcat Booster Club.

We have many returning sponsors who are he pillars of our community and we thank them. Most recently we have added Delaine Hill Cross, a former Lady Bobcat to our broadcasting team. And, as you might expect, is a hit with the Lady Bobcats. We are most appreciative of our sponsors and the great help we get from the replacement for WSBI, WANY out of Albany at 100.9 stereo FM for our rebroadcasts. We have had many outstanding student athletes over the years, and will have many more in the future, they are too numerous to name. And, besides, I would overlook someone if I tried to name them.