WQAQ’s ‘island’ forms new sports media organization
September 23, 2010
After mumblings of a separation last year, the Quinnipiac Bobcats Sports Network has broken off from WQAQ and is the newest approved student media organization at Quinnipiac. The sports broadcasting group without an antenna covers Quinnipiac athletics and is supported by the University’s official athletics website.
The organization, co-directed by senior broadcast journalism majors Alex Birsh and Corey Hersch, broadcasts on a Quinnipiac-hosted stream online and allows students with a specific interest in sports media to put their skills to the test.
It wasn’t a hard breakup, however, as WQAQ General Manager Mike Farrell said the sports department was considered an “island off of WQAQ.”
“It had a huge membership, but not everyone who was a part of the sports department was really active in any other departments,” Farrell said. “We were all for it in that respect because it would kind of weed out some people who were a part of the organization, but really just members of the sports department.”
Hersch and graduate Jamie Palatini, last year’s directors of WQAQ’s sports department, came up with the idea of splitting off last semester, and last year’s WQAQ general manager Eric Berman supported the separation.
Palatini, in his last semester at Quinnipiac, realized there wasn’t a need to be connected with the school’s radio station.
“We were a part of a very good organization in WQAQ, but we felt we could certainly thrive as our own organization,” Palatini said. “We deserved to be our own organization because there was so much interest. It opened the doors for us to have more opportunities.”
Birsh agreed.
“It was pretty simple to part ways,” Birsh said. “It was really smooth and we always thank the radio station for that.”
WQAQ simplified QBSN’s transition by purchasing a second audio box. This allows for two games to be covered at the same time with enhanced broadcasting features such as commercials and audio level adjustments.
Birsh and Hersch haven’t run into any major obstacles forming their own group, due in large part to the support of Quinnipiac athletics.
“The athletics here at Quinnipiac have always treated us really well,” Birsh said. “The fact that we are now having our own Quinnipiac Bobcats Sports Network–-the athletics were all for that and even more so.”
The 30-student organization isn’t solely for broadcast journalism majors interested in sports, as it offers a public relations department and a sports blog that features articles and photographs produced by the students.
“At the Involvement Fair, so many ears perked up because kids just want to broadcast, write about or take pictures of sports,” Birsh said. “We advertise ourselves as a full sports media department – not just a broadcasting department – and that allowed us to get more members.”
The organization covers all teams at Quinnipiac except for the tennis, cross country and acrobatics and tumbling teams. Birsh says there are talks of covering tennis for the first time this spring.
Like every organization, the bigger it gets the more opportunities there are for sub-departments to form. In QBSN’s case, Birsh envisions having a director for each sport one day.
The group currently stores its equipment in WQAQ’s closet, but Birsh said his organization is hoping to have its own office by the end of this semester or the next.
QBSN meets every Wednesday night at 9:15 in SC 213.
-Photo courtesy QBSN
Greg Chatzinoff • Sep 24, 2010 at 1:44 am
I hear Birsh always believes girls are hitting on him… even when they aren’t.
Caleb Gindl • Sep 22, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Bring back Eric Berman.
Hypocritical • Sep 22, 2010 at 2:51 pm
“It had a huge membership, but not everyone who was a part of the sports department was really active in any other departments,” Farrell said. “We were all for it in that respect because it would kind of weed out some people who were a part of the organization, but really just members of the sports department.”
To my knowledge, WQAQ requires their members to be involved in one department. If that student was a member of the sports department, in addition to having a radio show, who was being “weeded out?” Why were they any less important than a student who is a member of the, say, music department who also had a radio show?
Responder • Sep 24, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Hypocritical –
In response to your comment, they weren’t “less important,” it’s just that the sports department really had very little to do with the rest of the station. People had sports radio shows and joined the sports department, but that grew to become a separate entity. The rest of the radio station focused on things like music, events, promotions, production, etc. All of the departments functioned as a unit except for the sports department, which really ran itself as an entirely different unit.
There are absolutely no hard feelings about the split, and both organizations are thriving now more than ever because they are not holding each other back.
WQAQ still tries to stay involved with many people in the QBSN, and it still has just as many sports radio shows as it did in the past. The difference is that WQAQ is a music radio station, not a sports station, and the sports department was growing to the point where the radio station was actually becoming more about sports than it was about music. So the split made a lot of sense in that regard.
It’s not that WQAQ thinks they were less important. It’s just that the sports department had different goals than the rest of WQAQ, and the split was best for both parties.
Responder • Sep 24, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Also, if you read the article closely, it mentions that the sports department manager last year (Jamie Palatini) was actually the one who came up with the idea. So there was never any discrimination against the sports department, and they were never “kicked out” of WQAQ.
Hypocritical • Sep 24, 2010 at 2:11 pm
@Responder
You don’t have to patronize me, I’m well aware of who came up with the idea, and I’m not sure who you’re quoting when you say that they weren’t “kicked out” of WQAQ. I didn’t say that.
All I was asking (and still am asking, since you never actually answered my question) is why members of the sports department needed to be “weeded out.” Maybe I’m arguing semantics, but again, what was the difference in someone being a member of the sports department as opposed to music or promotions, etc? Both were members of the radio station at the time, am I right?
Hypocritical • Sep 24, 2010 at 2:20 pm
I get the split and I understand how it helped everyone involved. I just feel that the term “weeded out” discredits what the sports department/QBSN did/does, as if they weren’t an important part of the success of WQAQ.
Responder • Sep 24, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Perhaps “weeded out” was a bad choice of words, but what it means is that we are looking for members who are looking to better the radio station as a whole and really be involved. Most of the sports department members never came to general staff meetings (though some did and were great about it, the numbers were limited to about 2 or 3). Most sports department members did not help out at events. In fact, many other managers of the station probably couldn’t have even recognized some of the most avid sports department members simply because they generally never showed up to anything other than the sports department’s meetings.
Again, I don’t think “weeded out” was the right term, but you get what I’m saying. And I’m not trying to “patronize” you, and there really is no need for hostility. I’m just trying to clear up any sort of misunderstandings or negative reactions you may have about this.
Responder • Sep 24, 2010 at 2:33 pm
So in addition, I apologize if anything I said sounded similar to belittlement in any sort of way. That was not my intent, I just wanted to make sure you understood that sports department members did not go unrecognized or undervalued, they simply had different goals than the rest of the radio station.
Secret Admirer • Sep 22, 2010 at 10:36 am
Corey Hersch is so sexy.