Broadcasting students will host a live taping of The Sports Lounge from the Junction for Saturday’s football game against the University of Tennessee. Executive producer Michael Draper said the show will tape from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The show will be broadcast from the middle of the Junction, next to the alumni tent, Draper said. It will air every day for the next two weeks on MSTV-18 at 7 p.m.
The Sports Lounge is a student-run show that airs on MSTV. The show, started by senior Michael Draper and MSU graduate Mike Schatz, is now in its third semester.
Draper said the show began after he and Schatz attempted to start their own sports show. When their initial project did not work out, the two gathered students from several broadcasting classes and presented another sports show to the University Television Center.
“They liked it, and it’s been running ever since,” he said.
While the show covers both national and collegiate sports, its main purpose is to help create a better game day atmosphere and to promote Mississippi State athletics, Draper said.
“The main selling point I want is that our football team is a good football team and we need to create a winning atmosphere,” Draper said. “This is really for Mississippi State football and fans.”
Draper described the show as a mix of ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption” and Fox Sports’ “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” but The Sports Lounge show is going to be as unique and independent as possible.
Saturday’s show will be more similar to ESPN’s “College Gameday” because it will be recorded in the Junction rather than the studio, Draper said.
Karyn Brown, faculty adviser for The Sports Lounge, said the show is in the vein of everyday sports talk, arguing and debating over teams and other issues in sports.
“To me, the show is what many of us do every day when we talk sports,” she said.
The show has two hosts, Draper and junior communication major Vance McCullough.
Draper said two guests will be featured on Saturday’s episode: former MSU quarterback Wayne Madkin and WCBI sports anchor Derek Cody.
There will be a lot of fan interaction for the show, Draper said, including prizes and a question and answer time for fans.
Draper said the crew chose to broadcast the show from the Junction for the Tennessee game partly because of the anticipated crowd.
Brown said hosting the show in the Junction requires considerable planning and preparation.
“There’s only one show in the Junction because it’s a huge undertaking, but I know they [the crew] would love to do more,” she said.
It takes an incredible amount of time and effort to pull off the shows, Brown said.
“This is an all-student effort, every ounce of it,” she said. “It is the first all-student-run show at Mississippi State that has continued. The fact that it’s in its third season says a lot.”
Draper said the crew has spent extra time preparing for the upcoming episode.
“On average, we spend a good 24 to 36 hours [per week] working on a show,” Draper said.
Obtaining permission to broadcast from the Junction, getting items for the set and coming up with prizes were just a few of the additions that required the team to put more time into the show, Draper said.
Brown said the Sports Lounge received the 2007 Gold Award from the Mississippi Association of Broadcasters in the student division for program or series for its spring 2007 shows.