Courtesy the Indianapolis Star

(October 7, 2010) All that Horizon Christian School athletic director Keith Meyers knew about broadcasting high school athletics 10 months ago was that it had to beat washing dishes.

Using a netbook computer, two microphones, a mixer board, a compact disc player and a Verizon connection, the crew of Meyers (color commentary), Bill Ludlow (play-by-play), Rich Cassady (executive producer) and Mike Edgecomb (game producer) created the Internet-based Horizon Christian Sports Network for the Lawrence-based school.

They've spent their fall Friday nights looking over high school football fields instead of a sink of dirty dishes.

"The hot dogs are great, and hanging out with these guys on Friday nights is pretty cool," Meyers said. "If I was not doing this, I'd be washing dishes. We're a bunch of guys that love sports, love people and love that kids get to play."

That passion for high school sports is obvious as the men spend a 20-minute interview laughing with -- and at -- each other. Topics range from whether Indianapolis Colts' play-by-play Bob Lamey or Meyers is better looking, the discount Verizon representative Damon King should provide on the service if it's mentioned in a newspaper article, and Meyers' plan to turn HCSN into the next ESPN.

It began in January when Horizon Christian School was interested in broadcasting some of its games, but the cost ranged from $185 to $200 per contest, according to Meyers. So he contacted King at Verizon, they determined the company's broadband service could handle the broadcasts and www.hcsnradio.com was created.

They have broadcast more than 50 baseball, basketball, football, softball and volleyball games so far, primarily from Horizon and Scecina but an expanded schedule is planned for the winter season.

Meyers wanted to focus on Class A, 2A and 3A Indiana High School Athletic Association programs -- in addition to Horizon's games -- because they tend to get less media exposure. He knew Scecina athletic director Jason Kehrer and, with the school's proximity on the Eastside, asked if he was interested in having HCSN broadcast some of its games.

The network charges less than $100 per game, soliciting sponsors and producing commercials and pregame shows at the school.

"We covered the regional finals for the Christian schools -- and a grandmother in Florida who had not seen her granddaughter play for three years logs on, hears her granddaughter's name, calls the mother crying and thanking us," Meyers said.

"There was a brother (of a player) working in Chile who was able to listen to his brother in the conference finals, (and) he e-mailed us and says, 'You guys sound good. Can't wait to get home.' "

The initial network plan has been so successful that HCSN is looking into developing microsystems that will allow it to cover multiple games.

It has rights from the IHSAA to broadcast state tournament games in football, basketball, baseball and softball and already has lined up a schedule including 22 teams stretching from Madison to Delphi. The site at www.hcsnradio.com has had more than 15,000 hits since it started in January.

"If we can grow as big as ESPN and do it inexpensively, we will," Meyers said.

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