Southeastern Channel sportscast named one of nation's best
Wednesday, September 6, 2017 
by: Tonya Lowentritt
STUDENT SPORTSCAST HONORED NATIONALLY- The Southeastern Channel’s student sportscast “The Big Game” was recently honored as one of the top four student sportscasts in the nation at the Ninth Annual College Sports Media Awards in Atlanta, Ga. Shown from left are Southeastern Channel General Manager and Executive Producer Rick Settoon, and “Big Game” sportscasters Dylan Domangue of Houma, John Sartori of Mandeville, Richie Solares of New Orleans, Freddie Rosario of Luling, and Jordan Rheams of Baton Rouge.
HAMMOND – “The Big Game,” a sportscast that airs on Southeastern Louisiana University’s
Southeastern Channel, was named one of the top four student-produced sportscasts in
the nation at the ninth annual College Sports Media Awards ceremony in Atlanta, Ga.
The weekly studio sportscast won national finalist recognition out of 400 entries
from across the country in the “Collegiate Student” category for “Outstanding Live
Non-Game Production.”
The competition was judged and sponsored by the Sports Video Group (SVG) along with
the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). Host for the
awards ceremony was ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi.
The Southeastern Channel was the only finalist in any category from any university
in Louisiana or the Southland Conference.
“What a phenomenal honor for our student sportscast to be selected as one of
the best in the nation in only our first year of entering this national competition,”
said Southeastern Channel General Manager Rick Settoon. “Our students working on the
show are talented, creative and dedicated, and they’re very deserving of this recognition.”
“It’s surreal to have the Big Game named one of the top four student sportscasts
in the country,” said student co-producer, anchor and reporter Freddie Rosario of
Luling. “When making the show in the week-to-week grind, you never really think about
winning an award. You’re just worried about making a great show and creating something
that people will want to watch.”
“It’s prestigious for many reasons,” said John Sartori of Mandeville, the show’s
co-producer, anchor and reporter. “We’re a smaller university competing against the
largest major universities in the nation. So to be able to put ourselves on the map
in this fashion means a lot.”
Settoon created “The Big Game” 15 years ago in the very first year of the Southeastern
Channel as his first original student show. He wanted to feed the local viewer passion
for sports and provide all of Southeastern athletics with weekly television exposure
that it wasn’t getting anywhere else.
“’The Big Game’ is modeled after ESPN’s ‘SportsCenter,’” Settoon said. “It mirrors
the current sports TV industry’s emphasis on entertainment value, as well as sports
information. The show offers a greater variety of segments for viewers and opportunities
for student sportscasters. Students need this type of training to enter the current
sports television market.”
Studio anchors deliver unscripted, spontaneous game highlights with personality
and fan emotion. They also conduct studio interviews with Southeastern players and
coaches, and they offer their opinions on the hottest sports topics and Southeastern
teams in a “Pick and Roll” segment fashioned after ESPN’s “Around the Horn” and “Pardon
the Interruption.”
The students wrap up each sportscast by delivering sports editorials they’ve
written. This year the show will add a fantasy sports segment for the hosts. Students
man all crew positions in the studio and control room.
The show also provides students the opportunity to cover professional sports
teams like the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans, traveling to the Mercedez-Benz Superdome
and Smoothie King Center to interview the pro stars.
“The training I’ve received at the Southeastern Channel has given me the tools
to write and develop a video package about sporting events,” Rosario said. “Getting
to go to the games and record from the sidelines and speak to the coaches and players
after the game is a great learning experience for what we will be doing in our future
careers.”
“You are immediately thrust into a legitimate operation writing and shooting
your own stories, recording your own voiceovers,” Sartori said. “It gives you an idea
of what a career in sports broadcasting will be before you go out into the real world.”
Former anchors and reporters for “The Big Game” have been hired as sportscasters
at television stations from Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Alexandria and Monroe to Gulfport,
Ms. and Myrtle Beach, S.C. They’ve been hired by networks such as ESPN3, Fox Sports,
Cox Regional Sports, Southland Conference Sports TV, Sun Belt Conference, Conference
USA and the American Sports Network.
The sportscast won a student Emmy in 2005 and two Emmy nominations in 2011. It
has won multiple videographer awards and “Mark of Excellence” awards from the Society
of Professional Journalists.
“The Big Game” airs weekly at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays; 12 noon on Fridays; 7 a.m.
on Saturdays; and 12 noon on Sundays on the Southeastern Channel on Charter Cable
199. The live stream and archived episodes can be seen at thesoutheasternchannel.com.
