Southeastern Channel game broadcast one of nation's best
Monday, October 1, 2018 
by: Tonya Lowentritt
FOURTH IN THE NATION - Color analyst Wesley Boone (left) of Alexandria and play-by-play man John Sartori of Mandeville were students who played a key role in the Southeastern Channel placing fourth in the nation for student “Television Sports Event Production” with an Award of Excellence given by the Broadcast Education Association at its 2018 Festival of Media Arts competition in Las Vegas recently. The channel won for its Dec. 14, 2017, men’s basketball game broadcast of Southeastern vs. Southern University of New Orleans.
HAMMOND – The live, student-produced broadcast of a Southeastern Louisiana University
basketball game has been honored as fourth best in the nation.
The Southeastern Channel’s production and live broadcast of the Southeastern
vs. Southern University of New Orleans men’s basketball game on Dec. 14, 2017, won
the Award of Excellence for student “Television Sports Event Production” at the Broadcast
Education Association’s 2018 Festival of Media Arts in Las Vegas recently.
The winning broadcast was one of 14 produced by the 15-man student crew during
the past year, including Lions’ football, soccer, baseball, softball, and men’s and
women’s basketball games. Plans are to add volleyball to the mix this fall. The Southeastern
Channel is scheduled to produce and air the Lions’ Homecoming football game Oct. 13,
along with the Hall of Fame game Oct. 20.
The all-student production featured John Sartori of Mandeville as play-by-play
announcer with Wesley Boone of Alexandria as color commentator. Dylan Domangue of
Houma was the courtside reporter while Freddie Rosario of Hahnville was both director
and technical director.
Other student crew members were Andrew Scherer of New Orleans, Tyler Guidroz
of Ponchatoula, Jordan Rheams of Baton Rouge, Courtney Bruno of New Orleans, Richie
Solares of New Orleans, Tyler Rogers of Hammond, Alexander Castro of Hammond, Schuylar
Ramsey of Springfield, Zechariah Cameron of Baton Rouge, Taylor Sharp of Walker, Blair
Joseph of New Orleans and Adam Cortez of El Paso, Tex.
“We’re one of the very few college television stations in the entire country
where students are able to do play-by-play announcing, color commentating, sideline
reporting and live event directing for Division One sports events,” said Southeastern
Channel General Manager Rick Settoon. “So it’s an even greater honor for our students
to have the quality of their work recognized by industry executives and professionals
as among the very best in the nation.”
BEA judges wrote on the entry score sheet, “This is a solid broadcast. The announcers
are good, young announcers. The directing was solid. I loved the graphics; they were
clean and easy to read. The game cameras did an excellent job of following the play-by-play
and were framed just right for normal coverage. Overall, really nice production and
very well done.”
“Personally, play-by-play announcing before arriving at the Southeastern Channel
was a dream, a bucket-list item,” said Sartori. “But here I am, having the opportunity
to live out a dream multiple times a year at the Division 1 level, which is something
no student takes for granted. We understand some individuals never reach this point
in their career at any stage, and we are being given this opportunity before we reach
the age of 25.”
“The experience is priceless,” said Boone. “It’s a situation for those who have
always had an interest in the field to have that first-hand encounter with how professional
broadcasts are put together. The experience is second-to-none, nationwide.”
Settoon said the students’ quality of work has led to a rarity for student productions-
their broadcasts airing on national sports networks. The channel broadcasts stream
live on the Southland Digital Network and airs on Cox Sports Television (CST) for
5.5 million viewers.
“Every aspect of Southeastern Channel live productions is high quality,” said
Southland Conference Associate Commissioner for Television and New Media Chris Mycoskie.
“From the announcers, to the camera work, to the graphics, we’ve been impressed. The
ability to simulcast those broadcasts on the Southland Digital Network gives us some
great programming and allows fans to watch the games on our website and apps.”
“The students at the Southeastern Channel do a great job of putting on a game
broadcast,” said CST Executive Producer Jeff Brenner, producer of CST games for the
last 15 years. “It’s not often that a completely run student game from the announcers
to the camera operators looks so professional. These are skills that take years to
develop, and the Southeastern Channel has the students well prepared to join the working
world right out of college.”
The Southeastern Channel has won 17 Emmys in the past 15 years and can be seen
on Charter Spectrum 199 in Tangipahoa, St. Tammany, Livingston and St. Helena parishes
and viewed online via live webcast at thesoutheasternchannel.com.
