Central boys fall on silent times

~ The Tigers' most recent games have not had radio broadcasts.

The Central boys basketball team is guaranteed to extend one streak tonight at Poplar Bluff regardless of the game's outcome.

For the fourth straight game, the Tigers won't be on the radio.

Central basketball, which has been broadcast locally for more than 20 years, is sharing time on KGIR-1220 this season with Notre Dame basketball.

The Tigers have not been broadcast in their last three games -- all at home, including the Jan. 20 homecoming game.

"It's disappointing when you think of the history that goes back before the time I've been in Cape Girardeau," said Central athletic director Mark Ruark. "For the 21 years I've been in Cape, the Zimmer Radio Group did all of our football and boys basketball with the exception of games that conflicted with Southeast Missouri State.

"It's disappointing to us and the number of fans who rely on the radio broadcasts to follow the Tigers."

Mississippi River Radio purchased the 17 stations, including KGIR-1220, in December 2003. Rust Communications, which owns the Southeast Missourian, has an investment in Mississippi River Radio.

Carla Lieble, general manager of River Radio's stations, said KGIR this season was presented with the opportunity to do both high school teams. In addition, the station began carrying broadcasts of the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team.

"It caused us problems we didn't know were going to happen," Lieble said. "It's been a real tough situation this year. We'd love to be able to have all Notre Dame and all Central, but there's not enough air time or people to do it."

Lieble said the stations have contracts with syndicated programming that sometimes do not allow those broadcasts to be pre-empted.

She was not aware of any contracts related to coverage of high school sports during the regular season that affect a station's decision on pre-empting broadcasts or exclude other stations from broadcasting games. The Missouri State High School Activities Association handles rights for state tournament games.

"We try to make sure we cover the bigger games," she said. "I have a son who plays high school sports so I know all games are important, and I understand the frustration.

"We're going to look at next year."

Central officials will welcome the dialogue.

Ruark said he did not hear from station officials about this season's developments.

"The only thing I've been told is that Notre Dame has some number of advertisers," Ruark said. "Nobody ever gave me an explanation.

"It's certainly a situation as athletic director I want to see corrected before next year. We want to make sure all football and basketball games will be broadcast on the radio. It's been such a long tradition, and it's something our fans deserve. Notre Dame and Jackson deserve to have their games broadcast, too.

"But our fans deserve to know they can count on a radio station to carry the games. We're going to try to rectify that."

Said Lieble: "That's our goal, too."