Week Three Hog Blog: Why wasn’t our school on the PPR?

Dear PPR,

It’s a common complaint – “Why didn’t you have a camera at Westview?”  “You didn’t show Hoover’s winning TD.” “Why don’t the small schools get as many highlights as the big schools?”

Every September parents, coaches, and fans voice a similar objection – that the Prep Pigskin Report is biased towards bigger schools at the expense of smaller schools.  “Equal time for all” is a popular request.

For starters, I acknowledge that your observations are spot on…at least for the time being. Especially in the early weeks of the season, the PPR is more concerned about getting a clean show on the air than with covering every game or staying late for the “game winning play.”

There is also the proliferation of schools to contend with.  There are simply more games to cover each and every week.  Silly me, I thought 30 camera crews would be enough.  This week we added more.  Once we get the “call-ups” up to speed, we’ll deploy them across the county.  In a couple weeks I predict we’ll be back to the blanket coverage that our reputation is based on.

As for school bias, it doesn’t exist. Sure, we pick the games that appeal to the widest possible audience.  But we also try to rotate schools that have to sit out from one week to the next.  It’s not an exact science, but I can assure you there is no favoritism involved.  We try to spread the “LOVE” as best we can all while featuring the “MUST COVER” games.

As Axl Rose sings, “All we need is just a little patience”.  Like any work force, we‘re still experimenting with our “Band of Pigs”.  Finding everybody’s strength takes a little time.  But this bunch of Red Jackets works hard, learns quickly, and is eager to earn your viewership and loyalty.

If this production was easy, everybody would be doing it.  The fact that it’s a challenge is what separates KUSI-TV from the herd. The PPR isn’t content just setting the bar as the gold standard in high school football coverage; we want to keep raising it higher and higher. That challenge resumes this Friday night, 10:30 pm, right here on KUSI-TV!

Hope you tune in,

Paul W. Rudy/ PPR