In this day and age, social media has taken over our lives. Lost are the days when people listen to the radio or even go to sporting events. It’s simply much more convenient to check your smart phone and get on with your life.
A sports writing at the College professor Keith Glock is integrating the two in order to make the process even easier.
Glock is the founder of The MIRE, which stands for Montgomery Internet Radio Experience, a program that broadcasts Montgomery High School in Pennsylvania sporting events where Glock is the guidance counselor, and will now be broadcasting basketball games for the College. It began when Glock was operating a blog while doing the PA system for Montgomery basketball games. He blogged for parents who were out of town and wanted to follow the games, but found it to be difficult and inefficient.
“Eventually I said, ‘There’s got to be a better way to do this,’” Glock said. “Parents were telling me they were there hitting the refresh button and just waiting for an update. There had to be a better way to do it live.”
As a solution, Glock decided to make The MIRE, but still felt like it could be improved because of the decline in radio usage and rise in computer and smart phone usage. Therefore, Glock has made The MIRE accessible for any PC or smart device.
“Who even has a radio anymore?” Glock questioned jokingly. “We feel like we’re more accessible given that you can access us on any PC or smart device that you have.”
Glock graduated from the College in 2003 with a degree in journalism. His senior year, he won the College’s journalism award at graduation. Between 2000-2006, he was a sports reporter for The Trenton Times, where he covered the Philadelphia Phillies.
He founded The MIRE in 2009, and after doing two seasons of basketball at Montgomery he branched out to the school’s football games. He will also be broadcasting Montgomery basketball this season, but is excited to expand to the College.
“I wanted to get involved with The College of New Jersey because I realized that ever since I was a student there, this is the kind of thing that TSR covers occasionally but not consistently,” Glock said. “I thought it was a logical spot because there’s nothing going on at TCNJ in broadcasting these games that’s accessible.”
Glock has a background in radio and does all of the play-by-play for The MIRE. Broadcast journalism is something he truly loves to do, which certainly makes The MIRE a better product.
“It’s fun for me. It’s something that I’ve always really enjoyed and probably wish I did a little more of in college. It kind of comes naturally to me,” Glock said. “Let me do something I really enjoy and if I’m going to put in extra time doing something, let me make it something that’s fun and this certainly is something that’s fun for me.”
However, Glock also realizes the importance in his product in terms of the actual broadcasting aspect. Regardless of convenience, he wants to make, The MIRE as entertaining as it can be to not only attract listeners, but also to keep them tuning in.
“One of the things I understand about doing things on the radio is that you want to have a product that people can get updates for and have real time information,” Glock said. “But if the broadcast isn’t listenable, people aren’t going to listen regardless.”
There has yet to be a profit made in The MIRE. Until Glock can make money from advertising, it will continue to be Glock doing the play-by-play and asking others that he knows who are good and have the time to do it. Glock truly wants to expand, and he knows the key to doing that is to get advertisers.
“I have a bunch of local businesses that I know TCNJ students frequent, so if you listen to The MIRE during games, you’re going to get some access to some deals to local eateries and local places that I know TCNJ students shop,” Glock said. “That’s all coming.”
In addition, Glock’s desire for helping others in the field of journalism goes beyond The MIRE. He wrote a blog for Montgomery Athletics called Glock’s Blogs, and uses it now to get students at Montgomery who are interested in journalism to cover sports and “get bylines.” He wants students to have active clips and experience for when they want to do internships, even if that is in the distant future for high school students.
For this basketball season at the College, The MIRE will be covering both men’s and women’s basketball games on Wednesdays for the double headers. It will be starting 30 minutes prior to the first game of the double headers.
This is the first step in what Glock hopes to be something special for the College’s athletics. Enabling people to listen to the games in an easy, enjoyable and efficient way is the ultimate goal, and one that certainly seems attainable.
“We want to have fun doing this and broadcast basketball games to people that might not always have a chance to be at the game,” Glock said. “Parents and students, we get them to stay connected because we know how busy they are in their lives being parents and students.”
