ScoresBroadcast describes shots heard around the world at Anna

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Last Wednesday at Anna High School, the 3-point basket by Wyatt Bensman with 12 seconds to go to tie the game and the 2-point basket by Justin Ahrens at the buzzer to win it were like “shots heard around the world” – literally. Thanks to ScoresBroadcast.com!

According to Todd VanTassel, CEO and VP for Technology at Christian NetCast in Virginia, the online listening audience for that thrilling Anna-Versailles boys basketball game was a regular season, single game record for ScoresBroadcast.com in its dozen-year history.

VanTassel’s firm performs the hosting and serving for ScoresBroadcast. He said that “more than 1600 IP addresses” joined the down-to-the-wire Versailles victory for most of the fourth quarter. He added that listeners from the United States and Europe, including Florida, Arizona, New York, and California along with the countries of France and Spain, listened to parts of the online webcast.

“We’re certainly not limited by geography,” said Jack Kramer, play-by-play announcer, noting he received emails after the webcast from both inside and outside the US. “That’s the beauty of the Internet. Our service can be local and even international.”

Descriptions of the late field goals by the two Anna and Versailles sharpshooters were heard with great clarity around the globe on the live webcast, as both buckets captured the imagination of world wide listeners.

“The ScoresBroadcast digital format offers an intelligible and unobstructed, crystal clear sound for online users no matter where they happen to be,” VanTassel stated. “Last Wednesday’s live stream originating at the Anna gymnasium was a perfect example.”

SCORES stands for the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System. Annually, it webcasts more than 100 sports contests involving schools in Shelby County and in the Midwest Athletic Conference.

The webcasts frequently attract local people who are traveling or vacationing, former area folks who have left the region, high school graduates away at college, and local business men and women on the road completing work for their west central Ohio firms.

Kramer said that Wednesday’s enormous listenership was somewhat of a surprise given the ScoresBroadcast.com website didn’t promote the webcast until the day of the contest.

But the high school fans’ increasingly popular game time search on the web for a good hoops battle and the 12-1 combined record of the two clubs captured a large audience and made it stick. It then grew quickly throughout the night as the two teams, and Ahrens and Bensman, traded baskets.

Plus, a late start to the varsity tilt enabled those who attended other area games to get hooked on SCORES for the Tigers-Rockets photo finish.

“The contest remained nip ‘n tuck and was highlighted by excellent offense and even better defense,” said Chuck McBee, Kramer’s webcast partner. “Anna and Versailles will be lofty D-III tourney seeds and could meet again. We simply had to cover round one.”

It almost didn’t happen, however.

“Our family holiday schedules were making it challenging to webcast the important games in late December,” Kramer said.

In addition, Kramer said he “ran out to the end of the driveway to meet FedEx” on Wednesday afternoon to receive a critical delivery— a major technical component that takes two or more audio signals from the SCORES webcast, merges them together, and provides a single output signal.

“No upgraded audio mixer, no webcast,” he said. “FedEx came through and the Rockets and the Tigers delivered, too.”

To kick off 2018, SCORES covers the Delphos St. John’s-Minster girls game on Thursday, January 4, and the Russia-Fort Loramie boys and girls games on Friday night, Jan. 5 and Saturday afternoon, Jan. 6.

The free online streaming service supported by local business and industry was conceived in November 2007 by Kramer and former Shelby County resident Jeff Bray. SCORES launches its twelfth calendar year as the new year begins.

Enormous audience in multiple states and countries enjoyed the Bensman, Ahrens air show

Staff report

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