Southland TV Network Announces Football Broadcast Team
FRISCO, Texas -
The Southland Conference Television Network has announced its primary football
broadcast crew for its 2011 schedule of telecasts that begins Thursday night
with the Western Illinois at Sam Houston State game.
Randy
McIlvoy, sports director at KPRC-TV in Houston, will handle football
play-by-play duties this fall, and will be joined in the booth by color analyst
Shea Walker, a former Texas A&M standout and veteran broadcaster for the
last 17 years. Jane Slater, a reporter for WFAA-TV in Dallas, will serve as the
network's sideline reporter.
"We
are excited to have Randy, Shea and Jane join the Southland Network in 2011,"
league commissioner Tom Burnett said. "Each will add great expertise and
insight to the broadcasts, all have roots in the Southland Conference region,
and I believe our viewers will appreciate their work throughout the season
ahead."
McIlvoy,
an award-winning broadcaster and 1989 graduate of Sam Houston State, joined
KPRC as the sports director and anchor in 2004 after a successful six-year run
with Fox Sports Net Southwest. A Houston native, McIlvoy began his career with
stops in Port Arthur, Beaumont and Dallas before arriving at KPRC. While in
Dallas, he covered the Big 12 Conference, high school sports and every
professional team in the region as a lead anchor for Fox Sports Net's Southwest
Sports Report. McIlvoy is a three-time Emmy Award winner for top Sportscaster
in Texas in 2003, 2004 and 2010. He has also received the Texas Associated Press
Broadcasters Award for Best Sportscast four times.
During
his broadcasting career, Walker has traveled around the country as a color
commentator for Westwood One Radio's College Game of the Week. A native of Port
Arthur, Texas, Walker was a four-year letterman and starting wide receiver on
two Southwest Conference championship teams at Texas A&M and earned
honorable mention All-America honors as a senior. Walker has worked four Cotton
Bowls, five Sun Bowls and has also has provided commentary for Fox Sports
Network's coverage of college and high school games.
As
the network's sideline reporter, Slater is returning to her roots in sports.
She got her start at KYTX-TV in Tyler, Texas, and covered Texas high school
football and the Dallas Cowboys for the station. Slater, who hails from
Rowlett, Texas, and is a 2003 graduate of the University of Texas, also spent
three years as a news reporter and anchor at KMGH-TV in Denver before returning
to Texas to work as a freelance anchor and reporter for KTVT in Dallas. In
addition to her current work at WFAA, Slater also produces a travel show for
Southwest Airlines.
As
one of the nation's most innovative broadcast opportunities, the Southland TV
Network became a reality in 2008 and has broadcast nearly 100 events during its
first three years. The network has earned a College Sports Media Award (2009)
and an honorable mention (2010) at the College Sports Video Summit as well as
four prestigious Telly Awards. The network will deliver programming this fall
to a total of 21 markets, expanding its reach to a potential 10 million
television households.
This
list of Texas markets includes Abilene-Sweetwater on KTXS (12.3); Amarillo on
KCPN (19.2); Beaumont-Port Arthur on KUIL (43) and K-JAC (12.2); Corpus Christi
on KIII (3.2); Dallas-Fort Worth on WFAA (8.3); Houston on KUBE (57); Laredo on
KTXW (19); Lubbock on KUPT (29); Midland-Odessa on KWWT (30); Rio Grande Valley
on KRGV (5.3); San Antonio on KCWX (2); Tyler-Longview-Lufkin-Nacogdoches on
KYTX (19.2); and, Waco-Temple-Bryan on KCEN (6.2). The list of Louisiana
markets includes Baton Rouge on WBTR (41); Hammond on WSTY (23); Lafayette on
KLWB (50), Lake Charles on KVHP (29.2); Morgan City-Houma on KWBJ (22); and,
Shreveport-Texarkana on KPXJ (21). The network reaches the Little Rock-Pine
Bluff, Arkansas, market on KARZ (42).
Select
telecasts will also been shown on ESPN3. com, and all games will be next-day
tape delayed nationally on Fox College Sports.
2011 Southland
Conference Television Network Football Broadcast Schedule
|
Thu.,
Sept. 1
|
Western
Illinois at Sam Houston State
|
6
p.m.
|
|
|
Sat.,
Sept. 24
|
Northwestern
State at Nicholls State*
|
3
p.m.
|
|
|
Sat.,
Oct. 1
|
Lamar
at Southeastern Louisiana*
|
3
p.m.
|
|
|
Sat.,
Oct. 8
|
Sam
Houston State at Stephen F. Austin*#
|
2
p.m.
|
|
|
Sat.,
Oct. 15
|
McNeese
State at Central Arkansas*
|
3
p.m.
|
|
|
Sat.,
Oct. 22
|
Central
Arkansas at Lamar*
|
3
p.m.
|
|
|
Sat.,
Oct. 29
|
McNeese
State at Stephen F. Austin*
|
3
p.m.
|
|
|
Sat.,
Nov. 5
|
Central
Arkansas at Northwestern State*
|
3
p.m.
|
|
|
Sat.,
Nov. 12
|
Wild
Card Game*
|
3
p.m.
|
|
|
Thu.,
Nov. 17
|
Nicholls
State at Southeastern Louisiana*
|
7
p.m.
|
(on
Cox Sports Television)
|
|
Sat.,
Nov. 19
|
Wild
Card Game*
|
3
p.m.
|
|
All
times Central; Schedule subject to change; Check Soutlhand.org/Television for
latest schedule
and
affiliate list; *Southland Conference Game; #Reliant Stadium,
Houston, Texas; Wild Card games
will
be announced 7-10 days prior.
- www.Southland.org -