Indians expand video production program for students, funded by new rights agreement
From left to right: Oskaloosa News’s Ken Allsup, Ginger Allsup, KIIC’s Joe Milledge, OHS’s Kim Gile, and MCG’s Steve Burnt.
On Monday, August 5th the Oskaloosa School Board voted to award the video broadcast rights of Oskaloosa School activities to the newly formed Indians Network partnership of Mahaska Communication Group (MCG), Oskaloosa News and Thunder Country KIIC radio.
According to Steve Burnett of MCG, the partnership was formed specifically to continue to provide educational opportunities for the students enrolled in the Oskaloosa Video Program (OVP) while providing funding to the Oskaloosa High School Activities department.
The agreement states that MCG, Oskaloosa News, and KIIC Radio partnered together to purchase the rights for $10,002 for the 2019-20 school year, and more funding could be made available if needed for the Video Program or the activities department. The Video Program will begin to collaborate with William Penn University, to enhance learning opportunities for both high school and college students, making it win-win for both institutions.
Oskaloosa High School students will be involved in all aspects of video production in order to produce live sporting events, and school activities like prom and graduation. According to the agreement, football, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, soccer, baseball and softball will be broadcast live on MCG Channel 7, streamed live from all partner websites, and be available on demand from each website. The lead broadcaster will be Oskaloosa’s own Jamie Brockman who has been calling play by play for Oskaloosa News and KIIC in previous seasons.
Oskaloosa Video Production (OVP) students will run cameras, provide play-by-play and color, direct programming, and handle editing and even advertising sales, according to school and partnership officials. The business community can invest in the school program by advertising on the programming the students are producing. Ads will be on MCG Channel 7, and the digital platforms of Oskaloosa News, KIIC and MCG.
“Each partner brings something to the table, which is why the thought ‘a team approach’ was the best path forward for the school,” said Steve Burnett of MCG who lead the partnership initiative.
KIIC’s Owner, Joe Milledge added, “This partnership brings together ‘The Power of 3’ benefiting both the student program and local businesses who want to be a part of the wide audience reached across our respective platforms .”
Oskaloosa News’ Ken Allsup said, “Each media company has been doing its own thing, and local businesses get called on by 3 different groups…this partnership will allow us to focus our attention on the Oskaloosa Video Program while giving Indians fans more and easier access to student-led content.”
About the Partners:
KIIC radio is locally owned by Oskaloosa resident Joe Milledge. KIIC is sports-focused, providing streaming broadcasts for 9 local area schools, many don’t have full-time radio stations covering them. In 2018 KIIC began working with Oskaloosa News to provide an alternative broadcast option for Indians fans. In 2017, Learfield Sports asked KIIC to produce its State-wide Iowa High School Scoreboard show which is carried on some 30 radio signals in the state during Friday Nights in the fall.
Oskaloosa News is owned by Ginger and Ken Allsup; they have been serving the area since 2010 with news and sports coverage. Oskaloosa News has partnered with entities such as William Penn and CRI helping students develop their skills in communications. Oskaloosa News has one of the largest social media presences in Southeast Iowa and has thousands of visitors every day to their website.
MCG is a local communication and Internet company that has been instrumental in helping develop the current Oskaloosa Video Production program. MCG continues to provide opportunities for OHS students to intern with our Creative Video Department and currently have two William Penn students, Osky High School graduates, as interns. MCG currently provides Internet, TV and voice services to over 5,000 customers in Oskaloosa, New Sharon, Cedar, Eddyville, Montezuma, Lake Ponderosa, Beacon, Indianola, and Lake Keomah.
