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Thousands of listeners tuned in for the 8th ISF World Jr. Men’s Championships at Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada on Ballparkradio.com. Listener logins showed more than 1000 listeners for each of Sunday’s medal games, and nearly 7000 total for the 12 broadcasts over four days. Listener “logins” do not reflect the grand total of listeners, as many families and neighbors gathered around one computer for the big event, as reflected in the hundreds of emails received by the broadcast crew of Kyle Smith and Jim Flanagan. Flanagan noted the listener totals for the final two games may have approached the several thousand fans in attendance at Whitehorse.
Ballparkradio broadcaster Kyle Smith had this to say:
“I can not even begin to wrap my head around the number of listeners who tuned in over the four days of broadcasting. This is absolutely tremendous for the game of fastpitch that was said to be in decline some years ago. This just goes to show that the game is alive and well. The thousands of fans in attendance at Whitehorse were joined by thousands more online. I want to thank each and every listener who tuned into www.ballparkradio.com. ”
Jim Flanagan added:
“Kyle and I were overwhelmed by the emails sent by listeners from all corners of the world. We received a ton of email from people in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina and the USA, as well as Europe and other parts of the world. If the volume of emails are any indication, I think all of Newfoundland was listening and rooting for Mike Noftall and Shane Boland. We received one from a former ISF Junior player who had played in the tournament back in 2001, and was listening from Israel. One loyal listener in Argentina expanded the audience by opening a chat room and translating the play-by-play into Spanish for non-English speaking fans so they could follow along. Another fan who wasn’t home to listen convinced her sister to hold the phone up to the speaker so she could listen while driving home. A junior player who was in Whitehorse, but flew home Sunday, raced home from the airport to listen to the final game. A group of umpires and fans at the ongoing Monkton tournament tuned in. A number of fastpitch associations or teams wrote to say they were following players that they coached or knew.
I especially enjoyed reading those from gatherings of family and friends — in some cases, grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, neighbors and friends, all sitting around the computer to follow the action — and their favorite player and team live. My only regret is that everyone doesn’t get to read all of the emails right along with us. It was like sitting in the bleachers and carrying on conversations with everyone there — knowing that they might be halfway around the world, but feeling like they were sitting right there with us. To see — and feel — that kind of interest in the game — was an amazing experience for Kyle and I.”
