Like a villain in a movie who just won’t die …
OK, maybe that’s a bit much.
How about this?
Like a seasoned quarterback who keeps playing because he’s still got it, the voice of McKenzie Stadium will be back this season.
Ron Soanka announced Thursday that he and his team of broadcasters will indeed call every football game at McKenzie Stadium this season.
Portland Sports Beat, a television show that promotes high school and other amateur sports in the metropolitan area, will carry the audio broadcasts live on its website: www.portlandsportsbeat.com
Soanka, the play-by-play man, and his commentators, Rodney Lawrence and Dan O’Dell, had been calling games the past two seasons for Sunny 1550 AM. When the radio station cancelled the broadcast this summer because of a lack of sponsorship, Soanka was contacted by Ryan Johnson, the founder of Portland Sports Beat.
“It was very, very refreshing,” Soanka said. “He has the same passion that I have for doing high school sports and knowing the importance of it. This isn’t somebody who is going to be around for a couple of months. He’s here to stay. He’s committed.”
Soanka said the plan is for each live broadcast to be archived, giving fans the opportunity to listen at their convenience.
This is the latest twist in the ever-changing world of broadcasting amateur sports in the region. KVAN (1550 AM) broadcast high school football in Clark County for years before ending its broadcasts in 2002.
For the next eight years, Soanka, among others, provided internet-based broadcasts with various sites. Then Sunny 1550 AM brought the broadcasts back over the air in the fall of 2011.
For years, Carl Click of KATU-TV and a longtime Vancouver resident has broadcast Clark County teams in road football and basketball playoff games over the internet.
Soanka said Portland Sports Beat will carry all football games at McKenzie Stadium this year, including playoff games, if there are any. The stadium is home to Evergreen, Heritage, and Union in the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League, and to Mountain View in the 3A GSHL.
The stadium will host two games each Friday night during the regular season, starting Sept. 6 with Columbia River vs. Heritage at 5 p.m. and Union vs. Mountain View at 8 p.m.
