Alpha Media Sports Providing Video & Audio Coverage Of Fort Dodge District Wrestling

Fort Dodge Senior High will again host the 3A District Wrestling Tournament, this year that tournament is Saturday February 13th. While radio coverage of postseason wrestling for Fort Dodge is a tradition with Fort Dodge based radio stations, this year their will be an added bonus in coverage. The radio call of the action will air on “92 Rock” 92.1 on the FM dial and here on our website beginning at Noon on Feb. 13th. This year live video stream coverage will be available through the Facebook pages of the News Dept. and “92 Rock” .

Alpha Media Fort Dodge Sports Director Rob Jones said ” We are incredibly excited about this opportunity. This will be our first foray into this type of live video coverage and I can’t think of a better event to launch with. People here in the area love the sport of wrestling and we want to provide all the forms of coverage we can to enhance that experience. Coach Thompson, his staff and the wrestlers at Fort Dodge make up a great program and give the people a product they can be proud of. We aim to showcase that product and adding video streaming to the District Tournament give us a way to enhance coverage of a great product. With Covid-19 playing a factor in attendance during this season and expected less available attendance than in previous years, we felt video coverage was a much needed added facet. While this is new for us, we look forward to taking on this challenge. Our GM Jed Burns and OM Darren Helton have believed in this from the start and been all in from the get go. Their investment  is certainly a vote of confidence and something I am on board with fully”.

Fort Dodge wrestlers will have the chance to qualify for State on the 13th and Alpha Media Sports will have it covered on both ends. KC Meiners will provide play-by-play commentary and Mike Szalat will be the color analyst for the coverage. Jones said “KC has a wrestling background, he’s covered Iowa Central wrestling on their streaming network. He’s a young broadcaster who did some wrestling coverage for us last year. He has also worked with us in other sports and has shown progress in the time he has been on the air. Mike Szalat is a guy who people in the area know, he is a multi-sport coach at St. Edmond. He has vast knowledge of various sports, wrestling being one. He is comfortable on the mic as we have had him on the air in various capacities and he knows how to deliver his insight. I have full confidence in these guys and I think they will provide a tremendous soundtrack to this event”.

“We had to form a new pairing to cover Dodger Wrestling in the postseason this year after Woody Wolfe and broadcast partner Sonny Rivera were unable to cover it for us. Those two provided coverage of the Fort Dodge District and State Wrestling last year and had been doing so for some time prior to my tenure here. So, we then had to find a new tandem for this event. Other wrestling announce teams that work with us were already committed to working the 1A Districts on the 13th, so my mind immediately turned to KC and Mike as the tandem for this opportunity. I think the pairing of two guys from different generations that both understand the nuances of the sport and can relay them, I believe that will make for a tremendous product” said, Jones.

Darren Helton, Operations Manager with Alpha Media Fort Dodge will serve as an in studio producer for the event. Curt Dehart, Assistant OM and Program Director of 92.1 will serve in the in studio production as well. Rob Jones will serve as on site producer and will film the event. Jones said ” This is a major undertaking so it is all hands on deck. With all the moving parts to something like this, it takes a total collaborative effort. It’s great to to have guys like Curt and Darren involved because they understand the vision for this and how to translate it. They have the know-how that it takes to produce this from the studio. I will be on site, I love being where the action is. I feel like I have a vision for what is needed on site and hope to be able to translate that. There have been a few firsts for this group of stations, in the last 18+ months and I have been blessed to be able to be a part of that, I am beyond excited to be a part of this one.”

Coverage will begin prior to Noon on February 13th with wrestling starting at Noon. The coverage also plans to feature post match interviews with Fort Dodge wrestlers. The radio call can be heard on 92.1 FM and here on the website. The video will also have the radio call with it and will be available at the Fort Dodge News-Alpha Media Facebook Page and the 92 Rock Facebook Page.