Midwesthockey.info hitting the airwaves

By Jim den Hollander

Midwesthockey.info

In recent days, I have pondered another way to make my dream of being a voice of hockey at all levels in the American Midwest a reality and it is through a totally different type of media.

Since I attended college in the early 1980’s I have been from the print-journalism branch and I have always favored print as being the ‘real’ source for information. I don’t believe that will ever change — I believe most of the true authorities — at least in the world of stick and puck — are from the print brigade.

I love to write about hockey and that was actually a problem when I was younger. While I was supposed to be studying for science and math tests, I often was instead closed up in my own private space with radio on in my southeastern Ontario home, listing through broadcasts buried behind reams of scratching static for the whisper of a hockey announcer broadcasting from the other side of the continent, scratching down details of the game and keeping my own stats or diary on the performance of my favorite team.

The scope of what I want to accomplish is just too huge for my army (of one) to accomplish — giving the attention to all teams at all levels. And, I don’t want to be like a lot of websites that simply reprint a team’s or league’s press releases. I am sure the teams and leagues are thrilled for the extra plug, but why would a reader want to visit my site for the same news contained on a league website.

I am hoping in the near future — and I means days rather than weeks or months — begin experimenting with audio broadcasts. I need to learn a lot more, but to me, this type of media gives me the opportunity to stay on top of all levels of the game on a regular basis. I am just not sure how fast I can upload that  form of midia.  I hear it is fairly quick though.

By switching to this form of media, it allows me to keep up on the details of the day quickly in both audio and video formats, while changing the written to more of a magazine format with more human interest type of stories and possibly weekly wrap up type of blurbs.

In the past year, I have found it difficult to stay even with the daily schedules of pro and junior leagues and I have never been able to get a foothold on the college hockey scene or anything beyond that.

I actually believe I will be able to widen the umbrella of coverage with this type of thing and even possibly fit in a couple of more projects while I am at it.

I am looking for some help with my website so I am hopeful of some big improvements on the way.

Looking forward to to a big summer of change here.