The University of Mississippi Athletics
Studio 18 Live To Premiere September 4
8/28/2013 | Athletics
Aug 28, 2013
By Austin Miller, OleMissSports.com
OXFORD, Miss. -- The Ole Miss creative team will launch a new weekly talk show this fall on RebelVision. "Studio 18 Live" Presented by Old Venice Pizza Company will debut on Wednesday, Sept. 4 and then air live each Wednesday at noon on Studio18.com.
The 10-15 minute will show will be hosted by Michael Thompson, Senior Associate A.D. for Communications and Marketing, and Ross Bjork, Director of Athletics, will be a regular guest on the show, along with other administrators and coaches.
"We're always looking for ways to bridge the gap between the Athletics department and our customers," Thompson said. "Technology gives us a lot of different ways to do that, and it makes it easier for fans to get closer to the program in a lot of different ways. We wanted to add to that interaction with fans by creating a live, weekly show."
Studio 18 itself in the Athletics Administration Building underwent a complete overhaul, which included a new name and new equipment that will provide a better overall fan experience.
"The TV control room has been completely rewired," said Jeremy Havens, Assistant A.D. for Ole Miss Sports Production. "We have added a brand new 8-channel replay system, so fans will get faster replays and radio calls built into scoring drives. Videos will also be up faster on the web."
A large part of Studio 18 Live will be its interactivity with fans who can tweet in questions, which will be answered live on the show. A whole segment will be devoted to addressing comments or questions that come in during the show.
Tweets will also scroll along the bottom of the screen, and upcoming topics will scroll the left side of the screen, similar to the pregame rundown on the video board for football.
The show will also include a segment devoted to what's happening on campus, including home events, promotions and other marketing messages, as well as interviews with guests.
"From our standpoint, it's a conversation," said Jason List, Assistant A.D. for Marketing. "The show is meant to be a very transparent look into our program, and the topics and content will be derived straight from fans."
Fans will also get a sneak peak of that week's episode of The Season, which will debut on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. on WatchRebelVision.com before it airs on television.
In addition to the weekly episodes of football and men's basketball, The Season will also feature at least three 7-10 minute-long webisodes for every sport, plus the spirit groups, and will feature full-length weekly episodes of baseball next spring.
"We have to continue to produce content like The Season and Studio 18 Live that can't be done by anybody else," Thompson said. "It's less about game replays and more about unique content."
Austin Miller is a writer and blogger for OleMissSports.com. He joined the staff in June 2013 after serving as sports editor of the Daily Mississippian. Follow him on Twitter @austinkmiller
