Being a Good Sport in Indiana: Bringing Reliable Internet Service to a Local Radio Sports Broadcasting Business

Being a Good Sport in Indiana:
Bringing Reliable Internet Service to a Local Radio Sports Broadcasting Business

For more than 50 years, Rob Weaver has been in the radio business.

He says he got into the business because he loves broadcasting sports.

In the 70’s Rob was a sportscaster doing play-by-play for basketball and football games.  And then the chance came to run a radio station.

“I became the general manager of Portland, Indiana, radio station WPGW when the owner here wanted to move back to his hometown.” says Rob.

And then as luck would have it, Rob and his wife were able to become majority owners in WPGW and later established WZBD radio, which is in Berne, IN.

WPGW is a community favorite in Portland because Rob features extensive coverage of local news plus live-stream broadcasting of local high school sports. Everything from basketball to baseball, football and sometimes wrestling and volleyball.

But to do that right and to have the stream happen on his web platform, Rob knew he needed reliable, fast internet service. He contacted the local Watch Communications office.

“Obviously, having good Internet service is very important to the success of the quality of a sports broadcast these days. I reached out to Watch, and Doug Bieberich worked with me to get the high-quality fiber service I wanted. And frankly, I needed.” explains Rob.

Watch was able to run fiber directly to the radio station’s building. Something that Rob had hoped for but had been quoted extremely high costs from other providers.

And he says he’s been very happy with the service from Watch. On some days he gets up to 6,000 or more visitors to his WZBD website at wzbd.com to read the local news and sports plus listen in to WZBD’s broadcasts. His service has to be reliable.

“I have a lot of people accessing my content, and they’re able to without buffering issues because of the service from Watch,” says Rob. “I serve two counties with 50,000+ people, so it’s just really important for us to be there for these communities. Watch’s internet service provides that link.”

Rob says he loves the responsiveness of the local Watch Communications’ team, too. “They’re always happy to help us out, and I appreciate that.” Rob says.

Rob also contracts with Watch for his phone service. As Watch upgrades legacy equipment, Rob says he’ll be signing up for the wireless internet service for his station in Berne, IN, WZBD.

“We consider watch to be a very important partner of ours—and not only a partner of ours, but a partner of our entire community. Watch Communications has been able to provide outstanding IT services to much of the community and even to areas where fiber optics are not yet available. That’s really incredibly important.” Rob says.

About Watch Communications

Founded in 1992, Watch Communications is an Internet Service Provider (ISP) using a combination of fixed wireless and fiber technologies to serve residential and business customers throughout Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. Watch Communications began as a wireless cable TV provider and expanded service offerings in 1998 to include the Internet. Since its creation, Watch Communications has focused on unserved and underserved small and rural markets. Watch Communications is a subsidiary of Benton Ridge Telephone. The Benton Ridge family of companies also includes Community Fiber Solutions in Portland, Indiana.