SE: K-State to Produce All-Female Broadcast for Sunday’s Women’s Basketball Game vs UT Arlington
Nov 21, 2019 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
There's a quote Emmy award-winning broadcaster Brenda VanLengen heard recently that reinforces the reason she accepted an offer to join the unique broadcast of the K-State women's basketball game against UT Arlington on Sunday at 2 p.m., on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
"If you can't see it, it's hard to be it," VanLengen said.
Viewers of Sunday's broadcast will see something unique.
Most notably, all 16 people involved will be female, from VanLengen as the play-by-play voice to Missy Heidrick as the analyst to the K-StateHD.TV student intern Bridget Howard as the sideline reporter to Bri Womack, also a student, at director to the graphics creators to the camera operators.
K-State Athletics believes it to be the first such collegiate broadcast. Superlative aside, VanLengen said it's an exciting opportunity to showcase that not only are there opportunities for women in broadcasting, there's a growing number of successful women in the industry coming up through places like K-StateHD.TV, K-State Athletics' Emmy-award winning in-house video production department.
"If you are a young woman looking to choose your career path or looking for opportunities and you don't see other women in your field, it's hard to break those barriers and to find those opportunities. In some cases, some women might not even think those are options for them," VanLengen said. "I think (this game is) really important because it allows girls, young women or older women, for that matter, to see what kind of opportunities there are.
"I'm proud of Kansas State for doing this and being proactive and progressive and really opening doors."
Andy Liebsch, K-State Athletics' Director of Video Services, came up with the idea for such a broadcast a few years ago. At the time, he said the goal from it was simply to get more women involved on all parts of the K-StateHD.TV student broadcast team, specifically in the "technical spots," behind-the-scenes jobs such as camera operator, director and everything in between.
"We just haven't had the right personnel to be able to pull it off, to be able get enough people in the right spots, particularly director," he said. "That was one we haven't been able to find somebody who we felt could really do it."
Enter Womack, who transferred to K-State as a junior and got involved with K-StateHD.TV almost immediately. Once she saw Liebsch run a broadcast, she told herself: "I want to do that. I want to work my way up to that."
"And here we are," added Womack, who spent last summer directing webcasts for a minor league baseball team in Wisconsin and has directed several K-State soccer, volleyball and women's basketball games this year.
"Bri has stepped up this year and really taken on that role a lot," Liebsch said.
As Womack's progressed at director, she's also seen more female students join the broadcast crew. This led her to think about the possibility for an all-female broadcast. But, before she could ask Liebsch about it, he brought it up at a student staff orientation meeting before the semester started.
"He kind of beat me to it. When he said it, I was, like, 'Yes! You're reading my mind,'" Womack said. "I was really excited that we were finally doing it.
"For me, personally, the statement is athletics is a very male-dominated field, and I want girls to realize that, yeah, that might be true but there are women in the field and there are women who are successful in the field. Putting on a game that's all women proves that."
It's also further proof of the continued growth inside K-StateHD.TV, which launched in 2011 and has regularly produced 70-plus broadcasts for TV distribution a year in recent calendar years. This season, K-StateHD.TV has and will continue to produce the vast majority of home events available on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
"One of the things I think is really cool about this concept is it also highlights K-State and the program there, in terms of promoting students and young people, male and female, to get involved in broadcasting and to think about it both in front and behind the camera," Heidrick said. "To be able to bring that to people, especially to young women in college who are thinking about this as a career or a way they can hone in on their passions and their skills, I think that's fantastic."
Howard is one of those people.
A former K-State soccer player, she's now in her third season with K-StateHD.TV. Howard started much like everyone else on the student side: Pulling cable. In time, she got her first opportunities in front of the camera through "Powercat Previews," video packages she learned to put together. Now, she helps host K-State Gameday for football games and is a sideline reporter for men's basketball home broadcasts.
Howard, who's made countless connections through K-StateHD.TV, said she hopes Sunday's broadcast brings to light the types of opportunities available for women interested in broadcasting, especially at K-State.
"For me, going to K-State and the opportunities that I've had here, I really hope it puts K-State on the map as a school where females have opportunities to be successful in sports broadcasting or broadcasting, in general. I think that's really what I hope comes from it," she said. "I also hope people just see that there's so many women who can do it, just simply can do it, because a lot of people don't think that. And having it be not just in front of the camera but behind the scenes, too, and having it be truly an all-female broadcast, I hope it puts K-State on the map as a school that really appreciates female broadcasters and everyone who's involved in sports broadcasting."
Crew List
Play-by-Play – Brenda VanLengen
Analyst – Missy Heidrick
Sideline – Bridget Howard
Director – Bri Womack
Technical Director – Stephanie Kluitenberg
Replay – Katherine Benhardt
Graphics – Kessa Bondurant
Graphics Assist – Carson Leap
Video – Olivia Johnston
Audio – Anna Quigley
Camera – Julia Jorns
Camera – Nicole Sanchez
Camera – Hanna Stram
Camera – Laura Keener
Camera – Julia Nwoga
Utility – Yvonne Johnson
Examples of Positions/Companies Worked at by Former K-StateHD.TV Students
Sports Director/ESPN – West Plains
Videographer – Iowa State Athletics
Replay Operator – ESPN
Sportscaster and Producer – News Channel Nebraska
Engineer – Time Warner Cable Sports Kansas City
Sprint Center AEG – Facilities Presentation Coordinator
Journalist/Anchor – WIBW
Manager of Production – Kansas City Royals
Video Producer – Kansas State University
Producer – K-State Athletics
Associate Motion Graphics Designer – Garmin
Camera Operator – Time Warner Sports Milwaukee
There's a quote Emmy award-winning broadcaster Brenda VanLengen heard recently that reinforces the reason she accepted an offer to join the unique broadcast of the K-State women's basketball game against UT Arlington on Sunday at 2 p.m., on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
"If you can't see it, it's hard to be it," VanLengen said.
Viewers of Sunday's broadcast will see something unique.
Most notably, all 16 people involved will be female, from VanLengen as the play-by-play voice to Missy Heidrick as the analyst to the K-StateHD.TV student intern Bridget Howard as the sideline reporter to Bri Womack, also a student, at director to the graphics creators to the camera operators.
K-State Athletics believes it to be the first such collegiate broadcast. Superlative aside, VanLengen said it's an exciting opportunity to showcase that not only are there opportunities for women in broadcasting, there's a growing number of successful women in the industry coming up through places like K-StateHD.TV, K-State Athletics' Emmy-award winning in-house video production department.
"If you are a young woman looking to choose your career path or looking for opportunities and you don't see other women in your field, it's hard to break those barriers and to find those opportunities. In some cases, some women might not even think those are options for them," VanLengen said. "I think (this game is) really important because it allows girls, young women or older women, for that matter, to see what kind of opportunities there are.
"I'm proud of Kansas State for doing this and being proactive and progressive and really opening doors."
Andy Liebsch, K-State Athletics' Director of Video Services, came up with the idea for such a broadcast a few years ago. At the time, he said the goal from it was simply to get more women involved on all parts of the K-StateHD.TV student broadcast team, specifically in the "technical spots," behind-the-scenes jobs such as camera operator, director and everything in between.
"We just haven't had the right personnel to be able to pull it off, to be able get enough people in the right spots, particularly director," he said. "That was one we haven't been able to find somebody who we felt could really do it."
Enter Womack, who transferred to K-State as a junior and got involved with K-StateHD.TV almost immediately. Once she saw Liebsch run a broadcast, she told herself: "I want to do that. I want to work my way up to that."
"And here we are," added Womack, who spent last summer directing webcasts for a minor league baseball team in Wisconsin and has directed several K-State soccer, volleyball and women's basketball games this year.
"Bri has stepped up this year and really taken on that role a lot," Liebsch said.
As Womack's progressed at director, she's also seen more female students join the broadcast crew. This led her to think about the possibility for an all-female broadcast. But, before she could ask Liebsch about it, he brought it up at a student staff orientation meeting before the semester started.
"He kind of beat me to it. When he said it, I was, like, 'Yes! You're reading my mind,'" Womack said. "I was really excited that we were finally doing it.
"For me, personally, the statement is athletics is a very male-dominated field, and I want girls to realize that, yeah, that might be true but there are women in the field and there are women who are successful in the field. Putting on a game that's all women proves that."
It's also further proof of the continued growth inside K-StateHD.TV, which launched in 2011 and has regularly produced 70-plus broadcasts for TV distribution a year in recent calendar years. This season, K-StateHD.TV has and will continue to produce the vast majority of home events available on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
"One of the things I think is really cool about this concept is it also highlights K-State and the program there, in terms of promoting students and young people, male and female, to get involved in broadcasting and to think about it both in front and behind the camera," Heidrick said. "To be able to bring that to people, especially to young women in college who are thinking about this as a career or a way they can hone in on their passions and their skills, I think that's fantastic."
Howard is one of those people.
A former K-State soccer player, she's now in her third season with K-StateHD.TV. Howard started much like everyone else on the student side: Pulling cable. In time, she got her first opportunities in front of the camera through "Powercat Previews," video packages she learned to put together. Now, she helps host K-State Gameday for football games and is a sideline reporter for men's basketball home broadcasts.
Howard, who's made countless connections through K-StateHD.TV, said she hopes Sunday's broadcast brings to light the types of opportunities available for women interested in broadcasting, especially at K-State.
"For me, going to K-State and the opportunities that I've had here, I really hope it puts K-State on the map as a school where females have opportunities to be successful in sports broadcasting or broadcasting, in general. I think that's really what I hope comes from it," she said. "I also hope people just see that there's so many women who can do it, just simply can do it, because a lot of people don't think that. And having it be not just in front of the camera but behind the scenes, too, and having it be truly an all-female broadcast, I hope it puts K-State on the map as a school that really appreciates female broadcasters and everyone who's involved in sports broadcasting."
Crew List
Play-by-Play – Brenda VanLengen
Analyst – Missy Heidrick
Sideline – Bridget Howard
Director – Bri Womack
Technical Director – Stephanie Kluitenberg
Replay – Katherine Benhardt
Graphics – Kessa Bondurant
Graphics Assist – Carson Leap
Video – Olivia Johnston
Audio – Anna Quigley
Camera – Julia Jorns
Camera – Nicole Sanchez
Camera – Hanna Stram
Camera – Laura Keener
Camera – Julia Nwoga
Utility – Yvonne Johnson
Examples of Positions/Companies Worked at by Former K-StateHD.TV Students
Sports Director/ESPN – West Plains
Videographer – Iowa State Athletics
Replay Operator – ESPN
Sportscaster and Producer – News Channel Nebraska
Engineer – Time Warner Cable Sports Kansas City
Sprint Center AEG – Facilities Presentation Coordinator
Journalist/Anchor – WIBW
Manager of Production – Kansas City Royals
Video Producer – Kansas State University
Producer – K-State Athletics
Associate Motion Graphics Designer – Garmin
Camera Operator – Time Warner Sports Milwaukee
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