[Media Team]

Hello everyone - One of the Media Team members brought this thread to my attention so I thought I would come and say hi.

Firstly, I am always happy to answer any questions regarding the club's media output and have been out to supporters groups to do so in the past few months. I'm always approachable on any platform if you would like to contact me. I'm also happy to start answering any sensible questions on Red Passion if the community here would find it useful.

I've got to say, when I first read what WAFCexile had wrote I thought "This can't be right" as the main reason I decided to approach Calon FM to platform next seasons commentary was through me analysing their live stream capabilities over a long period and finding it extremely stable. We did have other options, but Calon is the best option for the club going forward in terms of performance levels and workability.

Although, I popped on to have a listen to all of their platforms and it's not so good today. I've contacted them and they are currently doing some work on their stream capabilities in what is 'phase two' of their project with the football club. We are expecting Calon's listener numbers to approximately quadruple when we go on air with commentary. They are spending some time testing in the coming weeks to ensure their stream is ready for this expected boost in numbers, unfortunately this may cause some interruptions to their existing services.

It's interesting that you mention a supporters contribution to the new service by existing Wrexham PlayerHD subscribers or by some of the new listener base in general, as it was also suggested by some of the team during our media meeting last week. I want to make sure we iron out any teething problems and ensure the service is 100% before exploring this.

My aim from the very start of my involvement with club media was to make commentary and highlights free. I hope everyone can support us through this. If there is a desire there from supporters to help support us financially next season I'll certainly look in to it though.

Currently, apart from some camera equipment that the Shreds paid for this season (which has and will save the club thousands of pounds going forward) and a recent donation from the Buckley Reds, Mark and I have personally paid for everything media wise at the club. In some cases paying expenses for our commentators to travel to long distance away matches. I'd dread to think of the figure, but I'd estimate many, many thousands of pounds, which we are happy to help the club save on so supporters are able to keep up-to-date online.

Our main concern for next season is funding travel. With this new service it's even more vital we get someone to every match, even if it's Torquay on a Tuesday night, not forgetting it's not like a fan going to watch a match - it's essentially work and requires a lot of discipline to produce a professional commentary. For these type of circumstances we turn to our student media team members, as others have existing work or family commitments that won't allow for such time consuming travel and the students can't justify the spend required. We are working on this internally but any extra support would be fantastic.

We are aiming for the Calon service to start for our last preseason game at the back end of July. All other preseason games will be covered on the club's Mixlr channel.

On a final note, not to blow our own trumpet, but the Media Team are involved in many projects at the club. Everyone involved is enthusiastic and committed. From Stadium promotion, managing many aspects of the upcoming concerts, Build The Budget, Red For A Day, Nine Acre, PA Announcer management, online customer service, the scoreboard, club digital output and the list goes on... all free of charge to the club and personally invested in with either time or our own money. We're not perfect (who is?) and we will make mistakes along the way - we always learn and move on positively though.

Thanks,
Carl
WAFC Media Manager