BANGOR, Maine — It was a memorable day for the Fandom Group production company and broadcaster Rich Kimball on Thursday.
Kimball’s 281st Downtown with Rich Kimball radio talk show made its debut from the new studio on Main Street in Bangor inside the former Miller’s Restaurant building and Jim Churchill, general manager of the Fandom Group, handled play-by-play for their first televised broadcast on Time Warner Cable TV-Channel 9.
The Downtown with Rich Kimball show airs on Fox Sports Net AM 910 WAEI, WFAU-AM 1280 Gardiner-Augusta, WIGY-FM 97.5 Madison-Skowhegan and WRKD-AM 1450 Rockland.
It is primarily a sports talk show but it also delves into other areas. It is aired live from 4-6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Churchill and color analyst Ernie Clark of the Bangor Daily News called John Bapst of Bangor’s 49-18 football win over Orono at the University of Maine’s Alfond Stadium on Thursday night.
It was a tape-delayed telecast that will air Wednesday.
Churchill said the Fandom Group signed a one-year contract with Time Warner Cable to do a variety of sports on Channel 9. Most of the games will be aired on a tape-delayed basis.
“It’s mutually beneficial,” said Churchill. “We can provide them with quality programming and it fits into our business plan.”
The Fandom Group airs live radio game broadcasts on WAEI.
He explained that some games will be done on both radio and TV with the radio call airing live and the telecast being shown on a tape-delayed basis.
The games will include high school football, boys and girls soccer and basketball, boys hockey, baseball and softball.
Digitial Workshop, a multimedia production company in Bangor, will produce the televised games, Churchill said.
Churchill and Kimball were excited about the new studio, which will be part of a complex called Seasons on Maine that will also be the site of a dining room, sports lounge, cafe/bakery and function rooms.
The show’s studios used to be at Blueberry Broadcasting in Bangor’s Industrial Park.
The target date for the restaurant opening the week of Oct. 29.
Churchill and Kimball said they were grateful to Blueberry Broadcasting for hosting the first 280 shows.
“They were great hosts,” said Kimball.
But the goal all along was to move to downtown Bangor, they said.
“When we named the show Downtown with Rich Kimball, the idea was that we would eventually move downtown,” said Churchill. “It’s a great place to be. It’s the center of activity in the greater Bangor area with the Waterfront Concerts series, the casino and the new auditorium.”
The auditorium is scheduled to open in September.
Churchill said being in the middle of a venue like Seasons “will enable us to create our own special events.”
Next to the studio is a room with a long table draped with four microphones which would be conducive to a roundtable discussion.
“It’s very exciting,” said Kimball. “Being in this venue will give us an opportunity to interact with the audience.”
They will also have better access to performers who will be scheduled to perform at the Waterfront Concerts series, Hollywood Casino or Cross Insurance Center.
“It’s easy to get here,” said Churchill.
Churchill credited Jon Shields, the Bangor director of operations for Blueberry Broadcasting, with playing an important role in the development of the new studio facilities.
I like the Downtown show a lot and listen to it whenever I’m on the way to work, and even sometimes at home. Rich Kimball does a great job interviewing guests and I can imagine lots of terrific interviews yet to come. It is also a good source to keep abreast of what is going on around town. Congratulations and best of luck to the whole crew!
With all due respect, I am not a fan of the show. I feel it barely qualifies as a “sports show”, and I do not find Mr. Kimball’s to be that entertaining with his sports views. Additionally, with Adam Adams movie reviews and weekly talks with Danny Cashman, the show turns away from sports too often for my liking. But…that is why we have the ability to change channels, I guess. One other thing that I have noticed is that I have not heard any listeners calls taken by Mr. Kimball. However, I confess that I only turn to his show when commercials come up on whatever other station I am listening to, so I may have missed them. I truly wish Mr. Kimball the best of success with the show, as he seems like a nice person. However, I’ll hold out for another sports show – somewhere in the future. I just feel that his show pales to the old WZON 4-6pm shows in quality and format. Never thought that I would miss Dale and Clem. Just my opinion. Thanks.
Different strokes, I guess. What I like about Downtown is that it’s NOT all about sports. I’ve got Sirius Radio and can always switch to ESPN, but I like hearing the local stuff, including the movie reviews, concert information, and mostly, the interviews. I can’t believe the people Kimball is able to get on his show. It’s like listening to a Boston station without the yelling and screaming.
WZON was great in it’s day, but it kind of went downhill when they lost they UM sports, and what they’re doing on Downtown is way beyond the old “Sports Zone”. Keep up the good work – add more shows like it-and get the restaurant open, so I’ve got someplace new to go!
Gee, I wonder where lunch break will be? lol. Great stuff. Great location. Hopefully they can interview and hold special events due to being in the center of everything (WCncrts, Cross Ins Event Center, HC, PTC, vibrant Waterfront Park).
I really like the idea of Fandom Group broadcasting sports with Time Warner on tape delay. In the 1990’s to 2003 I used to do the same thing with basketball in Calais and Woodland with a leased channel 8 from then Adelphia cable with live talk show in our studio in Baileyville. In 2003 I moved to Bangor and with WHCF, WBGR and (I) St. Croix Video Productions broadcast over thirty High school basketball games in the Bangor area. The radio broadcast live and we broadcast the tape on a one hour delay. The next year Adelphia (Gary Crosby) set up a broadcast point for me at Husson College (NESCOM) and we televised over 40 high school and Husson sports on Channel 9 on a one hour delay. It was well received with high quality digital camera’s. I hope business support this programming with the Fandom group. I for one am very glad to see this happening again in Bangor.