Director's Alert: WKYC announces Opening Day coverage

It's getting to be that time of the year again - Indians fever is striking at the very heart of all us winter weary Clevelanders.

But, we've got the cure.

Coming up March 31st, it's the 2008 Season Home Opener as the Cleveland Indians take on the Chicago White Sox live on Channel 3 in High Definition.

Once again, WKYC Channel 3 is your official Cleveland Indians station. Plus, this year we'll be bringing the action to you from the newly renamed Progressive Field (formerly Jacobs Field).

Here's WKYC's Game Day lineup:

• Special pre-game coverage will begin at 1:05 pm
• Indians on Deck at 2:30 pm
• First pitch at 3:05 pm

VIDEO FEATURE:
If you can't see our Indians promo below: CLICK HERE

EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS #5: Behind the scenes of our "Spring Training" Promo Shoot - 2/23/08

The following are pictures taken from Winter Haven, Florida, where Channel 3 followed the Indians for the first week of Spring Training.

This gives us a chance to shoot all the video we need to create all the new graphics and promos you will seeing on the air this season on SportsTime Ohio and WKYC.

This is Day #5 from 2/23/08.

Click on your browser "refresh" to view pictures if you don't see them playing.

Director's Alert: All STO Regular Season Games in HD this year

We were the first to tell you about this last week on the Director's Cut Blog...and now here are the official details:

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians, SportsTime Ohio and WKYC-TV3 announced the 2008 Tribe TV schedule. All of the games on the two networks will be televised in High Definition. (NOTE: This does not include the Spring Training games.)

SportsTime Ohio will television 141 total Tribe games on cable/satellite (133 regular season games and 8 spring training games). WKYC-TV3 will air 20 games as the flagship station of the Indians Over-the-Air network. Fox Sports National will televise 8 games during the regular season.

The Indians will continue to be among the industry leaders in High Definition broadcasts as all 153 network broadcasts will be in HD. (All 133 STO games and all 20 games on Channel 3).

STO will begin their season with eight telecasts from Spring Training, beginning March 5th at 1:05 p.m. when the Tribe plays host to the Atlanta Braves.

STO's spring training television schedule includes:

March 5 vs Atlanta
March 8 vs Philadelphia
March 11 vs Detroit
March 20 vs Tampa Bay
March 22 vs New York Mets
March 24 vs Atlanta
March 25 vs New York Yankees
March 27 vs Tampa Bay

"Since the launch of SportsTime Ohio two years ago, our sole vision for the Indians games has been to produce the best possible telecasts for Tribe fans, equal or better than any production in the league," said SportsTime Ohio President, Jim Liberatore. "Producing all of our 2008 broadcasts in High Definition builds on that mission and allows the Indians to become the first pro team in Cleveland to have all games in HD."

Rick Manning returns to the STO booth with partner Matt Underwood and WKYC Sports Director Jim Donovan will once again join the Indians TV broadcast team during the Tribe's over-the-air broadcasts on WKYC-TV3.

The Indians open their 108th season in the American League with a three-game series against divisional rival Chicago (March 31 & April 2-3) in Cleveland. The Indians will then head west following the Opening Series with stops in Oakland (April 4-6) and Los Angeles (April 7-9).

From the Mailbag: All Indians Games in HD this year?

From: Mike in Cleveland

Q: Hi Frank...Love the Director's Cut Blog on wkyc.com. The old clips are great! Heard that the Indians were going all HD on STO, do you know if that's true? How come we see HD Indians games on channel 3, and an HD newscast, but all the Indians highlights within the HD newscast are seemingly SD, and really bad SD at that? Any way to record and edit HD highlights like they do on Sportscenter?

A: I love these multiple part questions...Thanks for the comments. Glad you enjoy the blog. I'm always working on new ideas.

Regarding STO - yes, all Indians games (home & away) this season will be done in high definition according to Pat Kilkenney, SportsTime Ohio Vice President of Program Acquisition/ Executive Producer. Viewers having been asking - and now you shall receive.

Finally, the bad quality video is a result of us not having the capability "yet" to record massive amounts of video in high definition for our newscasts. This is coming, but requires equipment upgrades which are being planned.

You can email your questions to me: fmacek@wkyc.com

News: HUGE ratings for WKYC & the Indians

Sunday's Indians clinch of the AL Central was a huge ratings winner for WKYC which carried the game in High Definition:

According to a press release issued by WKYC Monday:

"Yesterday (Sunday) was a great sports story in Cleveland as the Indians captured the American League Central Division title and an outstanding day for Channel 3 Sports and SportsTime Ohio as the high-definition broadcast of the game topped the ratings," announced WKYC President and General Manager Brooke Spectorsky.

"Fans stayed glued to their sets and generated an outstanding 14.25 rating/29 share (530,000 persons 2+) and peaked at a 23 rating/42 share (855,000 persons 2+).

"After the game, SportsTime Ohio cameras and Cchannel 3 stayed with the Indians post game and finished with a 10.4 rating/18 share for the 45 minutes of celebration", added Spectorsky.

"These numbers just reinforce that Cleveland is all about sports, and throughout the year, Channel 3 and STO have given fans over 168 Tribe games with many of them in high-definition. Now we're looking to the play-offs and viewers can count on both STO and Channel 3 for special Pre-game and Post-game programming that brings home all the local stories and excitement that the national networks usually miss. Stay tuned for specific announcements of dates and times."

Go Tribe!

Spotlight Feature: Behind the Scenes at SportsTime Ohio

When you go to a game at Jacobs Field, you can see and feel the electricity of the Indians and the fans. But, what if you are watching it at home?

Channel 3 Lydia's Esparra goes behind the scenes of SportsTime Ohio with the men and women who bring that same feeling right into your living room.

Pictured is Emmy Award Winning Indians Director Pat Murray (left) and the STO Control Room (right).

This is the same control room where your blog jockey, Frank Macek, gets to direct the Indians pregame show called "Indians On Deck" for away games (along with our other WKYC staff of Directors - Al Wohl, Eric Carrel, Mark Bogden & Matt Babb).

To Watch our exclusive story, CLICK HERE