Updated 12/31/2009 05:32 PM
Internet snowmobile show gets picked up by radio
Just about everyone who has a New Year's Resolution, hopes to improve something about their lives. But how often does that actually come true? Our Brian Dwyer has the story of one North Country man who's turned his love of snowmobiles into major success.
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WATERTOWN, NY -- It was this time last year, when we introduced you to a Lewis County man with a passion for the sport of snowmobiling.
Lee Hinkleman turned that love, a microphone and a tape recorder into a pretty successful internet show about sledding called 'IROC and Beyond'.
"It started out in 2002 in a little studio in Utica doing a live show on Thursday nights," Hinkleman said.
The hard work, going out interviewing riders, business owners and sled companies has paid off, in a big way. The internet show, is now also a radio show.
"Region picked it up," Hinkleman said. "Stephens picked it up. ESPN has picked it up. The show just had a phenomenal amount of growth."
The show can now be heard on radio stations in Utica Rome, Albany and Watertown. The Rochester, Plattsburgh and Lake Placid markets are expected to start carrying it soon.
Radio programmers say it's a great combination of being local and being of local interest.
"We really saw a fine tuning of that show and in the importance that it can talk about snowmobiling and it directly relates to not only our listeners," Stephens Media Group General Manager Mark Gaines said. "but our business owners as well."
Hinkleman says the new stations give the show a chance to not only talk about the best equipment and recent races, but also an opportunity to get a good message out and help the local community at the same time.
"The message of safe snowmobiling and the fact that you can ride from Jefferson County, Lewis County, Oneida County, Herkimer County," He said. "You've got a larger listening audience now because of this."
Even though he's now got a nice cozy studio, Hinkleman says he still plans to do most of his show out on the trails. After all, it's where he loves to be.
In Watertown, 'IROC and Beyond' can be heard Saturday mornings from 9 - 10 on ESPN Radio 1410.
You can listen on the internet at the following sites:
froggy97.com
wner1410.com
irocandbeyond.com
You can also download the show from those sites and listen to it anytime.