East Carolina radio affiliate won't broadcast game due to band's anthem protest
The Fayetteville, North Carolina, radio affiliate of the East Carolina football team is refusing to broadcast the team’s game Saturday after members of the ECU band staged a protest during the national anthem before the Pirates’ game vs. Central Florida.
The game will not be heard on 100.1 FM in Fayetteville or on the ESPN Fayetteville website. Fayetteville is approximately 110 miles from ECU’s campus in Greenville, North Carolina.
“Several members of the band refused to play the national anthem and others ‘took a knee’ during the performance, with the result that roughly a dozen band members disgraced themselves on the football field this past weekend,” Colonial Media and Entertainment CEO Jeff Andrulonis said in a statement. “I’m proud of our country and I’m proud of our soldiers — especially our soldiers from Fort Bragg — fighting for our country so I’ve decided that ESPN Fayetteville will ‘protest the protest.’ I talked with some of our East Carolina football sponsors yesterday and will be talking with more of them today. So far, it has been unanimous. Every sponsor I’ve talked to agrees that last weekend’s spectacle at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium was shameful and a message needs to be sent.”
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It’s an incredibly stupid message to send. By taking the game off the radio, he’s punishing East Carolina fans who rely on the radio to hear the game far more than he is “punishing” the band for its statement. Imagine if you were only able to listen to ECU games on the radio and were suddenly unable to hear the game because of a radio’s desire to “protest” college kids.
Approximately a dozen members of the band protested during its playing of the national anthem before the game. Some members took a knee and others refused to perform. The band was booed by some fans in attendance when it performed at halftime.
“The band members could have quietly protested in the early morning hours before the game. But that would have required them to wake up early. So instead, they chose to make a spectacle of themselves in front of a big crowd at Dowdy-Ficklen,” Andrulonis said. “They’re college students and it’s about time they get an education on the concept that their actions have consequences. And the consequence in this case is that the ECU Pirates will not be heard on ESPN Fayetteville this weekend.”
While the company has every right to disagree with the band’s actions (just like the band and many others have the right to protest racial injustice during the national anthem), Andrulonis could also be facing a future education on consequences. The university has every right to revisit its contractual agreement for the station’s radio rights given the company’s decision to impose a blackout on Saturday’s game vs. South Florida. Colonial’s statement said it would resume broadcasting games after the USF boycott.
Tuesday afternoon, ESPN issued a statement to SI’s Richard Deitsch saying that local programming decisions were at the discretion of affiliates.
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After the protest Saturday, the chancellor of ECU said it respected the right to free speech of its students while acknowledging and understanding fans’ disappointment with the band members’ actions. Monday, athletic director Jeff Compher released a statement saying the athletic department was working with the band while the band issued a statement saying it expected members to learn from the experience and fulfill their obligations in the future.
We are working with the university and school of music in response to the incident with the band prior to the game on Saturday. While the marching band does not report to athletics, we do count on them to be an important part of the game day experience.
There are ongoing conversations with the university, the school of music and the band, and we are confident that there will be a positive resolution for future games.
“Our football program relies on the passion of our fan base and we will continue to proudly lead our team out of the tunnel with the American flag for each and every game.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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