San Angelo Central's Carter Lyles finds gem creating viral student media sensation CSPN
Armed with a folding table, wireless microphone and some extra time, San Angelo Central senior Carter Lyles started an independent student media group named Central Sports Programming Network or CSPN — a pun on the worldwide leader in sports ESPN.
Lyles and a group of his friends attended Central boys and girls basketball games starting early in the spring. They set up a folding table with CSPN written in large red letters along the front and sat near the front of the student section brandishing headsets and dressed in anything ranging from a Central-branded polo to a full suit.
"It started as kind of more like a cheerleading thing," Lyles said. "We wanted to be the biggest cheerleaders at the basketball games. We love sports and school spirit, and we just wanted to be there for our student-athletes."
What started as a fun way to attend basketball games and cheer on other student-athletes, turned into a large Instagram page with more than 400 followers in less than one semester. Lyles and his three friends, senior Cullen Honea, junior Gavin Leyva and junior Mason Kalnbach attend almost every basketball, softball, soccer and baseball game while posting exclusive interviews with Central athletes and coaches after the games.
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Lyles — a student-athlete himself — got the idea when he saw someone at a Central football game set up a similar booth when he was an underclassman. However, he wanted to take it a step further with his version as he started attending basketball games. Early on, CSPN grew a niche audience with basketball parents and the usual Central basketball crowd, but as the season finished, Lyles and CSPN garnered a following that expanded to other sports. And the more games they attended, the more attention they received.
"There's so many different crowds for each sport," Lyles said. "It was motivating to get a boost every time you go to a new sport and you get love from the parents and coaches."
For Lyles, CSPN was another avenue to pursue his dream of becoming a sports broadcaster, as Central no longer provides a media or journalism class. While he hopes the popularity of CSPN can bring a media class or club to Central, Lyles said that he enjoys being able to control CSPN without the pressure of doing it for a class.
"I've always loved sports — always been extroverted," Lyles said. "Always love to talk. I've always been a people person... After the first couple of games, I realized the doors were pretty open for us, we can take this and run with it and that's when I realized I would love to do this for a career."
Even though Lyles is in his last semester at Central, he confessed his plan was for CSPN to continue after he left, something he admits will be difficult.
"Not everyone has the same goals as me," Lyles said. "One of the biggest challenges with CSPN is getting help because it needs a whole team. And I get it, it's hard to get up and get motivated for an extra two-hour softball game or soccer game when you have homework and especially when being a broadcaster is not your future goal."
Even with the uncertainty about the future of CSPN after this year, Lyles said in his time starting and growing CSPN he learned a lot about himself and how to stay focused on his goals. The most rewarding part, though, was the relationships he built within the San Angelo community.
"When we are at a game and people have a smile on their face when we walk up is awesome," Lyles said. "Getting to work closer with Mrs. Ross (Central's principal) and getting to talk with other media has been really cool."
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This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Central's Lyles pursues student media with viral student media CSPN
