| Thursday, February 14, 2002 | |
| KEATING LEADS THE WAY ON AND OFF THE RACE TRACK | By Robin Smith Miller
(KNS)Clear Channel Broadcasting of Southwest Florida's local market Vice-President, Jim Keating, has a hobby that might be surprising to many who don't know him. He spends his weekends racing stock cars at Charlotte County Speedway, where he competes in the sportsman and limited late model division.
An avid race fan most of his life, from the days his father used to take him to stock car events in Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey, he never sat behind the wheel of a four wheeled beast until he moved to Southwest Florida in 1997. After he came to work for Clear Channel Broadcasting whose diverse local radio stations include Cat Country 107, KIX Country 92.9, Oldies 95, The Beat 105.5, and Real Radio 100.1, he learned they sponsored the limited late model of 2000 champion Glenn Morris of Bokeelia.
Keating innocently said to one of the employees of Clear Channel, "Do you think I could drive around the track a couple of times?" The next thing he knew, he was sitting in a real racecar, driving it around the asphalt at Charlotte County Speedway in Punta Gorda. Each lap the car went faster and the thrill Keating felt got more intense. He had caught "The Fever".
Later, the car's regular driver, Morris, asked if he really wanted to race. Keating's reply was "Yes" and the next thing he knew Morris offered him his second car, a pure stock. In Keating's first full year of racing in the pure stock division he finished fifth in points, along with a feature win, as well as several heat race trophies. He raced in the division two seasons before moving up into the most competitive division at the speedway, the sportsman class.
In the five years he has raced he has won at least one feature race a year and has seen a lot of good up-front racing action. Last year, he even tried his hand in the limited late model division, driving a 50-lap feature and a 100-lap Six Pack Series race. This year, he expects to compete in both divisions again, although the sportsman division is what he calls "home".
Keating has "The Fever" so bad that he has gotten all five of Clear Channel's stations involved in racing. This season, they will sponsor three cars in the limited late model division, Keating in Real Radio 100.1 car; Morris in his Cat Country 107 car; and new addition, Richie Anderson, in the Oldies 95 car. The marketing department at Clear Channel has even managed to turn their racecar sponsorships into profit making endeavors by selling packages to sponsor the cars.
This still is not enough for Keating, as far as spreading his love of racing throughout the airwaves. Every Friday morning, during racing season, he takes a lot of ribbing from Cat Country's morning show hosts, The Bear, Billy and Amy Newman, when he hosts a ten minute segment called "Track Talk" where he tries to give a driver's perspective on local and big time NASCAR racing.
A family man, Keating tries to spend time with his wife on Sundays, which sometimes takes him away from the television screen and NASCAR races. In the past few years, he has done what he could to bring in barely audible signals from faraway radio waves on his car radio so that he could hear the NASCAR races in his travels with his wife. No one in Southwest Florida broadcast the races after a local AM station gave it up two years ago.
All that comes to an end though for the upcoming 2002 season. Clear Channel Broadcasting of Southwest Florida has signed an agreement to broadcast every Winston Cup event this season, beginning with the Bud Shootout at Daytona International Speedway on February 9. The flag-to-flag coverage can be dialed in on WRLR Real Radio 100.1 FM, a powerful 100,000-watt station.
The station will also broadcast several other race related shows including "Race Refresher, " a recap of the weekends racing results, airing Monday mornings at 6:45am. "NASCAR Today," a racing newscast, airs Monday - Friday at 6:10 pm, and "Garage Pass," which highlights the latest NASCAR info and breaking news stories, will air Monday - Friday at 10:10pm.
Keating points out, "NASCAR racing is the fastest growing sport in America in both attendance and media appeal. We're thrilled to be able to bring these exclusive radio broadcasts of the premier stock car racing series to the area. This also compliments our commitment to local stock car racing as well."
Another huge racing enthusiast, Bubba the Love Sponge, whose syndicated morning talk show is heard on Real Radio 100.1 during the week, drives Sprint cars in his spare time. He and Keating are even talking about having a special racing event during the coming local race season.
So race fans, buckle up and get ready to go racing. Whether it is while driving your car or sitting on the beach enjoying the beautiful sunshine, NASCAR racing is coming your way in stereo. Even if you are sitting at home, turn on the television but turn down the sound and listen to all excitement on Real Radio.
-Robin Smith Meiser
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