High School Football America - SoCal on AM 570 Fox Sports LA Tonight

by Jeff Fisher

High School Football America

We are locked-and-loaded tonight’s High School Football America – SoCal show on AM 570 Fox Sports LA.  Everything kicks-off at 10 PM as we continue getting you ready for next week’s Week 0 season openers.

Both hours of the show will be action-packed with guests from throughout our massive coverage area.

Vista Murrieta Practice

Murrieta, CA

The show will begin with Coley Candaele, head coach of Vista Murrieta, talking about his squad’s lofty national rankings thanks to some great returning talent led by USC-recruit Su’a Cravens.  Later in the first half hour, MaxPreps’ national high school football writer and main contributor to the website’s national rankings, will discuss why the Broncos deserve being ranking in all four of the major national polls.

El Toro’s Rob Frith will also be on the show talking about his very talented quarterback Conner Manning, who’s given his verbal commitment to Utah.  Frith will also talk about his program’s move into the rugged South Coast League this season. 

We’ll start the second half hour of the show talking 8-man football.  Yes, High School Football America – SoCal is designed to be well-balanced.

Bill Rivera is the head coach at Excelsior Charter in Victorville in the High Desert, plus the president of the 8-man Coaches Association.

Excelsior has finished runner-up the last two years in the CIF Southern Section 8-Man division with losses both years to Windward in the championship games.  This year Windward has moved-up to 11-man football.

It’s a couple of weeks away, but if you really need a fix in Week 1, plus want to help a great cause, head to Westlake High School for the Battle for Veterans Football Invitational.

Mark Soto, executive director of the event, will join us Saturday night to talk about his event that begins in northern California in Week 0 and spreads south for four games August 31^st and September 1^st.

The Battle for Veterans Football Invitational will feature six games over two weekends while raising money for wounded veterans.

Here is the schedule for the games at Del Oro High School in Loomis next weekend and Westlake High the following weekend:

at Del Oro HS

August 24, 2012 - Oaks Christian at Del Oro

August 25, 2012 - Westlake vs. Granite Bay

at Westlake HS

August 31, 2012 - Oceanside vs. Oakdale

August 31, 2012 - Del Oro vs. Westlake

September 1, 2012 -  Upland vs. Windsor

September 1, 2012 - Oaks Christian vs. Granite Bay

Our third coach of the night will be Jeff Steinberg of Santiago High School in Corona.  Coach Steinberg will take us inside his 2012 squad that is hoping to take another next step this year after a 7-4 season last season and a trip to the CIF-SS playoffs.

This will be the first of two consecutive weeks of talking football in Corona.  Next week, Centennial head coach Matt Logan will be a guest to talk about his team’s opener August 31^st against St. Bonaventure from the Marmonte League.

And speaking of the Marmonte League, Sean Celinsky, the latest edition to the High School Football America – SoCal team, will make his debut Saturday night to preview the 10 team league.

Sean and I will get a good glimpse of the new chain of command at Oaks Chrisitan tonight when we’ll check-out the Lions scrimmage against Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks.  Jeff Woodruff, a longtime college coach, is taking over for Bill Redell, the school’s first and only football coach, who retired earlier this year.

Tonight’s scrimmage between the two will stand-out a little more than most because these two teams had a bench-clearing brawl during the Saugus summer passing tournament.  It will be interesting to see what happens tonight when the pads and helmets are involved.

The Worm also returns tomorrow night when Garth “Worm” Wyckoff stops by for a look at Laguna Hills of the Sea View League, which had its streak of six straight Sea View League titles snapped last year by El Toro.  Worm will also talk about the other schools in the lague.

We’re still working on some other guests, so stay turned to us on Twitter at @hsfbamerica to learn about the rest of the show.

You can also keep-up with Southern California on our KLAC AM 570 blog by clicking here.

19 Days and Counting

by Jeff Fisher
High School Football America

This photo is of me Saturday night...my last night in Chicago wearing my Bring it On t-shirt.

As the saying goes, be careful what you ask for!

Boy oh boy, the intention to write every day for my readers while getting ready for our August 11th debut on KLAC 570 AM in Los Angeles was a good one.

I thought I could do it!

In fact, I knew I could do it!

I had every intention of doing it!

Then came the reality of being an entrepreneur.

I've gone 12 days without posting a thing until now.

The reason?  It would take me too long and cost me a lot of time of actually working in the process.

Suffice to say, there's no way to totally recap my life since the last post on July 12th.

So here are the cliff notes...

Plenty of investor meetings...plenty of sponsor meetings...plenty of meeting meetings. :-)

We've officially moved to Los Angeles since I last communicated.

We actually moved to the City of Angels on Sunday, which was an incredible day that began with a wake-up call at 5 A.M. in Chicago; a flight to Atlanta for lunch; a layover in Houston until 10:30 P.M. Central Time; and arrival in LA at midnight Pacific Time.

After we landed some 21 hours into our day, we were required to sit on the plane while an air marshall came on-board to escort a passenger, who evidently had been unruly during the flight, off the plane while we all watched and wondered what was going on.  BTW...they really didn't tell us, but I did see him at baggage, so I'm assuming he WASN'T on a do not fly list or worse.

We fell asleep at 2:30 A.M. Pacific Time...23-and-a-half hours after waking-up.

Now the good news...I actually got to go to my first practice in SoCal at Orange Lutheran on Tuesday.
Feeling the artificial turf under my feet while taking the picture of the "Big L" in the middle of the Lancers' practice field sure felt nice.

I spoke with new head coach Chuck Peterson, a former Air Force assistant, who's in his first year of leading this Southern California powerhouse.  It was great to hear him say that he was excited about how our show coming to SoCal.

Now, the biggest job is getting the show itself ready, and I promise that for the remaining 17 days, starting tomorrow, I'll let you know what's happening every step of the way.

Jeff

41 Days and Counting

by Jeff Fisher
High School Football America

Another 16 hour day in the books.

At the end of each day, we try to figure-out whether it was a win or a loss.  Not that the record matters, but more W's over the course of time means that you're closer to the goal.

Today was definitely a W, but it wasn't without worrying that we were heading toward an loss.

The day began as a normal day, as my partner and I looked forward to a meeting with a sponsor that we hoped would say "yes" to being a part of the radio show and a late in the day meeting with our team at KLAC-AM to begin setting the road map to the August 11th show.

I was feeling great as I made a couple of freshly laid eggs from the hens that reside in the front yard of our friends Chip and Lois' house in Sherman Oaks.  Yes, I said front yard...not a farm!  Chip and Lois also have an incredible city garden in front of the house as well with corn, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, herbs and a grape vine.

There's something about LA that allows me to eat healthier than when I'm home in Chicago.  It concerns me that between constant meetings and work, I'm not always watching what I eat.  I'm sure I'm not the only entrepreneur gaining weight during THE process, but I have to be aware that I've gained about six pounds since the beginning of March and now weigh 189.  No way will that scale top 190...and I'm getting back to 180 soon!

Hopefully by writing this blog, I'll be constantly reminding myself about the importance of keeping healthy and eating right, which will go hand-in-hand with making me feel vibrant and be ready to fight-the-fight, each and every next day.

On a positive note, I did drink over 70 ounces of water today and will continue to do so from here on out.


Seriously though, stress and pressure affect everyone, not just entrepreneurs.  I try to get-in an 8,000-10,000 step walk with my girlfriend ever day.  Trish is awesome about making sure I get out of the condo, especially on days when I'm sitting inside working on the computer.

Yes, I'm not just trying to find investors and sponsors, I'm also trying to build our new website and trying to keep track of our 52 blogs, that I write...and oh, also try to keep-up with our Twitter and Facebook accounts.

OK, back to Day 41 and Counting.

My biggest growth area as an entrepreneur is in the area of not getting down mentally.

As I said, today started well, but around 8 A.M. I heard that our first meeting, which was with a perspective advertising sponsor, was being postponed.  The old Jeff would have hung his head and moaned-and-groaned for a bit...thus wasting time.  The new Jeff moves on to the other hundreds of things and can do and never looks back...most times...old habits die hard. :-)

Then as the saying goes, when one door closes another one opens.

I got an email from a business acquaintance who landed us a conference call tomorrow with a gentleman who has read our executive summary and wants to begin discussions about possibly investing in High School Sports Entertainment, which is our umbrella company for the brand of High School Football America and High School Football America - SoCal.

This is why you keep grinding!!  You just never know what's around the corner.

I also needed to put on my travel agent hat on to work-out details of our investor meetings in Philadelphia and New York City later this week and early next.  And, for good measure while we're there, we also need to squeeze-in family visits before moving to LA and a wedding on Saturday outside of Philly.

The travel itinerary...after leaving LA Thursday morning, we'll land in Chicago at 5 P.M., hop in a rental car and begin the drive east.  With airline tickets being a little high over the holidays, driving is a cost effective solution.  Cross-country drives clear my mind, especially on Route 80 in Pennsylvania where trees and mountains allow me to think of other things and be creative as Trish and I talk and dream the dream of High School Football America - SoCal opening the microphones on August 11th.

Speaking of the radio show, our day ended with our first face-to-face meeting with our account representatives that will be in-charge of connecting us within the station to make sure everything goes smoothly.  We've had numerous calls, but this was the first time to sit down and toast the deal with an adult beverage.

This meeting couldn't have gone any better, because the folks at KLAC 570 AM are extremely excited to make sure that we become an important part of their show line-up.  There's plenty of work to do over the next 41 days, but believe me, we walked away from that meeting knowing that all of the hard work was paying-off with a partner that had the same goals as we do.

And, looking back on those freshly laid fried eggs that I had earlier in the day, it's safe to say that I think the day was eggs-actly what we needed to move to Tuesday!

See you tomorrow for 40 Days and Counting.

Jeff

42 Days and Counting

by Jeff Fisher
High School Football America

It's official, High School Football America is coming to Southern California with a radio show on KLAC-AM 570, which is Fox Sports Radio's flagship station.

We made the announcement (see news release below) in partnership with the folks at KLAC last week. The new show called High School Football America - SoCal was immediately written about by LA Times Preps reporter Eric Sondheimer, who we look forward to having on the show on a regular basis.

The announcement marks the start of another chapter in my career as a high school sports journalist that began when I was 14-years old in Easton, Pennsylvania.  However, this is more than a career, it's a lifestyle that is fueled by my passion to tell the story of America through the lens of high school athletics.

The mission of the show will be to get back to the heart of journalism - storytelling.

I'm not going to bore you with what I've done to get to this point, but I thought it would be interesting to give my readers a look inside what it's like to create a show and a business from the ground floor in these tough economic times.  To say it's been easy or will be easy is an understatement.

Folks, this is real life here, not politicians talking about things that don't seem to make sense to the average person trying to make it from one day to the next.

Some of the things I'll be writing about may seem mundane, but believe me, there's no "off switch" in my life now.  Every minute of every day is filled with real life experience that comes with starting a company.

As my late grandfather would say, "I'm getting my master's degree from the School of Hard Knocks!"

BTW...I don't think there's a better degree out there...sorry Harvard, Stanford, etc. :-)

So with all that being said, we landed in Los Angeles this afternoon, 42 days away from our first radio show on August 11th.

The mission in LA?  Begin interfacing with KLAC officials to develop the show and also meet with perspective sponsors and advertising executives.

The first tidbit about being an entrepreneur - you gotta get creative to make sure start-up expenses don't eat you alive.

In our case this week, we have wonderful friends in Sherman Oaks who insisted we stay in their their guest house, thus keeping expenses down.  Our friends Lois and Chip have been awesome supporters since the first day we met them back in 2006.

The best part?  They have an incredible backyard with a pool (see pic above) that allows us an outside office that definitely doesn't suck!

Friends are a huge part of the entrepreneurial support system.  Take for instance my friend of 30 years, Steve Williams, a lawyer in New Jersey, who was able to magically put his talents to work to find us a west coast law firm that would be creative with our cash flow needs.  Steve also doubles as a cheerleader and someone who won't hesitate to jab me, if I get too cocky.

Another friend, Damien Lewis of Clocker Shade Productions, has played a key role by getting us our very first meeting with KLAC's Don Martin.  Damien is someone that we can always count-on for honest analysis of the situation.

Another tidbit we received about being an entrepreneur, came from my first investor - "If it was easy, everyone would be doing it."

Good advice when it comes to calming the nerves as you try to raise nearly a million dollars in an economy that tends to make you shutter when you read the newspaper or watch CNBC.

Capital raising isn't for the faint of heart!

About a year ago, one well respected financial guru told me, get your money raised before the fall, because there is a lot of money on the sidelines.  He then cautioned me about what would happen if I hadn't raised it during the summer and President Obama was re-elected.

It went something like this - "If you don't have your capital in-place and President Obama is in-charge for four more years, you'll be a business owner in the middle of a financial holocaust...are you ready for that?"

I'm not saying this to get into a political debate.  I'm just saying that these are some of the uplifting things you're told along the way...LOL!

So for now, it's time for us to make some dinner, toast with a bottle of wine for the next 42 days ahead.

With no off-switch, the lights are on and we're open for business 24-7.

Oh, and if you're reading this and you're an investor, boy, do I have a great story to tell you!

News Release

HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT LAUNCHES

NEW HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS TALK RADIO SHOW ON KLAC-AM

Los Angeles, CA - June 28, 2012 – High School Sports Entertainment (“HSSE”) announces its new high school sports talk radio show, High School Football America – SoCal, hosted by high school sports expert Jeff Fisher on KLAC-AM beginning August 11, 2012 at 10:00 PM.

In addition to the KLAC-AM radio show, HSSE will offer Southern California high school football fans a multi-media experience via a special section on our website www.highschoolfootballamerica.com.

“We’re excited to come into the Los Angeles and Orange County high school sports scene with a show that will enhance the area’s coverage of high school football for players, coaches and fans,” said Jeff Fisher, Show Host and Co-Founder of High School Sports Entertainment.

"We are very excited to bring Jeff and High School Football America to AM 570 Fox Sports LA,” said Don Martin, General Manager and Program Director of KLAC-AM.  “High school football is a very important part of the fabric of every So Cal community and it's time to give it the attention that it deserves."

“High School Football America – SoCal will serve as a lightning rod to promote positive stories about student-athletes showing how high school football serves as a bond for community togetherness,” said Trish Hoffman Co-Founder/Executive Producer High School Sports Entertainment.  “High school sports give us a snapshot of our communities. With our partnership with KLAC, we’ll shine a spotlight on the robust family experience at these games throughout Southern California each week.”

High Football America – SoCal

August 11 – September 29, 2012. 

Saturday Nights

10:00 PM – Midnight

**Show Date Changes To Friday Nights**

October 5 – March 29, 2012

10:00 PM - Midnight

High School Sports Entertainment will also produce a high school basketball show, High School Basketball America - SoCal, that will begin on KLAC-AM just before the December holidays and run through March 29, 2013.

About High School Sports Entertainment

High School Sports Entertainment (“HSSE”), a multi-media company, is the umbrella company for High school Football America, High School Football America – SoCal and High School Basketball America – SoCal.  HSSE delivers original high school sports content through internet, social media, radio, television, on-site activation and The Write Way, a 501 C 3 not-for-profit.  For more information on high school football go to www.highschoolfootballamerica.com.

About KLAC-AM

KLAC AM 570 Fox Sports is not only the Flagship station for the Los Angeles Dodgers, they are also the Flagship station for the San Diego Chargers, Los Angeles Kings, UCLA Bruins and the Los Angeles Galaxy. Broadcasting since 1924 under the call letters KFPG, KMTR and finally KLAC, they are one of only a handful of stations established in 1924 that are still on the air.  For more info go to www.570klac.com.

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