Siuslaw athletic director Chris Johnson has many talents, including an amazing ability to text message on his smart phone.

Exploding Whale Sports asked him about the new streaming of sports at the high school. This was his reply, via his iPhone:

"It's a work in progress. I am really happy we have it all in place in the main gym and are starting the ground work to hopefully have it ready for track and field. It was a team effort for sure to get it all up and running.

"The Siuslaw Athletic Booster Club purchased amazing new scoreboards for the main gym. We will be able to connect the scoreboards to the live stream once they are in place. This is a pretty big job — one for the summer or possibly spring break. The new scoreboards have wireless controls so we should be able to connect those fairly easily. Nevco, the manufacturer, was excited that we were installing Pixellot because it is a new technology for them too and they were happy to help us connect them to the camera.

"It is also possible to connect the public-address system to the live feed. We are really hoping to have that ready for track and field and then obviously football in the fall. It is a little more difficult to connect to the PA in the gym due to the proximity of the audio hub closet in the balcony and the camera which is fixed on a beam 33 feet off of the gym floor at center court. We will be looking into that possibility for the volleyball season.

"There are no plans at this point to simulcast the KCST feed. Obviously, a radio feed which is intended to narrate all of the action for someone who can't see the game, is a little more audio that we really need. That being said, it isn't out of the realm of possibility — I don't think — to eventually have our own TV style play-by-play and color commentator (maybe even from very qualified Siuslaw HS Students). One of the great things about the system is that it is basically automatic. Once we have it all hooked up to the scoreboard and the PA it wouldn't require any more ‘labor' from our end to give the viewers a pretty solid game viewing experience. Help at games is tough to find already so it will be a wait and see situation as far as expanding upon the system's capabilities.

"I'm sure there will be some growing pains. The wrestling feed wasn't perfect due to the spotlight above the mat. That is something we will have to look into next year.

"Track and field will be interesting too. I'm not 100 percent this camera can cover all of what is going on out there, but I'm really excited to see what the feed will look like. Obviously, at Hans Petersen Field, the No. 1 priority is to film the football games. Since we only have 4 or 5 home games a year, people who can't be here in person have a chance to see all of our games. I kind of feel like any footage we get from the track and field side will be a huge bonus. Obviously, it has to be a pretty wide shot to get all of the track. Keep your fingers crossed.

"At this point subscribers can pay:
"Monthly - $9.95
"Season Pass - $50
"Annual Pass - $100

"Some of this money will come back to the school. We don't pay any fees to have the feed stream, but we did have to buy the camera. The only place the feed is available is through the NFHS Network.

"Coaches can also set it up to film practice which was one of the real hidden gems of the system."