Across all the various social media outlets, all it takes for a high school to broadcast sporting contests is a moderately reliable video camera placed in the right spot.

As long as a camera can offer a view of a gym floor or sports field, the outside world is offered a glimpse of the activities.

At Warrenton High School for the past two school years, the experience has run much deeper for audiences, though.

That’s because, for about 50 events during the 2024-25 school year and for a projected 100 events this year, the Warrenton Sports Network (WSN) can be seen on either Facebook, YouTube, or, for postseason games, MSHSAA.tv.

Friday night lights and a coincidence on the links

The enterprise got its start a couple of years ago when R-III Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith happened to be home on Friday night in the fall.

Klinginsmith said his father-in-law wanted to keep up with the Joplin High School football team.

“He was at our house on a Friday night and we didn’t have a home game,” Klinginsmith said. “He’s from Joplin and wanted to watch the Joplin game. I didn’t know where we could. We started searching and there was this independent guy (doing an internet broadcast). I thought that was pretty cool.”

Klinginsmith like the idea so much that he contacted the broadcaster to see what it would take to bring the same level of access to the Warrenton community.

After a trip to southwest Missouri, a simple idea started to become much more.

“I went down and just talked to the guy about how he does it, and it's just an independent person doing it there,” Klinginsmith said. “I thought that was definitely something we should do here.”

While the idea was a solid one, making it a reality took some work.

Enter Keith Brown.

The former educator, who knew Klinginsmith from their time in the Wentzville School district, had a background in broadcasting, working at television stations in the Springfield, Mo., area.

“My original degree was in Broadcasting,” Brown said. “I decided I wanted to be a teacher, but my parents didn’t (want that for me). The station I was working for closed down, so I went into education. I’ve coached and taught for a long time.”

As Klinginsmith struggled to get his idea off the ground, both men were at a golf outing when Brown heard Klinginsmith’s idea during a conversation with someone else.

To this day, Brown said he kicks himself for not speaking up sooner.

“I really should have said something,” Brown said. “I just didn’t. He didn’t know my background. A while later, I finally spoke up for myself and things got started from there.”

Brown not only used his voice at an important juncture then, but he also uses it as the main commentator for WSN.

A community resource and school spotlight

Through the partnership between the two educators, the WSN was born.

What began last school year as a partnership between Brown’s business, Gateway Media Creative, and the R-III district has continued to grow.

While the WSN started humbly for a cost of $45,000, which continues annually, its current value to the community can’t be measured as the burgeoning network flourishes.

“Last year, we were limited to about 50 events, which we streamed on our Facebook page,” Klinginsmith said. “We’d get about 1,500 views for just about every event.”

As events got bigger, so did the audience.

Klinginsmith said that the football team’s run to the state semifinals in 2024 drew a big audience.

“Those (postseason) games were part of MSHSAA.tv,” he recalled. “I think we were right around 6,000 views for that game. It’s been fun. It allows us to do this and travel a bit. This season, we were able to broadcast the playoff game from Odessa. We’ve had former coach (Steve) McDowell come in and help with football broadcasts. Being able to have those (Friday night) games really helped us do that.”

Currently, the WSN has its planned 100 broadcasts split between the bigger team sports of football, softball, volleyball, basketball, baseball and soccer.

Klinginsmith said that there are very few sports the network hasn’t touched.

“We’ve never done golf or track,” he said. “Sports like that (would be difficult). We stick mostly to home games except, like I said, for some football. I just feel it’s a great way to publicize the kids and for the community to be able to (follow along) because there are times when not everyone can get to an event.”

Warrenton athletics director Andrew Arnette agreed with the superintendent and said he feels that the WSN is a very valuable tool for both the school and community.

“It is another way for us to highlight some of the great things that our students are doing,” Arnette said. “It went really well the first year. We had a lot of positive feedback from the community. You could see the growth and changes from the fall to our spring activities. We couldn't have done it without Dr. Klinginsmith. He made it happen.”

Looking to WSN’s bright future

As the network continues to grow, Klinginsmith said that the school has begun to work WSN into the curriculum.

The Superintendent said he would love to see the next generation’s Joe Buck or Greg Amsinger, both St. Louisans in the current national spotlight in sports broadcasting, come from Warrenton.

That’s the main reason the high school has started a broadcasting class, which is taught by Jason Koper.

“Our broadcasting class started in the first semester and kids are getting their feet wet with it,” Klinginsmith said. “They’ve made some graphics for us to use but the goal is really to get them involved in the production side of things. There will always be adult supervision, but I would always love to see more cameras. We’ve even added instant replay. We’re not the NFL here, but it would be wonderful to see a student really (grow their love for) doing this. That’s the goal.”

Access to home broadcasts is available through the district’s Facebook or YouTube pages for free, except for postseason contests, which must be viewed on MSHSAA.tv for a fee of, usually, $10 per event broadcast.

Klinginsmith said that WSN also accepts sponsorships from community businesses looking to connect with the public. The goal of the sponsorships would be to help offset production costs.

For more information on becoming a sponsor, Klinginsmith said to contact him via email at klinginsmithg@warrencor3.k12.mo.us